Brian Schottenheimer started his Monday press conference by saying the Dallas Cowboys’ 33-30 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals was “a tale of two halves.” “First half, we played well, 14-3 lead, coming out of halftime, we weren’t able to finish the game,” the Cowboys head coach said. “So I always have the real conversation with those guys, and the word I keep coming up with, as I look at it, is consistency.”
Dallas and Arizona are both 3-5. The Cowboys next visit the 2-6 Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, November 8.
Injuries: Downs, Locke, Ferguson, Porter, Lawrence
Asked for an injury update, Schottenheimer said: “Both Caleb and PJ are in the protocol right now,” referring to Caleb Downs and P.J. Locke. “Fergie’s got an ankle, Joey Porter has an ankle, and then Malachi has one that might be a little bit longer.”
On rookie outside linebacker Malachi Lawrence, he said: “I just think it looks like it could be a few weeks. So again, just keep doing some more testing, see how he moves around. But a little different than the other guys.” He said Lawrence’s injury is also an ankle.
Tight end Jake Ferguson has better news. “Fergie actually we think came out okay,” Schottenheimer said. “We’ll see how he moves around. It might be later in the week that he goes. But we feel he tried to come back and just didn’t have the strength to do it. But we feel like the results of the exams today were positive.”
Asked about cornerback Joey Porter Jr., who threw his helmet in frustration on Sunday, Schottenheimer said he is still working through it. “Yeah, he’s trying to battle through it. He’s getting a bunch of tests done, things like that, and we’re hopeful,” he said. “But as a competitor, you understand why there would be frustration.”
He was also asked about the block on Downs. Schottenheimer explained how he understands the rule. “If you block somebody and they basically fall not on their side, if they fall like that, it’s a block in the back,” he said. “So we’ll see what the officials say when they look at it.”
“It’s our job to finish games”
A reporter asked whether Dallas was too conservative in the fourth quarter and overtime. “Yeah, I don’t think so,” Schottenheimer said. “I think when you look at the game, you’re always trying to stay patient with the run game. There’s always plays that you’d love to have back as players and coaches. But at the end of the day, it’s our job to finish games and finish drives. And we didn’t do that offensively and defensively.”
Asked why CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens were off the field late, he said there are certain personnel packages in which they do not play. “And there’s a reason for that,” he said. Asked what he needs to do better, he returned to the word he opened with. “I’m going to go back to the word consistency,” he said. “You can’t go into Philadelphia and run the ball for” more than 200 yards on Monday night and then rush for 93 yards on 39 carries against Arizona. “There’s certainly a lot of things that we as a football team can do better,” he said, including tackling and finishing the game. “Number one, find a way to finish the game and give us a chance. We expect to get the ball back in a four-minute or two-minute drive and put it away, and we didn’t do that.”
Asked how a staff diagnoses inconsistency, he said it has to be broken into pieces. “Look at the run game. What are the areas there that we need to be more consistent in? Let’s look at the pass coverage. Let’s look at the pressure on the quarterback,” he said. “We got some really good pressure yesterday on the quarterback. I thought Quinnen Williams played outstanding. Von got a sack. There was some really good things to look at. But you don’t look at this thing in just one game or one phase. You look at it in a lot of smaller particles, if you will.”
He said the pass rush is the one thing he can say Dallas has solved. “Can’t talk enough about Quinnen,” he said. “I thought you saw some really good pressure packages from us yesterday. That’s the first thing I would point to.”
Dak Prescott, adjustments and the overtime decision
A reporter said Dak Prescott had spoken after the game about wanting to be more aggressive on the drive after the onside kick, and asked if there was a disconnect. “No, I don’t think there’s a disconnect,” Schottenheimer said. “I think Dak’s a competitor. And I didn’t say that we shouldn’t have finished the game off. We believe in our ability to finish the game off, and we didn’t.” He said the two talk through scenarios and have a weekly meeting on Friday or Saturday. “We’re certainly all disappointed that we didn’t make enough plays to win the game,” he said.
Asked about adjustments, he said: “Adjustments are a huge part of this game, and really that’s truly what coaching’s about, because you go into most games and it’s going to play out different than you thought it would, or there’s injuries and things that come up that you have to adjust on the fly.” He said that at certain times of the year, “I do think we’ve adjusted well, but again, not to the level that it needs to be.”
Asked how to capitalize on momentum, he said: “You have to go out and make plays. You have to execute as a group, as a unit, as a coaching staff. And you saw the momentum swing in their favor in the fourth quarter. And when we went into overtime, the defense went out, did a great job getting a stop. And unfortunately, we weren’t able to sustain a drive.”
On the overtime decision, he said Dallas prefers to see what the other team does first. “You want to see what the opponent does. That way, if they go down and they kick a field goal, you know what you’re dealing with. Or if they go down and score a touchdown, you know what you’re dealing with,” he said. “I think that’s what most teams do, but not everybody.”
Rashan Gary and the secondary
Asked how a veteran is held accountable after a costly penalty, Schottenheimer said the team had pulled Rashan Gary after the roughing-the-passer call. “We pulled him out, talked to him about it, addressed it,” he said. “We addressed it today, again, in the meeting. RG is aware. It was a big play in the game, but it’s not the only play in the game that affected the outcome of the game. But he was removed, and it was discussed.”
On a communication breakdown on the Cardinals’ tying touchdown to Michael Wilson, he said: “That was a mental error.” Asked whether the defensive scheme is too difficult for the secondary to pick up, he said no. “At the end of the day, it’s different players doing different things,” he said. “It’s part of giving and receiving information.”
“Focused on Indianapolis”
With the trade deadline a week from Tuesday, a reporter asked whether the Cowboys should be buyers. Schottenheimer kept the focus on the Colts. “I’m focused on Indianapolis,” he said. “I’m focused on finding a way for our guys to play well and win. Jerry and Stephen will do a great job with that, but my focus and my sole purpose right now is to find a way to play well and beat Indianapolis.” He said the answer to the team’s problems is “inside the building.” “I think so, I do,” he said. “We’ve got good players. And again, we have to play more consistently. You’ve got to go back to work. You’ve got to do little things right. You’ve got to focus on the details.”
He pointed to Sunday as the example. “You can play really well for three quarters, but if you don’t find a way to put the game away in the fourth quarter, this league will come up and bite you,” he said. Asked how involved he was in the trade for Porter, he said everyone is. “We watch cut-ups together, we talk about it,” he said, and he feels “great about the process.”
Cowboys at Colts kicks off Sunday, November 8, at 1 p.m. ET, which is 8 p.m. in Cairo. The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday, November 10, at 4 p.m. ET, which is 11 p.m. in Cairo.
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