The Denver Broncos wiped the floor with the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. It was more of requirement for them to fulfill as a game on their schedule than one that was up for grabs.
While the Cowboys put the first points of the day on the board the Broncos made sure to be the team that did it most frequently. It was another day in which we wondered just what the Cowboys defense does well and right now that question seems to escape only the people most in charge of answering it.
You will not be shocked to find that our Stock Report for the week is full of all downs. This was a game with very few redeeming moments for Dallas and that is putting it kindly.
Stock Down: Brian Schottenheimer
There are a lot of places to point fingers at following Sunday’s debacle, but it starts and ends with the head coach. That he is the offensive play-caller and that they were moribund only adds to the case.
Beyond the fact that Schotty called his worst offensive game to date, he also showed his most serious misunderstanding of the game at large from a head coaching perspective. As the second half of this game wore on and the Cowboys were down multiple (3!) possessions, he showed a clear sense of urgency early by declining an easy Brandon Aubrey field goal on 4th and 3 from the Denver 27-yard line.
Schotty’s offense rewarded him with a touchdown there, but one possession later he exemplified the complete and total opposite disposition. He chose to punt on 4th and 5 from his own 44-yard line and the best possible explanation here is that he was forfeiting the rest of the game.
Looking beyond tactical decisions… the Cowboys had an enormous amount of pre-snap penalties in this game. The situation became so evident that the CBS broadcast even started joking about it. This starts and ends with discipline that is supposedly coming from the head coach.
Stock Down: Matt Eberflus
I’ll be honest with you and say that it makes me uncomfortable to call for anyone’s job. I believe, at least I want to believe, that the Cowboys have defensive staffers and players who are trying very hard and right now that very hard is nowhere close to being even kind of good enough.
The win against Washington was obviously nice, but the totality of what we have seen from the Cowboys over the season suggests that the Commanders offense must have some serious problems more than that the Dallas defense stood tall for a particular day in October.
It feels exhausting to consider that the Cowboys defense may have to have four coordinators in as many years with 2026 changes, but right now it is hard to see any other future. Matt Eberflus continues to play soft defenses and stick with his zone principles and it is hindering things on almost a play-by-play basis.
Stock Down: Osa Odighizuwa
We could toss Kenny Clark in this mix, but we do not play offensive line for the Broncos so we won’t do so.
More specifically, Kenny is still a newbie relative to the Cowboys roster. Osa Odighizuwa was given a contract extension and is expected to be counted on more. That is in no way happening here.
The Broncos ran all over the Cowboys on Sunday and did so before ever being touched. The middle of the defense exists only in theory at this point in time and Osa has to be held accountable for that, particularly because of the expectations as noted.
Stock Down: Sam Williams
Remember back after The Trade™ how there were murmurings about an extension for Sam Williams? That really happened. What could the front office have possibly seen that warranted even talking about the idea out loud?
Sam Williams has been one of the worst defenders on the team this season to date. On Sunday he was pushed around for the latest time and to make matters worse he got involved in extracurriculars at one point in time by getting in the face of Broncos players after they scored a touchdown.
Trying to push your opponent around after they moved you into the endzone you are supposed to defend is quite the choice, although the sequence hilariously saved Dallas a point as the Broncos failed the two-point conversion they attempted as a result of it all. The main point is that these are poor decisions that Sam Williams continues to make on a very regular basis.
Stock Down: Dak Prescott
It is clear and obvious that Dak Prescott has to play perfect football for the Cowboys to have a chance at competing. As unfair as this idea is I imagine that Dak would still sign up for the challenge.
The unfair expectation of playing perfect is one we can all reconcile as impossible to live up to. Expecting Dak to not press and make matters worse is totally fair game and he certainly failed in that regard in Denver.
Prescott looked uncomfortable from just about the moment the game began, although there were tiny bits of optimism sprinkled in throughout the chaos. He finally threw an interception and felt so comfortable with the idea that he did it again. In just about every sense it was a throwaway performance and easily the worst of his season so far.
Stock Down: Will McClay
We need to have a serious conversation about the Cowboys and their drafting prowess. I know that we revere Will McClay and hold him in high esteem, but the shape of the roster is rather rough and the person in charge of assembling it from a draft perspective has to face the music, too. Jerry Jones deserves plenty of criticism, but we can’t just sweep everything under that rug.
Think about the last three year’s worth of top 100 picks on this roster:
- 2021: Micah Parsons
- 2021: Kelvin Joseph
- 2021: Osa Odighizuwa
- 2021: Chauncey Golston
- 2021: Nahshon Wright
- 2022: Tyler Smith
- 2022: Sam Williams
- 2022: Jalen Tolbert
- 2023: Mazi Smith
- 2023: Luke Schoonmaker
- 2023: DeMarvion Overshown
- 2024: Tyler Guyton
- 2024: Marshawn Kneeland
- 2024: Cooper Beebe
- 2024: Marist Liufau
- 2025: Tyler Booker
- 2025: Donovan Ezeiruaku
- 2025: Shavon Revel
Micah Parsons is gone. We know all of the facts about it and what not. We get it.
Tyler Smith is a star. That is universally agreed upon. There is hope in DeMarvion Overshown and the jury is still out on some level with Tyler Guyton. We can feel good about Cooper Beebe and Marist Liufau to different degrees, and obviously it is way too early to say anything about this year’s class.
We can always point to Jerry and say he meddles and all that jazz. But these are the pieces that are supposed to be serving as the foundation of this football team at our current moment in time and we would struggle to reach 5 that we feel good about. Just think that of the 8 who at this point in time (hypothetically speaking) who could have received extensions from the team that only two did/have in Osa Odighizuwa (who is a Stock Down this week!) and Tyler Smith.
Benefit of the doubt has been burned up to say the least.
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