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NFC Notes: A.J. Brown, Cowboys, Eagles, Giants QB Situation
Andrew Dieb-Imagn Images

Cowboys

The Cowboys held an initial lead in their 24-20 loss to the Eagles, but Dallas HC Brian Schottenheimer said he isn’t taking any “moral victories” from his coaching debut, 

“I don’t find any moral victories when this team’s built on a culture that’s all about winning,” Schottenheimer said, via Todd Archer. “You don’t find moral victories in losing.”

Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones said he came away encouraged by their Week 1 performance. 

“I am encouraged,” 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.”

Starting QB Dak Prescott feels they could’ve played more complementary and produced more offensively in the second half after being held scoreless in the final two quarters. 

“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.”

  • Jones talked about watching former DE Micah Parsons in his Packers’ debut: “Not one thing unexpected for me. … From what I saw of him I thought he was able to get in there and play without having any influence from his back. I say that with a straight face. … I wish him well.” (Jon Machota)
  • The Cowboys signed RB Hunter Luepke to a two-year, $7 million extension with $5.03 million guaranteed, including a $1.51 million signing bonus. The deal has base salaries of $1.03 million, $2 million, and $2.5 million, as well as $500k per-game roster bonuses in 2026 and 2027. (Over The Cap)
  • Schottenheimer said he had no issues with WR George Pickens effort or route running during the team’s opener: “I’m the biggest George Pickens fan.” (PFT)

Eagles

Eagles OC Kevin Patullo said the team needs to get WR A.J. Brown more involved after he finished Week 1 with just one catch on one target but they won’t push the envelope.

“When you game plan, obviously the number one guy is going to be A.J., [receiver] DeVonta [Smith], [tight end] Dallas [Goedert],” Patullo said, via NBC Sports. “In the pass game, they’re going to get the targets. Going in, we had a fair share of things that were going to go to him as the primary, and sometimes games play out like that and that’s kind of how it was. [W]e don’t ever want to force it. If it’s one of those games where you’re trying not to force it and you’re being productive and you’re staying on track, the guys understand. He played his butt off, too. He knew what was going on and just the way it was, and then we were moving the ball and being efficient. I think when you look at it, you always put that in mind when you start the game plan. Like this week, ‘Hey, he’s the guy, this is where we want to go with it.’ Once the game starts to unfold, you just kind of play it accordingly.”

Giants

  • Dan Graziano of ESPN writes that nothing has changed with the Giants’ plans to continue starting veteran QB Russell Wilson, but wonders if things could change once LT Andrew Thomas recovers from his Lisfranc injury. 
  • Graziano thinks HC Brian Daboll and OC Mike Kafka are committed to starting Wilson in the short-term while developing rookie QB Jaxson Dart for the long-term.
  • ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler also points out that New York gave Wilson $10.5 million guaranteed, and benching him now doesn’t make sense. 

This article first appeared on NFLTradeRumors.co and was syndicated with permission.

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