Brian Schottenheimer: Postgame #MINvsDAL | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Brian Schottenheimer: Postgame #MINvsDAL | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News. Uh Brian, what was the issues with trying to finish drives uh tonight for you guys? On third down, you know, Calvin, you go two and 12 on third down. I thought they did a good job with their blitz packages. They had us confused a little bit. That starts with me. Got to do a better job with that. Give Coach Flores and his staff some credit, but comes down to third down. Now, we were pretty good on third down or fourth down, but you know, you can’t go two for 12 situationally. We didn’t play very good uh tonight offensively. We weren’t very good on third down and we weren’t very good in the red zone. And that’s why you see us struggle in the second half. And um that’s kind of where it starts. Defensive pressure. I think Kenny Clark was saying it’s tough to bring him down even though you’ve been sacked nine times coming to this game. Why do you think he has some issues trying to get M? Yeah, he’s athletic. you know, I want to look at the film first, you know, Calvin, but he’s athletic and I thought he stepped up a couple times and made some nice plays, but uh you know, strong lower body guy that that’s real and u I think he’s a hell of a competitor. He made the plays. Uh I think that’s a big thing for us tonight is we didn’t make the critical plays when we needed to, you know, and uh when you look back on this game, you know, I feel like we kind of let one slip away because there were some good moments and unfortunately we did it at an inopportune time. CL DLLS Cowboys. What were they doing to take pickings away? Yeah, again, a lot of cover, too. You know, a lot of different technique things. They change your coverage up a lot. Um, but uh again, there was a there was a plan to try to limit our explosives and I think he had six targets and only three three catches and that’s not enough. And that starts with me uh and the offensive staff. We got to find ways to get them the ball better. You were very aggressive in the first half. Certainly the the fake field goal and I think two or three other fourth down conversions. Third quarter I think you’re up 2317 and you tried a 59 yard field goal rather than try to pin him deep. Do you second guess that or No, you know I I actually said it in there. Clarence, you know, again we’re spoiled with Brandon Aubrey. You know what I’m saying? What a great player. Um but no, um felt really good about it. You know, he’s he’s such a great player. I had no question in my mind he was going to make it and um I think I feel good about that decision. Brian Todd talks with you. You said you guys were confused a little bit in their pressure looks. What confused you? Was it new stuff that they were throwing at you tonight that Yeah, just it was a lot of like all up looks and then they were checking out of it and they did a good job. And you know that’s what we talked about you know this week with you guys like that veteran defense you know and that system is very difficult and uh they executed tonight and we didn’t. you look at the big picture now of where you guys are. What’s the plan? What’s the the goal, I guess, for with three games to go? Yeah, the goal is to wake up tomorrow. We’ll watch the film tonight, wake up tomorrow, coach these guys up, and we’re going to control what we can control, you know, and um disappointing. We didn’t find a way to win this game. I knew this would be a game like that. I wasn’t surprised by that. Kevin’s a great coach. Brian’s a great coach. And um unfortunately this came game came down to you know the fact of our uh inability really in the red zone and some of the situational stuff. We weren’t very good on defense on fourth down. We forced I think three fourth downs and they converted a bunch of of those and um the end of the day when you play you know a team like this you got to be you know really on top of your situational stuff and we weren’t. Nick Harris for start telegram coming out of the bye-week defense showed some improvements. I I know they’re different issues, but to still see the defense give up second story scoring drives like they did uh second quarter, third quarter, how tough is that to stomach at the end of the day? Well, I think, you know, at the end of the day, each drive is different, Nick. You know, I mean, I felt like we gave up too many explosives today, you know? I mean, they hit a big double move, but, you know, I think those are the things you have to eliminate. Um, again, these guys play hard. These guys played at at you know a really physical game but at the end of the day we have to play better you know as a football team and um you know got to get more pressure on the quarterback. Got to get them on the ground. Um we finally won the turnover battle that gave us a chance. You know great play early on with the interception. We finally took care of the football. But at the end of the day I don’t think we played well enough to win. And again that’s not just the players. That that again that starts with me and the staff. And I own that. I take that and again give them credit for making the plays that they had to make when they made them. Kind of building on Todd’s question about the big picture, what was your message to the team knowing that pretty much everything has to go right to sneak it to the post? Yeah, I just painted the picture for how the game went. I told him, hey, you know, we’re not changing. We’re not changing who we are. You know, we knew that we’re guaranteed 17 games and I’m not going to wake up any different tomorrow. Uh I’m frustrated that, you know, we didn’t find a way to get this this game done. I’m frustrated that we uh were that poor on third down. We’re better than that. I’m better than that. Um and uh at the end of the day, I just felt like we never could really, you know, get the thing back over the top. Yeah. Tim Kell Dallas Morning News. You were 65 and one going into Detroit. Are you surprised to see your team back below 500 again? Um I mean, I don’t like it obviously, Tim. I mean, you I’m disappointed. Um, we didn’t play well against Detroit. Um, again, you know, I I really do think this. I think we’re beating ourselves quite a bit and that’s that starts with us as a coaching staff. Um, the players are playing hard, but again, you give up big plays and you kick field goals. We kicked field goals today. I mean, we were what, two for five and they were three for four and there you lose by eight points and you’re like, damn. But, you know, we never got to the point where I felt like, you know, we were able to really just kind of seize momentum. There wasn’t a momentum changing play uh in any regard other than probably the interception early in the game. But, you know, you you you drop two games in a row and you know, you dust yourself off and you get back to work. We play a really good football team in here next week. So, um we’ll we’ll get back to work and make some of the adjustments we got to make. You talked about the third downs. Is it did it seem strange? You had a lot of success on first down. You had a lot of good first down plays. Well, we ran the ball really well. You know, I thought Javvante Williams, I mean, it was incredible. You know, we got beat up a little bit. Um, but Javante, I thought, ran really well. Third down was just the problem. And again, you know, I think that’s one of their strengths. I think that’s one of the things that they’ve been the best at. It’s a really good defense, you know, and um, you know, they they do a good job of, you know, limiting explosive plays. We finally got, you know, CD on top. They played a bunch of cover two variations. And again, I think it does help and they’ve got veteran players and uh I’m a big fan of their scheme that they play and I’m a big fan of the way that their their players play. Edward or WFAA. Um are you concerned about the amount of pressure that Dak’s been exposed to these last few games? Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, we have to keep him upright, Ed. You know, I mean, we know that. And again, it was going to be a tough challenge today. We knew that. we weren’t surprised by all the blitzes that we had. But again, I think that they did a really good job of disguising some of the things that they did and, you know, getting out of things and they they seem to be a step ahead of us and I’ve said it. I’m going to say it again. That starts with me. Might have to be better. I will be better. Um, but that’s what these guys do. That’s what Minnesota does, man. And they uh they light you up. They get up in the A gaps and they bring different blitzes and pressures and they force free runners and um again I just again got a chance to talk to Brian after the game told him hey hell of a job. Uh coach Sydney Staples DG10 Sports from the time that the final whistle blows and then to you getting to the locker room giving that postgame speech what are you thinking about in that time? Uh it’s different. It’s a good question. It’s different. You know, sometimes I try to, you know, um I just talk from my heart. Today I tried to tell a story. I tried to paint a picture because I know the guys in that locker room are hurting. They’re, you know, they’re disappointed. Uh we wanted to play well. We wanted to win. So, I felt like it was important that I kind of painted the picture of of what happened and talked a little bit about, you know, basically the things we talked about. I our inability to, you know, sustain third down and convert was huge. and they did a really good job with some of their blitz looks defensively. Talked about the red zone, the explosive plays. And then, you know, again, special teams, you know, we’re used to converting all of our kicks, but at the end of the day, you know, Sydney, it was a deal where, you know, we didn’t make the plays when we had to make the play. You know, you got to get off the field on fourth down on defense. You know, you got to convert a third down. You know, you’re a player two away. That’s what that game was. We were a player two away and we didn’t make it. And um that’s why we’re so disappointed. Is that story you told more of like a metaphorical one or just kind of recapping game and what that means? Yeah, today I really just wanted to hit them with the with the facts. I mean, you know, they’re grown men, you know, they can take it. You know, I certainly threw myself in there why what I did not do a good job of. I kind of started with that to be honest with you. I will always do that. It’s always going to start with me and the things that I messed up and didn’t do very well. And uh Brian Flores was better than me today. And um I won’t sleep very good tonight, but I promise you I’ll wake up tomorrow. I’m going to work my ass off and I’m going to figure it out. Uh getting back to the third quarter, you have 2017. It’s 14th and three at your 18 and you picked the field goal. Did you think about going for it there knowing that you might need some touchdowns? Uh I did. Uh but again, at the end of the day, I was hunting points. I mean, it’s a good defense. And um what was the score at the time? You’re up 20 to 17. 20 to 17. Yeah, I did. Yeah, I I remember it now. Yeah. Uh we thought about it. We talked about it, but um you know, we were actually moving the ball. Okay. You know, and uh unfortunately the third downs caught up to us, but I did think about it, but again, I wanted to take the points and um you know, hindsight obviously, as you know, is can be 2020, but um I like this with a six-point lead. What is Kaylin Carson doing that Digs can’t do that? He’s not healthy enough to do. Oh, yeah. Um we’re not comparing players. I mean, you know, again, uh you know, Kaylin’s a young player. He’s talented and Trayvon had a better week, you know, and at the end of the day, you know, there’s a reason it’s a three-week ramp up period and it takes time. I know he feels healthy and he feels ready to play. Um, we obviously felt a little bit different, but um, again, young players are going to they’re going to make mistakes and Kaylin, you know, got beat on a double move. Von got, you know, guy got behind him one time. I mean, that’s that’s part of being a young player and the more they play, the more that they grow. And um that’s that’s why you like to have young players and you understand they’re going to make mistakes. What concerns you is that they don’t respond after they make those mistakes. And I think these guys do respond which tells you they’re the right kind of guys. Is there something though also to having a savvy veteran who’s been in those situations before and has instincts and a resume and stuff like that? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. But, uh, again, as we’ve talked about, you know, again, when when he’s ready to go, I know he feels ready to go. And again, I love that for him as a competitor. I love that. Um, but at the end of the day, we felt differently. If he tells you he’s ready to go, what what are you guys not seeing? Yeah, different things. Consistency, you know, I think I’ve been very honest about that. Um there’s with all of our players, there’s things that they need to do from a consistency standpoint to make us feel good about, you know, putting them out there. And uh again, I know uh he felt like he wanted to play and he felt like he was ready to play. And like I said, you know, we made a decision as a as a a team and I made a decision and we went a different direction. So we’ll see how this week goes. Then back on the pressure that they brought, is there times where you guys just have to attack their pressure to scare them out of it at times? Did you feel like you had Yeah, you have different tools, but again, I think, you know, they just put themselves in a position where, you know, they just kind of they they had the upper hand. And again, you saw them one time. I mean, you know, you saw him flip from Harrison Smith to the other safety. And again, I think you give them credit. And like I said, they’re very aggressive with the things that they do, and I like some of the things they do from a fire zone because of the vision problems that they create. But at the end of the day, you know, it just it it uh it was not good enough. Yeah. And back to red zone. One for three last week, two for five tonight. How do you get back to the drawing board, you as a play caller, what specifically do you look at? Yeah, you know, I want to look at the last couple drives, see how that went. Um because I thought early on I did want to be committed to running the football. I think I was. Um not really sure how the the last couple drives went. I don’t remember the run to pass ratio, but um you know, again, it’s one of those situations where, you know, you got to find a way to get ahead of the sticks down there because if you get into a third and long against this defense with with Brian and their their ability to blitz and disguise things and stuff like that, it can be tough sledding. And uh again, I give them a lot of credit. And uh we’ll get back to the drawing board. Just a quick one on injuries. Quinnon, will he be starting the week in proconte? He has a concussion. Yep, he’s in he’ll be in the protocol. Javvante the shoulders that could be kind of something y’all monitor early in the week or Yeah, I think it was more a stinger and it kind of took a while to calm down and he came back in and you know Quinnon came back fine from the first one and then uh sounds like he got a knee to the head or something. I didn’t I didn’t see it but that’s kind of what what I heard and um yeah physical game. All righty. Thanks guys.

Coach Schottenheimer gives his thoughts on the loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

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