For the second week in a row, the Dallas Cowboys could not get it done and find a way to win a football game and drop to 2-4 on the season with the easiest part of their schedule coming up.
A handful of things stood out to me in the loss last night against the Packers, and I wanted to write a post about each one of them and the first is going to be about the offensive game plan.
For the second week in a row, Brian Schottenheimer was out coached by a defensive coordinator.
Do not trust this team until they get serious about hiring a real coaching staff.
Predictable As Heck
For the second week in a row, the Dallas offense has struggled, and let’s keep it honest, and if you read my stuff enough, regardless of who it is, when something is bad, I always call it like it is.
The offense, after three good weeks in a row, has taken a huge step back, and I can see it with my own eyes, and if I can see it, so can the best defensive minds that are coaches in the National Football League.
Last season, Dallas ranked in the top half of the league in play action rate (28.2%), under-center rate (38.4%) and motion rate (56.6%).
This season, the Cowboys now profile as dead last in the NFL in motion rate (36.5%), 28th out of 32 teams in under-center rate (30.4%) and 20th in play-action rate.
I don’t know if you notice it like I do, but when they line up in something, I can almost always tell you what play they are going to run. That dumb, play action throw into the flat to the tight end for a two-yard gain, or a dumb off to the running back three yards behind the line.
How about a slant over the middle to CeeDee Lamb or George Pickens? That is the only play that Schotty seems to have on his call sheet to beat the blitz.
Over the last two weeks, against the Buccaneers (43.9% blitz rate, the third-highest in the NFL) and the Packers (33.9%, tied for the 10th-highest in the NFL), he got completely out classes the last two weeks by a defensive play caller.
This coaching staff had 10 days to prepare for this game, and you saw no adjustments to free blitzes, pressure on every drop back, launching the ball off the back foot.
One play I want to highlight is the 4th down play in the second half when it was still a 10-point game. He called a sprint LEFT option. Please understand that a QB that is RIGHT handed has to throw that ball ACROSS his body, it just can’t continue.
Only non-Cowboy fans who fail to watch the games every week will see what we see, the same 15–20 plays they run every single week, and when it doesn’t work, that is when we see the forced throws into coverage, etc.
One last point I want to highlight and take a look at the tweet below, after the Cowboys scored early in the second half, making it a 10 point game, Brain Schottenheimer called 38 plays, 37 of them were pass plays!!! Run the football bro, you had the ENTIRE second half, and it was a 10 point game.
Also Coach Schottenheimer Calling Plays:
Last year, teams had no film on Schotty and the offensive because Mike McCarthy called the plays, so maybe that was the reason for the offensive output a year ago. Still, if I can call the play out in real time before it is happening, that is a major issue.
We are seeing some bad coaching around the league this year, and we are seeing on full display by the Cowboys head coach. The team is never ready to play, they can’t make in-game adjustments, and the offensive game plan is to hope that Lamb or Pickens just get open, because it is the same 15–20 plays every single game. I could call a better game with my PS5 controller.
The quarterback has to be better, the wide receivers have to be better, the tight ends have to be better, although Brev Spann Ford seems to have taken snaps from Jake Ferguson, which is a good thing, and clearly the offensive game plan just has to be better.
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