‘Not Concerned About Our Offense’: Brian Schottenheimer Points To Playing From Behind After Dallas Cowboys’ 23-13 Loss To Green Bay Packers

FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Monday that trailing in back-to-back losses has shaped how often Dallas runs the ball and how often opponents blitz Dak Prescott, a day after a 23-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers dropped the Cowboys to 2-4.

Dallas trailed 17-0 at halftime at Lambeau Field and finished with 54 pass attempts and 15 rushes. The Cowboys called one designed run after Javonte Williams’ 1-yard touchdown cut the lead to 17-7 in the third quarter. Schottenheimer said there are a lot of different things behind the struggles against the blitz.

“Number one, like I’ve said, we’ve put ourselves behind in games. The last two games, we’ve been playing second-half catch-up, if you will. And when you play second-half catch-up, it’s going to affect a lot of things. It’s going to affect your rushing attempts. It’s going to affect how many times teams can blitz you and pressure you. So I think that’s the number one thing,” Schottenheimer said.

“There’s certainly things we need to clean up from a blitz pickup standpoint, all of us, from a scheme standpoint, from an execution standpoint. But I think the biggest thing is we’ve just kind of put ourselves behind the eight ball and having to play catch-up against two aggressive teams,” Schottenheimer continued. “They’ve come after us, and we haven’t handled it very well.”

Brian Schottenheimer Says Dallas Cowboys Have A History Of Being Explosive

Dallas scored 16 points in a 24-16 home loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 8 and 13 points at Green Bay. Schottenheimer said the Cowboys will get back to work rather than make changes.

“I think the biggest thing we look at is how we want these games to unfold. I mean, like I said last night, didn’t anticipate or plan on throwing the ball 54 times last night. That’s not a good formula. It’s the way the game unfolded. We got down two scores. Felt like we kind of had to go because we were down the two scores. And that’s probably the number one thing,” Schottenheimer explained.

“But in terms of changes, no, we’re going to get back to work. And we’ll figure it out. We have great trust in our offense. I’m not concerned about our offense. Again, the last two weeks are the last two weeks. We own that. That is what it is,” Schottenheimer continued. “It has not been good enough, but we also have a history of being really explosive, really good, and we’ve done that not only last year but in four of our games this year.”

Green Bay was credited with 7 quarterback hits on Prescott, and both of his interceptions came in the first half. Schottenheimer said he wondered afterward whether he should have called a timeout after the hit on Prescott, the snap before the first interception.

“Not to be a broken record, but when you’re playing from behind, which we had to do against the [New York Giants] because we had limited ops, and then, of course, the last two games, Tampa Bay and last night, because they’re anticipating what you’re doing, it’s a lot easier for them to fire a lot of different blitzes and things like that. So that’s probably the biggest thing,” Schottenheimer said.

“I said last night, wasn’t a normal game. The last two games haven’t been normal for us in terms of the latter part of the game and how the game came about, and that comes down to execution. I really think last night the turnovers got us. It’s very unlike us to do that in those situations. [CeeDee] slips, Dak takes a big hit, maybe I should have called timeout, I don’t know,” Schottenheimer continued. “Love the guy, but at the end of the day, when we turned the ball over, it definitely affected our momentum.”

Schottenheimer On Balance, Tempo, And The Scramble Game

Prescott said after the game that the Cowboys have a great process and practice the right way but are not executing what they need to win. Schottenheimer said he agreed and pointed to the Cowboys’ running game in the red zone.

“Yeah, I would agree with that. I think that’s evident. I think we’ve shown that we can do it. Again, I think that it comes back to, on offense, balance. Our balance has been off the last two games, and we need to get back to being more balanced,” Schottenheimer said. “And, again, I think you saw how well we ran the football in the red zone the last couple games. I think that’s been great. We need to run the ball like that out in the field and put ourselves in a position to be more balanced.”

Williams scored on three straight carries from the Green Bay 11 for the Cowboys’ only rushing touchdown. Schottenheimer said the game video shows how Green Bay lined up against those calls.

“Again, I think if you look at the video, there were some run-pass kills. And if you pull up the video, you guys were all there. You saw how aggressive they were, and they were daring us to throw it,” Schottenheimer said. “And so there were a few other run attempts that we ended up taking to pass because of the fronts and things that they were in.”

Dallas went no-huddle on several snaps of its final two possessions, which ran 14 and 13 plays. Schottenheimer said the goal in two-minute is to get as many possessions as possible.

“I’d say pace operation when you’re in two-minute. You’re trying to go fast. You’re trying to keep the defense on their heels. You’re trying to extend the game for as long as you can and get as many ops as possible because you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Schottenheimer said. “And when you shift in motion, obviously the play clock and the game clock go down, and so that limits your ops. And that’s a big reason why when you see teams go no-huddle, usually receivers don’t change sides. Usually you’re moving one guy, maybe the back and one guy. And you’re trying to do that to stay ahead of the clock.”

The second of those drives ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Prescott to Ryan Flournoy with 44 seconds left. Schottenheimer said he does not think Dallas is getting away from its early plan too soon.

“I don’t think so. I really don’t. I think you have to make those decisions in game, and I think we’ve shown that we can move the ball either way. We can move the ball when we huddle, and we can move the ball in two minutes. I mean, we moved the ball pretty well in two minutes. And against New York, we moved the ball [in] two minutes, well against Tampa Bay, and then last night we didn’t get in the second time, but we moved it pretty well,” Schottenheimer said. “We had a fourth and 11 where we didn’t finish, but I think we can move it however we have to, and the biggest thing is what you said, we’ve been trailing too much.”

Prescott scrambled once for 7 yards on third-and-9 in the third quarter. Schottenheimer said the Cowboys’ receivers all have speed.

“Yeah, I mean, we definitely have to keep emphasizing the scramble rules and things like that. But we are at our best when things are running and moving. And I think that’s something that we’ve shown the ability in certain times this year where we’re hitting big crossers and big ends and things like that,” Schottenheimer said. “That’s where we’re best with our guys because our guys can all run. They’ve got speed. They’ve got run after the catch. But I would say that definitely the scramble phase of where we’re at is not up to the standard that it needs to be.”

Dallas visits the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday, Oct. 26, at Lincoln Financial Field. Kickoff is set for 7:15 p.m. CT on ESPN and ABC. Philadelphia is also 2-4 after a 25-14 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.