The Cowboys need a reset in the worst way after falling to 3-5 with a brutal Week 8 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Dallas blew the lead, lost in overtime, and now has to answer quickly after Brian Schottenheimer remained the head coach. On paper, Week 9 looks like the kind of matchup a team in that spot should welcome: the Indianapolis Colts are 2-6 and have already started moving off key pieces.
Von Miller isn’t treating it like a soft landing.
Todd Archer of ESPN reported that Miller called the Colts a “scary” opponent for Dallas, pointing to a group of players who are “fighting for their lives” right now. Miller explained it this way: “Those guys are fighting for their lives as well,” Miller said.
“They’re trying to find their identity, too. And those teams are always scary whenever you play them because you really don’t know what to expect.”
At first glance, that sounds backwards. The Colts were just hammered 42-7 by the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 8, and the roster has already taken hits with Quenton Nelson and DeForest Buckner traded away. But that’s exactly why Miller sees danger here.
This could be the kind of game where Indianapolis comes out swinging for what may be the last time this group is together before the trade deadline changes everything. Jonathan Taylor, Josh Downs, Daniel Jones, and Tyler Warren could all be in line for a big afternoon against a Dallas defense that has struggled this season. And with players trying to keep their jobs or make themselves attractive to a contender, the Colts have plenty of incentive to show up with urgency.
There’s also the other side of it, of course. If the looming sell-off hangs over the locker room the wrong way, Indianapolis could just as easily come out flat and put together another ugly performance. That volatility is what makes the matchup tricky.
So while Miller’s warning about the Colts might sound strange at first, the logic is pretty clear: Dallas could be walking into a game against a team that either has nothing left to lose or nothing left to hold together. That’s what makes it feel like a trap game.
In Other News...
Cowboys Frustration With Brian Schottenheimer Is Getting Harder To Ignore
The Cowboys left Sunday with 30 points on the board and still had plenty to sort through after a loss to the Cardinals, because the number alone did not tell the story of how the offense functioned. CeeDee Lamb made it clear afterward that execution was not where it needed to be, and the fact that three of those points came on field goals only sharpened the frustration around an attack that never quite played with the urgency Dallas needed.
Dak Prescott also pointed to a lack of aggression in the late-game approach, a comment that lands squarely in the middle of the growing scrutiny around Brian Schottenheimer. The criticism is not just about one conservative sequence or one play call, but about a broader pattern of cautious decision-making and design choices at key moments, the kind of thing that tends to linger when a team keeps coming up short in games it feels it should have controlled. [Read more 🡒]
Cowboys Still Waiting On Two Crucial Calls Before Colts Game
The Cowboys are heading into Week 9 with two important names still in question, and both could matter plenty against the Colts. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Joey Porter Jr. and George Pickens will be limited, while stopping short of confirming either one for Sunday, leaving Dallas to monitor two players who have become central to the conversation this week.
Pickens situation carries extra weight because of the injury concern and the constant buzz around his future, while Porters availability also looms large for a defense trying to keep pace. Dallas still has time to sort out the final call, but until those decisions come in, the matchup in Indianapolis is already carrying a little more uncertainty than the Cowboys would prefer. [Read more 🡒]
Jerry Jones Just Drew Another Brutal Cowboys Reality Check
The Cowboys long wait for a return to the NFC Championship Game or a Super Bowl has become part of the franchises identity, and this season has only sharpened the frustration around Jerry Jones stewardship. With the team mired in another difficult stretch, the familiar questions are back again about whether the organizations current direction can still produce the kind of championship run Dallas has been chasing since 1996.
Those doubts are not just coming from outside the building, either. Former NFL figures have been openly weighing in on Jones and the way he runs the team, and the conversation has only grown louder as the trade deadline approaches and the Cowboys try to decide what kind of move, if any, can change the trajectory of a season that already feels uncomfortably familiar. [Read more 🡒]