ARLINGTON, Texas – For the second straight week, the Cowboys have suffered a loss in the preseason. Saturday night, it came at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens in a 31-13 game at AT&T Stadium that saw Dallas struggle out of the gates offensively and marked back-to-back games of allowing 30+ points on defense.
Nonetheless, Brian Schottenheimer is not concerned about the direction that his team is heading in with one preseason match left this coming Friday.
“We’re not going to panic, and we’re not pushing the panic button, we’re pushing the work button, and that’s we’re going to do.” Schottenheimer said.
While Schottenheimer may not necessarily be panicking over how his team has performed, he certainly isn’t satisfied with what he’s seen thus far, regardless of if it’s a preseason game or not.
“We’re not going to say that this is just a preseason game,” Schottenheimer said. “We’re not going to just say, ‘Oh, we’re fine.’ We’re going to look at it. The fact that we lost both halves, that’s something we have to get corrected. There’s too many good football players, there’s too many good coaches for us to perform the way we did tonight.”
One of the players that he and his staff believe has all the tools to be a good player in the league is quarterback Joe Milton.
Saturday marked Milton’s second start for the Cowboys, and he struggled once again, completing nine of his 18 passes for 122 yards and an interception.
It was a rocky start for Milton, as he took a safety on the Cowboys’ opening offensive drive in the first quarter on a play that should’ve gotten the ball out of his hands quick, an area of his game that Milton needs to improve in.
Despite the errors and another week of low offensive production, Schottenheimer isn’t worried about Milton.
“I wouldn’t say I’m concerned…” Schottenheimer said. “I think we came out with a little bit of a different mindset in terms of trying to run the ball, though they got him… They showed down and brought the blitz from the other side and just spooked him. He’s got to try to throw the ball away. It wasn’t just him. We’ve got to be able to run the ball better. We’ve got to take care of the ball.”
Furthermore, Schottenheimer reiterated the same statement as he did earlier in the week: No decision have to be made today in preseason battles, including that of the backup quarterback position.
“I feel like I don’t have to decide anything today,” Schottenheimer said. “I’m going to keep letting these guys practice. I just told the guys to get ready because a couple of these practices are going to be really physical. All of these position battles, we don’t have to decide anything now.”
While no decisions do need to be made today, the Cowboys have one preseason game remaining this coming week at AT&T Stadium against the Atlanta Falcons, and a short week going into it. That means only a limited number of practices for Milton and the rest of the group heading into their last proving ground before Dallas opens the year against the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on September 4.
