At the behest of many surrounding the Dallas Cowboys, the team hired their offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer, as their next head coach. Dallas didn’t cast a wide net with their search, and although they were linked to some high-profile names like Deion Sanders, but those talks weren’t as serious as the ones they had with Schottenheimer, who ultimately got the job.
In the press conference introducing him as head coach, the Cowboys also clarified why they felt Schottenheimer was the right person for the job, prizing some continuity in working with Dak Prescott. The relationship with Prescott is at the core of the decision. In the last few days, multiple reports have stated how good of a relationship Prescott has with his new coach, and some could interpret the hire as a pacification of Prescott, who looks to return from a season-ending hamstring injury last season.
When you examine the hire further, the Cowboys are comfortable with tasking Schottenheimer as the leader of their team and extracting the best from Prescott, which is good. Yet, regardless of whatever words the front office uses to sell the hire as some groundbreaking decision, all of this feels feels like dejá vu. On the other hand, suppose the Cowboys front office has seen enough from Schottenheimer to authentically believe he is the caliber of all the other coaches they passed on to hire him.
Let’s assume the 2023 All-Pro version of Prescott is something Jerry and Stephen Jones believe Schottenheimer can coax out of Prescott more consistently. If so, then there’s hope for this hire. However, unless the Joneses do things differently to support their quarterback and first-time head coach, this will blow up in their face. Here’s what needs to change to ensure Prescott and Schottenheimer succeed going into next season.
For starters, Dallas needs to take free agency seriously. This has been a hot-button issue for what feels like the last ten years, and annually, we remember that the last free agent the team spent a sizable contract on was Brandon Carr in 2012. You cannot expect to compete with the elites in the NFL without supplying your team with the best available talent on the market.
In the press conference, Stephen Jones was asked if he had noticed the approach of the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency and how they parlayed that into a Super Bowl appearance. He did acknowledge it but also backslid the Kansas City Chiefs into the conversation to compliment them on how they built through the draft, as if to liken his team to a team on the verge of a three-peat and defend his way of doing business. That’s not acceptable. Dallas has to provide Schottenheimer with more so that he can find early success instead of throwing spare parts at a restoration project the Cowboys’ stingy ways have created. The aversion to paying top-dollar to address holes on the roster has to change in hopes of a quick turnaround.
The Cowboys also need to let Schottenheimer have the keys to the castle and let him do it his way. For the team to take on his personality, principles, and ideas, he needs to be allowed to adapt his philosophies. Schottenheimer stated that the system has to fit his players and what they do well. With that said, there shouldn’t be any interference from the front office in how he wants to tailor his offense around the talent he has to work with.
Schottenheimer stated that he wanted to incorporate more pre-snap motion into the offense, something that the Cowboys did early last season and then just stopped doing as the year went on, whether it be from personnel changes or external interference. Here’s how bad it got last year:
Four games into the season, we have seen enormous regression from the Dallas Cowboys offense in terms of motion usage
We are about to compare four games from one season against 17 (talking regular seasons here) of another. The data sets are very different in terms of size. But the fact of the matter is that this year’s Dallas Cowboys have only played in four games, and that is all we use.
While four games is not 17, it is enough to draw some legitimate opinions. Looking back before we do sideways for a second, here is where the Dallas Cowboys ranked across the rest of the league last season in terms of motion usage by quarter (shout out to Tom Downey who inspired this whole exercise with his tweet on Thursday).
Dallas Cowboys Motion Usage By Quarter, 2023
Q1: 7th
Q2: 18th
Q3: 15th
Q4: 14th
This kind of lines up with what we remember from last year’s team. They did a great job of getting involved on offense early, built up leads and then coasted a little bit (not all of the time) while the defense went to work across the second half of games.
Before we get to this year, let’s break this down by average amount of motion plays per quarter. Keep in mind that games vary significantly and that sometimes you don’t touch the ball a ton in a certain quarter. Consider that Dallas held the ball for under 25 minutes total last week against the New York Giants as an example of how volatile this can be. Nevertheless, here are those averages.
Average Dallas Cowboys Motion Plays Per Quarter, 2023
Q1: 10.6
Q2: 9.1
Q3: 8.3
Q4: 8.8
The decimals make it weird so round up or down, however you’d like and depending on what kind of mood you are in. The overall point of this discussion and exercise is not to look at the variance by quarter across last season but rather against what the team is doing through four games this year.
Letting Schottenheimer run his offense unimpeded would be the best thing for him. Moreover, at that point, Dallas must also permit Schottenheimer to make his mistakes early on. As a first-time head coach, there will be growing pains, and he will have to adjust to wearing so many hats on game day as the head coach and the play-caller.
Think back to Jason Garrett as head coach. Garrett had to learn how to navigate the nuances of occupying both roles for the Cowboys; it will be similar for Schottenheimer. Still, the team cannot curtail Schottenheimer’s growth by doing something drastic like taking play-calling away from Schottenheimer if he initially struggles in the area as a new head coach. Jerry Jones made it very clear that that’s why Schottenheimer was named the coach. Yet, we also know how mercurial Jones can be. If Schottenheimer struggles, let him figure it out, and he’ll be a stronger leader later because of it.
From a roster perspective, spend premium resources on a running back. Although Rico Dowdle had a breakthrough season with over 1,000 yards, the team can also improve the position alongside him or behind him on the depth chart. Schottenheimer also discussed the importance of rushing attack and was proud to mention that his teams lead the league in rushing twice with him as the offensive coordinator.
For him to do that again, this time as a head coach, the talent needs to be upgraded at the position. The Ezekiel Elliott experiment was a failure and held back the progress of Dowdle for far too long. Dallas needs to look at running backs available in free agency, like J.K. Dobbins or Javonte Williams. Plus, Dallas could also look to the elite running back talents in the draft, such as Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty. Establishing a talented runner will alleviate pressure from Schottenheimer as a play-caller and also Prescott (and CeeDee Lamb) from having to carry the offense as much as he has to.
Finally, Schottenheimer should be allowed to build his own coaching staff. Dallas should entrust Schottenheimer to surround himself with people he trusts and understands to guide the team he wants to mold. He shouldn’t be saddled with coaches the front office forces on him, as we can speculate a rumor of Jason Witten joining the coaching staff would likely not have come from Schottenheimer but from the front office. Schottenheimer has 29 years of coaching experience, he understands what a respectable staff looks like.
