The Dallas Cowboys are 3-5 after an overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals, and the front office has made its stance clear. Owner Jerry Jones addressed the media postgame, and executive vice president Stephen Jones followed Monday morning on 105.3 The Fan. Both indicated no changes are coming to the Cowboys coaching staff.

To be fair, one of their reasons holds up. Dallas doesn’t have what it had in Jason Garrett when it moved on from Wade Phillips: a figure on the staff who could step in as interim head coach.

Think about it. If the Cowboys hypothetically fired coach Brian Schottenheimer, who gets elevated? Not defensive coordinator Christian Parker, whose seat should be getting hot. Not Klayton Adams, who has yet to call plays at the NFL level and is part of an offense struggling more than it should. Mike Pettine looks like the best man for the job, and he has head coaching experience from his time with the Cleveland Browns. However, he arrived two weeks ago to provide feedback to Parker on defense. I’d be shocked if Dallas went from Schottenheimer to Pettine.

So I understand not changing the coaches. What concerns me is that I have zero reason to believe the coaches will change anything themselves.

The promised changes never arrived

After the Cowboys lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they got the benefit of the doubt. They had played in Rio, then on the road, then on a short week. They said they would study the tape, lock themselves in a room, and make big changes.

Fast forward to today, and I’m not sure we’ve seen any of them.

Parker’s defense continues to rush four, play a light box, and sit in soft zones. When Dallas does blitz, it often works. Still, this team refuses to impact the quarterback. I don’t see a defense that disguises coverages, jams receivers at the line to disrupt timing, or heats up the pocket. They play passive football. 

The Cowboys also said they would play Malachi Lawrence more and shake things up at edge rusher. In Week 8, Rashan Gary led the outside linebackers again with 62% of the snaps. Meanwhile, Gary keeps making mistakes, and this time it was a roughing the passer penalty that probably cost Dallas the game. Donovan Ezeiruaku followed at 58%, with Lawrence right where he started the season in third.

The inside linebacker room did change, but only because DeMarvion Overshown returned from injury and Shemar James got more work at middle linebacker. Cornerback DaRon Bland, who has struggled mightily since the start of the season, hasn’t been benched. Joey Porter Jr. has played since the trade, but nobody is crediting the staff for that. Meanwhile, rookie Caleb Downs bounces between safety and nickel depending on injuries, and the Cowboys have failed to maximize him.

Predictable on offense, too

The closest thing to an adjustment came against the Philadelphia Eagles, when Dallas got under center, put six offensive linemen on the field, and ran it down their throats. My concern after that game was that the Cowboys would keep doing it when defenses expected it.

The Cardinals expected it. Dallas kept running into heavy boxes all day anyway, averaging well under three yards per attempt, instead of attacking one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL. On the most crucial drive of the game, with a first down needed to ice it late in the fourth quarter, neither George Pickens nor CeeDee Lamb was on the field.

After the game, Schottenheimer called himself a problem solver. And yet, through eight games, the same problems from Week 1 are still showing up in November.

No admission, no change

The front office isn’t changing direction at the trade deadline either. They think they’re close. That’s the wording Stephen Jones used, and he added the Cowboys are focused on making the team better if the right trade comes along. In other words, no admission that they should be sellers, not buyers. Maybe that changes if they lose to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 9.

The coaching staff isn’t admitting much, either. When asked why he couldn’t get Pickens involved, Schottenheimer indicated they did on that one big play that got called back due to a holding penalty. 

Schottenheimer was also asked about Jerry Jones saying people let him down. He said he could think of five or six plays where someone let him down, that he would take his share of the blame, and that he wouldn’t name them. But he sure let people know someone had let him down. 

As my mom told me growing up, “You cannot fix a mistake until you acknowledge one existed.”

Right now, I’m not sure the Cowboys are acknowledging theirs. So why should we expect the Cardinals loss to be any different?