Inside The Star
While the players clearly didn’t get the job done on the field in the 2025 season, some members of the team’s coaching staff earned a share of blame for the 7-9-1 record the Dallas Cowboys finished with.
Especially on the defensive side of the ball.
First year head coach Brian Schottenheimer did manage to invigorate the Cowboys’ offense in 2025. Dak Prescott had perhaps his best season yet.
Dallas had a pair of thousand-yard receivers in CeeDee Lamb and a 1,000-yard rusher in Javonte Williams.
The Cowboys scored 471 points for the season, the fourth highest in the team’s 66 seasons in the NFL.
The offense wasn’t the issue.
The defense clearly was though, giving up the most points in franchise history at 511.
Which is why defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus was fired last week.
With Schottenheimer calling the plays, offensive coordinator Klayton Adams could focus on improving the Cowboys’ rushing attack.
Adams had been an offensive line coach with the Colts and Cardinals since 2019.
He made those teams’ running games rock solid. He did it again this year in Dallas.
Ken Dorsey joined Dallas as a pass game specialist this year after serving as an offensive coordinator in Buffalo and Cleveland.
Prescott’s numbers this season were similar to the success Josh Allen enjoyed with the Bills under Dorsey in 2022 and 2023.
All three coaches are expected to return in 2026. That bodes well for another solid performance by the Cowboys’ offense this fall.
Eberflus’ defense was just atrocious. There simply isn’t any other way to put it.
In nearly every category, the Cowboys’ defense was dead last or pretty close to it.
They gave up the most points and the third-most total yards in 2025.
Dallas was tied for 22nd in sacks with 35. Jadeveon Clowney accounted for 25% of those sacks with 8.5.
The Cowboys were tied for 29th with just six interceptions. They only recovered six fumbles and left Dallas with a minus-9 turnover ratio.
Those numbers are a big reason why the Cowboys will begin 2026 with their fourth different defensive coordinator in as many seasons this fall.
Special teams coordinator Nick Sorenson somehow retained his job for 2026.
He’ll need a much better showing, especially in kickoff and punt returns, if he expects to retain his job after the 2026 season concludes.
Brian Schottenheimer became Dallas’ third-straight head coach not to have a winning season in his first full year. Jason Garrett was 5-3 in a half-season when he replaced Wade Phillips midway through the 2010 season.
But Garrett went 8-8 in 2011, his first full-year in the job.
As first full seasons go, Schottenheimer’s wasn’t the worst of the 10 men who have led the Cowboys since 1960.
