
Dallas Cowboys stumble against Minnesota Vikings, putting their playoff hopes on life support. Can Brian Schottenheimer turn the tide, or is this season already lost? Marcus Mosher and Landon McCool break down the Cowboys' 34-26 defeat, spotlighting the lackluster defensive performance, struggles in pass rush, and questionable coaching decisions in crucial red-zone moments.
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Marcus Mosher
The Dallas Cowboys season is effectively over now that they've lost to the Vikings. We'll break it down next.
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You are Locked On Cowboys, your daily Dallas Cowboys podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast network. Your team every day.
Marcus Mosher
Welcome back to the Locked on Cowboys podcast, part of the lockdown podcast network. Your team every day. We'd like to thank you for making us the number one sports podcast network. And today's episode is brought to you by fanduel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your live NFL bets all year long. Welcome back. I am your host, Marcus Mosher. He is Lana McCool. And on today's show, we are talking about the Cowboys. 34, 26 lost to the Minnesota Vikings in week 15. Landon, this is a pretty disappointing one. The Cowboys came into this game, I think at one point they were six and a half point favorites. Over on FanDuel, that number went down to five right before kickoff. We were feeling good about maybe their chances of making a run to the postseason and getting blown out strong because they lost by eight. But they did not play well in this game.
Landon McCool
No, absolutely not. I mean, and it, it felt like very familiar kind of problems were in their head again. You know, it was a complete in inability to get after the pass, the passer. And it affects McCarthy. And McCarthy's a young quarterback who we talked about if you're able to get after him and affect him, he'll make Aaron throws. And honestly, he made Aaron throws. There were certainly several of these different times where he had open receivers and he just missed them. So there could have been, there's, there's more meat left on that bone against the Cowboys defense that he missed, but there was certainly enough that he was able to, to make do with. And, and he was given plenty of opportunity to sit back in pockets and dice up a cowbo, which, you know, wasn't, wasn't stellar, but, I mean, certainly had the tougher of the two assignments because the, the Minnesota Vikings offensive line was a little bit beat up, was missing, still missing. Christian Daras saw. And the Cowboys offensive line barely got any pressure on them at all, on McCarthy at all.
Marcus Mosher
No, we should mention Brian O', Neal, the right tackle, who's a very good player. He left in this game with an injury. He didn't return. So both of the starting offensive tackles were out, and Kevin O' Connell and the Vikings figured out ways to give McCarthy time. We'll get into the defense more here in a little bit, but from a big picture standpoint, the odds of the Cowboys going on a run and winning their final four games and having the Eagles lose two of their last three, I think the odds were fairly low. But one of the things that you and I were hoping for is just to see them play more meaningful games because, you know, you win this game, you play the Chargers next week, you're still going to be alive no matter what happens. And now, Landon, there's a pretty good chance by the time the Cowboys play their next game, they're officially eliminated from the playoffs. They basically are right now. And that's just not a fun spot to be in when you still have three games left in. None of them are going to matter.
Landon McCool
Yeah, I mean, I, I think I felt like you know, that maybe if, if you had won this game and gone into the Chargers, who are, you know, they're still kind of lipping into the playoffs a little bit, a little bit beat up, but there's still a playoff team and you had lost to the Chargers and, and the Eagles had pulled out another victory and he just, you know, it's like, ah, shucks, he just didn't have enough. I felt like that would have been, you know, like steps a couple of steps ahead of where you are right now. And again, it's, it's not completely over, but I mean, the, the, the odds are pretty bad at this point. And, and, and, and as the, the weeks go on and if the, the more losses you compile and more wins the Eagles compile, it becomes more and more impossible to, to catch up to them at this point. So, you know, it's, it's one of those things where you wish, you wish you'd been eliminated a little bit more, I guess, maybe a little bit less pathetic style. Right. Because that's, that's, that's what it felt like. You should have really won this game. You, you were favored to win this game. You're playing at home, you're playing 10 days rest. Yeah. You have plenty of time to, to get ready for this game. And it just felt like you gave McCarthy the one opportunity he, he kind of needed to, to play well in this game to, and to shred your defense. And, and he absolutely did.
Marcus Mosher
And I just thinking about a couple weeks ago when The Cowboys were 65 and one coming out of that Kansas City game on Thanksgiving, we were feeling really good about the direction of this team. We felt like even if they didn't make the playoffs, things were trending in the right direction. It seems like they were on the right path even if it didn't happen this year. Coming out of this game, it just feels like, man, it's the same thing that we saw earlier in the year, except for. The only difference is now they don't have two first round picks, you know, or four first round picks in the next two drafts. Not say the Quinn Williams trade is bad by any stretch, but it's just, it's the same. The defense continues to be a major issue. You can't get stops against mediocre offenses. And now they're out of postseason contention.
Landon McCool
Yeah, I mean, look, I think this was. The issues that they have stopping the pass were not going to be solved this off season. Like, I mean, I think Quinn and Williams's addition was helps. There for sure. But I also think that mostly what it's done is, is made you a much, much better run defense. And. And that's a lot. Right. But I think you still obviously need one or two pieces on the edge to, to kind of be a better pass rushing team, to threaten teams like this, because ultimately you still don't. I mean, it's, it's one. It's both. You got to have coverage. You have to have pass rush. Right now, the Cowboys don't really have a complete set of either. Right. And so if they just need more talent on the back end of their defense and on the front of their defense, if they want to compete in the playoffs, that was not going to necessarily get solved. But you had hoped that the. That was not necessarily going to get solved this season, but you had hoped that it would have gotten to a point. Point that your offense could kind of make up for that situation. Which, you know, kind of really leads us to another part of the issue here is that you had an offensive play caller and an offensive coach, head coach that wasn't calling the game with the level of urgency that probably was necessary against, you know, considering the defense that you had playing for you. The way that they were unable to stop this Minnesota offense.
Marcus Mosher
Yeah, we're going to get to Brian Schottenheimer in a little bit. But just a couple things in the offense, they got into a really hairy spot in this game with Javante Williams because he left early. Was it after the first drive or second drive with a shoulder injury? Malik Davis came in and performed as well as you can expect. Malik Davis to play. Hunter Lipke suffered a concussion right before halftime on the, on the kick. I think it was what the Minnesota. You were really down to like one and a half running backs in this game. The Cowboys ran the ball incredibly well, but they weren't able to stick with it consistently. And I think a lot of it had to do with. They were just running out of running backs.
Landon McCool
Well, I think. Yes, absolutely, that. And I also think that what was happening is that, you know, between the 20s, they were able to run the ball because Minnesota was playing so much. Show coverage to present to prevent Lamb and Pickens from getting down the field. And then once things got compressed a little bit, they weren't having the same rate of high success running the football because the safeties were closer to the line of scrimmage and tackles were being made closer. And then I think the. One of the other real big issues there was the pass protection problem. Right. Like, I mean, you don't necessarily trust, I think Malik Davis to go in there and pass protect on a regular basis. Certainly not to the way that you you did to Javonte Williams, and certainly not to the way you had to Hunter Lipke. So there was that point when Hunter Lifke went out that I was actually extremely concerned because considering who you were playing in the Vikings and who was going to be pass protecting next attack, which if if both Williams and Lipke had been out at the same time, it would have been Davis for the majority of those stats, which have caused even more problems than the Cowboys had protecting their quarterback.
Marcus Mosher
Let's talk about Brian Schottenheimer, because I thought this was a really concerning game for his development and where he's at as a head coach. I want to dive into that more. We'll get to that next. This episode is brought to you by Aura Frames. The holidays are officially here, which means gift hunting season is on. And if you want something meaningful, personal and guaranteed to get a reaction or Frames is the gift that delivers every time. It's not just something that you wrap, it's a way to share memories. And because Ora isn't just your average picture frame, it's incredibly awesome. We got one for my my mom, she absolutely loves it. She can watch her grandbabies all day on the frame. And what's the the best part of it was we were able to upload the pictures before we gave it to her as a gift. No headaches. It was so easy to sim to to figure out just instant smiles. It's the holiday gift that that's actually going to get used, not forgotten about and thrown into some junk drawer. And for a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get 35 off Aura's best selling Carver mat frames named number one by wire cutter by using promo code locked on at checkout that is a U R A frames.com promo code locked on this deal is exclusive to lockdown listeners and the frames sell out very fast. So order yours now to get it in time for the holidays and and make sure that you support our show by mentioning us at checkout.
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Marcus Mosher
Welcome back to the Locked on Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen every single day. You're already a die hard Cowboy fan. The everyday or all access tier is built for you. You're going to get one on one text access with Landon and I. All access episodes, an exclusive newsletter and a 15 discount to the Locked On Merch store. Head over to Locked On Cowboys Supercast to join the everyday club and unlock all access and you can find the link in the show notes. All right Lane, let's talk about Brian Schottenheimer. I've got a big spiel on him a little bit, but what did you think about his coaching performance here on Sunday night?
Landon McCool
Well, I think, you know, it's kind of like what we discussed earlier. Right. It's my concern is still that and I think that this is going to be something that he's going to need to work on in the offseason. They have to do some self evaluation, some self scout and talk to his coaching staff and, and I think he's just going to look and need to see about, you know, maybe changing the decision making process on these kind of key fourth down decisions. Right. I, I, it, it, it's a little bit of what you and I discussed earlier, you know, maybe a couple weeks ago about the Brandon Aubrey effect of it. All right. Like the fact that you have Brandon Aubrey on this team and that he can kick, you know, these field goals, I mean at least, yeah, certain points he could, you know, with quite high regularity from very long distances and it opens up opportun. But, but the kind of counter of that, the, the maybe the indirect result that the undesired result is that maybe you become a little bit too conservative because you know that you have a kicker who can make these long distance kicks. Right. And, and, and ultimately it's, it's not even just that. It's, it's the fact that you know, not necessarily recognizing that your defense and maybe over trusting that your defense is going to be able to make stops when clearly it's kind of shown over and over again that it doesn't really have the ability or, or at least to the point where you know, you feel like the defense should have to earn back that. Right. You know, and it has it like it's, it's felt like you, you're consistently getting burned by. Right. You know, the, the, the, the thought of well, you know, we'll kick a field goal here or, and hope that our defense kind of makes us. Right. And it really came back to bite you this, this week where you missed, you know, a field goals and then, and then had, you know, deal with the, the loss of field position and, and you know, especially the long field goals. It puts you in precarious situation. It makes a Minnesota Vikings offense that hasn't necessarily had to do very much against other teams, I mean, not have to go very far in order to score points. So yeah, I think ultimately that combined with the fact that you had such a great play caller like Kevin o' Connell that you were facing it really kind of made up a lot of the difference in talent that was that you have between these two teams. Particularly, particularly. And, and I think that it, the Cowboys inability to kind of make up that ground by being a little bit more aggressive and, and playing, putting their best foot forward and playing, you know, believing in their offense instead of their defense. I think it came back to bite them again this week.
Marcus Mosher
Yeah. And this is our biggest complaint about shotimers. We're 14 games through the season right now and it still doesn't feel like he knows what type of team he has. Like I, you've got to go into these games thinking that you need to score 30 plus points every single week to win or I can't believe I'm using this example. Do the Jason Garrett thing and really try to limit the number of possessions in the game with your offense to limit the exposure of your defense. And they're just not doing either, you know, either of those right now and that's why you have a record of 6, 7 and 1. I thought the Cowboys lost the game in a three drive stretch and I wanted to run through it a little bit Landon, so give me just a little bit of leeway.
Landon McCool
So yeah.
Marcus Mosher
After the vikings took a 17 to 14 lead, the Cowboys were operating a two minute drill. At one point after the Tyler Smith injury, he got poked in the eye. The Cowboys had a first and 10 at the Minnesota 46 yard line with a minute 20 left on the clock and no timeouts. Right. At this point, a field goal is almost certain. Right. So play for the touchdown, be aggressive. This is how the, the next couple plays went. A first and 10 dive to Hunter Lipke. That gets three yards. Okay. On second and seven, they threw a pass over the middle, a check down to Hunter Lippy, who got 11 yards, which was really good. Again, good play. Then they run a 10 yard out route to George Pickens. And while you got back to back, you know, 11 and 10 yard plays, now the time is down to 35 seconds. You're, you're, you're really in a crunch mode for time. And then you run a screen 200 lipke, that gets two yards. And that was basically it. Like you said, you're running a screen for Lipkey and now you're settling for a field goal. Okay, coming out of halftime. So you have a 17, 17 tie, right? The Cowboys get the ball down to Minnesota's 11 yard line. Okay? First and first and 10 from the 11 wide receiver screen to CD Lamb, that diecasted dirt. A second and 10 run that gains no yards to Malik Davis, and then they throw a slant to Cavante Turpin for one yard. You kick a 26 yard field goal. I mean, just that drive alone, like, it just felt like everything was too cute. I wish they wouldn't try to run some screens in these second and 10 runs when they're in the, you know, the low, low red zone.
Landon McCool
Yeah, I mean that's really, I mean, the, the green zone or whatever they want to call that, right? Like, it feels like once they get into that area, they, it's, it's the, it's the Will Ferrell, like, I don't know what to do with my hands, you know, like, it's, it's, it have these, all these weapons, all this, this, this offensive line that they've invested this run game that's, that's looked efficient between the 20, between the 20s, and you get in the 10 yard line and it's like you don't know what to do. It's like you're trying to, to figure out a way to get everyone an opportunity to score a touchdown instead of just going in there and playing, you know, playing the smart play and, and doing what, you know, you can to create little space and scoring the touchdown.
Marcus Mosher
When you need to, so it doesn't end there. So the Cowboys actually get a really quick stop. So they're, they're up 20 to 17, right? This is a chance to really kind of put the game away. You're moving the ball down the field and this is where I had maybe the biggest problem. Kevante Turpin catches a nice little pass and it's second and one on Minnesota's 26 yard line. Take a shot, right? Take a shot down the sideline. Take a shot to try to get to the end zone. This is the, the best chance to do it because if you don't, if you get an incompletion, who cares? You still have two downs to get one, you know, one yard. They run up the middle with Malik Davis. They get two yards. First and ten. They run another screen that fails so it's second and ten. Then they run a reverse with Kavonte Turpin that gets two yards. They have a false start on third and eight. That puts them at 13 yards. Then they get a, then they, then they get a 10 yard pass to Malik Davis. So it's fourth and three at Minnesota's 20. Sorry, fourth and three at Minnesota's 18 yard line. Like, okay, you're up by three, going up by six doesn't do a ton for you. Be aggressive, you're in the red zone, go for the touchdown. To really start putting this game out of reach. They take the delay of game, they kick a 41 yard field goal. Minnesota scores a touchdown like six plays later. Now you're behind. It's those stretches in the game where Brian Schottenheimer needs to be better. He, he's got to default to being aggressive rather than ah, we're, you know, we'll take a six point lead and live with it.
Landon McCool
That it's playing not to lose. Right.
Marcus Mosher
And you lost.
Landon McCool
Playing to win and you lost. You still end up losing. Right. That's, that's always the issue with playing not to lose. Yeah. When you're on the 18. How many times like they also could have just looked at it this way, like how many times would they pin Minnesota back in bad field position? Even if, like, even if you had, you know, gone for it and, and, and missed, it wouldn't have been nearly as bad than as trying to kick a 53 yard field goal and missing it. Right. Because you, you're giving them 40 ext of free field to, to kind of, you know, to get back to the, to the 10 yard line. I think it was 18 yard line that they went for that fourth and three. So yeah, I mean I, I think it's, it doesn't even make, it's not even consistent with itself. I think that's the issue. And again, I think it's a couple different things. I think it's a young coach maybe not understanding, you know, the depths of the problems of his defense and needing to make up for it. I think it's, it's too much trust in a guy like Aubrey and I think that it's, it's Someone who's afraid to kind of be, take that extra step to be aggressive full time in order to, you know, deliver that final blow to win the football game.
Marcus Mosher
I would have thought after last week when Brian Schottenheimer kicked way too many field goals against the Lions and they lost by 14, I really would have thought that after the 10 day break that he would have kind of went and been really aggressive in this game and he wasn't. And that's, that's what's so concerning to me is that it doesn't feel like the head coach is learning. And honestly he's getting less and less aggressive as the year goes on. You look at some of the early numbers, like from the first two months of the season, he was way more aggressive in those games. And now I don't know what to feel about Brian Schottenheimer because you've got a losing record after 14 games, you're becoming less and less aggressive. And he still doesn't know what his team is. I don't want to say that they should fire him because I don't believe that or anything, but I just, I feel more discouraged now than I have in a long time.
Landon McCool
I, I, I don't know if I'm ready to quite go that route because I think I, but I, because I think he's a young head coach and this is all part of like, you.
Marcus Mosher
Know him in terms of experience, but not necessarily young in terms of like age. Right?
Landon McCool
Yeah, but I mean, I think young in terms of experience is what we're talking about here. This is a part of the things, part of one of the things that these coaches have to go through in a learning experience like learning how to, to feel, feel their, their team out and understanding the, the totality of their team and then counterbalancing that. This is something that all young head coaches go through. So I'm certainly not thrilled with what is going on. Like that's the truth. This is a case where I feel like he's playing over his head to us to a large degree. But I, I, I'm not soured on him long term because I think this is part of what he's going to have to go through to be a good coach. The question will be if he goes to the off season and he examines the situation and he doesn't like change what's going on, then I will definitely be concerned because I just don't know that you're going to change the way you, you decide these sort of things in the middle of the season so vastly that we would notice.
Marcus Mosher
All right, let's talk about the Cowboys defense, which is. I don't even have a word to describe it right now. Bad. Actually, way worse than that. We'll talk about if there's any chance that Matt Eber flues returns in 2026. Next this episode is brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be in the action all season long, FanDuel is the spot for you. Because Sundays move fast in one big play, and suddenly everything feels different. And that's what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You're not just watching the game, you're reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. And live betting is the best when the game starts to flip, and you can usually feel it when a receiver gets hot, a defense tightens up, or the momentum flips after a turnover. And FanDuel lets you jump into the moment with live spreads and money lines that adjust instantly, and player props that update as guys heat up. So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL Live bets all year long. FanDuel the games the game moves fast. And so can you.
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Marcus Mosher
Welcome back to the Lock on Cowboys podcast. We'd like to thank you for making us your first listen every single day. Let's talk about the Cowboys defense. In this one. They got a turnover on the first drive of the game. It felt like maybe this is the night that they. They can make some plays. Nope. They give up 34 points. Minnesota averages 6.3 yards per play, and that's with JG McCarthy still being J.J. mcCarthy.
Landon McCool
Yeah, I mean, it was frustrating. Like it. And again, like, Minnesota's offensive line was beat up a little bit and the Cowboys still weren't able to kind of generate consistent pressure. It wasn't like that. They didn't get any pressure at any point because it does feel like there were times they were able to flush him out and. And to his credit, he was able to kind of, you know, create a little bit on the outside of the pocket and make some plays down the field. But I think the large point was that he felt comfortable enough for a large portion of the game, certainly enough to attack the Cowboys down the field and shake receivers loose on the back end. And not even Justin Jefferson or Jordan Addison, like, you know, neighbor's neighbor, I think was mostly the guy that was, you know, Naylor. Sorry. Was mostly the guy that was getting the. The targeting downfield. But the Cowboys, it felt like if I had to point at one thing that specifically was the problem, it was the lack of outside on the edge pass rush that we could, you know, really consistently make McCarthy get off the spot. It just felt like he was sitting back there and. And tossing the ball down the field after waiting. Tick, tick, tick. Throw the football.
Marcus Mosher
I mean, that's the thing, is you could point to any spot at this defense and you'd be right. I mean, the linebackers, again, were awful. If you get a chance, watch the Marvin overshone on the JJ McCarthy rushing touchdown. I mean, he is just completely lost. He has no idea. On the Aaron Jones rushing touchdown. It might have been Jordan Mason. No, it was Aaron Jones. Kenneth Murray just complet. No, sorry. It was C.J. ham. The C.J. ham rushing touchdown. Kenneth Murray had no idea who got the ball. He jumped into the wrong gap and the fullback went right into his. Logan Wilson can't run from sideline to Sideline, like, they're just, it's really hard to play football when your linebackers are this incompetent. That.
Landon McCool
Yeah. And I mean, I, again, it's, it's all the same, it's all the same issues, right? It's all the same problems. I think, you know, the linebacker play may have been a tick better because they had a little bit less Murray, but not that much better because you're just trading one problem for another. It's not like you have the talent, you don't have the talent you need at the position at this point. It's, it's a, it's a, not even a, it's less than average. It's below less, less than average linebacker crew right now. And then again, like, you know, you've got, you know, nothing, nothing to hang your hat on as a pass defense. You don't have a, a pass rush that you can kind of lean on to hope the ball comes out early. So you can not expose your corners and you don't have the corners to like, you know, sustain man coverage to wait for your pass rush to get there. So you're, you're getting absolutely killed in the pass game. And I think in the run game you're seeing, you know, them making stops, they had tackles for losses, they're able to make some plays some of the times, but then also obviously giving up big chunks, which, you know, to Minnesota's credit, they've actually been pretty good about doing specifically that, giving, creating big chunk plays in the run game. But yeah, I mean, ultimately it's the same stuff that we've seen week in, week out with this defense. It's really worn thin at this point and, and you know, it'll be interesting to see what form the change is going to come, but change definitely league needs to come.
Marcus Mosher
I mean, I, nothing would surprise me, but at this point, how do you bring Matt Eber FL back? I, I, I just, I would have thought that Matty coaching in the NFC north, he would have given you an advantage in those four games, right? Cowboys gave up 37 points per game against NFC north teams this year. They've given up 30 or more points. I'm look counting it now. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Eight times this year. Eight times you've given up 30 or more points. It's just acceptable. And I know the talent is not great, but I see other coaches out there across the NFL that have, you know, they don't have talent either. And they're not giving up 34 points to JJ, JJ, McCarthy and quarterbacks like this. So it's, you have to move on. I don't care about, hey, this would be the fourth defensive coordinator in four years. He's not, he's just not giving you any advantage on game game day and actually, I think he's hurting you.
Landon McCool
Well, I mean, look, I mean we've seen, we've seen team defenses without talent before, but at least they play with technique and they play hard and I don't know that that's always the case with this crew at times.
Marcus Mosher
No, I, I, I don't get it. All right, we're gonna have a lot to discuss this week with the the Cowboys. Maybe we'll start some draft talk soon. Landon. I don't know.
Landon McCool
It's, it's creeping at this point for sure. It's whatever.
Marcus Mosher
All right, that is it for today's show. Sorry for being so depressed. I just hate meaningless football. That's what it is. Make sure that you subscribe and follow the lot on Cowboys Podcast wherever you get your podcast so you get all of the latest episodes and did lot on Cowboys. Make your Spotify rap prove it to us on social media to secure a free month of our brand new Everyday or club. Just tag our national loth on podcast network account on any social platform and we'll drop you a code. Be one of the first to join the everyday club to get your favorite shows ad free and exclusive access to the members only Discord channel. Make sure that you check out the loton Lot NFL Podcast. Two shows every single day. One in the morning with Tyler Roland, one in the afternoon with Tony Wiggins. Available wherever you get your podcast. Follow lanen on Twitter acoolbcb. I'm at Marcus Underscore Moser. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.
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Marcus Mosher
Power.
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Title: Disaster: Dallas Cowboys Playoff Dreams CRUSHED After Stunning Loss to Minnesota Vikings
Hosts: Marcus Mosher & Landon McCool
Date: December 15, 2025
This episode grapples with the Dallas Cowboys’ crushing 34–26 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 15, a defeat that all but mathematically eliminates the Cowboys from playoff contention. Marcus and Landon analyze what went wrong, revisit recurring team issues, critique coaching decisions, and look ahead to what this means for the franchise’s future. The somber tone reflects the hosts’ frustration with yet another wasted season.
On Defensive Collapse:
On Play Calling Conservatism:
On Coaching Uncertainty:
On Defensive Futility:
On Morale:
This episode encapsulates the season’s frustrations and sets the stage for a critical, and perhaps transformative, Cowboys offseason.