‘Not An Effort Issue’: Brian Schottenheimer Puts Dallas Cowboys’ 3-5 Start On Execution And Himself

FRISCO, Texas — Three days after a 33-30 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals dropped the Dallas Cowboys to 3-5, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said the film shows an execution problem, and that the responsibility for it starts with him.

Dallas led 17-3 late in the third quarter Sunday at AT&T Stadium. Arizona scored 30 points after halftime, and Chad Ryland won it with a 42-yard field goal in overtime.

Schottenheimer met with reporters Wednesday before the team’s first practice of the week at The Star. Effort is not the question for him, and the eye test on film settles it.

“I think it’s the eye test,” Schottenheimer said. “At the end of the day, you gotta look out there and you watch the film, and when you see the film, it’s not an effort issue. It’s not an effort issue. It’s an execution issue. That starts with me as the head coach. I’m responsible for everything that happens here. Our execution has to get cleaner.”

“And what we have to do is we have to be able to put some of these close games away that we’ve unfortunately let slip away from us,” Schottenheimer continued. “And that comes down to execution.”

Brian Schottenheimer Says Consistency Is The Message After Arizona

Consistency has been the theme with the team this week, and the Arizona game is the example Schottenheimer used. Dallas held the Cardinals to 3 points in the first half and sacked Arizona quarterbacks five times for 42 yards.

“Talked a little bit about consistency, how we have to be more consistent,” Schottenheimer explained. “Great case and example is the game the other night. The way the defense played for the first three quarters is how we wanna play defense. And then of course, this is the fourth quarter, we gotta get some stops. Offensively, I feel like we could have put that game away with the offense late, and we didn’t. So that’s been a big message.”

“Now what’s the solution to that? It comes down to execution,” Schottenheimer added. “You gotta know your job. I think these guys are working their butts off in preparation. You gotta understand the importance of that job and then we have to do our job as coaches and players alike. And so I think that’s what we’re focusing on right now is the cleaning up the execution as a whole.”

Arizona coach Mike LaFleur replaced Jacoby Brissett with Gardner Minshew II with 1:35 left in the third quarter. Minshew threw all three of his touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, and Tyler Allgeier ran for 147 yards on 11 carries, 124 of them on four second-half carries.

Quinnen Williams, Von Miller Echo Schottenheimer On Execution

Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams used some form of the word “execute” more than two dozen times during his session with reporters after practice Wednesday. Williams had 7 tackles and 2 sacks against Arizona.

“I think the biggest thing is just execute. We got to execute,” Williams said. “And we haven’t been executing this whole season. And we executed for three quarters and didn’t execute that last quarter. The film says it all. So I think the biggest thing we got to focus on is execute and continue to stack days. And at the end of the day, we got to execute.”

For Von Miller, consistency comes first and execution follows from it.

“I think it’s just a cascade of events. First, it probably starts with consistency, and then you can’t really execute if you’re not consistent,” Miller said. “We’ve been great at times, and then we’ve been bad at times. So execution is the word of the day, and we’ve been working on all of that stuff early this morning on practice. And when we go in the film room, we go see if we executed the right way.”

Schottenheimer did not limit the problem to one side of the ball. Injuries and a defensive overhaul have played a part, he said, but neither covers all of it.

“I think when you add to the transformation of the scheme and the people and the personnel and all that, then you throw into it injuries. I do think that that had something to do with some of the stuff, but make no mistakes about it,” Schottenheimer said. “We are not performing well enough as a football team and not just defensively.”

Dallas visits the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon CT on FOX. The Colts are 2-6 and have lost four straight.