FRISCO — Brian Schottenheimer doesn’t care what’s going on with the Green Bay Packers. The Cowboys coach isn’t being dismissive of what the Packers might do against his team on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium, in the return of Micah Parsons. It’s just that the Cowboys coach has his own set of problems.
The list is long, depending on your viewpoint of this 1-2 Cowboys team that could be 0-3 if not for a 64-yard field goal.
With two offensive starters, CeeDee Lamb and Tyler Booker, out with ankle injuries and a defensive starter, Trevon Diggs, missing practice with a knee issue on Wednesday, the expectations are that he’s supposed to win a game on Sunday.
“We’re good enough to beat the Packers without CeeDee and Book and the guys we could be missing,” Schottenheimer said. “But the only way you do that is if you play well and execute, and if you don’t, you put yourself in a tough spot. So, we have to do that and that starts with today’s practice.”
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It was a confidence, with a slight twinge of defiance, in Schottenheimer’s demeanor as he spoke with reporters on Wednesday. He was respectful of what Parsons brings to the Packers and what awaits his team. He was also respectful of the other pass rushers, mentioning Rashan Gary, who leads the NFL with 4½ sacks through the first three weeks of the season.
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Yet Schottenheimer just can’t get caught up in the return of Parsons and whether some fans are wearing cheeseheads in the stands on Sunday night.
This is a defense that ranks 31st in allowing yards per play (6.5) and has given up the third-most yards (1,193) and offensive drives ending in a score (53.3%) in the NFL.
Schottenheimer said the team has started the process of fixing the defense. It comes down to simplifying the scheme and possibly changing the roles or playing time of players.
The coach won’t get into specifics because the team will take the next two days to figure things out before finalizing everything during Friday meetings.
You can blame some of these defensive problems on the absence of Parsons.
“I would say we have not been playing to the standard we want to play to,” Schottenheimer said. “But if we had Micah, you can’t predict that we would be playing any better and you can’t predict we’d be playing any better, any worse. Are you 3-0? Are you 0-3? You don’t know. Those are projections. Again, we’re focused on the things we need to get better at.”
With Parsons on the team, the Packers produced 31 quarterback hits, with 18 coming from three players — Devonte Wyatt, Parsons and Gary.
The Cowboys have 12 quarterback hits.
“So, look, Micah’s a great player,” Schottenheimer said. “Micah’s going to make plays. I’ll just put that out there. Like, Micah’s going to make plays. Does he get a sack? I hope not, but he might. He’s pretty good. But I think our guys will go in knowing we got a good plan. It takes more than one guy to block Micah but let’s not forget Rashan Gary is a helluva rusher, too. This is a defense that’s got incredible speed with [Edgerrin] Cooper and [Quay] Walker and Micah and Rashan and I mean they’re deep and they’re fast.”
The Cowboys’ offense hasn’t been the problem in a sense. The run game is productive, especially with Javonte Williams averaging 75.7 yards per game. With no Lamb and Booker, the offense might be compromised on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Packers’ defense has allowed the third-fewest yards (697) in the league this year.
Please excuse Schottenheimer if he’s not caught up in the Packers’ success in 2025. He knows.
He also doesn’t have much concern that 14 Packers players were listed on the injury report on Wednesday and starting right tackle Zach Tom will probably miss the game with an oblique injury.
Schottenheimer has issues with his team. But he won’t back down from the challenge because he expects to win.
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He’s not guaranteeing a victory, because what coach does that? Schottenheimer is showing confidence his team will win, despite what the Packers are potentially bringing.
Schottenheimer mentioned how his father, Marty, an NFL head coach for 21 seasons, handled difficult times.
“I said to the guys in the team meeting, I said, ‘Our goal this week is to go 1-0.’ And it’s really your goal every week,” he said. “You can’t look back on Chicago. You can’t look back on the Giants. The goal is to go 1-0 this week. Well, how do you do that? Well, you focus on today’s meeting and you focus on today’s practice. You pay attention to details. I think that was a strength of his, the fact … I mean, he put his blinders on, man.”
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