I was very happy to see a Dallas win last night, of course, but I’m hoping it doesn’t blind us fans to the fact that the Cowboys coaching was still poor.
The Brian Schottenheimer-led coaching staff has been a hot topic this year for this reason, and we should keep talking about it.
If we are set to see a Cowboys coaching turnaround in 2026, it didn’t start last night, despite the win. Both offensively and defensively, the same things we’ve complained about all year appeared once again.
Injured Eagles Team Let Cowboys Coaching Woes Off The Hook
(Penalties, Clock Management, and Poor Defense gave Eagles a Window to Win)
Schottenheimer has maintained one of the Cowboys’ biggest struggles from past regimes: boneheaded penalties. If you watched, you know there was no shortage of those last night.
Dallas jumped offsides three times in the first quarter; two of those came from All-Pro Quinnen Williams, who negated a defensive fumble recovery on a 4th and 1 that led to an Eagles touchdown.
In total, the Cowboys committed eight penalties (7/8 in the first half).
I understand the argument that they got it together after halftime, but it was an inexcusable display to start the game off.
My second issue was with Schottenheimer’s clock management, which is really a gigantic problem for Dallas; the end of the first half sequence was shockingly bad for such an experienced NFL mind.
After a 14-yard grab from CeeDee Lamb put Dallas at Philly’s 39 with 44 seconds left, Schottenheimer refused to call one of his two timeouts. Instead, they completed a pass downfield to Lamb, who stepped out of bounds to stop the clock with 12 seconds remaining.
Nice catch by Lamb, but atrocious clock management by Schottenheimer; the next thing to happen was a timeout from the HC to avoid a delay of game; that became the only timeout Dallas used.
Dak missed Lamb for the TD
They seemingly threw it away intentionally twice to set up a chip-shot field goal — even the broadcast called out the clock management failure.
Moving off Schotty to conclude, Christian Parker’s defense got smoked out by a third-string caliber quarterback for a large portion of the night.
The Eagles opened the game with a 4-play touchdown drive, and then put together a 13-play touchdown drive; those were their only two drives of the first half, but the second half opened with a 17 (yes, 17) play, 84-yard touchdown drive as well.
Mind you, this is an offense that was without Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith, and a healthy Saquon Barkley (who seemed hurt all night). A healthy Eagles team probably scores 40, at least, last night.
Again, they “got it together” in the second half, but a lot of that came from McKee suddenly missing throw after throw.
Again, I’m happy with the win, but it was not a result of some sudden turnaround by the Cowboys coaching staff. It’s unfortunate, but they are far from even mediocre right now.
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