The Dallas Cowboys played a season where their starting quarterback not only started all 17 games but enjoyed one of the best statistical years of his career, and it finished with a losing record with no playoffs.
Even if you are not the president, or member, of the Dak Prescott Fan Club, and believe some of his numbers are not a true indicator of how both he and his offense played this season, for their starting quarterback to do this much, and the team achieve so little, in 2025 is depressing.
Try as they may, the Cowboys can’t expect to build an entire team around a kicker.
Following a loss in New Jersey on Sunday against the New York Giants, another Cowboys season is mercifully over, and this is the worst this franchise has been this century. Year 1 of Brian Schottenheimer netted a losing record, the second consecutive for the Cowboys. Unlike the last time this team finished with a losing record in consecutive years – 2001 and 2002 – at least at the end of that ‘02 season there was the hope with the arrival of head coach Bill Parcells.
Today the only expectation sold as “hope” is that defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus will be fired after an evaluation that should require 10 minutes rather than 10 days. When your defense is one of the worst in the history of professional football, like the Cowboys here in 2025, that normally gets you canned.
Year 2 of ShoddyBall should be better than Year 1, but the 2025 team revealed so many weaknesses, needs and holes that axing a defensive coordinator is only going to get you so far. One offseason can’t do much more than maybe resulting in this team making the playoffs in 2026. That’s if everything goes right.
“I can promise you this. We’re going to get to the bottom of it. We’re going to work our asses off to figure it out,” Schottenheimer said in a press conference after the season-ending loss on Sunday in New York. “We’re going to adjust and make changes that we need to do to help.”
The 2026 Dallas Cowboys: We’re going to get to the bottom of it.
Let’s make it easy for you: The defense is horrific. The offense is overrated. The special teams isn’t good, either. They were damn lucky to finish 7-9-1.
Stop the nonsense that “If they hadn’t tied Green Bay, they would have won the NFC East!”
The Cowboys lost to the Giants and Cardinals, two of the worst teams in the NFL. The Cardinals’ win against the Cowboys on Nov. 3 in Arlington was Arizona’s last win of the season.
As feared, the trade of defensive end Micah Parsons days before the start of the season effectively destroyed what was already a weak defense that the arrival of defensive tackle Quinnen Williams two months later in a deal with the Jets could not adequately fix.
The Cowboys allowed an average of 30.1 points per game, worst in the league. There is one offense that could have kept pace with that defense; the L.A. Rams led the league in points per game, 30.5.
The Cowboys offense had the seventh-highest scoring offense in the NFL, and it wasn’t nearly enough. A sub-average defense would have pushed the Cowboys to a few more wins, and maybe the playoffs where they would not have advanced beyond the divisional round.
Which is the depressing part. The Cowboys are not that far from making the playoffs, because in this version of the NFL most teams are close; even if the Cowboys successfully address some of their issues on defense this offseason, they’re still not that close to contending for a spot in the NFC title game.
The Cowboys are now defined by their inability to reach not the Super Bowl, but the game before the Super Bowl. For the kids in the audience, the last time the Cowboys played in an NFC title game was Sunday, January 14, 1996; a 38-27 win against the Packers at Texas Stadium.
The Cowboys’ starting fullback that day was Daryl “Moose” Johnston. On Sunday, Moose celebrated his 25th season of calling NFL games for Fox Sports. Moose was in the Fox booth for the Cowboys’ season finale on Sunday, and he is like so many former players who are no longer mystified but saddened by the continued state of the team.
Because whether you’re a former player, a fan, or even a member of the media that covers the Dallas Cowboys, it’s just depressing.
Mac Engel is an award-winning columnist who has covered sports since the dawn of man; Cowboys, TCU, Stars, Rangers, Mavericks, etc. Olympics. Movies. Concerts. Books. He combines dry wit with 1st-person reporting to complement an annoying personality. Support my work with a digital subscription
While the majority of the issues that the Dallas Cowboys have faced through eight weeks of the season have come on the defensive side of the ball, don’t be surprised if some of the big “changes” that head coach Brian Schottenheimer talked about on Monday also come in some areas on offense.
When asked about rookie running back Jaydon Blue and his performance on Sunday against the Broncos (29 rushing yards and one fumble on eight carries), he gave some advice and criticism to the fifth-round pick out of Texas.
“[Jaydon Blue] is a young back learning the speed of the game and the physicality of the game,” Schottenheimer said. “But to me, I’m always going to go back to the consistency. You can’t put the ball on the ground. You have to be on top of your blitz pick-ups. You have to do those things.”
During training camp, Blue emerged as a legitimate option in the running back room and was even earning first-team reps as early as the second week in pads in Oxnard. However, an ankle injury that knocked him out of two preseason games and a continuing issue of “inconsistency” in Schottenheimer’s words kept him behind former backup running back Miles Sanders.
But when Sanders landed on season-ending injured reserve with a knee issue, Blue was elevated to the backup running back role. As a result, Schottenheimer has hoped that some of the professionalism and preparation of starter Javonte Williams would rub off on Blue.
“The big thing I’ve told him about is you’ve got the perfect guy sitting right to your left in Javonte,” he said. “To learn from — who was you a couple of years ago as a young rookie trying to figure it out. Lean on him. Javonte does everything right and so Jaydon’s doing that.”
“I know how hard it was in my rookie year in football and stuff off the field,” Williams said. “Anytime he needs help, I try to help him. I don’t really bother him too much. If he has something he wants to ask me about, I’ll give him pointers. If he needs something, he’ll definitely let me know. He doesn’t need me following him around making sure he’s doing everything right. He’s a grown man at the end of the day.”
However, fourth-year pro Malik Davis has seen two elevations off the practice squad and is creeping through an opening in the door that could see him take some of Blue’s snaps in the coming weeks.
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about Malik Davis and the job he’s doing for us,” Schottenheimer said. “We’re all about creating competition. It’s not just creating competition on the defensive side of the ball for jobs and who’s going to play. It’s on offense as well and that would be another battle to watch.”
For Davis, it’s an opportunity that he plans on relishing.
“It means a lot,” Davis said. “I’ve been playing this game since I was a kid. This is what I’ve worked for my whole life. This is just me proving that I belong here and to my teammates that I’m a guy that can help win games.”
After being signed as just a body in the running back room during training camp, Davis strung together a couple of strong preseason performances to find his way back onto the Dallas practice squad where he had been a familiar face from 2022 to 2024.
“I’ve been playing this game my whole life,” he said. “I feel comfortable when I’m out there. Just getting that opportunity to my teammates and to my coaches to say I am who I say I am. I belong to be here.”
Nick Harris is the Dallas Cowboys beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has experience working on the beat for DallasCowboys.com and previous work experience at Yahoo Sports/Rivals and 247Sports.
Following a 44-24 loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday that brought the Dallas Cowboys back below .500 for the fourth time this season, head coach Brian Schottenheimer pointed to a plethora of self-inflicted wounds, including 12 penalties and two turnovers.
“The biggest thing that came out of this game was that I was just disappointed,” Schottenheimer said. “We beat ourselves a lot. On both sides, we really did. We beat ourselves with penalties, we beat ourselves with mental errors, we beat ourselves with lack of communication on defense in some regards. And knowing you played a damn good football team like Denver, in a place where they’re really good at winning, you can’t do that and win in the same way.”
Of the 12 penalties, seven came before the snap in front of a raucous Broncos crowd that affected the Cowboys’ pre-snap communication throughout the game. Despite the gaudy defensive stats that included giving up 426 total yards, seven scoring drives and an average of 7.5 yards per play, Schottenheimer is keeping confidence in his group to find consistency in what has been a topsy-turvy season. Through eight games, the Cowboys have yet to find back-to-back wins.
“It’s trusting the process,” he said. “No one wants a win streak more than anybody in this locker room and in this team room, players and coaches. We want to have a winning streak. To win a game and lose a game and win a game and lose a game sucks. Nobody wants that. It’s who we are right now.”
Offensively against Denver, things weren’t much better. Quarterback Dak Prescott threw two interceptions for the second time this season while the first-team offense put together only two touchdown drives on the day.
“You can sit there and be frustrated by it, which believe me I didn’t sleep a wink last night,” Schottenheimer said. “I played the game over in my mind 1,000 times, things I could have done differently and things I could have done better. I know a lot of our players did that as well, certainly some of the coaches. At the end of the day, you have to trust the process.”
The Cowboys will look to rebound with a home game against the Arizona Cardinals on Monday, Nov. 3 in their final contest before their bye week. After the break, Schottenheimer’s group will go back on the road for another Monday night clash against the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 17.
“It’s a one-game season,” Schottenheimer said. “Because we want to find a way to beat Arizona and then go into the bye sitting here at 4-4-1. “
Nick Harris is the Dallas Cowboys beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has experience working on the beat for DallasCowboys.com and previous work experience at Yahoo Sports/Rivals and 247Sports.
When Brian Schottenheimer took the stage in the lobby of The Star in Frisco in January to be introduced as the Dallas Cowboys’ head coach, the word “culture” was one of the first to come out of his mouth.
Just a few months later, he was spotted on social media doing a Greek dancing routine in a room full of players and their families. It was a unique scene, but it was exactly what he was talking about.
“It’s just being together,” Schottenheimer said in June. “We spend time in the building. When you do something outside the building, it’s different. There’s a different feeling. You’re more engaged to be around the different people. That’s what’s life is about, man.”
Fast forward to Sunday, he needed that culture more than ever.
On a warm afternoon in New Jersey, Schottenheimer’s Cowboys took the field without five starters and three crucial rotational players to try and get a much-needed win after a couple of weeks when his team couldn’t find one.
Even though it was against the winless New York Jets, the lack of starters available, along with a continuous struggle defensively in the first four weeks of the season, created a reality where the Jets were favored by 1.5 points when Brandon Aubrey sent the ball downfield for the opening kickoff.
That would be the last time that it really felt like the Jets had a chance.
The Cowboys (2-2-1) used a big second quarter to take a 23-3 lead at halftime that would allow them to coast in the second half to a 37-22 victory. The offense was efficient in the pass game with four Dak Prescott passing touchdowns, and the run game success continued behind Javonte Williams’ 135 yards and two total touchdowns.
Brian Schottenheimer’s ‘next man up mentality’
Despite Dallas missing four of its starting five offensive linemen to injury, Schottenheimer’s emphasis on the “next man up mentality” and building a brotherhood throughout the offseason showed up Sunday. When the Cowboys needed a boost, they got it from within.
“I’m just so proud,” Schottenheimer said. “We went in there with four new offensive linemen, receivers that are still learning and growing. The defense, what they did to [Jets quarterback] Justin Fields today. We talk about it all the time, it’s all about winning. And we found a way to win.”
The defense generated five sacks on Fields after just five in the first four weeks and allowed a season-low 22 points.
“We just leaned on our physicality and how we practiced,” defensive tackle Kenny Clark said. “That’s all we’ve been talking about. Just accountability, coming in with the right mindset, and getting better each and every day. That’s what you want to do, just get better each and every game. I’m proud of our heart and how hard we played.”
Ownership has leaned on the off-the-field aspect of Schottenheimer’s early tenure being so impressive as to why they see wins coming for the team in the future, even if only one was in the column through four weeks. The win over the Jets continued to reaffirm that thinking.
“This was a coaching staff win today,” owner Jerry Jones said. “I haven’t been a part of a team Band-Aided up as much as we were to come play this game. Of course, Dak played outstanding. But this was done by a lot of guys we weren’t counting on playing. I can tell you firsthand, that’s coaching.”
Schottenheimer’s first answer in the postgame press conference didn’t see him take any credit for the win. Instead, he deferred it to the players. Prescott made it more inclusive.
“It’s credit to these coaches, these players and this organization,” he said. “Everybody. There’s not many teams that can put four guys that don’t start into the game [on the offensive line] and feel confident about going and winning a game, especially on the road. These guys don’t see themselves as backups, as they shouldn’t. They’ve just been waiting on their opportunity.”
Even if Schottenheimer wants to deny it, a lot of the grit that players and the owner pointed to that was shown in the game goes right back to him. Even as the leader of the locker room, Prescott saw the effect his environment created.
“It was evident,” Prescott said. “For those guys that don’t normally get in to play like starters, to own their roles and play at the standard we did. Staying consistent, the belief in every one of those guys, [Schottenheimer] is doing a hell of a job building this culture. He deserves a lot of respect and credit.”
Similar game awaits next week at Carolina Panthers
The Cowboys will make another road trip next week to take on a similarly down-on-their-luck Carolina Panthers team. Dallas is expected to get starting left tackle Tyler Guyton, starting left guard Tyler Smith and backup running back Miles Sanders back from injuries. As for starting right guard Tyler Booker, returner and wide receiver KaVontae Turpin and linebacker Jack Sanborn, question marks remain. Starting safety Malik Hooker and starting center Cooper Beebe will remain out.
While the Cowboys try to battle back to full health, they will have one win on their belt that shows they can get it done when they’re not at full strength.
“This team knows who we are and what we’re capable of doing,” Prescott said.
“Our guys expected to play well, they expected to win,” Schottenheimer said. “I think that’s important, because that’s what we’re trying to build.”
Nick Harris is the Dallas Cowboys beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has experience working on the beat for DallasCowboys.com and previous work experience at Yahoo Sports/Rivals and 247Sports.