THE STAR - Quinnen Williams did not dress up the film. The Dallas Cowboys, he said Wednesday, simply did not execute the zone read correctly against the New York Giants, and the next two weeks bring more of the same problem with better quarterbacks attached.
Washington arrives Sunday for the home opener with Jayden Daniels. Baltimore follows in Week 3 in Rio de Janeiro with Lamar Jackson. Both offenses live on the edge of the pocket and force the defense to declare who has the quarterback and who has the mesh.
Williams, speaking to reporters at The Star and quoted by Dallas Sports Journal, framed the opener as a learning curve the Cowboys cannot carry forward.
"It's a big learn for this week because we got the next two weeks going to be zone read also," Williams said. Daniels, he added, is extremely dangerous with two strong receivers and a productive run game. Communication, he said, is a big part of fixing what broke Sunday night.
What the film already showed
Coach Brian Schottenheimer spent Monday with the same tape and landed on a blunter diagnosis: self-inflicted wounds. Nobody accounted for Devin Singletary on late red-zone calls. Schottenheimer told Dallas Sports Journal the breakdown was communication, not a coverage call gone wrong - the kind of play that "can't happen" because it is how games get lost.
He broke the habit into two parts: the player who gives the call and the player who receives it has to acknowledge it. If a safety talks and a linebacker never confirms, the safety has to say it again. That loop failed in New York.
The Giants converted 9 of 11 third downs, rushed for 165 yards on 37 carries, held the ball for 36:40, and punted once in a 28-20 win.
Schottenheimer also owned the contain problem on Jaxson Dart - multiple players, multiple situations, including a fake toss naked that sent the end crashing and Dart into open grass. Discipline is the word he used before naming the next two quarterbacks: Daniels this week, then Jackson a couple of weeks out.
The Ravens game is abroad, not another AT&T date; Rio is the Week 3 test after Sunday's home opener.
Loud calls, confirmed calls
By Wednesday the coaching staff had already put the communication keys back in front of the team. Schottenheimer said Dallas was making defensive calls against New York, just not every time, and not loud or decisive enough for the receiving end. Hand signals that confirm a call on film were missing.
Defensive coordinator Christian Parker's calls only work, Williams said, when all 11 are on the same page executing them.
