After a disastrous 2025 season, the Dallas Cowboys hoped to rebound in the 2026 season bringing back the entire starting offense in 2026, and completely new look defense and coaching staff.
Things could not have started out worse for the 2026 Cowboys, after dropping their week one game on the road in MetLife against the New York Giants. While a lot of attention is being put on Christian Parker’s defense after the Cowboys 28-20 loss, today we will take a look at how head coach and offensive coordinator
Brian Schottenheimer performed in the Cowboys week one loss.
As expected, after not playing any of the offensive starters in preseason action, the Cowboys offense started out relatively slow. The Cowboys first play from scrimmage in 2026 was quite an odd one. Lining up in 11-personnel with Jake Ferguson as the lead blocker lined up at fullback in the backfield, the Cowboys ran a inside-toss play to Javonte Williams that went nowhere due to Jake Ferguson and Ryan Flournoy missing their blocks on Abdul Carter.
On second down, the Cowboys ran a comeback route to CeeDee Lamb on the sideline. From the All-22 angle, the ball was put in good position on the boundary, but Lamb was unable to haul it in. On third down, the Cowboys ran their patented George Pickens slant, but Pickens came up just short of picking up the first down.
My first Brian Schottenheimer critique starts here. On 4th-and-inches, the Cowboys offense attempted to get the Giants to jump offsides before taking a delay of game and punting the ball. This was the first mistake of the game and the season for the Cowboys, who at the time expected much better results from their defense.
According to ESPN Analytics, the “go” in this scenario was +1.7%. We saw last season that Schottenheimer leaned on the conservative side with his fourth-down decision making and there were deep conversations last year about that being a negative impact on the team considering how bad the defense was. Well, this defense doesn’t look much different through one week, and the decision to punt ended up putting the Cowboys in a quick hole after a six-minute touchdown drive by the Giants.
The Cowboys next drive showed a bit cleaner operation, but a George Pickens drop on third down (illegal shift penalty declined) led to another stalled drive with no points. The Cowboys final two drives of the half led to a CeeDee Lamb touchdown reception, after a 15-play, 6:44 second drive and a Dak Prescott interception on an attempted throwaway on 3rd-and-5.
The Cowboys only had two other drives the remainder of the game due to how poor the defense played. The Cowboys scored touchdowns on both of those drives thanks to some penalties on the Giants defense and the Cowboys passing game starting to find their rhythm. Fans reacted strongly to Schottenheimer burning a timeout on the Giants opening drive out of the half; it was later reported that the Cowboys defense only had 10-men on the field at the time.
The Cowboys had a balanced approach coming into the game. The actual game ended up differently due to self-inflicted wounds. All-in-all, the play-calling in this game from Schottenheimer wasn’t a disaster. The Cowboys interior offensive line had struggles generating running lanes all night, so in have-to-have-it scenarios (like the CeeDee Lamb touchdown) Schottenheimer put the ball in Prescott’s hands to get points.
What was a problem was the lack of aggressiveness early in this game, the amount of penalties on the offensive side of the ball, and the lack of toughness, focus, and physicality the unit played with for a majority of the game. We have heard so much about culture since Schottenheimer was hired, and over the course of the offseason, but last night the Cowboys culture looked timid, conservative, and showed extreme lack of discipline. Javonte Williams taunted the Giants secondary after scoring to get the game within one possession with an Aubrey extra-point or two-point conversion (which Schottenheimer did say was his plan in the post-game).
Week one can tell lies due to everyone throughout the league knocking rust off. At the end of the day, the Cowboys offense found its rhythm in the second-half and should rebound to be near the top of the league in points scored and offensive EPA sooner rather than later.
Monday morning quarterbacking this one, the decision to punt on 4th-and-inches on their opening drive was a massive turning point in this game. Who knows what would have happened, but now knowing the Cowboys defense’s inability to get any stops when needed, that feels like a massive mistake that early in the football game.
The main concerns come down to Schottenheimer seemingly not trusting his offensive line (punts on fourth-downs and lack of faith in running it on the goal-line). Also, the lack of explosive plays (Pickens had two drops on explosive play attempts), Schottenheimer’s overall faith in his defense to get stops after punts instead of setting a tone early with his offense, and the boneheaded mistakes Cowboys fans are way too used to seeing over the 30-year drought.
Play-Calling
C+
Fourth-Down Decisions
F
Timeout Usage
B
Team Preparation
F
What grades would you give to Brian Schottenhiemer on Sunday?
