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Nick Harris joined Shan, RJ and Bobby following the Cowboys Week 6 loss. Harris discussed the offensive struggles, pass protection concerns, Schotty’s play-calling, d-line improvements, and more.
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00:00I thought that Nick Harris was going strong with his tweets during the Cowboys' loss at Lambeau Field,
00:05basically saying, look, this roster is good enough, and that must mean it's on the coaches.
00:12That was my interpretation of it.
00:14Nick Harris is joining us now from the Forward Star-Telegram, as he does every hump day at this time
00:19on Sean and RJ.
00:21Did I interpret your tweets correctly?
00:23Yeah, I would say so. I appreciate you guys having me. I would say that for sure.
00:28You know, is this roster a Super Bowl contender? Is it a 13-4 type team? Probably not.
00:33But it should be a playoff team, a one that is not just a playoff team in the NFC East.
00:38And that just hasn't been the case so far.
00:42What is surprising you the most about the coaching?
00:46I would probably say the stagnant nature of the offense right now, for sure.
00:52I mean, coming out of last year, obviously, and what the offense was able to do in multiple categories,
00:58it's a little surprising that they've gone through this two-week lull.
01:02But even outside of the two-week lull, there's been points in games, you know,
01:06over the course of drives in the middle of games to where this offense can't find production.
01:11You know, in the first half against Houston.
01:16I mean, there's been points of, you know, this season so far where you look at the offense
01:23and it's like, something is off.
01:24And, you know, I don't know if it's the ability to adjust.
01:27I don't know if it's, you know, I don't know if it's a play-calling issue.
01:31I think it could be a combination of both of those things, among others.
01:35But it's certainly the offense that's been the most surprising to me.
01:38I thought you guys killed it the other day with Schottenheimer in the press conference
01:41asking all the necessary questions.
01:43One of the ones that you asked was about the stop routes.
01:47And when we talk about conservative plays, I always like to stay out of that
01:52because I don't pretend to know route combinations or being able to describe that.
01:56Take us inside that a little bit more, Nick, because you are probably watching all 22
02:01and replays and draft film.
02:03So talk about what you were approaching Schottenheimer with the other day.
02:07Yeah, well, the question around stop routes is, okay, if you are going to consistently run,
02:12you know, passing concepts that, you know, feature stop routes,
02:16then you're kind of limiting the extension of a play, I guess, if you will.
02:22So, like, if you're running a curl, if you're running, you know, if you're running a comeback even,
02:28I mean, your route kind of stops at a certain point to where, you know, if you look at,
02:33you know, if you're running more crossers, drags, posts, slants, whatever,
02:37then those guys continue on the run.
02:39And it allows, you know, Dak Prescott, if pressure is arriving to him,
02:43which has certainly happened in the last three games,
02:46then he's able to escape the pocket and, you know, make some things happen on the run
02:50and extend plays, work off script.
02:52And we haven't seen a whole lot of that.
02:55Chris Collinsworth did a really good job breaking it down during the broadcast.
02:58He's like, this team is not good at all working, you know,
03:02outside of, you know, the limitations of a certain play.
03:05You know, and I think that's credited to there being too many stop route concepts within the offense.
03:10And so, yeah, that was kind of the basis of my question around that.
03:14And there is still value to quote-unquote stop routes, especially when you have, you know,
03:18weapons like this team has, and especially when these weapons kind of specialize
03:22in being able to just go one-on-one against a guy.
03:25But when you have these weapons too, do you want to rely on them being one-on-one so often?
03:33Why not just try to help scheme them open, you know?
03:36And, you know, I think there were times against Houston, you know,
03:39where they understood what Houston was throwing at them,
03:41so they just fed CD over and over again until, you know, they decided to cover CD.
03:46They never did.
03:47And so it worked out in that game.
03:49But the pressure was arriving to Dak Prescott in that game just as much as it has
03:53against Tampa Bay and against Green Bay.
03:56They just had a little bit more, you know, luck in the secondary
03:58based on how Houston was playing CD.
04:00But, you know, you look at these last two games,
04:02and it's been tougher to quote-unquote scheme a guy open.
04:07And so that was kind of the nature of the question.
04:10And, you know, we'll see how things change going into Philly on Monday night.
04:14Nick Harris from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram joining us here on 105.3 The Fan.
04:18Nick, rank these three concerns on offense right now.
04:23The run game getting going, the pass protection,
04:28slash Dak Prescott versus the Blitz, or Brian Schottenheimer calling plays?
04:35I would say number one right now would probably be the run game.
04:41Number two, the play calling.
04:43Number three, the protection.
04:46But, I mean, all three of those I would be pointing to major concerns within them.
04:51I'll start with the protection, the thing I listed last.
04:55The Dallas Cowboys offensive line has allowed 35 unblocked pressures for six weeks.
05:01That's almost six per game.
05:02It's the second highest in the NFL.
05:04Oddly enough, the highest in the NFL is the Philadelphia Eagles.
05:07You play them on Monday night.
05:08They have 49, which is wild.
05:11And unblocked pressures, that's an interesting one to me.
05:16And that's something I kind of plan on asking about this week is, you know,
05:19how do you look at unblocked pressures?
05:21Is that a scheme thing?
05:22Is that a coaching thing?
05:25You know, what they are trying to ask those guys in protections up front.
05:29But the run game I put first, just because that was supposed to be something you kind
05:34of looked at as a luxury going into the year.
05:37Like, yes, is Javante Williams a top five running back?
05:40Probably not.
05:40But I think you do have a top five run game scheme based on what you saw last year.
05:45Because you were able to throw Javante Williams out there and have a 1,200-yard season.
05:49You were able to see Malik Davis late in the year really emerge, you know, as a weapon.
05:55And, you know, Tyler Goodson, by all accounts and measures, you know, he has burst.
05:58He has acceleration.
05:59Should be a complimentary RB2.
06:03But, you know, whether it's abandoning the run game as early as they did against Green Bay
06:08or, you know, not being able to find the correct protection up front to consistently
06:13gain yardage in the run game, that's something that has to get figured out.
06:16That has to be point A, first and foremost.
06:18Nick, is the offensive line in those situations, is it more than not playing well as a unit
06:24or are they individually also not playing well?
06:27I, you know, it's tough because, you know, you look at, you know, what they are being asked
06:33and, you know, the unblocked pressures, right?
06:36I mean, that is quite literally like a guy that are a free rusher being sent through the
06:42middle that is not being accounted for.
06:45And, you know, that one's tough because you don't know what a guy's job is on any specific
06:49play.
06:50And that's probably where, you know, the All-22 could lie to you at some times or watching
06:54the game live even could lie to you sometimes.
06:56But they have talent up front.
06:58And that's kind of like, that's been my whole thing around this entire roster.
07:02They have talent.
07:03Now, the offensive line should be arguably the most talented unit, maybe outside of the
07:07receivers on the roster.
07:08So, you should expect a lot from those guys.
07:11But, you know, that's certainly a question I have, too, Joe.
07:15Nick Harris, 4 Star Telegram here on 105.3 The Fan, every single hump day.
07:19Nick, how much do you think the pressure that's building on Schottenheimer's coming from fans
07:24versus coming from the Joneses right now?
07:27I would say it's a lot hotter from the fans.
07:30You know, I was asked yesterday, you know, what does the hot seat look like for Brian Schottenheimer?
07:37I'm like, well, it depends if you're talking about the fan-based perception or if you're
07:40talking, like, from ownership.
07:41I think there's two different answers there.
07:44And, you know, is fan-based perception, does it eventually leak into reality?
07:49Yeah, absolutely.
07:50And I think you've seen that with franchises over the course of the last five years where,
07:54like, a fan-based just gets really upset or irritated or impatient.
07:58And then that ends up creeping into, you know, ownership or GM thoughts.
08:03But I would expect a long leash with ownership with Brian Schottenheimer.
08:09They still liked what, you know, this offense was able to do last year.
08:13They still believe in the direction of Christian Parker.
08:16And the truth is, credit to everybody in that building, this thing is only six games into it.
08:22You know, there are still 11 games to, you know, figure these things out.
08:25The division is still well within the realm of possibility.
08:28But if this division is won by another team at, like, 8-9 or 7-10, then, you know, I
08:36think
08:37we have to have some conversations.
08:38I don't know if it's about Schottenheimer's job, but it might be about Schottenheimer's
08:42play-calling capabilities.
08:43You know, it could be, you know, something within that realm.
08:45But we're a long way away from that reality.
08:49And, you know, I think regardless, they want an element of consistency on the coaching staff
08:54at some point in time.
08:55So unless things really fly off the rails here, they're going to try to seek that out
09:00going into 2027.
09:02One through 10 disappointment scale if they don't win the NFC East, considering everything
09:06else that's going on with 10 being disastrous.
09:10Yeah, if we're saying that the winner is sub-500 and it's not the Cowboys, that
09:15disappointment's at least an 8.
09:17I mean, that would be a pretty big failure, especially considering Philadelphia is going
09:22to be without Jalen Hurst for a while.
09:24All the best to him.
09:25The Giants are without Jackson Dart and have a super young team on the defensive side of
09:31the ball.
09:32And then now Washington is falling apart and have lost Terry McLaurin for the season.
09:37It is all painted and laid out for the Cowboys to win this division.
09:42And Monday night's a huge, huge game toward that reality.
09:46If you're going to win this division in a low-lead division, then you need to win the division
09:50games.
09:51And so this Monday night game is huge for that possibility.
09:55How are you viewing George Pickens' season so far?
09:58You know, I've more so seen from opposing defenses that they look at George Pickens and say,
10:06OK, let's cloud him and, you know, have CeeDee Lamb try and beat us.
10:12And that's been the approach sometimes.
10:14Obviously, he did it against Houston.
10:15He did it against Washington.
10:17So I wonder when that changes.
10:20But I don't really put a lot on the receivers right now for how this offense has, you know,
10:28kind of stalled out over the last couple of weeks.
10:30I put it on the pressure, you know, and when the pressure is getting to Dak as much as
10:35it has, you know, that's going to affect the passing game without a doubt.
10:39And so I don't really put a whole lot of blame on George Pickens right now.
10:42Nick, the one thing I...
10:44Well, there's not one thing.
10:45There's ten things.
10:46I cannot figure out how you get two collective minds with experience like Dak Prescott and
10:51Brian Schottenheimer and get flummoxed and turned upside down this much by what's happening
10:57with the Blitz the past two weeks.
10:58Help me understand how that can happen with these two who have been around forever and
11:03Dak being a really good quarterback.
11:07Yeah, I'm with you, especially because Dak has typically been pretty dang good against
11:12the Blitz in his career.
11:14You know, I wonder if it's maybe even something on film.
11:17I wonder if it's, you know, something that they really need to dive into with the self-scout
11:21to realize maybe that there is something that they're doing, whether it be pre-snap or even
11:27post-snap, that makes it so easy for opposing defenses to identify when they can send an
11:33extra rusher or two.
11:35You know, I wonder if maybe it's something like that.
11:38Or if it's, you know, are the protection keys cleaned up?
11:41Like Dak had talked about coming out of the Tampa Bay game.
11:44No, it's certainly something that's a little dumbfounding for me.
11:49And it's something I haven't even, like, considered the possibility of in recent years, just because
11:55Dak has been not only good against the Blitz, legitimately, statistically, one of the best
12:01in the NFL.
12:02And so, yeah, this is a rare territory that Dak has found himself in.
12:06Would you still sign George?
12:08Yeah, I mean, yeah, there's still a lot of time left, but yes, I would.
12:13I think having two receiver weapons on this offense over the course of the next few years
12:19with Dak, that's going to open up so many possibilities within it.
12:22You know, I'm not going to let, you know, two weeks kind of be a reactionary thing towards
12:26saying no to George.
12:27What if it's a weapon that jams every four weeks and isn't available to you because you
12:33don't always wonder if that weapon is engaged in playing the football game?
12:36Well, good thing you have an AK-47 with an illegal switch on the other side.
12:42Nick Karras, 4 Star-Telegram, right here on Sean and RJ, 105.3 The Fan.
12:47What's the feeling over there?
12:50You covered the end of McCarthy, heard all the stories.
12:55We see Rashawn Gary say, we're not mad.
12:58Brian Schottenheimer saying, we are pissed off and mad.
13:01What's the feeling over there?
13:04I would say that, you know, the locker room yesterday was in better spirits than I anticipated.
13:11And Tuesday locker rooms are always kind of, you know, you don't know what you're going
13:16to get, especially after a loss like that.
13:19They're in better spirits than I probably could have anticipated.
13:22You know, I credit that toward, yes, they are two and four, but everything that they are
13:27still playing for is still, you know, right in front of them because of how bad this division
13:31has started off the season.
13:33And so, you know, I think they sent an opportunity, but Monday night is huge, huge.
13:37I can't emphasize that enough.
13:39They have to go up there and beat a backup quarterback and a third string running back
13:43in a makeshift offensive line.
13:45They have to find a way to get that done.
13:46Because of the bye weeks being so late, are they pretty much stuck with what they have
13:51until then, like any major change, even play calling?
13:56No, I wouldn't say so.
13:57I think, you know, mid-season changes can happen, you know, regardless if it's a seven-day break,
14:02eight-day break, five-day break, whatever it may be.
14:04Maybe not five-day, but I wouldn't anticipate any changes being made to play calling for a
14:10while.
14:11It would probably, I don't think it would probably even happen until the bye week unless
14:15things really got out of hand or maybe after Thanksgiving.
14:17Thanksgiving, you know, they are not going to react to two weeks on the offensive side
14:22of the ball.
14:23And on defense, I think they've seen enough incremental improvement to be able to trust
14:28the direction of Christian Parker.
14:29And I would say I don't necessarily blame them on either point.
14:33If play calling is ultimately switched on the offensive side of the ball, would that
14:37be Shottie giving it up, or would that be that Jones is telling him he has to give
14:41it up?
14:42Yeah, I don't have an answer for you there, Bob.
14:45I wish I did.
14:45I agree with the incremental improvement on defense.
14:49I'm giving the hot take.
14:49They will not give up over 25 in the next three games.
14:53But give us your observations or what you think they think the incremental improvements
14:59have been.
15:00I think you can look at the front from the Green Bay game, and that manifested in the
15:05pass rush, that manifested in the run game.
15:06You got three sacks from your interior defensive lineman, Rashawn Gary, or yeah, Rashawn Gary
15:12generated quite a bit of pressure on Sunday night.
15:16Quentin Williams, Kenny Clark, Elijah Garcia all got in for quarterback takedowns.
15:21And in the run game, now granted, you're going against the worst rushing offense in the NFL
15:25and one of the worst over the last five seasons.
15:27But finally, this defense did something it was supposed to do, and it limited that ground
15:32game to what it was.
15:33But the secondary, once it gets healthy, really needs to figure out how to limit the big plays.
15:38You know, if you look at the drops that Green Bay had on Sunday, we're probably talking about
15:43a much different result from a secondary standpoint, if you take those away or put them
15:48into, you know, receptions instead.
15:49But I think you're starting to see the front, you know, figure out its identity.
15:56It hasn't quite done it yet, and there's a big opportunity again against Philadelphia
16:00because of their unblocked pressures and their lack of success in the run game.
16:04But they need to continue to stack success and hope it leaks out into the secondary as well.
16:08So, fantastic stuff, brother.
16:09We appreciate you as always.
16:11We'll do it next week.
16:12Absolutely.
16:13Thank you, guys.