Only six games into the 2026 NFL season and things are looking terminal for the Dallas Cowboys. A two-game losing streak has the franchise at 2-4 and in third place of the worst division in football. The defense has shown no signs of the life, and the once dominant offense has averaged just over 14 points per game over the last two.
Things are moving in the wrong direction with few solutions in sight. Optimism is circling the drain, and hope for change has all but vanished. It’s moments like these when owners put the GM’s feet to fire to fix things or face the consequences. It’s moments like these are when general managers earn their money. It’s moments like these where Cowboys Owner, President, and General Manager, Jerry Jones earns his stripes.
The Cowboys are a family owned and operated business. While this might sound charming for the coffee shop down the road or the trucking company across town, it’s often problematic in professional sports. Without the top-down pressure dynamic in place, regular mechanisms for accountability are absent from the Cowboys, leaving the only pressure point between owner and head coach and nothing in the middle.
Without the ability to pressure the president (Jerry Jones), the COO (Stephen Jones), the GM (Jerry Jones) or even the unofficial assistant GM (Stephen Jones), the owner (Jerry Jones) only has a head coach to lean on for change. And since switching coaches and schemes midseason is essentially football seppuku for an NFL team, that’s not an option Dallas wants to consider. But without the ability to fire the president, COO, or GM, it’s the only option that can even be entertained.
Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones on @1053thefan said they “absolutely” believe in Brian Schottenheimer.
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) October 19, 2026
“There’s not any question in Jerry and my mind. He has the team. There’s no question they want to go out there and execute and make things happen. Feel really good about our coaching…
Poor play calling, reductive play design, impossible pass protection schemes and questionable effort have all been called into question on offense. The unit that was billed as GOTI, or Greatest Offense There Is, is anything but “great.” In fact, it’s impossibly poor given the talent it has. And this was the side of the ball that was supposed to carry the team.
The defense is even worse off and a complete disaster in its own rights. They already brought in a former defensive coordinator and head coach to assist current DC Christian Parker in his efforts this year. The logic must be that instead of starting over, they should just throw more coaches at the problem. Again, not many courses of action or points of pressure given the structure of the organization.
The Cowboys have allowed the highest conversion rate (40.0%) on 3rd & long (7+ yds) this season.
— NFL Researcher (@NFL_Researcher) October 19, 2026
The last team to allow higher in a season was the 2020 Titans (42.6%).
It’s not as if Jerry Jones the GM has been sitting on his hands either. Jerry Jones the owner has impowered his GM self over the last 14 months. He’s opened the team coffers and wheeled and dealed his way to a rebuilt roster. He even stepped out of his comfort zone and hired a young coach he normally would never entertain. None of it worked.
It’s put the GM in a pickle. Should he keep trading his way to an improved roster or is that just throwing good money after bad? It’s a difficult place Jerry Jones has found himself and no clear path to success in sight.
Good coaches are all employed this time of year, so replacement options are nonexistent. Trade solutions are costly and most of them haven’t worked out anyway. Motion at the snap, better run-pass balance, play-action and a rebuilt screen game are all feasible adjustments. They may not fix everything but for a GM trying to get more from his coach, they are recommended topics of conversation this week.
No one needs to feel sorry for a billionaire, especially since he brought this on himself, but Jerry Jones the GM has a tough task on his plate and it’s his job, and his job alone, to fix it.
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys have issues only a GM can fix, pressure is Jerry Jones' alone