Schottenheimer owned up to Rio mistakes in meeting with Cowboys players

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Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer walked to the lectern for a team meeting early last week and delivered privately to his team a message that he delivered publicly: I messed up.

That was the paraphrase of how Schottenheimer started the meeting.

According to those in the room, Schottenheimer took accountability for the Cowboys' late-game loss last Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens in Rio de Janeiro.

Schottenheimer's point was that if a coach is going to hold players accountable, he must apply the same standard to himself. As one person in the room noted, real leaders lead from the front.

After a frustrating loss in a game last week that Dallas controlled, team sources say the players responded in a positive way, ready to get back out there Sunday against the Houston Texans.

This all stems from Schottenheimer "over-coaching" Dak Prescott, instructing the star quarterback to throw the ball away with seven seconds to go. Prescott essentially had two options on Dallas' final offensive play: he could have gone through his progressions to guarantee an incomplete pass, or take one read and throw the ball away if a receiver wasn't open.

Prescott and the Dallas offense chose the wrong one, leaving 14 seconds on the clock after an incomplete pass on third down. Dallas' Brandon Aubrey kicked the game-tying field goal with seven seconds remaining, but then booted a touchback on the ensuing kickoff, leaving Baltimore and Lamar Jackson with enough time to set up Tyler Loop's 56-yard game-winning field goal.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan that there was "no explanation you're satisfied with" for the loss.

"Let's be sure that we all understand that," Jones said. "They [coaches] don't have one that they're satisfied with. We made mistakes during that time. There's no question about it. So there is no explanation. But there's an evaluation of how not to make the same mistakes again."

Schottenheimer told reporters that he is "man enough to take mistakes."

"I make a lot of mistakes," he said. "I'm certainly not perfect. ... I hurt our chance to win that game, and I'll be better."