Losing is never fun, but it is a far better teacher than winning when it comes to the National Football League. The Dallas Cowboys have an entirely new coaching staff in 2025 under first-year and first-time head coach Brian Schottenheimer. To say consistency is not a strong suit of this year’s team would be an understatement. They are the first Cowboys team to go this deep into a season without winning at least two games in a row since the 6-10 team in 2020, also the first year of Mike McCarthy’s tenure.
The Cowboys are preparing for their remaining eight games as if a playoff push is still possible. This makes the self evaluation they do during the bye to tweak their lineups with players acquired at the trade deadline or returning from injury deeply important. Whether it’s for the remainder of this season, or future seasons, the Cowboys are simply looking for the players they can win with under new guidance.
After identifying some of the things the Cowboys have done right in winning efforts to build on, it’s time to look at both expected and unexpected things that happened in early losses to the Eagles, Bears, and Panthers that are the tough but crucial parts of self scouting.
Week 1 at Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles 24 Dallas Cowboys 20
- Cowboys fall to 0-1
Here is how we thought a Cowboys loss in the opener might play out:
Playing to not let Barkley beat them is on the table for the Cowboys should they choose to do so, but it won’t come without a cost in an already questionable secondary.
The Eagles’ best form of ball control in this game may not be pounding the rock between the tackles. Surprisingly, it may actually be using the run game just enough to draw the attention of the Cowboys’ defense, and create very high percentage throws for A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith.
This prediction proved true in nearly every way. Jalen Hurts’ 82.6% completion percentage was the second highest of his career, and the Cowboys issues in the secondary also included tackling.
It was the rushing threat of Hurts much more than Saquon Barkley that broke this game for the Cowboys. The Cowboys revamped defensive tackle group did great against the interior runs from Barkley, with Kenny Clark and Solomon Thomas leading the way. This group will have even more help after the bye with the trade deadline addition of Quinnen Williams, as well as welcoming back Demarvion Overshown at linebacker.
The Cowboys offseason trades and more recent deadline trades to really hone in on defensive tackle depth shows a clear vision within Matt Eberflus’ defense to win up front with just four linemen. Which personnel will make up their “best four” at any given time will be a fun development to follow, especially with the rematch against the Eagles looming one game after the bye.
The Cowboys blitzed the Eagles just to keep Hurts in the pocket, which was effective, but left them exposed on the backend against a quarterback that couldn’t take full advantage. Other passers that could take advantage with more downfield throws have torched the Cowboys secondary this season, especially when throwing against blitzes that have been mostly ineffective. Dallas will also have rookie cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. to add to the equation in the secondary, but winning more on the edge with their platoon of pass rushers thanks to the attention their interior tackles can draw is the biggest thing that will help the defense find quick answers.
In their first game without Micah Parsons, the Cowboys weren’t able to do this and came up just short of a major upset because of it.
Week 3 at Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears 31 Dallas Cowboys 14
- Cowboys fall to 1-2
Here is how we thought the Cowboys might lose a game they could have used to win consecutive games and reach a winning record for the first time in 2025, both marks they are still chasing during their week ten bye at 3-5-1 now.
If there was a time for Johnson to call an even more aggressive game, something he’s never backed down from doing against the Cowboys especially, that time is Sunday against the Cowboys zone defense.
Big plays were absolutely the backbreaker for the Cowboys in this game. Instead of Eberflus giving them any advantage against his old team, it was Johnson who had past success calling plays against Cowboys defenses with the Lions that kept the upper hand. The Bears went after Trevon Diggs for an easy Rome Odunze touchdown to jump ahead 7-0, and then hit a 65-yard flea flicker to Luther Burden also in the first quarter to ambush the Cowboys 14-3.
The very fact the Cowboys offense was able to rally and tie this game at 14 was miraculous enough, but the breakdowns on defense simply wouldn’t stop and ended any hopes of winning. Cole Kmet and D.J. Moore scored wide open touchdowns after this point, the Bears averaged just under seven yards per play on the game and were the clear better team on this afternoon.
If the Cowboys are able to execute our first self scouting note which is to win with four up front and on the edge, they will stand some chance to disguise coverages better and start getting picked on less in coverage. Opposing offenses have had way too easy of a time singling out the Cowboys’ worst cover players to take shots against with one on one passes.
More of rookie Shemar James as well as Overshown mixing up coverage with run defense responsibilities could help against short to intermediate passes, and again it will be about the pass rush stepping up to deter deep passes that expose a Cowboys safety group that is still depleted – and gave the team no chance at the Bears.
Week 6 at Carolina Panthers
Carolina Panthers 30 Dallas Cowboys 27
- Cowboys fall to 2-3-1
The Cowboys loss in Charlotte was their third trip in three seasons to the Panthers, but first loss there since 2018. Here is how we thought it might play out for the Cowboys to be on the losing side.
Former Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle may have been the biggest problem for the Dallas defense in this game, but by having the run working as well as it did, the Panthers also set up Bryce Young for a huge day too. With plenty of time in the pocket to pick apart a Cowboys secondary that couldn’t keep the top on their coverages from the safety positions, rookie Tet McMillan scored two touchdowns through the air and Dowdle even added a receiving touchdown.
In past matchups against the Cowboys, Young was under much more pressure and struggled to get the ball out cleanly. This all changed while slicing and dicing Eberflus’ defense. When the Cowboys did try to bring pressure in this game, it just led to even more big plays with Young throwing against the blitz. The Panthers had 27 first downs to the Cowboys 15 in this game. Marist Liufau and Kenneth Murray were both liabilities in coverage.
We’ve touched on the looming changes at linebacker and defensive tackle as ways to properly self scout what’s went wrong for the Cowboys defense this season and get it corrected starting with the Raiders game. However, of the three losses on the table here, the self scout on the offense against the Panthers also has to be brutally honest. This is what our self scout of the offense in the three wins revealed:
It has been said too often this season that the Cowboys can only win when Dak Prescott and the offense are perfect. When self scouting from their wins though, the more accurate thing is that the offense needs to be balanced and play clean games.
Dallas scoring 27 points was still better than their last two outputs against Denver and Arizona, but having a drive that lost eight yards in three plays in a tie game late was nowhere close to good enough. It was one of the few moments this season, in a big spot, where the Schottenheimer offense appeared to go into a shell and resemble everything that was wrong with the previous Mike McCarthy offense.
With the Cowboys getting a bad Raiders defense off the bye, followed by an Eagles team they’ve put up big point totals against at home, and then the Chiefs on Thanksgiving, the offense will be just as accountable in this deciding stretch of the season in wins and losses if they can’t get the ball to their best players and finish drives with touchdowns.
Dallas’ interior run game was not working at all against the Panthers. With so much invested in stopping the interior run defensively, complementing a defense that’s still susceptible to the pass by getting a better push in the run game and playing ball control would be a welcome adjustment on offense for the Cowboys post-bye.
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