It’s not an easy balance, of course, to have to weigh the kneejerk reaction that Dallas Cowboys fans and observers are feeling in the hours off another poor performance–this time on every level–in the Week 6 loss to the Packers in Green Bay on Sunday night. There was a “fire everybody” mentality that sprang up during the loss, one that stretches back, too, to the Week 5 loss to the Buccaneers. Something is off with this team, which is way more talented than a 2-4 team should be, as coach Brian Schottenheimer has looked overmatched in the job this year. At some point it must be tempting for owner Jerry Jones and COO Stephen Jones to get in with the mob and, quite literally, fire everybody.
But the front office needs cooler heads, and they’ve been that, even as it has become hard to find an identity or a direction for this group of players, which is one of the fundamental tasks of a coach. At 2-4, it is early enough for the Cowboys to make a move and fire Schottenheimer, with time to rescue the NFL season. Or it’s still early enough to let Schottenheimer rescue it himself.
Cowboys ‘Absolutely’ Backing Coaches
Appearing on 105.3 The Fan on Monday, Stephen Jones handed out some bad news for the growing contingent of fans that would like to see the Cowboys take the first option and oust Schottenheimer now.
He was asked about the status of Schottenheimer’s employment, and whether he still had confidence in the coach. Jones said, “Absolutely. There’s not any question in Jerry and I’s mind the team, he has the team, there’s no question they want to go out there and execute and make things happen and I feel really good about our coaching staff, we just have to continue to have it evolve and get to a point where we can win these football games.”
Brian Schottenheimer Will Need to Figure Out Offense
Jones did say he is surprised by how bad the team has looked in the past two games. It’s reasonable to expect the Cowboys defense to struggle, he acknowledged, but the offense has five turnovers and just 29 points combined in two games. That’s a surprise Jones wants Schottenheimer to get figured out.
Said Jones: “I said early on, we probably had an unrealistic view about how fast we could get the defense turned around. And that’s probably reality. The surprising thing is we were playing so well on offense, all of last year we played good offense and certainly played well to start this season. But these last two games is surprising in terms of our performing on offense.”
If there is a sliver of hope in all this, the Cowboys will get the opportunity to turn things around against three teams that are also 2-4: the Eagles, Cardinals and Colts are all next up on the docket.
Cowboys Make Strong Statement on Embattled Brian Schottenheimer