Brian Schottenheimer and Jerry Jones are at odds after Cowboys loss

The Dallas Cowboys’ unexpected loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night has exposed some differences in opinion between owner Jerry Jones and coach Brian Schottenheimer.

The Cowboys lost 24-16 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night, even though the Buccaneers were winless and playing with backup quarterback Jalon Daniels. The defeat raised further questions about the quality of Dallas’ defense, which was the team’s main problem last season.

After the game, Jones said he thinks the defense is still “right where we started” and that Thursday’s game did not raise any new concerns for him. Schottenheimer, however, felt differently.

“Certainly, Jerry’s going to have his opinions and I respect his opinions certainly, but I do think that today was a disappointing day, but there has been things,” Scottenheimer said, via Jon Machota of The Athletic. “You got to get off the field on third down. We have to not turn the football over. I mean, you can’t be minus-3 and win a game in the National Football League. That’s not going to work.”

It’s not exactly common for the coach to be more concerned about an aspect of the Cowboys than Jones, but that is where Schottenheimer is. The concerns are warranted, as the Cowboys have been penalty-prone on defense and have struggled to generate turnovers.

Jones keeps downplaying concerns about his defense. Considering he built it, that might be an attempt to dodge blame, but eventually the issue will become too big to ignore.