Brian Schottenheimer fell to 9-13-1 as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, as the Green Bay Packers coasted to a 23-13 victory at Lambeau Field.
This roster is better than its 2-4 record, but the coaching staff just isn't maximizing its talent. There is nothing Schottenheimer can say right now that won't be scrutinized. But he did himself zero favors in his postgame availability by applauding his players' effort.
"The effort is right," Schottenheimer said. "The fight is right. The mistakes are killing us. Repeating mistakes is not what we’re about."
Again, Schottenheimer has to say something, but bragging about effort in a blowout loss rings extremely hollow. Effort should be the standard at this level. It is the bare minimum, not something that should be applauded after getting embarrassed on national television.
Brian Schottenheimer bragging about Cowboys' effort rings hollow
Anything less than maximum effort would be a much bigger problem. That would suggest Schottenheimer has lost the locker room entirely. The fact that Dallas is still playing hard is nice, but the bar has to be significantly higher than that.
And the fact that the "effort" is the only thing worth celebrating after the loss speaks to how ugly the performance was.
There were no moral victories to take home. The Cowboys were outplayed, outcoached, and overwhelmed in every phase. At no point did it really feel like they had a chance to win. Maybe there was a brief flicker of hope after Dee Winters' pick-six, but that was wiped away immediately after the refs deemed that Winters was touched down.
Playing hard until the final whistle is better than rolling over, but when that is the most encouraging takeaway from a blowout loss, the standard has fallen far too low.
That is a sad -- but perfect -- summation of the Brian Schottenheimer Cowboys.
And what good is effort if it isn't channeled properly?
Jaishawn Barham is missing tackles on third down because he's coming in too hot and failing to break down. Tyler Booker is getting flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after a fourth-down conversion with Dallas already trailing by double digits in the second half. That's not winning football.
It's effort without discipline, and right now the Cowboys have far too much of the former without enough of the latter.
"The mistakes are killing us": Brian Schottenheimer said it all
The Cowboys had 10 days to prepare and avenge their pathetic loss to the winless Buccaneers, but you wouldn't know it. They came out flat and committed 11 penalties for 106 yards.
The officials were quick to throw flags on both sides, and Dallas certainly had reason to gripe about a few calls. But most of the penalties were deserved. The Cowboys repeatedly shot themselves in the foot. False starts. Holding. Illegal hands to the face. Pass interference. Illegal man downfield. You name it.
The mistakes were everywhere, and they came at the worst possible times. Positive plays were wiped out. Drives extended. Manageable situations became uphill battles. That's how a team beats itself, and it's especially hard to defend coming out of a mini bye.
The following sequence in the fourth quarter with Dallas trailing 20-7 was a perfect snapshot of the night:
A Shavon Revel holding call negated a seven-yard Jonathan Mingo punt return and pushed Dallas out of Packers territory and back to their own 31. On the very next play, the snap hits an in-motion Jake Ferguson. How does that happen? On second down, Prescott was under pressure and hit a dump-off to Ferguson. And on third down, Tyler Guyton was called for a holding penalty.
Sloppy. Sloppy. Sloppy. Every time you thought the Cowboys had a chance to make it a game, they self-destructed.
"Repeating mistakes is not what we're about."
On the contrary, repeating mistakes have become the defining characteristic of this team.
Schottenheimer isn't merely failing to correct them. He's contributing to the problem himself, both as a play-caller and in his game and clock management. It's difficult to demand cleaner football from your players when the same lack of discipline and attention to detail keeps showing up on the sideline.
But hey, at least the effort was there.
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