Brian Schottenheimer made a mistake days in advance of Dallas Cowboys’ shocking loss to the Tampa Bay Bucs, and paid for it
The Dallas Cowboys head coach did a lot of things wrong on gameday versus the Tampa Bay Bucs. But his messaging ahead of the game was off from the start.
Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer did not have his team ready to go on Thursday Night Football against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which entered the game winless.
I don’t think no one is denying that after a tough 24-16 loss in which the Cowboys offense did not look like itself.
Now granted, there is a long list of things that went wrong. There was embarassing defensive play, three turnovers, and a lack of a solid gameplan/adjustments to beat the unsurprsing Bucs’ blitzes.
But watching the game live, I couldn’t help but think Schottenheimer also paid for a mistake that had been building up for days. And it’s all about his team’s mindset, as he embraced the fact that his team was tired. And on Thursday night, it sure looked like it.
Schottenheimer’s messaging could have been much better
The Cowboys head coach has been asked repeteadly about the tough hand dealt to his team by the NFL and he’s not shied away from being transparent. He’s acknowledged going to Rio, turning back to play a noon road game, only to play a short week afterwards was a tough ask.
“They’re tired, but we still have a couple days before the game,” said Schottenheimer early in the week. “I think the intensity in the meetings, though, has been great. They’re dialed in, but they’re tired.”
That’s a fine message for Tuesday. But I can’t say I’m a fan of Schottenheimer still leaning into that messaging on gameday.
“It’s been a good week,” Schottenheimer said pregame on 105.3 The Fan. “Our guys were certainly tired earlier in the week. It’s been a mental grind, if you will, to get the prep in and the work in. You have to kind of shove it all in their face early on.”
Schottenheimer added he expected his players to draw from the stadium’s energy on Thursday night.
This might come off as overthinking, but how many other coaches would embrace their team being tired like that? If that was the message outside of the building, what was it like inside the locker room?
I can think of plenty of NFL coaches who would not be willing to admit the team is tired due to the schedule. This is a mental game as much as it is physical. It comes off as soft and the truly bad part is it fit what we saw on the field.
Cowboys players made plenty of mistakes, including two drops that turned into interceptions and a fumble on a kickoff return. The Bucs had much more of a fire to them as the Cowboys missed a whopping 18% of their tackles and looked off.
The Cowboys defense looked as lost as it has all season, except it happened against an undrafted rookie QB that looked as calm and collected as a 10-year vet. Heck, Jalon Daniels outplayed Dak.
Listen, I get it. There are more tangible problems why this game was lost—coaching and execution-wise. I’m not saying this messaging was as bad as the Cowboys’ failing to adapt to the Bucs’ blitzes for almost an entire game. But for a coach that’s all about culture, I’m not a fan of Schottenheimer’s messaging on this one.
He embraced the fact that his time was tired, and his team looked lethargic out there on the field. The Cowboys were indeed dealt a bad hand, I’m not saying otherwise. But this is the NFL. You shake it off and you keep pushing.
The Cowboys did the opposite, putting together their worst performance of the season.
