Cowboys' Jerry Jones addresses recent conversations with Brian Schottenheimer amid hot-seat rumors

After the Dallas Cowboys suffered a 23-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers that dropped Dallas to 2-4 on Oct. 18, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones insisted that he and team owner/general manager Jerry Jones "absolutely" still believe in head coach Brian Schottenheimer.

That doesn't necessarily mean that Jerry Jones is thrilled with the current state of his team. 

Jerry Jones and Brian Schottenheimer have had "tactical" talks

On Wednesday, Jerry Jones spoke with reporters at the league meetings in New York and addressed recent conversations he's had with Schottenheimer. 

"He explained as far as what we were doing and what we need to do better," Jones said, per Jon Machota and Mike Jones of The Athletic. "He was just as tactical, and there was no, 'We’ve got to have more effort. We’ve got to have more depth.' Our conversations are more about just really the structure, the schemes, the calls, things like that."

Schottenheimer serves as the Cowboys' offensive play-caller and, thus, has received blame among some fans and local media members for the performances of what was advertised to be the "greatest offense there is" over Dallas' last two games. The Cowboys produced just 16 points in a Week 5 home loss to a Tampa Bay Buccaneers side that is currently 1-5. Against Green Bay, Dallas put just seven points on the scoreboard until a garbage-time touchdown was scored with 44 seconds remaining in regulation. 

Is Brian Schottenheimer in danger of losing his job?

Machota and Jones noted that the Cowboys "could be looking at an offseason of significant changes" if they don't turn things "around quickly." For an article published on Thursday, Saad Yousuf of The Athletic wrote that Schottenheimer has been guilty of "a fair share of offensive miscues and game-management issues, especially in recent weeks."

However, Jones seems confident that the Cowboys can win what has jokingly been referred to throughout the past couple of weeks as the "NFC Least." The 3-2-1 New York Giants sit atop the NFC East standings, while the 2-4 Philadelphia Eagles will be without starting quarterback Jalen Hurts (blood clots) for the remainder of the season. As for the 1-4-1 Washington Commanders, Yousuf mentioned that the heat of Washington coach Dan Quinn's "seat could become scorching" if his side still has a losing record through the middle of November. 

"I see opportunity, and I see it legitimately because I know the things that we have the potential to do, both with our talent, both with our schemes, adjustments, I’ve seen us do (it) in the spring, the kinds of adjustments that you might want to do between the halves," Jones added during his comments. "I’m frustrated, and I’m disappointed that we’re sitting here with this record. But I sure know (what) we have in place. It’s not internal. It’s from within the (looking in the) mirror, is what everybody’s got to look for. And I’m not just talking about mentality. … I’m talking about technical, and it’s all those coaching terms. You want to talk about all the terms you heard during training camp. It’s not a cliche." 

The Cowboys next play a "Monday Night Football" game at the Eagles on Oct. 26. As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had Dallas as a 4.5-point road favorite for that game.