Cowboys’ Schottenheimer: ‘Personnel adjustments’ coming for this struggling unit – Todd Brock, The Cowboys Wire
The Cowboys kickoff coverage unit is really poor this year.
The Cowboys’ kickoff coverage, however, is struggling mightily. They’re making life significantly harder for the Dallas defense before they even take the field, having given up the fourth-most kickoff return yards in the league so far this year. It was especially problematic versus Detroit in Week 14, with the unit allowing 261 yards on eight kick returns.
On those eight kickoffs, the Lions’ average starting field position was their own 36.5-yard line. The Cowboys would actually have been better off having Aubrey blast the ball through the back of the end zone on every kickoff.
Detroit’s two final (and most important) kick returns- the ones that came as Dallas was legitimately mounting their comeback- put the ball at the Lions’ 41 and 49 respectively, giving their offense a massive head start on the touchdowns they eventually scored on both possessions.
Detroit’s Jacob Saylors averaged 28.2 yards on his five kick returns last Thursday; Tom Kennedy notched over 35 yards on all three of his tries and got a game ball for the Lions.
Asked Monday how he intends to reverse that costly trend over the final month of the season, Schottenheimer acknowledged that giving the defense a better start via field position is critical.
“We need to do that, number one,” he said plainly in the day’s press conference. “The kickoff coverage leverage has not been very good. We’ve lost contain. The way it’s all set up now is: if my left arm is free, I’ve got to keep my left arm free. Guys are trying to make plays, and the way you cover kicks well is to have everybody do their job, stay in their lane, keep their contain, play with the [correct] arm free. We haven’t done that. We’ll be looking at maybe some personnel adjustments as well.”
The coach did not elaborate on who special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen might intend to swap out on kick coverage duty, but they have the rest of the week to figure it out.
RB Javonte Williams’ future in Dallas may not extend beyond the next few games – Brian Martin, Blogging The Boys
Javonte Williams has been really good in his first year as the Cowboys lead back, but the shuffling in the backfield may not be over.
It’s nearly impossible to know which pending free agents the Cowboys brass plan to prioritize in a few weeks when the 2025 NFL regular-season comes to an end. One player whose future may be murky after the season is running back Javonte Williams, who has been a pleasant surprise for the Cowboys this year and an important part to their offensive success. But, is he part of the organization’s future plans?
Given the position he plays and the value of the Cowboys brass has placed on the position recently, it doesn’t bode well that Javonte Williams will be part of the organization beyond the 2025 season. He’s been one of the more productive running backs this year, which might have pushed his market value out of the range the Cowboys are comfortable spending on the position.
As of right now, Williams’ projected annual salary on an extension is approximately $6.7 million according to spotrac.com. The Cowboys haven’t spent that kind of money at RB since they used the franchise tag on Tony Pollard and before that the long-term extension they gave Ezekiel Elliott. After those two they went the cheap route with Rico Dowdle in 2024 and Javonte Williams this year.
Will they go the cheap route once again in 2026? There’s simply no way of telling right now, but given the recent history it seems more likely than not that’s the direction they may go. That doesn’t mean Williams is unworthy or that it’s an easy decision to make. That’s just the nature of the business and the running back position has been one of the Cowboys have been wary of spending too much money.
So, despite already rushing for over 1,000 yards (1,022) and scoring double digit touchdowns (nine rushing, two receiving) and not showing any injury concerns, No. 33 still may be playing his last games in a Cowboys uniform over the next month.
QB Report Cards for 2025 NFL Week 14 – Brent Sobleski, Bleacher Report
The Cowboys scored 30 points without Prescott playing an “A” game, yet it wasn’t enough at the Lions.
Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
Score: 44-30 loss vs. Detroit Lions
Stat Line: 31 of 47 for 376 yards, a touchdown and two interceptionsDak Prescott may have thrown for 376 yards, but it wasn’t close to enough against the Detroit Lions. The Cowboys offense didn’t really get moving until late in the third quarter. By then, it was already too late.
Prescott put up numbers even though he didn’t have much of a chance behind an offense line missing left tackle Tyler Guyton. The Lions sacked Dallas’ quarterback five times and hit him on 11 more occasions.
“He’s sore,” Schottenheimer said of Prescott. “He should be sore after getting hit that much and that’s—again, we talked a lot about it, we have been one of the best teams in the league at protecting him, and so kudos to them. They did a great job. We’ve got to look at how we protected up front, and certainly there were issues because you can’t have your quarterback taking those kinds of hits and be successful.”
A couple of interceptions didn’t help matters. Still, Prescott was forced to take on too much, particularly after wide receiver CeeDee Lamb left the contest and didn’t return.
Grade: C
Cowboys are making a mistake with one of their most talented players that is becoming utterly inexcusable – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports
With a defensive coordinator that was formally the Cowboys linebackers coach, the play Dallas has gotten at LB this season has been very disappointing.
Eberflus needs to start blitzing with LB DeMarvion Overshown
Since he returned from injury, you have probably wondered why Overshown hasn’t stood out as much as he did in 2024. That isn’t to say he’s playing bad football, but last year he was putting on All-Pro-caliber film. And while one of the biggest reasons probably has to do with overall rust from coming off a knee injury and missing the entire offseason plus a large portion of the season, there’s also one that is all about usage.
Eberflus isn’t tapping into Overshown’s speed and athleticism in the pass rushing department. In 2024, Mike Zimmer used Overshown to rush the passer an average of 5.7 snaps per game. He had seven games with a minimum seven pass rushing snaps, per PFF. In 13 games, Overshown rushed the passer 74 times for 20 pressures and five sacks.
In 2025, Overshown has rushed the passer five times in four games, for an average of 1.25 pass rush snaps per game.
Eberflus paid the price for not blitzing the Lions
Now granted, Zimmer loved to involve his linebackers in the pass rush department. It’s why he’s known for his double A-gap looks. Eberflus isn’t like that. But given the lack of consistency rushing the passer, his Cowboys would likely benefit from using Overshown’s best tools in getting after the QB.
On Thursday’s loss to the Detroit Lions, the Cowboys blitzed early on and pressured Goff. However, Eberflus quickly moved away from it and paid the consequences. When not blitzed, the Lions quarterback completed 76% of his passes for 209 yards and a touchdown, yielding a 113.6 passer rating.
10 questions Dallas Cowboys must resolve in final stretch of regular season – Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News
There is still a lot of meaningful football to be played for the Cowboys when it comes to evaluating this roster, especially at WR.
Is Ryan Flournoy the No. 3 wideout?
The untold story of Ryan Flournoy, the Cowboys’ sixth-round pick from 2024, is that Jalen Tolbert and Jonathan Mingo have been surpassed on the depth chart as the No. 3 wideout. Flournoy has 29 catches for 349 yards and three touchdowns in 13 games and is clearly the No. 3 wideout. Tolbert has played in 11 games and has just 14 catches. Mingo, whom the Cowboys traded a 2025 fourth-round pick to Carolina for, has been active in just two games. Mingo began the season on injured reserve with a knee injury that slowed his opportunities to showcase himself.
But he can’t get on the field thanks to what Flournoy has done. If the Cowboys can re-sign George Pickens, which is their goal, CeeDee Lamb, Pickens and Flournoy are the top three receivers for 2026. Flournoy must finish the season strong to maintain that.
Can George Pickens improve his off-the-field antics?
George Pickens has been fantastic this season. He’s got four 100-yard games and produced a career-high 1,179 receiving yards. Off the field, we’ve seen problems with being late to meetings, missing a team bus to a game, and having his hustle questioned by former player Richard Sherman, among other things. Pickens is slated to get a huge contract extension in the range of close to $30 million per season. Pickens, however, has to make some changes off the field. It’s understandable he would clap back at Sherman, which he did in a social media post that was later deleted. But you need him to show up on time for meetings and, of course, not miss the team bus. Brian Schottenheimer has handled it well, fining him and holding one-on-one meetings when necessary. For the contract he’s expecting, being on time for meetings and showing better effort on the field isn’t much to ask in the next four weeks.
See More:
