If the Cowboys are going to find themselves in any kind of position to win a bad NFC East division, their defense has got to improve. Multiple players have spoken about the state of the unit, and the solutions don’t seem to be that difficult, but they have to put it all together on the field.
One of the big topics around Dallas lately has been wide receiver George Pickens and his playing time, or lack thereof. There’s been speculation as to why this is, but it was recently cleared up by head coach
Brian Schottenheimer.
Brian Schottenheimer Explains George Pickens’ Lack of Snaps, Targets in Recent Cowboys Games – Mike Moraitis, SI.com
The reduction of snaps for Pickens has been very noticeable over the last few weeks. Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer breaks down why that’s been the case.
“Brian Schottenheimer told me that George Pickens snaps have been limited by his injuries,” Clarence Hill of DLLS Cowboys said. “He has been taken off the field because blocking in the run game.”
Schottenheimer added that it “would be poor coaching by me” to keep Pickens off the field for any reason.
That checks out because Pickens was added to the injury report in Week 7 due to a shoulder issue and he remained on it through last week.
Cowboys defense searching for answers after meltdown loss: ‘Execute on Sunday’ – Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The Cowboys defense has had trouble with consistency in 2026. According to defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, the solution is quite simple.
In going back and watching the film, one thing stood out to the defenders on what did not happen: execution.
“The biggest thing is execute,” defensive tackle Quinnen Williams said. “We got to execute. We haven’t been executing this whole season. We executed for three quarters and didn’t execute that last quarter, and the film says it all. We have to execute and stack days.”
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Cowboys injury updates: Dallas secondary might be extremely shorthanded again – Joseph Hoyt, Dallas Morning News
Its been a tough season on the injury front for the Cowboys secondary. When they face the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday, it could be slim pickings in terms of who is available in that area.
It looks like those injuries could be a factor again. The Cowboys had 11 players who didn’t practice Wednesday or were limited due to injury. That included two starting defensive backs in corner Caleb Downs and safety P.J. Locke. Both suffered concussions in Sunday’s 33-30 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Schottenheimer said both Downs and Locke were still in concussion protocol as of Wednesday. Both were seen on the field during practice participating in workouts with helmets, but not drills.
Wetzel: $17 billion Cowboys have a penny-pinching owner in Jerry Jones – Dan Wetzel, ESPN
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said earlier this week that he didn’t see any correlation between how much a team spends on a head coach and winning. That could be part of the reason why Dallas hasn’t won in such a long time.
Or, as a coaching agent told NFL Network’s Jane Slater when asked how aggressive Jones had been in looking for a veteran coach after the 2024 season: “Jerry won’t pay $13M and up, and that’s the starting point.”
Instead, Dallas promoted Schottenheimer, its own offensive coordinator and a longtime assistant. The Cowboys were the only team to interview him that year. Schottenheimer might prove to be a good coach despite his 10-14-1 start, but should the most valuable team on the planet be led by a guy who has to grow into the job?
Shemar James explains mindset of Cowboys ‘urgent’ defense – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
Dallas has had another shaky season defensively so far. With that said, linebacker Shemar James says the unit is eager to get things on track.
“I feel there’s a sense of urgency every week, whether we win or lose, because every week is a dogfight,” James added. “I mean, we’re in a National Football League, so there’s not going to be a week that we have circled like, ‘Oh, we’re going to beat these guys.’
“You can’t take [a game] off. Every week, we have a sense of urgency to go out there and execute, and it just didn’t get done this weekend. And that’s why we have another week to go out there and prove to people that we’re the defense that we know we can be.”
