The Dallas Cowboys' special teams are nowhere close to up to snuff during the 2025 season. Their latest loss, a 44-30 pitfall against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Thursday Night Football, was perhaps the most glaring example of Nick Sorensen's poor performance.
The Lions had an average field position of their own 42-yard line. Before the Cowboys' defense even took the field, they were oftentimes behind the 8-ball because of the kicking and punting units, which had to punt the ball six times and kick the ball off six other times.
It took until his team was .500 in early December for Brian Schottenheimer to even speak about the team's special teams struggles. Schottenheimer claimed that there was a need for improvement on the punt unit after giving up 261 yards on kickoffs.
"We certainly didn’t cover very well. I thought that kind of flipped the field, gave them a bunch of short fields, and we have to look at why that was. And we’ll do that, certainly an area for us to clean up," Schottenheimer said postgame, via Jane Slater of NFL Network.
Where is the accountability? Schottenheimer may be bringing it soon, if his Monday press conference is any indicator.
Brian Schottenheimer Promises Changes to Cowboys Special Teams
“We need to do that, number one,” Schottenheimer said at the press conference, via DallasCowboys.com. “The kickoff coverage leverage has not been very good. We’ve lost contain. The way it’s all set up now is: if my left arm is free, I’ve got to keep my left arm free. Guys are trying to make plays, and the way you cover kicks well is to have everybody do their job, stay in their lane, keep their contain, play with the [correct] arm free. We haven’t done that. We’ll be looking at maybe some personnel adjustments as well.”
Those changes seem like they'd come from Schottenheimer. Jerry Jones has been a major proponent of Sorensen after hiring him back in January. Jones doesn't like giving up on his investments right away, but the results on the field demand immediate action. Schottenheimer is claiming that action is imminent.
It has to be. Dallas' postseason hopes are fading every week, and losing to the Lions only makes their climb in the wild-card race even steeper.
Is it too late? The Cowboys will answer that question over the next month against the Minnesota Vikings, the Los Angeles Chargers, the Washington Commanders, and the New York Giants.