"Javonte Williams had a rushing touchdown. YEAH!"
"Rashan Gary had a sack. YEAH!"
That, and more, can be heard and seen from the Dallas Cowboys' locker room following their 27-23 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
Despite barely escaping with a win against a 2-6 team that's openly tanking, Brian Schottenheimer decided it was the perfect time to bring back his postgame victory gimmick.
Contrast that with CeeDee Lamb's reaction to the win, and you'll be left wondering what Schottenheimer was thinking.
Walking back to the locker room, Lamb could be heard saying, "Oh my God, I (expletive) fumbled. I hate that (expletive)." (h/t Jon Machota, The Athletic).
Brian Schottenheimer should have taken a page out of CeeDee Lamb's playbook
It was extremely tone-deaf of Schottenheimer to go through the entire spiel. The Cowboys' season was a minute and 36 seconds away from being over. They committed 14 penalties, turned the ball over twice and needed a last-minute score to beat a team that's in contention for the No. 1 overall pick.
Meanwhile, celebrating was the last thing on Lamb's mind after his controversial fumble.
It occurred on the first play of the fourth quarter. Dallas had a 20-17 lead and would've had a 1st-and-goal from the Colts' nine-yard line with a chance to go up by two scores.
Luckily for Lamb, Quinnen Williams forced a fumble on Indy's ensuing possession to prevent any further damage. Still, No. 88 robbed his team of at least three points in a one-possession game in the fourth quarter.
And it's fair to assume that some of Lamb's frustration stemmed from his dropped touchdown that probably would have put the game away. Replay showed that Lamb failed to get a second foot in bounds, taking seven points off the board. The Cowboys kicked a field goal to take a 20-10 lead.
As brilliant as Lamb was for most of the game, his mistakes were all he could think about afterward. He caught 10 passes for 195 yards, tying Davante Adams for the most receiving yards in a game this season. If only his head coach had shown the same awareness.
To be clear, there's nothing wrong with celebrating a win.
The Bears celebrated a sloppy victory over the Buccaneers on Sunday night, too. But their normally raucous locker room was subdued because of how they won. Because they're a serious team. Ben Johnson handed out just one game ball and kept his postgame speech short and sweet.
Take a look:
"Our best football is yet to come" pic.twitter.com/c3XpbnREtS
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 9, 2026
If only Ben Johnson was coaching in Dallas
That's how I would have liked Schottenheimer to respond. Celebrate the win. Recognize the team's standout performers. But keep it short.
Don't go out of your way to praise Brandon Aubrey for making a field goal when he missed a 51-yarder in a tie game in the fourth quarter. Don't shout out Rashan Gary for a sack when Kenny Clark flushed Daniel Jones right into his arms. If anyone deserved individual recognition, it was Caleb Downs for his game-clinching interception.
That's not to say the other contributions weren't important. But there's a time and place to celebrate individual accomplishments. This wasn't.
The Cowboys had far more to clean up than they had to celebrate. Acknowledge the win, give Downs his flowers and get on the flight back to Dallas.
Celebrating is not the issue. Every win should be celebrated to a degree. And winning had to feel good after last week's collapse against Arizona. But to do so with that much fanfare after nearly suffering an identical loss shows a troubling lack of awareness.
CeeDee Lamb understood that winning doesn't excuse a sloppy performance. He had every reason to celebrate his individual brilliance, but his mistakes were at the forefront of his mind. His reaction reflected the urgency of a team fighting for its season.
His head coach's postgame gimmick did not.
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