Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer came about as close as possible to handing a victory to the Baltimore Ravens, as his team lost their Week 3 duel in Brazil by a narrow 34-31 scoreline on a game-winning Tyler Loop field goal.
Even though Dallas had tied the game at 31-31 with seven seconds left, Schottenheimer seemingly instructed kicker Brandon Aubrey to boot it through the end zone and give Baltimore the ball on the 35-yard line. This gave Lamar Jackson enough time to run one play, which put Loop in field goal range with one second left.
The Ravens should never have been in that position to begin with, as a well-executed squib kick would have been enough to push things into overtime. Instead, the Cowboys decided to leave just enough space for the Ravens to stick their face in the dirt, and Schottenheimer must be held accountable for a decision that the best coaches in the league simply do not pull off.
Brian Schottenheimer's game-losing decision is why Cowboys coach is not elite
This game, which was the first in the Super Bowl era where both teams kicked a field goal with less than 10 seconds remaining in the contest, was in Dallas' hands. After stopping the Ravens on fourth down and then taking the lead, the Cowboys had all of the necessary momentum at their backs.
This decision was made even worse after the fact when Ravens head coach Jesse Minter stopped shy of saying that Dallas basically gifted them the win, adding in a postgame press conference that it was all but essential to get that extra play in.
When other coaches are basically shaking Schottenheimer's hand verbally after the game, that speaks to the magnitude of this egregious error.
No one is doubting the Cowboys' roster from an overall talent point of view. Losing games like this, which has become a frequent occurrence in the Mike McCarthy and Schottenheimer eras, is the exact type of stuff that gets them beat at the most inopportune times.
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It's a shame because there's a lot to like about the Cowboys this season. Dak Prescott remains one of the better quarterbacks in the league, CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens have been cooking together, and rookies like Caleb Downs and Jaishawn Barham have been impactful playmakers.
However, the two boxes the Cowboys needed to check in order to get back into the playoffs were raising the defense's floor and taking situational execution a step forward. So far, the Christian Parker hire has not been as transformative as one would have hoped, and Schottenheimer was one step away from handing the Ravens a win.
Schottenheimer can whip up a creative and efficient offense, and that is half the battle in the modern NFL. However, with a very winnable game completely fumbled due to Schottenheimer giving Baltimore a chance to get up off the mat, fans are not going to tolerate many more subpar efforts.
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