FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer took responsibility Tuesday for the final 28 seconds of Sunday’s 34-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens and said he hurt the team’s chance to win.
Dallas had first-and-goal at the Baltimore 2 with 23 seconds left in Rio de Janeiro and settled for Brandon Aubrey’s tying 23-yard field goal with 7 seconds remaining. The ensuing kickoff went for a touchback, and Tyler Loop won it for Baltimore with a 56-yarder as time expired. The Cowboys are 1-2.
In Schottenheimer’s view, the Cowboys have not finished either of their two losses, and he put himself at the center of this one. He told reporters his mistake on third down carried into the kickoff decision that followed.
“I didn’t do very good in the last 28 seconds. I think when you talk about finishing the game, which I really think you look at our two games that we’ve lost, we haven’t finished. And I was a big part of this one,” Schottenheimer said. “Like I said, I talked about after the game, I felt like I overcoached Dak on third down, kind of affected his decision-making a little bit. And then I let that kind of bleed over to my decision about kicking the ball.”
“My dad had a rule: one play at a time. He talked a lot about how, because it happened to him, he made a decision on a play, it didn’t go well, he was pissed off about it, and it affected another decision,” Schottenheimer continued. “I think that’s kind of what happened to me, so I’ll take accountability for it. It’s football and life. It’s what happens, but I hurt our chance to win that game. I’ll [be] better, and I’m better than that. I’m better than I performed in the last 28 seconds.”
His father is longtime NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer.
Brian Schottenheimer On First-And-Goal From The Baltimore 2
Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins was called for a 20-yard pass interference penalty against CeeDee Lamb to set up first-and-goal. Schottenheimer took reporters through each snap from there. The first-down call was a run with a tag that let Dak Prescott throw to George Pickens if Baltimore left him one-on-one outside.
By third down, Schottenheimer said, he had to act as head coach rather than play caller. That meant coordinating with special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen and game management coordinator Ryan Feder, and he told reporters that communication fell short.
“I’ll take you through the whole sequence, actually. We got the P.I. penalty down there to CeeDee. First and goal from the two, we called a run. We have run tags for our elite players on the outside if they’re one-one, so we can do different things,” Schottenheimer said. “They played one-one, so we took the shot to GP.”
“Second down, I felt really good about the call. Unfortunately, we had a false-start penalty, so that moved us back and we had to adjust. Baltimore did a really good job covering the concept we had, so Dak did a nice job moving up and scrambling,” Schottenheimer continued. “We called timeout immediately because you want to make sure you have enough time to score. We were not trying to tie that game; we wanted to try to take the victory and take the lead.”
“Terence Steele was on the ground, so Broderick went in. Third down is where I overcoached Dak and put him into a mindset he normally doesn’t play with. That’s where I made the mistake,” Schottenheimer added. “At the end of the day, you have to move on. At that point, I’m no longer the play caller; I’m now the head coach, and the communication with Nick and Feder wasn’t good enough. That starts with me. I take responsibility and accountability for it. Those things will not happen again.”
The false start was on tight end Luke Schoonmaker, and Broderick Jones replaced Steele at right tackle. Prescott threw the ball away on third down, and the play lasted four seconds.
Brian Schottenheimer On Kickoff And Coverage Before Tyler Loop’s Winner
On the first snap after the touchback, Lamar Jackson hit Zay Flowers for 27 yards, and Baltimore called timeout with 1 second left. With a do-over, Schottenheimer would have had Aubrey kick it short instead of into the end zone. A return would have taken the clock down to about 2 seconds.
“It wouldn’t be a dirty ball. It would be a short kick where they’d have to bring it out, and the clock would go down to a couple seconds,” Schottenheimer said. “They probably would have taken a knee.”
Schottenheimer thought the coverage on the final snap was okay. The problem, he said, was that Dallas played it too tight and let the ball go to the deep route instead of the underneath one. He and defensive coordinator Christian Parker have since talked through other calls Parker would have liked.
“No, I think the coverage was okay. We played way too tight, and there was an error on that play where we should have made the ball go to the low-hole player, the low underneath guy, not the deep one,” Schottenheimer explained. “CP and I have talked, and there were some other calls he would have liked. As a leader of this football team, I take complete responsibility for the last 28 seconds. It’s on me, I own it. I will [be] better because of it.”
“As a football team in the two losses, we’ve made too many mistakes in the fourth quarter. I’ve always said games come down to the fourth quarter,” Schottenheimer continued. “You can’t win the game in the first, second, or third; you win it in the fourth quarter. That’s where we haven’t been good enough as a football team.”
A banged-up defense was on Schottenheimer’s mind when Dallas went for the lead instead of the tie. Players came to the facility Monday and Tuesday for lifts and massages.
“Absolutely. You factor all that stuff in; it comes into play. The entire team played really hard. It’s unfortunate we came up short, but we did,” Schottenheimer said. “We had a really good turnout Monday and Tuesday. Guys came in for lifts and massages, and they’re ready to get back to work. It’s a long way to go, all part of the process, and we will [be] better.”
Dallas plays at the Houston Texans on Sunday at Reliant Stadium, with kickoff at noon CT on FOX. The Cowboys then host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7:15 p.m. CT on Prime Video.
