The Dallas Cowboys finally secured their first win of the season on Sunday, beating the New York Giants 40-37 in a thrilling overtime fight. It was far from a mistake-free performance; however, a win is a win and Cowboys fans are just happy to be back at the .500 level.
There will be times when Dallas players will make mistakes throughout the season and get called out by head coach Brian Schottenheimer's staff. In fact, that's what happened to rookie guard Trevor Booker in just his second start in the NFL when Schottenheimer called out Booker during halftime for a mistake he had made earlier in the game.
Instead of pouting, he took the criticism and improved on it, including helping open up a hole for a 30-yard Javonte Williams touchdown.
"He took exception. I love that kid, man. He just loves to play football," Schottenheimer said, via Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Nick Harris. "So when Javonte had the touchdown, he said with some expletives, 'How you like that (redacted)?"
Cowboys' Tyler Booker Respondes After Getting Called Out at Halftime
Booker was nabbed with the 12th overall pick in April's draft, and Cowboys fans were looking for another offensive lineman there. While it wasn't the sexy pick everyone wanted, he stepped into a needed area after Zack Martin retired.
Booker still has room to grow for sure, but he's taking what his coaches say on the chin. While his pass-blocking grades decreased from 63.8 to 34.2 on Pro Football Focus, his run-blocking numbers went up from 50.9 to 60.4 in Weeks 1 to 2.
The Alabama product is still adapting to the NFL speed and physicality. Some rough patches are to be expected, and Schottenheimer made sure to air one of them out. That clearly got Booker pumped for the second half to put some better film on tape and prove to coaches that he was the right choice.
The 21-year-old has allowed six pressures in his NFL career thus far and will work on fine-tuning other parts of his game. Schottenheimer calling him out and seeing how he answered was a nice step forward. That could be a way Booker gets rolling if he isn't playing well, as his head coach is finding different ways to push his young rookie.
The fact that the Cowboys won the game makes watching film and improving that much easier. Everything feels better after a win, and Booker will look at ways to continue getting better before America's Team travels to play the Chicago Bears in Week 3.