Cowboys Mailbag:Mick's Mail: 07/27

As head coach, Brian Schottenheimer is responsible for all aspects of the team. But do you think the hiring of Mike Pettine has the tangential effect that Schottenheimer can now spend less time worrying/thinking about the defense and, as a play-caller, can focus more on the offense? In Philadelphia, we saw him call the type of game we are used to seeing.

Given how beat up the Eagles are, what's your take on the big win in Philadelphia? Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely happy with the victory, but I'm wondering if the Cowboys just took advantage of a weaker opponent, or if they have truly turned a corner after such a dominating performance.

I realize it's only Week 7, and the term "must-win" is often overused, but how big is this game against the Eagles? It feels like it could be a tipping point for the entire season.

How about we give folks more time, huh? The Cowboys have a new defensive coordinator who is trying to instill his brand of defense. We expected them to be better but were blindsided by them being worse. Do we just need to give the defense the thing we don't want to give … time?

Last week Klayton Adams said the offense is still looking for its identity, but it's all the same players from last season, the same coordinator and the same play-caller. How can they not know what their identity is at this point?

By starting Malachi Lawrence and Brevyn Spann-Ford, do you think the team was just trying to send a message to Donovan Ezeiruaku and Jake Ferguson, respectively, or are we really seeing a changing of the guard? And if it was meant as motivation, was the intended message perhaps lost because both of those guys played more snaps in the end?

For an offensive line that has so much talent and a running back who rushed for 1,200 yards last year, why is this team having so much trouble running the ball?

The Cowboys are in the middle of a stretch playing three consecutive night games, something they haven't done since 2016. Do you think this affects the team in any way? Does it mess with their normal schedule? Does it put more pressure on them?

I've noticed that the Cowboys rank among the worst teams in missed tackles and missed-tackle percentage. Do you think the teaching has changed, or are the defensive players just abandoning their teaching in the heat of the moment? What's the fix?

How do you think the Cowboys should handle Von Miller? He's an obvious first-ballot Hall of Famer and a great hometown story, but is it time for the Cowboys to activate James Houston? Could he help the pass rush?

I like the move, but on the surface, hiring Mike Pettine as a senior defensive assistant gives the impression that Christian Parker wasn't quite ready for the defensive coordinator role. What do you think of the move? And what changes should we expect?