ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Brian Schottenheimer blared the music in his office this week, loud enough that the executive assistant to the Dallas Cowboys coach wandered in to say it was a nice thing to hear again from the self-described “big music guy.”
“She kind of was tongue in cheek, being silly,” Schottenheimer said. “That kind of made me chuckle because I’m feeling more back to myself.”
The Cowboys will host the Super Bowl champion and NFC East rival
Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in their first home game since defensive end Marshawn Kneeland was found dead in what police say was an apparent suicide.
Through almost two weeks of emotional turmoil, Dallas finally played its first game since Kneeland's death this past Monday night, beating Las Vegas 33-16. The Cowboys wore T-shirts, sideline gear and a helmet decal honoring Kneeland, and stood with their heads bowed during a moment of silence and the national anthem as kickoff approached.
Dallas (4-5-1) will reset that scene with many of the same elements against the Eagles (8-2), mixing the must-win feel of staying in the playoff hunt with the reality that outcomes of football games pale in comparison with the void of their missing teammate.
“It is a new normal,” special teams ace C.J. Goodwin said. “And that's going to be our new normal for the rest of our lives. He's our brother, forever.”
Schottenheimer's debut as a head coach following a quarter-century as an NFL assistant was Dallas' 24-20 loss to Philadelphia in the league's season opener 2 1/2 months ago.
The Cowboys felt good about their showing against the defending champs just a week after trading Micah Parsons to Green Bay when Dallas couldn't solve a contract stalemate with the star pass rusher.
Inconsistency has defined the Cowboys since then, and will be an issue again if they play more like they did in their first consecutive losses this season against Denver and Arizona, rather than the dominant display that followed — coming off the open week — against the lowly Raiders.
Dallas, which had a three-year playoff streak stopped last season, is also looking for its first win over a team with a winning record this season.
“We’ve got to go get one of those wins,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “Does it matter that we haven’t? No, not necessarily. But that can’t be the same conversation next week or the week after that. We’ve got to go get it done.”
The Eagles currently have the top seed in the NFC and are well on their way to winning back-to-back NFC East titles, which no team has done since Philadelphia won four in a row from 2001-04.
Yet Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts has taken plenty of criticism for the Eagles' sluggish offense. The two-time Pro Bowler has thrown for a pedestrian 1,995 yards (with just one interception) and hasn’t topped 200 yards passing in any of the past three games.
The Eagles aren't in the top half of the league in any yardage categories a year after Saquon Barkley ran for 2,005 yards. Receiver A.J. Brown was vocal about his unhappiness even before another mediocre offensive showing in last week's 16-9 victory over Detroit.
“I guess I get a lot of attention when things are going well and when things are not going so well,” Hurts said. “I never run away from holding myself accountable and I think that’s exactly what I’ve taken the approach of doing. Even when I look at this last game, I take great pride in what we do on offense.”
Star defensive tackle Jalen Carter of Philadelphia was ejected before the first snap of the first meeting for spitting on Prescott. They were having a verbal exchange during an injury timeout following the opening kickoff.
Prescott couldn't help but smile each time a Carter-related question was asked, including what he might say to Carter.
“Depends on what he says first, but probably something friendly,” said Prescott, who needs 160 yards passing to break Tony Romo's franchise career record of 34,183. “Get on his good side.”
Carter wasn't quite as engaging with reporters Thursday.
“I'm not even thinking about it,” he said.
With Pro Bowl offensive tackle Lane Johnson expected to miss at least a few weeks with a right foot injury, the Eagles will stick with Fred Johnson as his replacement. Fred Johnson took over when Lane Johnson was injured early against Detroit.
Fred Johnson started five games last season and has often been used as an extra offensive lineman or tight end in what the Eagles call their jumbo package. It has earned Johnson more snaps — and more confidence from the Eagles.
“There’s a reason why we were putting him into playing those big packages, because we have a lot of faith in him,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “For what we were trying to do, we felt like he was one of our best 11 to do what we were trying to do on those particular plays.”
The Eagles are 12-23 since the start of the 2016 season when Lane Johnson doesn’t start.
“Lane Johnson is cemented as one of the greats,” said Fred Johnson, who was on the Super Bowl team but left for Jacksonville in free agency before returning in an August trade. “Fred Johnson is still trying to make a name for himself, so that’s how I approach it.”
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AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
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