The Cowboys Were 31st in Rushing. They Ran for 204 Yards on the Eagles and Dak Prescott Backed His Coach.
Dallas walked into Lincoln Financial Field on Monday night ranked 31st in the NFL in rushing at 76 yards a game. The Cowboys walked out with 204 rushing yards, a 38-21 win and a head coach who suddenly has room to breathe.
Javonte Williams Had a Career Night
Javonte Williams carried 25 times for 155 yards, a career high, with a long of 34 and a 2-yard touchdown that sealed it with 2:21 left. Dallas finished with 416 total yards and converted 8 of 13 on third down.
Philadelphia did not record a sack. The Eagles did not record a tackle for loss either. For a defense that has carried this franchise for three years, that is the number that should keep people in the building awake.
Dak Prescott Did Not Need to Be Spectacular
Prescott went 15 of 27 for 212 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, and was never sacked. CeeDee Lamb caught two of the touchdowns on 12 targets and George Pickens the other. A week earlier Prescott had thrown 54 passes in Green Bay.
This was the version of the offense Dallas has been promising since January. Brandon Aubrey added three field goals, one from 55 yards.
What Prescott Said About Brian Schottenheimer
The quarterback’s postgame remarks were the part that traveled. Schottenheimer had been short with reporters, a press conference that ran barely over four minutes against his usual 10 to 15, and Prescott was asked about it.
“Definitely hungry, pissed off version of Schotty,” Prescott said, per DallasCowboys.com.
Then he went further. “It’s not like he’s naive, 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,” Prescott said. “But we’ve got his back, he knows that.”
“He’s a guy that takes a lot of pride in his job, a lot of pride in his team,” Prescott added. “And at the end of the day, he’s our head coach, we’re going to follow him.”
Schottenheimer, asked about his own clipped answers, said, “I’m great. Excited for our guys.” Asked whether the game had been a must-win, he said, “No. I thought it was the next championship opportunity.”
The Hot Seat Was Real
Schottenheimer took over in January 2025 after Dallas declined to renew Mike McCarthy. He went 7-9-1 in his first year and missed the playoffs. He came into Monday at 2-4 and on a two-game losing streak, with multiple outlets already placing him on hot-seat lists.
A locker room publicly getting behind its coach in Week 7 is not a neutral act. Players do that when they have heard the noise too.
Where This Leaves the NFC East
Dallas is 3-4 and second in the division. The New York Giants lead at 4-2-1. Philadelphia fell to 2-5 and has now lost five straight, its longest skid since 2016.
The Eagles played this one without Jalen Hurts, who is on injured reserve after the NFL reported he was treated for deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli and is likely out for the season. Tanner McKee went 23 of 35 for 211 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Saquon Barkley carried seven times for 62 yards.
Seven carries, at 8.9 yards a pop. That is a coaching decision, and Nick Sirianni’s own summary afterward was, “We got to do a better job coaching.”
The Honest Read
Dallas is 3-4 and just beat a team coming apart without its quarterback. Nobody should mistake that for a fixed roster.
But the Cowboys ran for 204 yards in Philadelphia, did not turn the ball over, and watched their quarterback spend his postgame podium defending the head coach. ESPN Analytics came out of the night giving Dallas a 57 percent chance to win the division. Three weeks ago that would have read as a punchline.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
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