DALLAS – Now that he’s had time to review the tape, Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer is sharing his thoughts on the team’s performance in the preseason opener.
The Cowboys were dominated in the first half of the game. The Rams ran the ball effectively, and the Dallas offense sputtered.
As the game went on, things got a little better on both sides of the ball. By the time it was done, quarterback Joe Milton had completed 12 of 29 passes for 143 yards and a touchdown.
It was only an exhibition game featuring the Rams’ backup players versus the Cowboys’ second, third, and fourth stringers. But it was a sloppy start for Dallas with 11 penalties.
What they’re saying:
As he met with the media on Monday, Coach Schottenheimer admitted that at times his team didn’t look very sharp.
“I did not like our discipline. You know, the penalties with the offense pre-snap penalties, that wasn’t great. Some of the sideline substitution wasn’t very clean. Then, you know, the thing I talked to the guys about is seizing the momentum,” he said. “As you go through the preseason games when you obviously want to win but it doesn’t go against your record when you lose or if you win, but you have to know how to grab momentum. There was a couple opportunities in that second half where I felt like we had a chance to grab momentum and we really didn’t do it.”
It’s assumed that Milton will serve as the backup for Dak Prescott this year, although veteran Will Grier is in the mix.
Schottenheimer was asked directly if Milton is the number two quarterback.
“Why do we have to decide that today? You know, we don’t have to decide that today,” he said. “We want to find out more about Joe Milton. There’s a ton of talent and things that we see from Joe Milton. You saw, Joe needs the reps. You saw the way he started the game. You saw the way there was a little bit of struggle for us early on. You know, he was throwing the ball hot and hard and all those things. And we finally settled in. And, I need that to get to learn him as the play caller. I don’t need to learn Dak. I feel like I don’t really need to learn Will. So, it’s more of that. It’s more of me having to learn Joe and I’m not going to say who the backup running back is right now or who the backup quarterback is right now because I don’t have to make those decisions yet.”
The Cowboys did not practice on Monday. They’ll hold workouts on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before returning to Texas.
The team’s second preseason game will be a home game against Baltimore on Saturday night at AT&T Stadium.
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