Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon placed Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer in the “warm” tier of his early NFL hot-seat rankings Friday, five days after a 28-20 loss to the New York Giants.
Gagnon wrote in his coach-by-coach rundown that the Jones family has given its coaches long runways since the Dave Campo era. He added that Jerry Jones could be running out of patience, and that a second straight losing season in 2026 could lead Dallas to blow it all up.
Schottenheimer landed in the same tier as Green Bay’s Matt LaFleur, Detroit’s Dan Campbell, the New York Jets’ Aaron Glenn and Cincinnati’s Zac Taylor.
The opener at MetLife Stadium did little to help his case.
New York outgained Dallas 394-244 and ran 68 offensive plays to the Cowboys’ 52. The Giants held the ball for 36 minutes, 40 seconds and punted once.
Jaxson Dart completed 23 of 29 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns. New York ran 37 times for 165 yards, while Dallas finished with 69 yards on the ground.
The Giants converted 9 of 11 third downs and went 4-for-4 in the red zone.
It was Christian Parker’s first game calling the Dallas defense. Parker replaced Matt Eberflus, whom the Cowboys fired in January.
Schottenheimer called his own opening play call terrible at The Star on Wednesday and said Parker had a couple of calls he would like back. He also said Dallas had the right defensive calls but failed to communicate them consistently, Dallas Sports Journal reported.
His message was that the problems can be corrected.
“They’re all fixable. I mean, they’re all fixable,” Schottenheimer said. “I mean, communication’s fixable. Pad level’s fixable. Contain’s fixable. Better play call’s fixable. Talked about … not turning the ball over. That’s fixable. They’re all fixable. And that’s why, again, it’s one game we played poorly, but excited, really excited to get back out there and play another championship opportunity.”
Dallas went 7-9-1 in Schottenheimer’s first season in 2025 and missed the playoffs.
The split was stark. The Cowboys gained 6,663 yards, one of the NFL’s top totals. Their defense finished last in the league in scoring.
The Joneses have historically waited out slow stretches. Jason Garrett coached parts of 10 seasons in Dallas, and four of them ended 8-8.
Mike McCarthy lasted five seasons. He went 12-5 three straight years from 2021 through 2023 and finished below .500 twice.
The Cowboys have given no public indication that Schottenheimer’s job is in question. Gagnon’s ranking put him in the warm tier, below the three coaches he considers burning hot.
Should Dallas fall to 0-2, the questions around Schottenheimer will grow louder.
The Cowboys host the Washington Commanders at AT&T Stadium on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET on FOX.
