Dallas Cowboys: Jason Garrett: No extra motivation from seeing Eagles win Super Bowl

Smiley N. Pool/Staff Photographer

Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett greets Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson after the Cowboys 6-0 victory in an NFL football game on Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017, in Philadelphia. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)

INDIANAPOLIS — Some would think that seeing a division rival win its first Super Bowl would provide some extra motivation.

But a month after watching the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII, Jason Garrett says that’s not true for him and the Dallas Cowboys.

“There’s no extra drive that comes from that,” the Cowboys head coach said Wenesday from the NFL’s annual scouting combine. “The drive that we have is significant, independent of who wins the Super Bowl.”

Garrett maintains that the Cowboys’ focus has been and will continue to be on themselves, not what other teams are accomplishing. Not even hated division rivals.

Garrett has never been the type to say anything negative publicly about another team.

As difficult as it probably was for him to see the Eagles win their first Super Bowl, Garrett would not acknowledge that Wednesday.

“We have great respect for them,” he said. “It’s a fantastic organization from top to bottom. They have a lot of really good players, they’ve drafted well and they’ve done a really good job in free agency, putting that team together, obviously very well coached.

“Again, we have great respect for them. We play them a couple times a year and we feel like we know them and that only deepens the respect. Doug Pederson’s done a fantastic job and they’ve built it the right way and they’re very deserving of being world champs.”