The Dallas Cowboys had one of the league’s strongest offenses during the 2025 season. But their struggles inside the 20-yard line remained a concern for the Cowboys’ head coach Brian Schottenheimer, heading into the 2026 season.

During a recent episode of the Cowboys Break Podcast, hosts Amar Garcia, Vach Lombardi, and Derek Eagleton analyzed the Cowboys' 2026 NFL schedule.

They also pointed out red-zone execution as one of the team’s biggest areas for improvement to be made during the offseason.

“And to me, last year was a great baseline for you to start in a role that was completely new for that coaching staff, that was completely new for Brian Schottenheimer in that sense, which I thought he did a really good job,” Garcia noted. “Now you add year two, where you're feeling more comfortable.”

She believes that Schottenheimer can improve on the red zone offense and overall discipline heading into the new season, after a full year of understanding the schemes and players' strengths. 

"They were like 32nd in the red zone," Derek Eagleton said. "There was just one too many times where you need a score, and you either settle for three or you fail on fourth down."

Schottenheimer has acknowledged this issue himself post the Denver Broncos game, where the Cowboys suffered a 44-24 loss in the 2025 season.

He attributed the struggles to self-inflicted wounds of the players, execution mistakes, and penalties, making the offense lose the opportunities in the red zone, according to Josh Sanchez of Si.com

The Cowboys ranked the second-most penalized team in the league in the 2025 season.

With Schottenheimer entering his second season as head coach, improving the red-zone execution by reducing costly mistakes could be one of his priorities.

Cowboys Analysts Point to Red-Zone Struggles 

Derek Eagleton, host of the Cowboys Break Podcast, broke down the analysis further by highlighting the team's red zone struggles and other problematic areas.

“If you start that game differently, you might have a better shot because then they just got run out of the building after that,” Eagleton noted.

Eagleton pointed to execution and discipline as key issues, especially in scoring situations. He explained that the team needs to perform more cleanly in the red zone and avoid the kind of mistakes that can stall drives near the goal line.

The hosts also noted tight end Jake Ferguson’s fumbling issues in major moments, which complicated the situation of the game. 

But they also showed confidence in the younger players like Tyler Guyton and Tyler Booker. They also consider Ryan Flournoy a reliable third option behind star wide receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.

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Written by

Archana Ramakrishnan

Edited by

Rudra Dubey