{"id":39900,"date":"2025-12-16T23:32:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T23:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=39900"},"modified":"2025-12-16T23:32:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T23:32:20","slug":"schottenheimers-red-zone-woes-among-3-key-takeaways-from-cowboys-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=39900","title":{"rendered":"Schottenheimer&#8217;s red-zone woes among 3 key takeaways from Cowboys loss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cowboyswire.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/12\/15\/SCOW\/87770813007-2251929546.jpg?crop=3739,2103,x0,y0&amp;width=660&amp;height=371&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Schottenheimer's red-zone woes among 3 key takeaways from Cowboys loss\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Dallas Cowboys had 10 days to prepare for the\u00a0Minnesota Vikings, a team that has already been eliminated from the playoffs and has one of the worst offenses in the NFL.\u00a0Dallas\u00a0allowed over 30 points for the seventh time this season as they played like the already-eliminated team, lacking aggressiveness and urgency in all aspects of the game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">None of the three phases played well enough. The defense remains the main weakness, but the offense was held to field goals too often, and even Brandon Aubrey missed two attempts. The overall takeaway from this loss is that the Cowboys weren\u2019t good enough to make the playoffs, but here are some more refined details.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"gnt_ar_b_h2\">Matt Eberflus hasn\u2019t been good enough<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cowboyswire.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/09\/14\/SCOW\/86155823007-usatsi-27081827.jpg?width=660&amp;height=440&amp;fit=crop&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Sep 14, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus looks on during warmups before the game against the New York Giants at AT&amp;T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The team is tied for the most 30-point games allowed this season with the\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals\u00a0and the\u00a0Las Vegas Raiders. Each time Dallas plays a struggling team, or a team with a quarterback who has been playing poorly, the Cowboys have been the \u201cget right game\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">In Week 2, Russell Wilson had his best game in multiple years and was benched two weeks later, and it continued from there. Going into the game against the Vikings, J.J. McCarthy was the worst quarterback in the league in completion percentage, including to wide-open targets. Against Matt Eberflus\u2019 scheme, McCarthy threw for 250 yards for the first time since college. He had two touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 108. Jerry Jones says he wants continuity on the coaching staff, but\u00a0Eberflus might not have earned that privilege\u00a0with his performance this season.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp\">Need a news break?\u00a0Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/aside>\n<h2 class=\"gnt_ar_b_h2\">Dallas couldn\u2019t get stops on fourth down<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cowboyswire.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/11\/24\/SCOW\/87441505007-usatsi-27666704.jpg?width=660&amp;height=440&amp;fit=crop&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Nov 23, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys linebacker Kenneth Murray, Jr. (59) reacts after retrieving a fumble in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at AT&amp;T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Cowboys were actually good on third down defensively against the Vikings. Minnesota had only two conversions on nine third-down attempts, a 22% conversion rate. Unfortunately, they were a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth-down attempts. This led them to kick only two field goals while scoring four touchdowns. Two of the conversions were on touchdown drives, while the last took Minnesota into field goal range to seal the victory.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"gnt_ar_b_h2\">A poor redzone performance plagued Dallas again<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cowboyswire.usatoday.com\/gcdn\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/12\/15\/SCOW\/87770575007-usatsi-27819770.jpg?width=660&amp;height=465&amp;fit=crop&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Dec 14, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer during the second half against the Minnesota Vikings at AT&amp;T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Dallas ended up settling for\u00a0six Aubrey field goal attempts\u00a0on their drives, scoring touchdowns on only their first two red zone attempts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Cowboys didn\u2019t convert for a touchdown the rest of the game, scoring only nine second-half points. The offense has been poor all year in the red zone, and it hit them again in the final three quarters. On the flip side, the Vikings scored three touchdowns on four red zone attempts. It\u2019s hard to win a game when one team is scoring touchdowns at a 75% rate in the red zone and the other scores at a 40% rate. The red zone woes are one of the significant reasons the Cowboys aren\u2019t making the playoffs in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>usatoday.com wants to ensure the best experience for all of our readers, so we built our site to take advantage of the latest technology, making it faster and easier to use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dallas-cowboys"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Schottenheimer&#039;s red-zone woes among 3 key takeaways from Cowboys loss - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=39900\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Schottenheimer&#039;s red-zone woes among 3 key takeaways from Cowboys loss - 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