The Dallas Cowboys had no energy in the opening quarter of their first preseason game.

Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer at training camp at the River Ridge Fields. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Throughout the entire offseason, new Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer was preaching energy. He brought hype to every practice and wanted to see his players give everything they had on every play.

His first chance of seeing how they responded to his message came on Saturday night against the Los Angeles Rams. It was their first preseason game of the year and it was about as poor a start as you could imagine.

Dallas allowed the Rams’ offense to march 79 yards on 11 plays to start the game. That drive was capped off with a two-yard touchdown from Blake Corum. A three-and-out on offense gave the ball right back to Los Angeles, which resulted in a 13-play, 64-yard drive that ended with a four-yard score from Corum.

They finished with just one yard in the first quarter, leading to Clarence Hill calling them out for being outgained 140-1. That tweet was before the end of the first, because they went into the second quarter being outgained 160-1.

Cowboys have been outgained 140-1

— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) August 9, 2025

The preseason doesn’t count, but it’s still hard to see a team come out so lethargic after that being one of the issues under the previous coaching staff. Even Dez Bryant had something to say, noticing the energy level was nonexistent.

We don’t have no energy at all

— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) August 9, 2025

They have plenty of time to turn it around, but they can’t go into the regular season with this approach and expect to win.