FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys did not sack Jaxson Dart in Sunday night’s 28-20 loss at the New York Giants. Coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked Monday whether his team has the personnel to pressure a quarterback.
Dallas rebuilt the edge over the offseason. The Cowboys traded for Rashan Gary, drafted Malachi Lawrence 23rd overall, and signed Von Miller on Aug. 17.
Schottenheimer started his answer with down and distance.
“A couple things. One, part of rushing the passer is putting yourselves in position to do that by the D&D,” Schottenheimer said. “I thought that they did a nice job of getting the ball out of their hand fast. If you watch their snap to throw, it was pretty quick. Jackson was getting it out of his hand pretty quick.”
Second-year edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku and cornerback Cobie Durant were the two players Schottenheimer singled out, along with the protection counts New York used.
“I thought Donovan Ezeiruaku actually had some really beautiful, beautiful rushes,” Schottenheimer said. “And then when they tried to throw it down the field, they took a couple double moves and stuff. Cobie Durant had a nice PBU one. They kept seven guys in. It’s going to be hard.”
The Dallas Cowboys Pass Rush Snap Counts
Ezeiruaku played 42 defensive snaps in the opener, second among Dallas edge players. Gary played 41. Lawrence, the rookie out of Central Florida, took 30. Miller played 11.
Dallas drafted Ezeiruaku in the second round out of Boston College in 2025. He appeared in all 17 games as a rookie. His line was 40 tackles, 2 sacks, and a forced fumble.
Schottenheimer went back to the fourth quarter.
“But I think it’s just us finishing. If it’s a pass rush, we forced a third nine. We had a second and 16 in that four-minute drive,” Schottenheimer said. “We were trying to get the ball back, and they popped an explosive run. It’s a bad time for that to happen.”
New York ran 69 offensive plays.
“So they had a plan against us, and that was to try to beat us up in the running game and then to try to get the ball out of his hand fast,” Schottenheimer said. “So I think it was more of that than us, that we can’t rush the passer. I feel very confident that we can rush the passer, and I think we’ll show that, but we need to be in more advantageous down the distances to do that.”
Christian Parker Mixed Coverages And Sent Pressure
Dallas did not sit still schematically. Rookie Caleb Downs rushed off the edge at times. Christian Parker was calling his first NFL game as a coordinator.
“I mean, we did do some things different. We fired some linebackers. We fired Caleb off the edge. We did some different things,” Schottenheimer said. “I did think CP mixed his coverages pretty well. Unfortunately, they made plays in timely situations, and that’s what the NFL comes down to. There’s going to be four or five plays. If we get off the field with the first third down a nine in four minutes, who knows what happens.”
New York converted 9 of 11 third downs and held the ball for 36:40. Dallas hosts the Washington Commanders on Sunday at AT&T Stadium at 3:25 p.m. CT on FOX.
