Blogging The Boys
If the Cowboys fail this year, what do you think will be the reason why?
Expectations aren’t so high for the Cowboys as they enter the first year of Brian Schottenheimer’s run as head coach. That might be for the best, as this team is primed to surprise people with how good they are. Even so, here are three reasons the Cowboys won’t be able to win the NFC East in 2025.
Being a head coach is hard. Being an offensive play-caller is also hard. Doing both at the same time? Well, it isn’t easy. Brian Schottenheimer is acing all the offseason tests, having built an impressive staff and clearly crushing the vibes check every chance he gets.
Still, he’s taking over a team that perpetually has Super Bowl aspirations and perpetually falls well short of that. He’s never been a head coach before, and hasn’t been a full-time play-caller since the 2020 season in Seattle. He’s not completely inexperienced, but this is objectively the toughest challenge Schottenheimer has faced thus far in his career.
How does he handle all these new responsibilities being thrust upon him? More importantly, how does he react when things don’t go his way, whether it’s losing a tough game or being overruled on something by his infamously meddlesome owner/general manager? Nobody knows the answers to those questions yet, not even Schottenheimer, and the growing pains could cost Dallas, even if they manage to return to the playoffs this year.
Matt Eberflus is the new defensive coordinator, and while he has a strong track record, there are also legitimate questions about how he’ll improve this defense. His plans for a unique talent like Micah Parsons are just the tip of the iceberg.
Who starts at cornerback - Trevon Diggs and Shavon Revel Jr. are both rehabbing serious injuries, Kaiir Elam was given up on in Buffalo, and Caelen Carson struggled as a rookie - and how good are they? Who fills the DeMarvion Overshown-shaped void at linebacker?
And the age old question of the run defense, where Mazi Smith seems to be the primary (only?) answer on the defensive line for early run downs. Eberflus has rarely fielded bad defenses, but if it takes him a few weeks to figure out the answers to all these questions, it might put Dallas in a hole.
November brings a really tough stretch on the Cowboys’ schedule. They host the Eagles and Chiefs - the two teams to reach the Super Bowl last year - over a span of four days. That is then followed up with a road trip to Detroit, home games against the Vikings and Chargers, and then a road trip to face the Commanders.
That’s six games against playoff teams from a year ago, three of whom reached their conference’s championship game, all towards the end of the season. Unless one...
