FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Monday that he sits down every Friday with a staff member who reviews every play of every NFL game for game-management scenarios, from two-point decisions to free kicks.
The Cowboys’ own two-point decision came late in Thursday’s 24-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Dallas went 99 yards for a touchdown to cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 24-16 with 5:26 left, then went for two. Dak Prescott’s pass to Ryan Flournoy fell incomplete.
The NFC East produced its own late-game scrutiny Sunday, when the Washington Commanders let the clock run out in overtime before attempting a game-winning field goal and settled for a 27-27 tie with the New York Giants.
Brian Schottenheimer Reviews NFL Game-Management Decisions Every Friday
Schottenheimer said Dallas studies situations from around the league each week, including two-point decisions, free kicks and other scenarios that could eventually come up in a Cowboys game.
“Yeah, actually every Friday, Feeds and I sit down and he does a great job. He goes through every play of every game looking for scenarios like that. Obviously the bigger ones get talked about a lot more, so you’re aware. It might be two-point plays. It might be free kicks. That came up last year. There was free kicks that we talked about after a fair catch,” Schottenheimer said. “But we go through all those situations. And again, it’s where the game has gone. I think the way the kickoff is now, it’s affected a lot of decisions that we all have to make.”
On Saturdays, the same staff member presents the players a six- to eight-minute tape, a scaled-down version of the Friday review. Every mock game also includes a six-play game-management period before the two-minute drill.
“Actually more than you would think. So on Saturday, Feeder presents about a six to eight minute tape of a much scaled down version of what he and I go through to the players. I think the education piece is important,” Schottenheimer explained. “And then every one of our mocks, we have a six-play game management situation where it’s must out of bounds, it’s last play of a game, it’s burn four seconds off the clock, it’s all the different things that we have. And so those guys are constantly getting that before we do our two-minute work.”
Cowboys Stand By 2-Point Decision Against Buccaneers
After Thursday’s game, Schottenheimer said going for two was the Cowboys’ philosophy when trailing by 14 late because a conversion would make it a six-point game.
“It’s kind of our philosophy. When you’re down 14, you like to go for two, especially with our offense, because when you get it, you have a chance to go and win the game,” Schottenheimer said Thursday. “You make it a six-point game, and that was kind of our philosophy, like to play. And we just didn’t get it executed.”
There were no discussions about going for two before the drive, Prescott said. He said Flournoy veered off his route after Tampa Bay defenders ran into each other and was open.
“Looking back at it, I wish I would have just kind of like thrown it to the corner and made Flo kind of just run out of the position he was in. But they had a bunch of guys that ran into each other,” Prescott said. “He veered off of his route and was open. Just got to find a way to make that throw. So I’m not going to question the decision when there was a chance to score.”
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said he understood the logic and would not second-guess the call.
Dallas got the ball back once more, reaching the Tampa Bay 24 before a deflected Prescott pass for Jake Ferguson was intercepted with 1:22 left.
The Cowboys visit the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Oct. 18, at Lambeau Field. Kickoff is set for 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC. The teams tied 40-40 on Sunday Night Football last season.
