In the NFL, all wins count the same. There isn’t some poll that dictates whether or not you get to play for a national championship; you win enough games and you make the playoffs. From there, it’s win or go home.
That doesn’t change the reality of some wins being uglier than others, and the Cowboys’ overtime win against the Giants certainly qualifies as one. It’s ironic, seeing as how Week 1 was arguably a pretty loss for the Cowboys. Through two games, their better performance resulted in a loss,
while a sloppy and uninspiring performance gave them their first win of the new year.
It’s hardly the way Brian Schottenheimer wanted to get his first win as a head coach, but he’ll take it. After the game, Schottenheimer was his usual emotional self, allowing some enjoyment and celebration for getting the win. But he also made it explicitly clear that the team had plenty of things to correct.
It’s an interesting conundrum for the new head coach.
As the son of Marty Schottenheimer, the winningest head coach to never win a league championship, Brian Schottenheimer knows that wins are hard to come by in the NFL. Across the 25 years Schottenheimer has coached in the league, at any level, 10 of them have been losing seasons.
Simply put, there’s no reason to complain about winning. But there’s a big difference between complaining and recognizing that you escaped with a win where you had no business doing so. And that is where the most encouragement can be found for the Cowboys after Week 2.
How many times in the past have the Cowboys lost a game like this? A common refrain from fans is that the Cowboys often need everything to go right to win. Even the high points of the Mike McCarthy era had moments like that: in 2021, they dropped close ones to the Chiefs, Raiders, and Cardinals after making one too many mistakes; in 2023, Luke Schoonmaker had a touchdown taken off the board by replay and Dak Prescott stepped out on the two-point try to fall to the Eagles.
This time, the Cowboys shot themselves in the foot many, many times. The offensive line routinely got beat in the first half, Prescott threw a pick to start the second half, and the secondary absolutely melted down when Russell Wilson started chucking up prayers every other play.
In the end, they were able to overcome the mistakes. Prescott turned it on once the fourth quarter started, and he made clutch play after clutch play all through to the end of overtime, when Brandon Aubrey hit the game-winner.
The defense even came up clutch in overtime. They forced a punt for the first time since the second quarter and then picked off Wilson on another deep shot. That hardly absolves the unit of their dreadful performance, but it’s surely encouraging that they were able to shake off the poor play and step up in the biggest moment.
Schottenheimer said just as much on Tuesday, too, pointing out the resiliency on defense and in the same breath pledging to correct the mistakes.
The defense already has reinforcements on the way in the form of Jadeveon Clowney, and DeMarvion Overshown will return at some point too. The offense has also shown a lot to be excited about, both in the passing game and especially in the run game. Schottenheimer has been doing a good job of setting up his players for success on that side of the ball.
In terms of team mentality, Schottenheimer gets some blame for not having them ready to go from the jump on Sunday. But the overall resiliency also reflects on the culture he’s building, and it hints that things are moving in the right direction. It’s obviously still very early, but the Cowboys might just be turning the corner.
