Brian Schottenheimer Takes Blame For Cowboys’ Struggles, Details Personnel Changes

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Dallas Cowboys threw 54 passes and ran 15 times in Sunday night’s 23-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, and Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said that split was never the plan.

Dallas fell to 2-4 with its second straight loss. The Cowboys trailed 17-0 at halftime, rushed for 48 yards, and turned the ball over twice on interceptions of Dak Prescott, who finished 34-of-54 for 258 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions.

Green Bay entered the night at 3-2. Schottenheimer said the Packers came into the game as a very good pass defense and that Dallas put itself in long-yardage situations.

“I just don’t think we played very well. I think they did a good job. It’s a really good pass defense. I didn’t plan on coming to this game and having to throw it 54 times. That wasn’t the plan,” Schottenheimer said. “It’s not a good recipe against this defense. That’s [been good] against the run and pretty good against the pass. So that wasn’t a good recipe for us.”

“But that’s the way the game turned out and again when I look back at the film, I think we put ourselves in some long yardage situations that were hard,” Schottenheimer continued.

Dallas has 5 turnovers across its last two games, both losses. Prescott threw 2 interceptions and KaVontae Turpin lost a kickoff-return fumble in a 24-16 home loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 8, and Green Bay picked off Prescott twice Sunday. Schottenheimer said Dallas is in a hole it put itself in.

“I’m going to start with what I told the guys. The effort is right. The fight is right. But mistakes are killing us,” Schottenheimer said. “Repeating mistakes is not what we’re about. But we’ve got to protect the football. Five turnovers in two games, not very good. Got to find a running game that starts with myself and the offensive staff.”

“Got to get off the field on third down on defense, whether that’s penalties or just losing one-on-ones,” Schottenheimer continued. “So we got to clean it up and lost two games in a row, haven’t played well. And got to take a hard look at it, and that starts with me.”

Both interceptions Sunday came in the first half. Schottenheimer said he would go through the video of the game to see where Dallas went wrong and how to fix it.

“There’s definitely time to pull out of it, but we’ve got to fix the mistakes that we’ve talked about. This is something that we’ve addressed and talked about. Again, it starts with myself and the coaching staff to understand, again, the ball matters more than anything,” Schottenheimer explained. “In the National Football League, it’s the ball. Second is the line of scrimmage.”

“We haven’t been very good in the last two games, so that’s what we’re responsible and accountable for, and I stand up here and accept that,” Schottenheimer added.

Dallas averaged 3.2 yards per carry. Javonte Williams ran 11 times for 41 yards and the Cowboys’ only rushing touchdown. Schottenheimer said the Cowboys know what they are capable of on offense.

“Right now because of the lack of a running game, we’re a little bit one-sided, and the best way to be on offense as a unit is to have balance, so we have to find balance,” Schottenheimer said. “And again, there’s a lot of reasons for that. There’s missed blocks, there’s bad calls, there’s missed runs, there’s different things. But at the end of the day, we know what we’re capable of, but we have to go out and do it.”

Green Bay brought pressure throughout the night, and a Zaire Franklin blitz forced an incompletion one snap before the first interception. Schottenheimer said a run that creases for a big play is one of the best answers to the blitz.

“I think the first thing I would say is we haven’t played a normal game. In the last two games we’ve been playing from behind. That’s a little bit hard. One of the best things to do against the blitz is you can get runs and stuff that crease their big plays. That’s part of it,” Schottenheimer said. “But again, if you look at Dak historically, he’s been really good against the blitz. This is two games that we have to take a look at.”

“But my first thing that I go to is that at the end of the day, we’re putting ourselves in a position where we gotta throw the ball all around and go two-minute up-tempo to try to get back in the game,” Schottenheimer continued. “And it’s gonna be hard to do in the National Football League.”

Malachi Lawrence started at outside linebacker for Dallas. Schottenheimer said the changes the Cowboys made against Green Bay included some from a personnel standpoint.

“I’m not opposed to shaking things up. That’s different than saying I’m not going to change. I’m never going to change, I’m not going to change who I am and how I look at the game. [That] doesn’t mean we’re not willing to change things up and look at things,” Schottenheimer said. “There were some subtle changes tonight. There were some changes from a personnel standpoint. There were some changes that have happened. But obviously we didn’t do enough good things to win, and that’s the name of the game.”

Green Bay ran 26 times for 57 yards, and Dallas sacked Jordan Love 3 times. Schottenheimer said the Cowboys did not block some of Green Bay’s movement up front in the run game.

“Again, we can’t repeat mistakes. We talked about we wanted to own the line of scrimmage. I thought the defense did a really good job stopping the run. I thought that was really, really good. We got some pressure on the quarterback, which was good,” Schottenheimer said. “I don’t think we did a very good job blocking some movement stuff in the run game. That hurt us. But I want to look at the film. But those are areas that I really believe. I believe the fight was right. I believe the effort was right. But the execution wasn’t clean enough.”

Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams had a sack and 2 tackles for loss, Kenny Clark added a 10-yard sack, and Von Miller had a tackle for loss. Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. broke up 2 passes and was also flagged for a 37-yard pass interference penalty late in the first half. Schottenheimer said he wanted to watch the film before grading any of it.

“I thought there was some positive plays. I know [Von] had a really good play. I thought [Quinnen] was great today. This wasn’t a personnel change, but you felt him and Kenny Clark out there. I think that was really, really good,” Schottenheimer said. “I thought JPJ made some good plays. He was dealing with some bumps and bruises and so, but I thought he did some good things. But again, I wanna watch the film.”

Green Bay converted 9 of 10 third downs in the first half and 11 of 18 for the game. Schottenheimer said CeeDee Lamb slipped on the slant that Brandon Cisse intercepted at the two-minute warning.

“We’ve talked about it. You watch the Atlanta game. These guys, Atlanta and Green Bay, slip especially as it gets later in the night. I mean, as the game got on, more and more guys slipped,” Schottenheimer said. “And this is a field that historically is a little bit slick.”

Schottenheimer said linebacker Dee Winters has an Achilles strain and Turpin has a rib cartilage injury with clean X-rays. Turpin was hurt on the opening kickoff, and Winters went down in the second quarter after intercepting Love late in the first.

Dallas visits the Philadelphia Eagles next. Schottenheimer said the players understand they cannot repeat mistakes.

“Go back to work. That’s what we’re going to do. Division game in Philadelphia, another place that’s tough to play. But our guys are going to respond,” Schottenheimer said. “Like I said, it’s not the effort. It’s the execution. And that’s what we’ve got to clean up. And that’s as a football team, coaches and players alike.”

The Cowboys and Eagles meet Monday, Oct. 26, at Lincoln Financial Field. Kickoff is set for 7:15 p.m. CT on ESPN and ABC. Philadelphia is 2-4 after a 25-14 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

This article first appeared on Dallas Sports Journal and was syndicated with permission.

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