Credit Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who also befuddled Dallas during his time in Arizona, for thwarting the Cowboys’ explosives. The Packers played zone coverage on 76.8% of Prescott’s dropbacks, holding him to 4.3 yards per attempt (Prescott’s fourth-fewest since 2018) and no touchdowns while recording their two interceptions and lone sack in zone, according to Next Gen Stats.
“They know the guys we have,” Prescott said. “They know we want to take over and they’re going to come back. Their method is to stay deepest, stay deepest, make us throw underneath and make tackles. And so we just have to catch and recover (yards after catch) and have the plays to make sure we attack underneath and take advantage of what they show and give us.”
Prescott never looked comfortable. He finished 34 of 54 for 258 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He’s also lucky he didn’t throw a few extra picks late.
Schottenheimer has come under fire for his recent offensive struggles, including his inability to initiate the ground game. The coach’s will to play left a lot to be desired. As the Packers relentlessly pressured Prescott, Schottenheimer offered no answers and continued to move the QB back, with some particularly hard-hitting calls late in the game.
“Because of the lack of running game, we are a little one-sided and the best way to be on offense as a unit is to have balance,” Schottenheimer said. “So we have to find a balance. And again, there’s a lot of reasons for that. There’s missed blocks, there’s bad calls, there’s missed runs, there’s different things. But at the end of the day, we know what we’re capable of, but we have to go out and do it.”
The Cowboys entered the offseason thinking they might finally have a team worthy of a deep playoff run. Instead, they tripped over themselves. With games against the 2-4 Eagles, 2-4 Cardinals and 2-4 Colts on the line, Schottenheimer needs to get going or this hot seat will become blazing.
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