Todd Archer
FRISCO, Texas — Lower than 24 hours after final week's blowout loss to the Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer tried to stay optimistic a couple of protection that has been, to be well mannered, porous.
Requested if there's ever a time for drastic measures — a firing, a benching, a launch — Schottenheimer assured that modifications can be made.
“You may't come off a recreation like [giving up 44 points to the Broncos] and never count on there to be modifications,” he mentioned. “And there can be modifications, I can promise you that.
“We have already had a few of these conferences, and we talked about these modifications.”
However Schottenheimer wasn't speaking about modifications related to Tuesday's commerce deadline at 4 p.m. ET. It was extra about fixing the issue of yielding the second-most yards (404.6 per recreation) and factors (31.3) within the NFL with the gamers already on the roster.
Assist from inside is on the way in which with key gamers coming back from harm. However ESPN's Soccer Energy Index gave Dallas (3-4-1) simply an 18% probability of reaching the playoffs coming into Week 9, which makes Monday's recreation towards the Arizona Cardinals (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN) vital.
If the Cowboys fall wanting the playoffs for the second 12 months in a row, the August commerce of Micah Parsons to the Inexperienced Bay Packers will loom as a serious cause. However contemplating how the Cowboys performed with Parsons aboard final season, would that be truthful?
“, we're within the mode proper now of we have sort of a one-game season,” Schottenheimer mentioned of Monday's recreation.
He didn't imply it in a win-or-else method, noting that the Cowboys have their bye subsequent week, which is able to give them an opportunity to take a breath earlier than returning for “Monday Night time Soccer” towards the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 17.
However with a stretch of three video games in 12 days developing towards the Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and Detroit Lions, each recreation turns into extra vital.
There are obtrusive numbers that inform a troubling story. 5 of the eight opponents the Cowboys have confronted registered season highs in factors towards Dallas. Opponents have scored a landing or a subject objective on 49% of their possessions towards the Cowboys, the very best price within the NFL coming into Week 9. Take out the wins towards the offensively challenged New York Jets and Washington Commanders, who had been with out their prime three receivers, and that jumps to 57%.
And whereas that performed out, Parsons has been excelling on a Packers protection that's giving up the sixth-fewest yards (289.4) and Tenth-fewest factors (21.4) per recreation. Coming into Week 9, Parsons had the perfect odds (+150) to win Defensive Participant of the Yr, per ESPN BET.
“It is powerful as a result of clearly it is a defensive recreation, however I do see plenty of good issues [with the Cowboys],” Parsons mentioned. “There's flashes. It is simply all about consistency.
“Identical with us. You may see a bunch of excellent issues, after which we'll do a bunch of dangerous issues. I simply suppose you have to restrict the dangerous issues, and that is an ‘everybody' factor.”
Whether or not he would have leveled up the Cowboys' protection had he stayed, and whether or not Dallas can discover solutions on the commerce deadline, the group's season sits within the shadow of the Parsons deal.
What if Parsons had been nonetheless a Cowboy?
As gifted as Parsons is, would he have modified the Cowboys' narrative? As a substitute of being ranked thirty first in factors and yards per recreation, would Parsons' affect have the Cowboys nearer to common amongst NFL defenses? With Parsons taking part in 13 video games final season, the Cowboys ranked twenty eighth in yards and thirty first in factors per recreation.
After the 30-27 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 12, when the Cowboys allowed 216 speeding yards, Schottenheimer was requested if the protection can be any totally different with Parsons on the roster.
“I imply, I do not … I do not actually know,” Schottenheimer mentioned. “Micah's an amazing participant. We have different nice gamers. Nevertheless it takes 11 on protection. That's the factor that, once more, 9, 10 guys on a soccer group, offense, protection, particular groups, if a type of is slightly off with their task, slightly off with their alignment, then performs occur.
“And so I believe it is extra in regards to the guys which can be right here, persevering with to impress on them the significance of doing their job and doing it appropriately and with the fitting fundamentals and approach. That is actually what we're targeted on.”
Ideas of what the protection could possibly be with Parsons — per ESPN's Invoice Barnwell, Dallas had the perfect protection from 2021 to 2024 by EPA per play with Parsons on the sphere and the second worst with out him — haven't crept into the heads of gamers, based on the Cowboys.
“He is an amazing participant, undoubtedly, however you'll be able to't actually play the ‘if' recreation,” defensive deal with Osa Odighizuwa mentioned. “That is not one thing you could ever do in life as a result of that is a rabbit gap that goes on without end and ever and ever and ever and ever.
“Like the way in which I take a look at it's, bury the lifeless, feed the residing. What is completed is completed. And it's a must to make the perfect of what you have got in entrance of you.”
There's one other query that must be answered: Would Parsons have performed in the beginning of the season if he had been nonetheless with the Cowboys?
After his Inexperienced Bay debut, Parsons was requested if he would have performed in Week 1 had he remained in Dallas.
“Man, I like soccer. I'd've been taking part in. [Not participating in training camp] is simply the exhausting half, the enterprise facet of it,” Parsons mentioned. “However, nah, there's nothing that might've stored me off the sphere. On the finish of the day, this recreation is at all times greater than us.
“I do not suppose I might watch my teammates go on the market with out me and go to conflict with out me realizing I needs to be on the market. It simply would not really feel proper for me. I am simply comfortable I am with some teammates and a company that wishes me to be right here and needs me to be on the sphere, in order that's the place we're at with that.”
A number of sources with the Cowboys mentioned they surprise if Parsons would have adopted that path had he remained.
Within the week Parsons was dealt to the Packers (for defensive deal with Kenny Clark and first-round picks in 2026 and 2027), he visited famend again specialist Dr. Robert Watkins in Los Angeles for recurring ache that he first acknowledged in the course of the June minicamp as a cause for not training. Parsons didn't follow throughout coaching camp in Oxnard, California, both, ostensibly going by way of a hold-in, which is when a participant attends practices with out taking part to keep away from being fined.
Parsons was identified with a aspect joint sprain, and earlier than the commerce, the Cowboys prescribed him a five-day course of prednisone, an anti-inflammatory corticosteroid, to assist him get well.
With out the supply from the Packers, the Cowboys had been content material to see Parsons play the season on his fifth-year choice in 2025. Additionally they made it clear they knew they may make use of the franchise tag for 2026 and 2027 if the perimeters could not come to an settlement on a brand new contract. The group has used that technique earlier than with high-profile gamers, together with quarterback Dak Prescott.
Had Parsons opted to sit down till he felt totally wholesome, that seemingly would have triggered one other spherical of points between the participant and the group, because the Cowboys might have positioned him on the non-football harm checklist and in the end not paid him.
Given the fractious state of the connection between the 2 sides on the time, would Parsons have been as efficient as he has been with the Packers? By means of seven video games, Parsons — who signed a four-year, $188 million extension on the time of the commerce — has 6.5 sacks, together with a career-high three in a recreation two weeks in the past towards the Cardinals.
The Cowboys have 14 sacks this season, and just one participant has greater than 1.5: James Houston, who joined the group in July and has 3.5.
A commerce deadline repair?
Proprietor and basic supervisor Jerry Jones has constantly been requested about one other commerce, one that might enhance the protection in Parsons' absence. Will Jones pull off one other Amari Cooper-type commerce the way in which the Cowboys did in 2018 to assist the protection by righting the offense? The Cowboys gained seven of their 9 video games after the Cooper commerce with the receiver catching 53 passes for 725 yards and 6 scores.
Will Jones maintain on to the draft picks from the Parsons commerce and the longer term cap room created from the defensive finish's departure to retool issues within the offseason?
“I can let you know this proper now: There's not a commerce in my thoughts — the start and finish of 1 — as we sit right here and speak in any respect,” Jones mentioned final Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “That is not a hedge. We simply do not have one presently that I'd do.”
Sources near the state of affairs say the Cowboys have been monitoring the commerce marketplace for doubtlessly obtainable defensive gamers for a number of weeks. Lately, the Cowboys have trended towards even handed trade-deadline acquisitions — youthful gamers signed for a number of years versus these on expiring contracts. Even the Cooper deal, their highest-profile deadline deal in current reminiscence, match that description.
So buying a participant reminiscent of Cincinnati defensive finish Trey Hendrickson on an expiring contract can be a departure from the group's usually deliberate commerce method.
The Cowboys by no means thought the protection can be this poor after the Parsons deal, however they can not undo what has been accomplished.
“Yearly is totally different, and you're the place you're,” defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus mentioned. “The info are the info, and the realities are the realities. And we now have to be higher. That is the place we're proper now, however I consider in each participant within the room. We received what we want in that room, and I am enthusiastic about us enhancing each single week from this level.”
With out a big-time addition by way of a commerce, the Cowboys will hope for enchancment from inside. Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown is anticipated to make his season debut versus the Raiders in Week 11, however he's getting back from three torn ligaments in his proper knee. Rookie cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. is nearer to returning, however he has had solely a handful of practices since he tore the ACL in his left knee final 12 months at East Carolina. He, too, could possibly be activated in time for the Raiders recreation.
Cornerback Trevon Diggs, a Professional Bowler earlier than two accidents to his left knee the previous two years, is eligible to return from injured reserve on Thanksgiving from a concussion and balky proper knee. Jones mentioned Diggs must be in higher form. Schottenheimer mentioned the group has extra info on how Diggs suffered the concussion in an accident at his house Oct. 16 however mentioned he would let Diggs clarify it when he meets with the media subsequent.
“He is a extremely good participant,” Schottenheimer mentioned, “and we simply need to get him again and get him wholesome and have the ability to assist us end sturdy as a result of we really feel like this factor's going to return all the way down to the top of the season as a result of it is a very aggressive league.”
But when the Cowboys are going to have the ability to end sturdy, the offense must carry them to victory.
Can the offense push Dallas to the playoffs?
The defensive woes put strain on the offense to be near good. The Cowboys are second within the league offensively in yards (384.1) and factors per recreation (30.8). The final group to common a minimum of 30 that did not make the playoffs was the 2004 Chiefs, based on ESPN Analysis. The Cowboys have scored a landing or subject objective on 43 of 86 possessions this season, nearly equivalent to what the opposition has accomplished to the Cowboys' protection.
However Schottenheimer doesn't concede that he must be extra aggressive along with his decision-making on fourth-down choices or taking a near-automatic subject objective try from Brandon Aubrey to cowl for the shortcomings on the opposite facet of the ball.
“I believe we really feel like we are able to exit and rating anytime,” Schottenheimer mentioned. “That is the mindset that we take due to the expertise that we now have and our capacity to attain and strike fairly rapidly and be environment friendly and match them. I do not get caught up in, ‘Oh, I've received to name performs a sure method.' We have scored 40 factors a number of instances. We have scored 30 factors a number of instances. It might be nice to have a few video games perhaps 10-7. Generally we'll take these too.
“However we're ready to play nonetheless we have to play. As a playcaller, I give attention to the second, man, and if it is third-and-3, it is third-and-3. If it is first-and-10, it is first-and-10. If it is 21-3, it is 21-3, good guys or dangerous guys.”
Earlier than the three-game stretch towards the Eagles, Chiefs and Lions, ESPN's FPI provides the Cowboys a 61.4% probability to beat the Cardinals and a 62.8% probability to beat the Raiders. If the Cowboys win each, it should mark the primary time they've had consecutive victories since Weeks 15-16 final season.
If they do not, then the shade from the Parsons commerce will solely develop darker.
ESPN nationwide NFL reporter Dan Graziano and ESPN Packers reporter Rob Demovsky contributed to this story.
