Cowboys' 'Fight Is Right!' Schottenheimer Announces 4 Outrageous Claims: Top 10 Takes - Whitt's End

Let's begin with an absolutely outrageous quote bundle from Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer following his team's 23-13 debable of a Sunday night loss at Green Bay.

Claimed Schottenheimer: “The effort is right. The fight is right. Mistakes are killing us. ... 

"Repeating mistakes is not what we’re about.”

The real math? Eleven penalties. Third-down conversions given away like candy on Halloween. Dozens of brain cramps. Two turnovers. One more loss. A 2-4 record. And four big lies.

The "effort'' is not "right.''

The "fight'' is not "right.''

"Repeating mistakes''? It is exactly what they're "about.''

Toss in, "This isn't up to our standard'' and note that - yup, losing games is their "standard'' - and you've got four big lies.

Coming into the Schottenheimer promised his Cowboys would be better. The organization hired a new top assistant in Mike Pettine and the defensive guys held a players-only meeting and there were some personnel changes and they had 10 days to prepare.

But Sunday night’s loss was merely more of the same ol’ wrong. My Top 10 Whitty Observations:

10. GORY HOLE – Once upon a time Cowboys owner Jerry Jones jokingly dreamed about winning a Super Bowl and getting to enjoy him some “glory hole,” a nod to his oil wildcatting days. (Or something nastier.)

But with his team now 2-4 and headed nowhere fast, head coach Brian Schottenheimer admitted his ugly team is trending instead for a gory hole.

“We’re in a hole,” he said. “We put ourselves there. There’s one way out of it. That’s what I told the guys: ‘You know, go to work’. Got to find solutions. Can’t repeat mistakes. They understand that.”

But, really, do they?

9. FIRST-HALF FLOP – In a hideous opening two quarters the Cowboys produced 2 punts, 4 penalties, 2 turnovers and 0 points. They trailed 17-0, making it the first time they were shut out in a first half since Nov. 7, 2021.

8. PLAYOFFS, POOF? – In the Super Bowl era, the Cowboys have never made the playoffs after a 2-4 start. Tough to say their season is over before Halloween, but it’s getting very late, very early.

7. MISSING MICAH – Hard to believe the Cowboys scored 40 points (in a tie) a season ago against a Packers’ defense that had Micah Parsons in uniform. They managed only 13 in this one against a unit missing several key defenders including the former Cowboys’ star.

6. PLAYERS-ONLY MEETING 2.0? – Well, that didn’t work.

I mean, sure, after its players-only meeting the defense played decent/better against the Packers. But it’s time to just admit that it’s not meetings or pep rallies or oomph that is missing. It’s simply a team made up of not enough good players.

“The effort is right, the fight is right, the mistakes are killing us,” Schottenheimer said. “Repeating mistakes is not what we’re about.”

No. Again, actually, that’s exactly what you’re about. Same ol’, same ol’ is the Cowboys’ DNA under Schottenheimer. He is 9-13-1 as a head coach. ... the sort of record that has angry Cowboys fans wondering if owner Jerry Jones might pull the trigger on an in-season firing.

5. GREEN (BAY) WITH ENVY – Cowboys are now 1-1-11 in their last 13 games against the Packers. Seems like decades ago that they dominated Brett Favre on their way to the Super Bowl.

Because it was.

4. PICK-SIX NIXED – Linebacker Dee Winters made a diving pick of Jordan Love in the first quarter, Dallas’ first interception this season on the opponents’ 148th pass attempt. But even a good play turned bad on this night, when Winters’ apparent 42-yard return for a touchdown was reversed as replay showed he was touched while on the ground by Packers’ receiver Matthew Golden.

Who knew that for the better part of the night, Dee Winters would end up being the closest thing the Cowboys would have to a scoring threat?

3. SILVER LINING – Despite another loss, the Cowboys likely won’t lose any ground in the horrible division known as the NFC Least. On Sunday the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants both lost, and on Monday night the 1-3-1 Washington Commanders visit the undefeated San Francisco 49ers.

2. OPTICAL DISILLUSION – This was much uglier than a 10-point game. Ryan Flournoy’s touchdown catch with 44 seconds remaining only made the final score appear respectable, and the Packers dropped three shoulda-been touchdown passes.

For the most part, this was non-competitive.

1. GOTI GONE – Dak Prescott’s “Greatest Offense There Is” has scored only a combined 29 points in the last two games, their worst two-game stretch in more than two years.

Lots of things wrong with this team, but a punchless offense is the most fatal of its flaws.

"Yeah, it's very frustrating,'' said Dak. "But we've got to fix it, and all the guys in that locker room are capable of it."

Are they? Or is that just another big lie?