Cowboys staff leans on the 80/20 principle to counter Washington's mysterious new schemes, prioritizing internal execution to avoid another defensive collapse against a divisional rival’s unknown variables.
In Week 1, the Dallas Cowboys faced (and lost to) a New York Giants team that had two new coordinators, and now, in Week 2, they will again face a team with two new coordinators as the Washington Commanders come to AT&T Stadium.
Matt Nagy and Greg Roman led the Dallas defense on a not-so-merry dance, while Dennard Wilson also made life tough on Dak Prescott and the offense.
Now, as the Commanders come to town, after pushing the Philadelphia Eagles all the way on the road before taking a loss, they too will have a big unknown about them with David Blough and Daronte Jones.
Yes, it is a small sample size, but the Eagles were nearly beaten at home by Washington, so this Week 2 clash will be tough to read.
But that's us.
How does coach Brian Schottenheimer and his staff deal with facing another team with two new coordinators?
"You study a lot of film," Schottenheimer said. "David Blough, the coordinator on offense, was there last year, but he's got ties to Ben Johnson. Larry Izzo, the special-teams coordinator, he's been there for a couple years with DQ [Dan Quinn]. But at the end of the day, you really don't know.
“So, what do you do? You do things you're good at. That's what we're emphasizing it on. It goes back to that 80/20 principle (80 on Dallas, 20 on opponent), and we don't know how David Blough and the offensive staff want to attack us. We don't know what Daronte Jones and DQ are going to come up with on defense. So, let's do what we do well, and usually when we do that, we perform well."
After Week 1, we aren't sure what the Cowboys do well, and when the Commanders roll into AT&T Stadium, if the staff is worth anything, they will look at what the Giants did and look to take some of that for themselves.
The Cowboys aren't likely to face a team that goes 9 for 11 on third down, recovers three of four fumbles, and executes a game plan perfectly. Well, they might, but it's not likely.
But the Commanders are going to have an element of the unknown to them in this Week 2 clash, similarly to the Giants, and with Jones having ties to Brian Flores, who has given Dak hell over the years, this looms as a colossal matchup at AT&T Stadium.
And the new coordinators for Washington might play a huge role in the outcome of the game.
