The Dallas Cowboys’ defense called its own meeting this week, and Brian Schottenheimer welcomed it. The head coach addressed the players-only session Wednesday, a few days before Dallas visits Green Bay with the NFL’s only defense still looking for its first interception.
“I love it,” Schottenheimer said. “I’ve said from the very beginning: the best teams I’ve ever been around are led by the locker room.” He added that the information he got from the players who called the meeting was that “it was very productive. It was very open and honest.”
What the Cowboys defense talked about
Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown described a group taking ownership. “It really wasn’t like a fire drill conversation, it was more so, ‘What can I do to help you?'” he said Monday, according to the team. “The ship is only going to go as far as the weakest person on the boat.”
There’s plenty to fix. Dallas ranks 31st in total defense at 395.4 yards per game and last against the run at 168.4 yards per game. Opponents have completed at least 70% of their passes in all five games, and Tampa Bay’s undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels went 19 of 25 for 189 yards in Tampa Bay’s 24-16 victory at AT&T Stadium while Bucky Irving amassed 175 yards from scrimmage.
The staff is responding, too. First-year coordinator Christian Parker will move from the sideline to the coaches’ booth, and the Cowboys hired Mike Pettine as a senior defensive assistant on Oct. 12, a move that sounds an alarm about the defense.
Schottenheimer insists the meeting itself isn’t one. “There’s some really, really prideful men in that room, and we’re going to get it fixed,” he said. “I have no question about that. But it doesn’t bother me at all. It means everyone’s rowing in the same direction.”
Sunday night will test that. Jordan Love is coming off 367 passing yards against the Bears, and he has six touchdown passes and no interceptions in his career against Dallas, including the playoffs. The Cowboys are 2-10 all-time at Lambeau Field. If the meeting at The Star changed anything, the 2-3 Cowboys need it to show up under the lights in Green Bay.
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