Blogging The Boys
Two games is enough for a trend, and George Pickens not being involved in two straight losses is a concerning one for the Cowboys offense.
Throughout the week, you heard it all about the Vikings’ aggressive defense led by one of the most blitz-happy defensive coordinators in the NFL, Brian Flores. Leading up to the game, Prescott even reminisced about that one time Flores sent Cover-0 (man coverage, no safety help, 6-7 man blitz) over 20 times versus Lamar Jackson.
And yet, the Cowboys weren’t ready for it. When asked about Pickens’ lack of involvement, Prescott pointed toward the Vikings’ Cover-0 looks.
“Honestly, just the zero looks and things like that,” Prescott said. “Simple as that, anytime we were in a passing situation or passing downs and they were giving us that look, we tried to throw him just a quick smoke — not early, well late honestly — and maybe we should have done it earlier. Maybe we should have just thrown him a slant. A lot of ‘maybes.’ I’m frustrated. This was one of the toughest ones I’ve been a part of.”
Maybe Prescott is right about the slant routes, though it sure felt like the Vikings — just like Detroit a week ago — were sitting on it. The Cowboys failed to have a changeup going into this one.
Brian Schottenheimer’s offense shut down by Cover-0 looks
Prescott attributed the “zero” looks to why he struggled to get Pickens the football, but that wasn’t it. Instead, he thinks that’s what overall made the Cowboys struggle in a must-win matchup.
“The zero [looks] that we talked about throughout the week, gave it to us a bunch,” Prescott admitted. “We didn’t have a good enough answer, and when you don’t have a good enough answer for that, especially against Flores, you’re going to see it again and again. That’s what happened.”
Though Cowboys players didn’t execute, the lack of a good answer also falls on head coach Brian Schottenheimer and his coaching staff. After the game, Schottenheimer was willing to admit it.
“They did a good job with their blitz packages,” Schottenheimer said.
Matt Eberflus’ defensive scheme being the right one for Dallas is also trending the wrong direction after Sunday night.
While Jerry Jones is quietly losing faith in Eberflus, he stopped short of throwing him under the bus. Trevon Diggs did not follow Jones’ lead. Here is what Diggs said after the game about why he thinks the defense has struggled to click this season (h/t to Jon Machota of The Athletic).
***“It could be the change in defensive coordinator,” Diggs said. “That’s hard...
