Dallas walked away from Seattle winning in its preseason opener, but head coach Brian Schottenheimer wasn’t in a celebratory mood. Speaking to reporters about the team’s special teams performance, Schottenheimer made clear the unit fell well short of his expectations, even in a victory.
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“Yeah, not good enough. Addressed that today with the guys. It’s not the standard. We know that, but it’s also preseason Game 1,” Schottenheimer said, according to The Athletics’ Jon Machota.
“And then we did a terrible job of communicating non-verbally on the coverage teams. ‘Hey, I’m the ball player. I’m the outside player. I’m the capper.’ Didn’t do a good enough job of that, so we had a long special teams meeting today. It’s going to be a big part of our emphasis because it wasn’t good enough.”
The frustration was easy to understand. Dallas committed 13 penalties for 103 yards, and several of those mistakes came on special teams. The Cowboys also struggled to contain Seattle’s return game, leaving Schottenheimer concerned about the lack of discipline and communication.
“Our mantra is get back to basics. Got to pay more attention to detail. Very, very disappointed in how we lost to contain. Very disappointed in how we gave up kickside leverage,” he said. “And the ball’s supposed to be kept on your right shoulder? Keep it on your right shoulder. The ball’s supposed to be on your left shoulder? Keep it on your left shoulder.”
Those problems showed up throughout the night. Seattle’s Rashad Rochelle broke off a 53-yard punt return in the third quarter, and an illegal-formation penalty on Dallas added five more yards to the play. That put the Seahawks at the Cowboys’ 27-yard line, creating another difficult situation for the defense. The fourth quarter brought another example.
Dallas wide receiver Traeshon Holden had a 19-yard punt return wiped out by a too-many-men-on-the-field penalty. On the following punt, Holden tried to field the bouncing ball near Dallas’ 2-yard line and muffed it, giving Seattle the ball deep in Cowboys territory.
Special teams have been a problem for Dallas before. The Cowboys had their share of issues there during the 2025 season too, so Schottenheimer’s frustration was about more than just one bad game. Still, there was plenty about Dallas’ overall performance that Schottenheimer could feel good about.
Rookie wide receiver Camden Brown caught two touchdown passes, including a diving, one-handed grab, and the Cowboys’ defense didn’t allow a single point over the final three-and-a-half quarters after giving up a touchdown on Seattle’s opening drive, holding the Seahawks to just 156 total yards of offense.
For Schottenheimer, the message after the 17-7 win was clear: the Cowboys have plenty to clean up before the preseason moves on. The team now shifts its attention to preseason Game 2, with a long special teams meeting already behind them and Schottenheimer’s expectations made unmistakably clear.