Mike Tomlin may have traded the headset for a studio desk, but the former Pittsburgh Steelers coach has not traded in his vocabulary, and the Dallas Cowboys got a full dose of it Sunday night.

Hours after Dallas let a 14-point fourth-quarter lead slip away in a 33-30 overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Tomlin, now a first-year member of NBC’s “Football Night in America” studio crew, tore into the Cowboys’ finish.

However, Joe Banner, the former president of the Philadelphia Eagles, came away from the segment late Sunday wanting to know why the Dallas coaching staff, and its defensive side in particular, never got the same treatment.

Joe Banner Turns the Focus to Cowboys’ Defensive Coaching

Dallas’ defense held the Cardinals to three points in the first half, and the Cowboys still led 24-10 after Dak Prescott’s 5-yard touchdown run early in the fourth. From there, Arizona outscored Dallas 23-6 behind Gardner Minshew II, who replaced Jacoby Brissett late in the third quarter and finished 17-of-23 for 188 yards and three touchdowns.

On Sunday night, Tomlin aimed at the players and units on the field: “I saw a bunch of blinkers … if you’re a blinker, cut your eyelids off … And watching the end of that game, I didn’t see individuals or particular units that wanted to grab the bull by the horns and win the game.”

Banner gave Tomlin his due before getting to what bothered him about the breakdown: “Tomlin is interesting to listen to, but never seems to include any evaluation or criticism of the coaching. How he could’ve discussed the Dallas collapse and not mention the D coaching is hard to understand.”

Tomlin has taken aim at how Dallas handles the end of games before.

In Week 3 in Rio de Janeiro, Baltimore beat Dallas 34-31 when its kicker made a 56-yarder as time ran out. The Cowboys had kicked off for a touchback with 7 seconds left and then played man-to-man as the Ravens completed a 27-yard pass to get into range. Hours later, during NBC’s halftime coverage, Tomlin called how Dallas handled that finish “somewhat negligent.”

The defense did come up Sunday, but Tomlin spread the blame across both sides of the ball: “Certainly their defense, we can spend a lot of time talking about that two-minute drive and things of that nature, but their offense had a short field when they had an unsuccessful onside kick at the end of regulation, and then they went three-and-out in overtime.

“So I see a team that doesn’t have anybody that wants to be the unit to secure victory. They’re blinkers. They’ve got to cut their eyelids off.”

Arizona scored on its last two drives of regulation. Minshew cut a 27-17 deficit to three with a 14-yard scoring pass to Trey McBride at the 2:11 mark, one play after Rashan Gary drew a roughing-the-passer flag on an incomplete third-and-10 throw.

Once Brandon Aubrey’s 41-yarder made it 30-24 with 1:09 to go, Minshew needed 1:03 to move Arizona 80 yards, hitting Michael Wilson for a 13-yard score with 6 seconds left, but Arizona kicker Chad Ryland missed the go-ahead extra point.

The two possessions Tomlin singled out both went backward. Ryland’s onside try after McBride’s touchdown went only 9 yards, and Arizona was flagged for illegal touching, so Dallas started at the Arizona 20, gave back 3 yards, and settled for the field goal that made it 30-24.

In overtime, the Cowboys deferred after winning the toss, and their lone series ended in a punt after three snaps netted minus-5 yards, capped by Prescott taking a 7-yard sack on third-and-8. Ryland then won it with a 42-yard field goal.

Tomlin did lay out a way forward for Dallas, too: “You’ve got to figure out who wants it, and you’ve got to shift your division of labor to those that want it … you’ve got to challenge those guys individually and collectively. Tell them you’re looking for that guy and who wants to be it.”

Timm Hamm, co-host of The Colby Sapp & IndyCarTim Show, read the appearance with Cowboys fans in mind: “Mike Tomlin might not have submitted a résumé to Jerry Jones, but his latest television appearance certainly gave … fans something to think about.”

Brian Schottenheimer and Jerry Jones Address the Coaching After the Loss

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer included himself in the postgame accounting: “I’m going to always own my part of this as the head football coach. It starts with me. There’s certainly things that I need to do better.”

Asked after the game whether the loss would prompt a change on the coaching staff, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said: “We’re not gonna get into anything. That’s not on my mind at this time.”

Dallas has already adjusted its defensive coaching structure this season, hiring Mike Pettine as a senior defensive assistant. Although Jerry Jones initially announced that defensive coordinator Christian Parker would move to the coaches’ booth, the team subsequently indicated Parker would remain on the sideline, with Pettine potentially working upstairs.