FRISCO, Texas – As made clear by the Cowboys' decision makers during their Monday and Tuesday interviews, watching the film back of Dallas' season-opening loss to the New York Giants revealed some things that will need to be corrected quickly.
Cowboys owner/GM Jerry Jones pointed out his disappointment with the defense's frustration. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer felt the Giants were the more physical team and felt the Cowboys struggled to run the ball early on.
Dallas hosts the Commanders this coming Sunday, as the Cowboys play their first game at AT&T Stadium where Jones vowed the team "will be better than it was Sunday night."
Tape Talk is back for the 2026 season, let's dive into some of the film from Week 1:
One of the sequences in the game that head coach Brian Schottenheimer was asked about after Dallas' 28-20 loss to the Giants was a five-play stretch involving Giants RB Devin Singletary. On three of those five plays, New York sent Singletary into the flat on the left side of the field and picked up gains of 13, seven, and finally nine for a touchdown.
Schottenheimer said they didn't "push three different times to the ******* flat route," and credited some of the miscues defensively to Dallas playing a lot of young players, albeit it not an excuse for their performance. He could be referring to rookie LB Jaishawn Barham, Dallas' third round pick who was on that side of the field on each play, in those clips but overall communication wasn't good enough for Dallas' defense over the course of the night.
Three of Singletary's four receptions on the night came in that stretch, and it was ultimately the touchdown that made it a two-possession ballgame with seven and half minutes to play in the fourth quarter. It goes without saying Dallas' defensive communication needs to be better against the Commanders, and we'll touch on it more later on in this.
Schottenheimer said that early in the game, Cowboys RB Javonte Williams was "running into a freaking wall." Clearly, the flat route coverage and early run game were not things the second-year head coach was pleased to see in the opener.
This play came on Dallas' second drive of the game, facing second down and two. The Giants' outside linebackers are some of the best players on their roster, and showed it on this play. On the left side, Kayvon Thibodeaux is able to power to his position against Tyler Guyton, and on the right side, Abdul Carter shoves Jake Ferguon straight into the gap that it looked like Javonte Williams was going to run through, so much so that Williams had to push Ferguson out of the way.
That split-second delay, paired with Thibodeaux getting to his spot, ultimately led to there being no gain. It was an example of Schottenheimer's reference and a story of the first half, where Williams rushed for just 25 yards on nine carries. Schottenheimer did not like the penetration New York's defensive tackles were getting, so expect there to be an emphasis on that against Washington.
Giants tight end Isaiah Likely got off to a strong start in his Giants debut, catching all eight of his targets for 78 yards and two touchdowns. His first touchdown, which came at the end of the first half after Dak Prescott couldn't throw the ball far enough out of play and was intercepted, was a byproduct of miscommunication, according to Schottenheimer.
Dallas' head coach said it began with the presnap motion, with Darnell Mooney coming across the line and forcing LBs Dee Winters and DeMarvion Overshown to account for it as the Giants went from a 3x1 WR split to two on each side. With that motion, the Cowboys defense changes in terms of the rules they have for cut splits.
Ultimately after the snap, both DaRon Bland and Winters cover Mooney's whip route into the flat. Likely, who was lined up to the left of Mooney, and Likely is left alone on the corner route and gets both feet down for a touchdown. These kinds of miscommunications are the ones that the Cowboys hope can be eliminated heading into Week 2, which they'll certainly spend a lot of time working on over the course of the week.
