Brian Schottenheimer’s postgame message after the Cowboys’ 23-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers sounded noble enough on the surface. It just landed like the wrong note.
Dallas fell to 9-13-1 under Schottenheimer on Sunday night at Lambeau Field, and the bigger issue wasn’t just the result. It was how the Cowboys got there. This is a roster that looks better than its 2-4 record, but the coaching staff isn’t getting enough out of it, and Schottenheimer only made that harder to defend by praising the one thing that should be assumed.
“The effort is right,” Schottenheimer said. “The fight is right.
The mistakes are killing us. Repeating mistakes is not what we’re about.”
He had to say something, but in a loss this lopsided, boasting about effort comes off thin. Effort is the baseline in the NFL. It’s not a badge of honor after a nationally televised beating.
And that was the point of the night: the Cowboys did not have a moral victory to cling to. They were outplayed, outcoached, and overwhelmed across the board.
They never really looked like a team on the verge of pulling it together. The closest thing to a spark came from Dee Winters’ pick-six, and even that flicker disappeared when the officials ruled Winters was touched down.
Playing hard to the final whistle matters. But if that’s the most encouraging thing you can say after a blowout loss, the standard has dropped too far.
The larger problem is that Dallas’ effort isn’t being matched by discipline. Jaishawn Barham is missing tackles on third down because he’s flying in too fast and not breaking down.
Tyler Booker drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a fourth-down conversion with the Cowboys already trailing by double digits in the second half. That isn’t winning football.
It’s energy without control. Right now, the Cowboys have too much of the first and not enough of the second.
Schottenheimer’s line about mistakes cut closer to the truth.
“The mistakes are killing us.”
Dallas had 10 days to get ready and try to erase the memory of its ugly loss to the winless Buccaneers, but the same problems showed up again. The Cowboys were flagged 11 times for 106 yards and came out flat.
The officiating was touchy on both sides, and Dallas had a few legitimate complaints, but most of the penalties were deserved. The self-inflicted damage was the story.
False starts. Holding.
Illegal hands to the face. Pass interference.
Illegal man downfield. The Cowboys kept putting themselves in bad spots, wiping out positive plays and turning manageable downs into uphill climbs.
One sequence in the fourth quarter, with Dallas down 20-7, said everything. A Shavon Revel holding penalty erased a seven-yard Jonathan Mingo punt return and sent the Cowboys back from Packers territory to their own 31.
On the very next snap, the ball hit an in-motion Jake Ferguson. On second down, Prescott was pressured and dumped it off to Ferguson.
Then on third down, Tyler Guyton was whistled for holding.
That was the night in miniature: one mistake after another, every possible opening slammed shut.
“Repeating mistakes is not what we’re about.”
Maybe not in theory. But on Sunday night, repeating mistakes looked a lot like the Cowboys’ identity.
Schottenheimer isn’t just trying to clean them up. He’s fighting them from the sideline too, with the same issues showing up in his play-calling and his game and clock management. It’s hard to demand sharper football when the details keep slipping on the sideline as well.
At least, by his own account, the fight was there.
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