It wasn’t a fun trip to the Rocky Mountains for the Dallas Cowboys, who were thumped by the Denver Broncos 44-24 in Week 8. Losing is one thing, but to get embarrassed on the road once again isn’t a good sign for a team that still has postseason dreams.
Brian Schottenheimer’s done some good things in his first year as the head coach, but there are still some issues with his team’s consistency. The first-time HC acknowledged nothing the Cowboys did against the Broncos was good enough, echoing similar sentiments from other losses. Here are the Parting Schott’s from yet another disappointing road game from the Cowboys.
Where’s Jake?
Through the first seven weeks of the season, Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson was among the top players in the game at his position. Ferguson was leading all NFL tight ends in both catches and touchdowns heading into the contest with the Broncos.
Yet Ferguson wasn’t seen in this game. There wasn’t a catchable ball thrown the TEs way (one target) and he had no catches for the first time since his rookie year. That can’t happen, the offense needs Ferguson to be a productive part of the game plan to help keep the defense from keying on the wide receivers.
The Cowboys have done a great job getting him involved this season, but they forgot about him yesterday and it hurt the offense.
Schottenheimer gets conservative
After a strong start, the Cowboys were behind the eightball quickly, and it was evident the defense didn’t have the ability to get stops. Yet Schottenheimer played it passive in calling the offense, opting to punt when he should’ve been going for it on fourth down.
With the Cowboys trailing by 13 near the end of the third quarter, the offense faced a 4th-and-6 from their own 44-yard line. Inside of going for it and trying to keep the best part of his team on the field, Schottenheimer opted to punt and hoped his defense could get a stop. Everyone knew it was the wrong decision, even CBS analyst and former Cowboys QB Tony Romo let out an audible “oof” when the punt team came onto the field saying he would’ve gone for it.
The defense was getting stomped, and couldn’t get a stop, it made no sense to put them back on the field and pray they would finally get one. The best part of the Cowboys is their offense and they need to be trusted more than the defense.
Schottenheimer didn’t do that, and the result was a 12-play, 84-yard touchdown drive that essentially sealed the loss. Hopefully he learns from the mistake, but Schottenheimer needed to be more aggressive in this case, and he’s shown to be more conservative than Cowboys fans had hoped.
Brock Hoffman had a rough game
He’s been a nice story and is a capable backup at center, but there’s a reason Hoffman went undrafted. It was a rough game for Hoffman, who got beaten soundly by the interior of the Broncos’ offensive line.
Prescott was under duress for a large part of the contest, and much of that pressure came from up the middle. Hoffman wasn’t alone in getting whipped upfront, but the offensive line needs Cooper Beebe back. That may happen this week.
Run defense still isn’t fixed
Jerry Jones has spoken numerous times about how the trade of Micah Parsons was going to help the rushing defense, well that hasn’t turned out to be the case, and it looked even worse in Week 8.
The Broncos have a good one-two punch in the run game; J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey carved up Matt Eberflus’ defense by running for 157 yards and two scores. Those totals came on just 22 carries as the duo averaged 7.4 and 6.6 yards a carry, respectively. Any RB tandem would’ve carved up that defense with the size of those holes.
It’s tough to win games when you can’t stop the run and the Cowboys continue to struggle mightily in that area.
No QB controversy
Even worse than getting beat was some Cowboys fans actually believe backup QB Joe Milton’s play means there’s quarterback controversy in Dallas. Milton did have the best throw of the day for the offense, a beautiful strike to WR Jalen Tolbert for a 35-yard touchdown, but there’s no way to compare Milton and Prescott.
Heading into the game Prescott was an MVP candidate and playing some of the best football of his career. One game and one good throw in garbage time isn’t going to change that.
Milton had a nice showing in his limited time but those clamoring to see more of him throwing the ball yesterday and thinking there’s a QB controversy is actively searching for engagement. Prescott is a much better player and there is no debate over whether he should keep his job over Milton.
Some people just hate Prescott and need something else to do.
Follow Cowboys Wire on Facebook to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Freezing out the tight end among Week 8’s Parting Schotts for disappointed Cowboys
Reporting by Ben Grimaldi, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
