The Cowboys left Philadelphia with more than a win Monday night. They also walked out with a little extra swagger.
After taking down the Eagles 38-21 at Lincoln Financial Field, Dallas turned the postgame locker room into its own small victory lap. A video shared by Jon Machota of The Athletic showed players heading off the field and into the locker room while “Dreams and Nightmares” by Grammy-nominated Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill played over the speakers.
That is about as pointed a celebration as it gets after beating the Eagles on their home turf.
Dallas came into Week 7 needing a response after two straight rough outings in the spotlight, and the Cowboys got it. The win not only gave them a much-needed boost, but also put them in position to grab control of the division. The offense looked sharper, and the defense finished strong by pitching a shutout in the fourth quarter.
The mood afterward reflected all of that. Dak Prescott pointed to the energy inside the locker room during Brian Schottenheimer’s postgame celebration.
“That's the time to celebrate. All the work that you've put in, a hard week of preparation, you take them one by one. You understand that you haven't won in a couple of weeks and some letdown games," Schottenheimer said when speaking to media after the game, via Todd Archer of ESPN.com.
"It's just an exciting (time). It's the culmination of all your hard work and you winning that game just coming together and that's the brotherhood showing and that's what makes it special is it's just that group in there.
It's just a group that sweats together, sacrifices together and they get to celebrate together. And so that's what makes it fun, but that time doesn't last.
Short week being this is a Monday. Take care of our bodies and we've got to be just as hungry as we were in approaching this week, last week as we need to do this.”
The celebration was brief, and the schedule moves fast. Dallas now turns to a home game against the Arizona Cardinals next week at AT&T Stadium.
In Other News...
Eagles Loss Exposed A Defensive Line Problem Fans Will Notice
The snap counts from the Eagles Week 7 loss to the Cowboys offered a clear look at how much the defensive front was asked to carry, and how little splash came from that workload. With injuries still shaping the rotation, Philadelphia leaned heavily on its interior linemen and mixed in some role changes across the defense, while rookies and returning players added to the churn in personnel.
Jalen Carters usage stood out in particular, as he was on the field far more than usual but did not turn that volume into the disruptive night the Eagles needed. Jordan Davis was also pushed into a bigger share of the action, and the numbers pointed to a front line that was busy without being especially effective, which only deepens the concern as the defense tries to sort out who can consistently tilt a game in the middle. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Trade Deadline Reality Just Got Hard To Ignore
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Hollywood Brown belongs in that same uncomfortable mix, especially after he was a healthy scratch against the Panthers. The sense is that Philadelphia is at least willing to listen on players who may not fit its long-term plan, even if that means entertaining decisions that would have seemed hard to imagine before the losing streak. What happens next will say plenty about how aggressively the Eagles want to protect the present versus cashing in pieces for the future, and that balance may not be easy to strike with the deadline closing in. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Suddenly Face Questions No Defending Division Champ Should
In the span of a month, the Eagles have gone from defending division champ to a team scrambling for answers after five straight losses, their worst skid in a decade. Injuries have played a part, but the problems have gone beyond missing bodies, with the defense unable to steady things while the season has slipped further from the pace in the NFC East.
The latest setback only sharpened the concern around a team that has looked out of sync on both sides of the ball. What makes the slide harder to ignore is the pattern underneath it, as the Eagles have been giving up big chunks of yardage in every loss and have yet to find a way to stop the bleeding before the schedule tightens even more. [Read more 🡒]