Brian Schottenheimer shocks reporters with postgame approach after Dallas Cowboys’ win in Philadelphia
The Dallas Cowboys head coach sparked an unexpected conversation by not saying much following his team’s 38-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
For better or worse, Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer is a talkative guy. Which is why Monday’s postgame press conference shocked reporters who talk to him on the regular.
Following the Cowboys’ 38-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Schottenheimer kept his answers to the minimum. All in all, the press conference lasted four minutes. Each of his postgame press conferences this season had lasted over ten minutes. Even in Rio de Janeiro, after a long trip and after a painful loss, Schottenheimer went for 14 minutes.
On Monday, most of his answers were more generic than usual. Asked about his thoughts on the play of his players he kept it to one word: “Outstanding.”
Asked about the offense, he said: “They were good. Solid. Good balance.”
About the locker room: “Guys were excited. It’s been a couple weeks coming. But we’re ready for Arizona, we play here in a couple of days.”
The shift was so evident that the presser ended in the Cowboys head coach being asked if he was okay, to which he responded: “I’m great. Excited for our guys.”
Is the Cowboys HC shaking things up?
Listen, I’m not sure where the change is coming from but I don’t mind it one bit. After all, the Cowboys need to shake things up. And Schottenheimer’s talking in press conferences have led to plenty of maybe unnecessary talking points.
Schottenheimer often describes himself as someone with great people skills. And it’s great that he uses it as head coach of an NFL team. But for a Cowboys franchise often blamed of being too circus-y, it would be a refreshing take on things if Schottenheimer becomes all business in pressers.
QB Dak Prescott said in his own presser that he did see an angrier version of Schottenheimer during the week.
“Definitely a hungry, pissed off version of Schotty,” Dak said. “It’s not like he’s naïve, it’s not like he hasn’t heard some noise about him, whether it’s calling the games or whatever doubt that’s been out there. But we’ve got his back, he knows that.”
With that being said, if that is the case, hopefully it comes from a genuine place. Overcorrections rarely get you anywhere on this league. The same goes for if this is a case of him simply being upset at the media’s discourse around him in recent weeks. That would come off as soft, considering his team got off to an underachieving 2-4 start.
Time will tell what this is all about. But for now, I can appreciate a head coach trying to get his team locked in for what could be a season-defining stretch of games. At 3-4, the Cowboys need to figure out if they’ll be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline set for Nov. 10.
The Cowboys will take on the Arizona Cardinals next Sunday. They’re seemingly not planning to celebrate this one for long.
