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FRISCO, Texas — Coach Brian Schottenheimer was disappointed but not defeated after the Dallas Cowboys’ season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday.
He was proud of the fight. He was proud of the effort. He was proud of the belief. But he knows what matters most is Eagles 24, Cowboys 20.
So much so that he used the phrase “no moral victories” on four separate occasions in his postgame news conference.
“I don’t find any moral victories when this team’s built on a culture that’s all about winning,” Schottenheimer said after his head coaching debut. “You don’t find moral victories in losing.”
But you can find things that might turn close losses into victories starting in Week 2 against the New York Giants at AT&T Stadium (1 p.m. ET, Fox).
“I am encouraged,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “And I’m encouraged by the meat on the bone, not my normal optimism. These guys played hard. They played good. They played consistently.”
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The offense had 20 first-half points, scoring on all four possessions. Running back Javonte Williams became the first Cowboy with two rushing touchdowns in his debut since Herschel Walker in 1986, according to ESPN Research. CeeDee Lamb had 110 receiving yards.
The defense limited the Eagles to three points in the second half and gave up only two plays of 20 or more yards. Eagles big-play receiver A.J. Brown was limited to one catch.
But there’s also a flip side.
The offense didn’t score a point in the second half. RB Miles Sanders lost a fumble inside the Eagles’ 10. Lamb dropped three passes, including two in the fourth quarter when the Cowboys were looking to take the lead.
The run defense allowed 123 rushing yards in the first half. Quarterback Jalen Hurts had two rushing touchdowns and picked up 62 yards. Dallas recorded only one sack, with star edge rusher Micah Parsons recently traded to the Packers, and did not create a takeaway.
“We’ve just got to play a little bit more complementary,” Prescott said. “And what I mean by that is defense gets some stops in the first half, and we score points in the second half. Then we’re going to be proud of the outcome of this game.”
With 3:02 remaining, the Cowboys had a chance to pull off the “fairy tale,” as Jones called the potential upset. Prescott had the opportunity for a go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter. If not for a Lamb drop, Prescott may have had his 24th game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime.
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“If we could have every game we play this year down to where we’ve got that ball and got it in the hands of the people we had it in,” Jones said, “we can win a lot of games.”
How did Lamb spend his Friday, the day after the loss to the Eagles? About eight hours after a 5 a.m. return from Philadelphia, he was at The Star catching passes off the Jugs machine.
“That’s the kind of stuff that gets me fired up, and that’s why he was voted a captain and will do great things for us the rest of the year,” Schottenheimer said.
Getting that first win Sunday against the Giants isn’t exactly a must, but a loss wouldn’t only mean an 0-2 start for the first time since 2010 — it would mean an 0-2 start in the NFC East.
But when the players arrived Monday, there was a review of the Eagles loss in what Schottenheimer calls “Good, Better, How.”
“We’ll talk about what we did good, what do we need to do better, and then the things we need to do better; how do you do that,” Schottenheimer said. “Why do you do that? Again, this is a 17-round title fight that you’ve got to qualify for the postseason, and so if I’m really, really high or really, really low when we lose, then I’m not doing my job as the leader.”
After lunch, the staff discussed their next opponent, the Giants, with the players.
Round 2 is six days away.
