Brian Schottenheimer report card: A second straight dud from the head coach
I would like to start the week six Brian Schottenheimer report card with his grade against the Green Bay Packers.
F.
Thank you for reading.
Okay, okay, okay, let’s actually dive into this. You could make the argument that the week six trip to Green Bay was the biggest game for the Cowboys so far this season. After embarrassing themselves on both sides of the football against the then 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Cowboys had a really good opportunity to get back to .500 on the season with a quality road win, against a quality road opponent.
The result? Maybe the team’s most embarrassing performance we have seen in quite some time (well, except for last week).
The frustration with Schottenheimer started before the ball was even kicked. One of the easiest things a head coach can do for their football team is give yourself a chance to double up on points by deferring after winning the coin toss. Instead, the Cowboys handed the Packers that opportunity on a silver platter.
People argue taking the football first can allow you to set the tone, but with how poorly the Cowboys defense has played so far this season, there is no tone to set. Instead, the Cowboys had a six play, 19-yard drive, and punted the ball right to Green Bay, who then went on a 14-play, 90-yard drive to take the lead, and they never looked back.
If you thought the Cowboys offense struggled last week against Tampa, boy it was so much worse Sunday night in Green Bay. The Cowboys struggled to run the ball all night, averaging 3.1 yards per carry when you remove Dak Prescott’s scramble yards. They also struggled to gain any consistency through the air, while dropping back to pass 54 times. Those drop backs were a struggle all night and pretty much everyone involves deserves blame but today were grading Brian Schottenheimer.
Schottenheimer has been a net-negative to the team in back-to-back weeks. His lack of creativity, answers versus the blitz, and route concepts are just nowhere near good enough to give the offense any easy buttons. After watching the All-22, we can confirm what Chris Collinsworth and Mike Tirico alluded to many times last night. The banged up Green Bay defense were not afraid of the Cowboys passing attack.
They sent heavy blitzes all night because the play-calling to beat the blitz was bad, and the pass protection rules Schottenheimer’s offense has put on tape the last few weeks gives the defense an easy advantage. They left their depth cornerbacks on an island often against CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, because they were not afraid of them beating them vertically. The last two weeks, Schottenheimer’s offense has been neutered, and so far, the “answers” they have put on tape are just “hopefully our players can be better”. Well, they haven’t been.
While the play-calling has been bad, and the answers versus the blitz have been bad, the game management and game preparation has been even worse on the offensive side of the ball.
Going back to the decision to take the ball to start the game, Brian Schottenheimer elected to punt on 4th and 4 from the Green Bay 47. The third-down call that put them in fourth in manageable was a designed swing pass to Javonte Williams in the flat. An aggressive, tone-setting team likely runs the football on third down and knows before the third-down play is snapped that we are setting the tone by going for it on fourth down.
Schottenheimer then called a timeout on defense in the second quarter on fourth-down for no reason, as Matt LaFluer came out on fourth-down from the two, tried the hard count, and took a delay of game and kicked the 25-yard field goal. Schottenheimer then used his second and third timeout with :28 seconds left in the first half, with the Packers offense scoring on a Jordan Love rushing touchdown with :23 seconds left in the first half.
The game preparation stuff showed up next, as the Cowboys offense looked to get into field goal range before halftime with 23 seconds left. Dak Prescott completed a six-yard pass to Jake Ferguson in bounds but forgot to carry the football back to the line of scrimmage and the Cowboys were unable to get another play off before the clock hit 0:00. In reality, this did not impact the game, but these are small details the Schottenheimer-led offense cannot be making in year two under his supervision.
We could go on and on about all the issues, but the reality is none of it is good right now. Since beating the Texans in week four, the Cowboys have played just as poorly on offense as they have on defense. Opposing defensive coordinators now realize the play designs and protection rules the Cowboys are putting on tape are making things pretty much impossible on the Cowboys passing game, and until that changes, they will continue to struggle to move the football with any consistency through the air or ground.
If you would like to see every third-down attempt up until the mid-way point of the fourth quarter (when the game was pretty much over), you can see them here:
Play-Calling
F
Fourth-Down Decisions
F
The decision to punt on the first drive was a pretty big whiff from Schotty. Late in the third quarter, he also decided to punt down 20-7 with 3:35 remaining on 4th and 7 from about midfield. Sure, if they fail to get that the game is probably over, but better third-down play calling could make these fourth-down decisions much easier, especially late in games.
Timeout Usage
F
Team Preparation
F
It was all pretty ugly, again.
What grade would you give to Brian Schottenheimer on Sunday?
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