Overall thoughts on Cowboys’ 24-20 loss to the Eagles

The word that Jones used the most to describe Dallas’ 2025 season opener was “pleased.” Evidently, he takes no consolation in losing the game, but was happy with some of the things that came from it.

“I thought that in particular, I thought that Dak had one of the best games that I’ve seen him play…” Jones said. “I felt really, really, really good about the way our offensive line played. I think that bodes well for as we start down this season.”

Later on, Jones would say that Prescott and new defensive tackle Kenny Clark graded out as the team’s highest rated players based on their internal grading system from Thursday night.

What stood out from Brian Schottenheimer’s debut?

It’s not easy to handle both offensive play calling and head coaching duties. A lot of times, coaches simply just aren’t cut out for it. In Brian Schottenheimer’s debut, that did not seem to be the case, and Jones liked how his team fared under him.

“I thought he had the team ready, prepared. We didn’t see anything there that got us disjointed as a team. I thought he gave us a chance, the plan, the preparation gave us a chance to win that game. That’s what we asked for, be in it at the end and get a chance to win it at the end. I thought he did a great job.”

The next step of course is not to be in it at the end, but to be ahead when the clock runs out. That said, Schottenheimer got “an A” from Jones with how he called the offense and managed the game.

CeeDee Lamb’s crucial drops down the stretch

As the Cowboys made a push in the second half to get down field and ahead on the scoreboard, All-Pro wide receiver had three crucial drops that could have put Dallas into scoring position. Jones isn’t worried about there being any sort of lingering effect from it on Lamb.

“I just look at each play on its own rather than look at a group of plays because nothing in his background or any place suggests that he can’t catch the football,” Jones said. “And so I just look at each one of them and, without getting any way here, they just haven’t ever made a receiver that doesn’t have a drop.”

“He just got two or three there at the wrong time and succession there. So that doesn’t concern me generally about whether CeeDee Lamb can catch the ball.”

That said, Jones did recognize what things could have looked like on offense had Lamb made some of those catches, which he deemed “unfortunate.”