The Cowboys had plenty of chances to bury the Cardinals on Sunday, and they let every one of them slip.
Dallas scored 30 points, but that number only tells part of the story. Three of those scores came on field goals, and CeeDee Lamb made it clear on Thursday that the offense left too much on the table.
"Yeah we scored 30, but that included three field goals, so let’s be real," Lamb said. "We stop ourselves.
That (expletive) is frustrating. It’s annoying.
I hate it. Then, ultimately, we end up losing."
Lamb didn’t directly point a finger at Brian Schottenheimer, but the frustration is impossible to miss. The gap between the talent on this offense and what it’s actually producing keeps widening, and the Cowboys’ most important playmakers are starting to sound fed up.
Dak Prescott was asked about Schottenheimer’s choice to run the ball on 3rd-and-16 and settle for a 41-yard field goal with 1:09 left in the fourth quarter and a three-point lead on the line.
"Yeah, I wish we were a little bit more aggressive there," Prescott said.
That sequence fit a larger pattern. Schottenheimer opened that possession with an inside run on first down that went nowhere, then followed with a pass that turned into a six-yard sack when Arizona blitzed and Prescott had nowhere to go. Lamb and George Pickens were not on the field for either snap.
The Cowboys had the ball with a chance to finish the game, and their top two receivers were watching from the sideline. That only sharpened the questions around how Dallas is using its talent, especially when the defense was getting hammered by a journeyman quarterback.
According to Bobby Belt of 105.3 The Fan, Dallas managed 34 yards on its final 27 plays from scrimmage. Arizona piled up 267 yards on its final 31 plays in that same stretch.
Schottenheimer’s approach is becoming the issue. The Cowboys aren’t using much pre-snap motion, the play designs aren’t doing enough to create easy touches for the best players beyond five yards from the line of scrimmage, and the offense gets even more predictable when the team is protecting a lead.
Jerry Jones said on 105.3 The Fan that the plan was to "avoid turnovers."
There’s a difference between being careful and playing scared, and Schottenheimer has not shown he knows where that line is in 25 games as a head coach.
Lamb’s comments didn’t spell out exactly what is bothering him, and he didn’t publicly take aim at his head coach. But the message was loud enough. The offense is underachieving, the execution is sloppy, and the frustration is no longer staying behind closed doors.
Dallas returned all 11 starters and its play-caller and coordinator, yet the offense is regressing instead of pushing toward the top of the league. Somehow, a unit loaded with continuity and firepower has turned into one of the most predictable groups in football.
Now the disconnect is showing up in public, and the Cowboys’ biggest voices are making it clear they’re not happy about it.
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