Brett's Cowboys Corner

Over the past week, rumors spread of the Cowboys head coaching job being a promotion instead of an external hire. One name circled around and slowly became more and more real, Brian Schottenheimer.

Late Friday it was made official, the former OC for the past two seasons becomes the 10th head coach in Cowboys history. Son of legendary NFL coach, Marty Schottenheimer, Brian said he will look to do something that his father never did. Win a Superbowl.

Schottenheimer, or ‘Schotty’ as Jerry and Stephen referred to him multiple times as, had his introductory press conference yesterday, while he said a lot of good things and was well spoken, the hour and half press conference felt like it was more over ran by the Joneses.

Should We Believe In Schotty?

Before getting into the Jerry and Stephen parts, its only fair to give the new coach his dues.

A very well spoken introduction and he hit a lot of buzz words that fans want to hear.

He talked about his experiences with the Seahawks and the Jets, mentioning how his philosophies were molded by Pete Carroll and he holds those closely.

He touched on where he and McCarthy would disagree on things, but focused on what would look different in his offense.

Schottenheimer who will be the playcaller said he believes in presnap movement, motions and shifts. He likes to keep his formations tighter, meaning receivers stay closer to the QB.

This helps in, what he calls “marrying the run and pass” which simply means making the runs look like pass plays and passes look like run plays. Keep the defense guessing.

Schottenheimer led the NFL in rushing as an OC twice in the NFL, a good run game will be important to him. He also mentions the desire to play with tempo, which creates rhythm and less time for over thinking.

If you have watched Dak Prescott’s career and really analyzed it, not just paying half attention as an arm-chair quarterback, you would know that Dak plays better when the offense is in hurry up, the ball moves more smoothly. The less thinking, the more going will benefit Dak.

Brian also mentioned how excited he is to work with an elite QB like Prescott, and wants to build a system around him.

The #1 thing that made me excited, he mentioned the importance of stars in his offense. He wants the personality of the players to shine, and wants to get playmakers the ball.

If I interpret that in my eyes, that means get the ball to Lamb by any means necessary, and if we resign Turpin, I want jet sweeps and Turpin to get the ball and be fast.

A reporter asked him, “What do you want your legacy to be after the Dallas Cowboys?”

Coach Schottenheimer said he wanted to be remembered as a Superbowl winner and a guy who built one of the best cultures in NFL history.

This shows how important culture building will be for Schottenheimer. He puts on emphasis on how teammates interact with each other and helping one another.

He also said, he is a really good with X’s and O’s, but is even better working with people.

One last piece that speaks volumes to the rumor that the players were Pro-Schottenheimer, in attendance for the presser:

Dak, Tolbert, Overshown, Tyler Smith, Caelen Carson, Brock Hoffman, Jalen Brooks, Luke Schoonmaker and Josh Butler.

Why Should We Be Scared?

To the left and right of Schottenheimer were Stephen and Jerry Jones.

Now many reporters asked them questions directly instead of the new head coach sure, but Jerry also gave a 20 minute ‘answer’ to one question. Never actually answering the question…

A simple question, why Schottenheimer? There was never a confident answer to why they chose him to be the HC, if anything Jerry took the time to argue that he is a risk taker.

A narrative that has been passed around the media lately, a justified one, that Jerry no longer takes the big wildcat risk, but Jerry says that hiring Schottenheimer with no HC experience is as big of a risk as you can take.

Which its not, because a bigger risk is hiring an unknown variable, you know Schottenheimer for two years as OC and as mentioned, many years before that since he’s been around the NFL for a long time with his dad.

This is as comfortable of a risk as you can take.

Also I’m sure it feels great to have your new boss talk right next to you about how you are a risky hire.

On the other side of the table, Stephen Jones, who made a joke of the fact that fans think we are in a drought…we haven’t been to a conference championship in 30 years.

The two longest NFC Championship appearances are the Cowboys, 1996 and the Chicago Bears 2010. Look at the difference there…

Though if you want some hope, Stephen did say that Schottenheimer will be helping build the roster, mentioned through the draft AND FREE AGENCY. That’s new.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

Are We Doomed?

Potentially.

But it is only fair to give Schottenheimer a chance, I don’t blame him for accepting this job.

But it comes with a lot of baggage. The guys above Schottenheimer, their goal is to make money for their business. Your job is to win.

I’ll give him a fair shot.

But remember when you get frustrated at the Cowboys, of course they want to use the coach as the shield for blame…remember the root of this.

Coach Schottenheimer said he believes they are good enough to start winning quickly, well that is good because working under the microscope of the Dallas Cowboys…you have no choice but to win now.