Everyone and their grandmother knew the Dallas Cowboys defense was going to be a weakness once again in 2026, with Jerry Jones still struggling to replace the presence of Micah Parsons. The Cowboys' offense becoming a significant part of the problem is nothing short of stunning, and that's on Brian Schottenheimer. After losing 24-16 against the previously 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5 and a 23-13 non-competitive defeat against the Green Bay Packers in Week 6, it's no longer a fluke.
Dallas' "Greatest Offense There Is" (GOTI) has gone dark. Dallas is out to a 2-4 start to 2026, tied for the Cowboys' worst start to a season this decade. In Schottenheimer's first year as the head coach and play-caller in 2025, Dallas' offense soared, ranking seventh in the league in scoring (27.7 points per game) and second in the NFL in yards (391.9 yards per game).
While harsh, lifeless is a fair descriptor for this season's back-to-back faceplants. The Cowboys have scored fewer than 20 points in consecutive Dak Prescott games for the first time since the Jason Garrett era. "I mean, defense to me played a good enough game for us to go out there and win this, and we just didn't hold our own on offense," Prescott said last night, via The Dallas Morning News. * Cowboys: Consecutive Dak Prescott starts with under 20 points scored for the first time since 2019 (Jason Garrett's last season as head coach) So how can a team with a top-10 quarterback, two top-10 receivers (CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens),three star offensive linemen and a running back coming off ranking top 10 in the NFL in rushing yards in 2025 (Javonte Williams) look this lost?
Schottenheimer's offense has become stale seemingly overnight. Last season, Dallas ranked in the top half of the league in play action rate (28.2%), under-center rate (38.4%) and motion rate (56.6%). This season, the Cowboys now profile as dead last in the NFL in motion rate (36.5%), 28th out of 32 teams in under-center rate (30.4%) and 20th in play action rate.
This was always going to be a pass-forward offense with Prescott and All-Pro caliber weapons at receiver like Lamb and Pickens, but between Smith missing the first four weeks of the season with a thumb injury and general inefficacy (76.0 rushing yards per game, second to last in the NFL) in 2026, Dallas is running the football at the lowest rate in the league at a 32.5% clip. Tempo (average time between snaps in seconds) A static offense that doesn't require opposing defenses to think too much is an easy one to defend against. Prescott (335 yards and a touchdown on 32 of 45 passing) and Lamb (17 catches for 189 yards receiving and a touchdown) went off in Dallas' 34-30 road win at the Houston Texans in Week 4.
Houston is notorious for being one of the more vanilla defenses schematically and relying on their high-end talent up front at all three levels to win the day for them. Houston blitzes just 24.7% of the time in 2026, the sixth-lowest rate in the NFL, because they believe Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter are enough more often than not. Skill vs. skill, Prescott, Lamb and Pickens can go toe-to-toe with nearly every defense in the league.
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