Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer isn't getting caught up in team records ahead of Week 14.
We often hear "You are what your record says you are," but sometimes, that isn't always the case, and for the Dallas Cowboys, who at 6-5-1, come into Ford Field to take on the 7-5 Detroit Lions, records mean nothing.
Well, at least for Brian Schottenheimer.
After a 15-2 season last year, the Lions have stuttered and spluttered along the past month and have been swept by the Green Bay Packers, so Dan Campbell's team doesn't appear to be as scary as last year.
But Schotty isn't interested in that kind of talk.
He knows that even though Detroit appears to be wounded and not playing their best football, it can still pack a serious punch.
"Yeah, I'm not falling for the bait there,” Schottenheimer said on 105.3 The Fan. “I've seen Jahmyr Gibbs go 70 yards in like a millisecond, and I've seen Hutchinson rip around edges, don't get caught up in the records."
The Cowboys, just three weeks ago, were lying beaten and bloodied on the canvas at 3-5-1, with playoffs not even in sight, but a lot can change in three weeks, and suddenly Dallas is being viewed by some in the national media as a team no one wants to play if it gets into the postseason.
So, if the Cowboys can be seen like that, so too can the Lions, who still possess knockout power to scare teams.
Just don't be fooled by the record.
"This is a really good football team," Schotty added. "We’re better than a 6-5-1 football team, and I think they're better than a 7-5 football team. It's just where we stand right now and that's real, but I don't look at that stuff, like maybe some people do.”
So, there's no underestimating coming from the Cowboys, and they know as well as anyone how fickle the NFL can be.
One week you seem to have it all figured out, the next week, you get hit right between the eyes.
And when it comes to the Lions, yeah, they might not be firing on all cylinders, but the knockout power still remains.