The offense was disjointed, and frustrated, to say the least.
“Yeah, I’m surprised,” said All-Pro quarterback Dak Prescott. “I’m sure that’s a good word to use. Frustrated as well — frustrating. What we’ve been doing, what we’re capable of doing, didn’t really ever get going.”
Might a trade ahead of the Nov. 4 deadline help the Cowboys, particularly their ailing, struggling defense, though? Prescott’s focus isn’t there, but rather on the guys in the locker room currently.
Instead of a trade, Prescott is challenging every single player in the locker room, that it might apply to, to stop saying they’ll do better, and to actually do better.
“We’ve got to be better in everything that we do,” he said. “Doing it — getting a trade — takes opportunities and plays away from somebody else. … Forget a trade. Do more, right? Shut that talk up, whether it be the offense or whether it be the defense? Whatever position group that you guys are alluding to, step up and shut the talk up.”
Now sitting at 3-4-1 on the season, strapped to another wasted opportunity to try and keep pace with the Philadelphia Eagles and, at best, to potentially create space between themselves and the Washington Commanders they thumped a week ago, the Cowboys enter Week 9 having been unable to string together a two-game win streak at any point this season.
“I see us everyday, and I see what we’re capable of. Here’s the word that keeps coming back: consistency. We’re not very consistent, and we have to be. Last week, we did a great job stopping the run, but tonight we didn’t. Therein lies a problem. We’ve been doing well protecting the football, which has given us a chance. Tonight, we didn’t.”
That is echoed by Prescott, who didn’t pull any punches when discussing it.
“Right now, our identity is up-and-down, and that’s not anything I’m proud of — not anything,” he said. “Nobody in that locker room should be proud, on any side of the ball, or coaches. Our identity right now is inconsistent, and that’s unacceptable, and we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to find a way to be consistent, whether it’s at home or on the road, regardless.
With one game to play before having a chance to fully adjust to the gauntlet that awaits them on the other side of their bye week, the time for reflection in Dallas is right now, and neither Schottenheimer nor Prescott are avoiding that fact. They’re instead embracing the reality of it, because not doing so risks letting the season get away from them in the next several weeks.
“We’ve gotta find consistency,” said Prescott. “If we lost a game playing our best, you can somewhat live with that. … We didn’t play to our identity. We didn’t play to our standard.
“… I looked at everyone in the locker room, including myself, and challenged them to look in the mirror like, ‘Are you giving enough?'”
That is a valid question heading into Monday Night Football, because tough love has to be on the menu now in Dallas.
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