Tag: Brian Schottenheimer

Cowboys will be hard-pressed to play faster than with Kellen Moore

Brian Schottenheimer’s version of fast requires a distinction from what the Cowboys’ offense was under Kellen Moore’s leadership. | From @ReidDHanson

When new Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was asked about the type of offense to expect in Dallas in 2023, he said “I want us to be able to play fast.”

Acknowledging Mike McCarthy will be the play-caller and his job will be to “prepare guys and prepare the staff,” Schottenheimer talked about speed and physicality on offense and how he just wants to stack wins.

His statements fell in line with much of what McCarthy has said throughout the offseason. A big reason McCarthy wanted to take over as play-caller was his focus on the big picture. He wanted to score points but also to help his defense. It was a criticism he had of former OC Kellen Moore and something he aims to fix in 2023.

“I’ve been where Kellen has been,” McCarthy famously said earlier in the offseason. “Kellen wants to light the scoreboard up but I want to run the damn ball so I can rest my defense.”

People have focused on the “run the damn ball” portion of that statement but the part following the word “so” may be the most important takeaway. If resting the defense is what McCarthy aims to do in 2023, then defining what Schottenheimer means by “fast” is important.

Over the last three seasons under Moore, the Cowboys offense has finished in the top-2 in plays per minute. Talk about fast. With a new coordinator coming in, along with a 30-35 percent churn of the playbook, chances are the offense will be slower than what Dallas fans are accustomed to.

So when Schottenheimer says “fast” he likely means the players themselves will be fast, not the way the offense operates. Swapping out Ezekiel Elliott for Deuce Vaughn and Noah Brown for Brandin Cooks certainly helps accomplish that goal.

Under Moore, the Cowboys offense was consistently one of the fastest paced in the NFL. Based on goals and strategies expressed from the head coach and coordinator this offseason, offensive tempo is likely to suffer (by design) in 2023.

When Schottenheimer says “fast” he probably means “slow, but with faster players.”

It’s an important distinction to make.

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CeeDee Lamb one PFF’s best NFL players under 25

CeeDee Lamb was named one of Pro Football Focus’ best players under 25 ahead of the 2023 season.

A legendary Oklahoma Sooner in his own right, CeeDee Lamb has become every bit the star anyone a fan of the Crimson & Cream imagined he would be when he declared for the NFL Draft.

He enters his fourth year in the NFL and has become a star for the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys are trying to regroup from another playoff loss. They haven’t reached the NFC Championship in nearly 30 years.

For Lamb, last year was a major turning point in his NFL career.

Lamb was tasked with becoming the number-one receiver in the Cowboys’ receiving corps after a pre-draft trade sent former No.1 receiver Amari Cooper to the Cleveland Browns. The front office and his coaches put the onus on the Cowboys’ newest No. 88 to live up to the illustrious standards held by receivers who wear that number.

Early on, Lamb struggled with the task and lost his starting quarterback Dak Prescott to a thumb injury on his throwing hand for five games. Lamb had to adjust to backup QB Cooper Rush.

The season rumbled on, Prescott returned, and the duo unlocked a chemistry they hadn’t before.

The result?

Lamb finished 2022 with 107 catches for 1,359 yards and scored nine touchdowns. His 107 catches are the third-most in franchise history, while his 1,359 yards are fifth-most for a single season. Lamb also did this with defenses keyed in on him weekly. The remaining Cowboys receivers were ranked at or near the bottom of the league in separation. Meaning they struggled to get open, allowing opposing defenses to double CeeDee without fear of paying for it elsewhere in the passing attack.

Lamb answered the bell, and now, with a year under his belt as the alpha in the room, he will look to build on that and take his game to another level.

Pro Football Focus believes Lamb is the ninth-best player in the NFL under 25. His teammate and fellow All-Pro, Micah Parsons, is No.1. Trevor Sikkema of PFF also believes Lamb is the third-best wide receiver under 25 behind two former LSU Tigers in Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase.

Lamb has been an immediate impact player for the Cowboys since they drafted him in 2020. He recorded just under 1,000 receiving yards in his rookie years and has eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in each of the past two seasons. His receiving grade has increased rapidly, from 72.6 in 2020 to 84.8 in 2021 and 87.0 in 2022. The only player with more explosive plays of 20 yards or more in the past two years is Justin Jefferson. – Sikkema, PFF

What’s next for CeeDee Lamb? Aside from the pursuit of a Super Bowl, an extension is looming for the talented wide receiver out of Richmond, Texas. The Cowboys picked up his fifth-year option, something only available to first-round picks. He’s coming off a career season in which he was a Pro Bowler and second-team All-Pro and is expected to count $17.99 million against the cap in 2024, assuming Dallas doesn’t get a long-term deal in place before that season. Lamb will count just $4.45 million against the cap in 2023, with a $2.52 million base salary.

Owner Jerry Jones has been a proponent of paying guys drafted by the team. With an ever-increasing salary cap, the Cowboys will pay the money necessary for CeeDee. It’s simply a matter of when.

In the interim, Lamb’s attention will be on 2023. He has a new offensive coordinator in Brian Schottenheimer and now a new play-caller in head coach Mike McCarthy.

As Oklahoma fans have learned, change doesn’t stop CeeDee Lamb. From a different quarterback every year in college to playing with multiple in the NFL, Lamb has delivered.

The 2023 season should be no different.

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Cowboys still have key staff role to fill after Schottenheimer’s OC promotion

Like his predecessor, Schottenheimer turned a 1-year behind-the-scenes job into a plum NFL promotion. Who’s next as consultant in Dallas? | From @ToddBrock24f7

The naming of Brian Schottenheimer as offensive coordinator signals a big change at the top of the Cowboys’ current org chart. Even though he won’t be calling the plays on Sundays, he’ll play a vital role (even if the specifics of that role are not yet obvious to outside observers) in the day-to-day operations of the team at every practice, around the facility, and on game days.

But the 49-year-old’s promotion within the staff leaves a new hole to be filled. And recent history suggests that Cowboys fans should keep a close eye on who is tabbed to move in to that back-of-house office at The Star.

Prior to his hiring as OC, Schottenheimer was listed as an “offensive consultant” for the team, a job he was hired for in March 2022. He replaced Ben McAdoo, who had also held the consultant’s position for just one season.

The role, first created in 2021 by head coach Mike McCarthy for McAdoo (himself a former NFL head coach), has been that of an advance-opponent scout: the person who’s looking ahead to the team that comes after whoever the team currently prepping for. So rather than the staff waiting to crack the books on, say, the Week 10 opponent until after Week 9 goes final (or having to take away from Week 9 prep for a sneak peek), Schottenheimer- and McAdoo before him- has already done that work and gotten a head start for the offensive and defensive coordinators.

The consultant is a pre-game planner who basically lives one week in the future, as compared to the rest of the team.

As the job has evolved over two seasons, a key component has been the presence of the consultant in defensive meetings, “to give the coaches a set of eyes from the offensive side of the ball to consider,” as SI‘s Albert Breer put it this week.

“I’ve talked to Cowboys DC Dan Quinn a couple of times about the job McAdoo and Schottenheimer have done,” Breer wrote, “and he was over the moon in breaking down the benefits having someone in that role has had for him and that defense.”

Sure, there’s the DQ Effect. Or chalk it up to Micah Parsons. But a higher quality of pre-game planning is certainly a factor, too; it’s not pure coincidence that the Cowboys defense has been outstanding ever since the consultant’s role became a thing in Dallas.

The work has also helped the men who have performed that duty. McAdoo left only because he was hired by Carolina to be the Panthers’ offensive coordinator. In his first season at the helm in Charlotte, the team notched two more wins than their 2021 total and finished with an improved leaguewide ranking in: points scored, offensive yards, yards per play, passing yards, rushing yards, and percentage of drives ending in a score.

Now Schottenheimer is an OC again, after one year doing the same consultant’s job.

“I think McAdoo would tell you that the experience allowed him to become a better coordinator when he got the shot to call plays again with the Panthers last year,” Breer notes, “and I think it’ll help Schottenheimer, too.”

In first crafting the position from scratch, McCarthy leaned on his close relationship and long history with McAdoo, who served on his Green Bay staff from 2006 to 2013. (They had also worked together in San Francisco and New Orleans.)

When he hired Schottenheimer, McCarthy continued the trend of bringing aboard staffers with whom he shares a personal connection; Brian’s father Marty Schottenheimer gave McCarthy his first NFL job, McCarthy and Brian were on the elder Schottenheimer’s Kansas City staff together in 1998, and the Cowboys coach still references things that “Marty” said or did in a healthy percentage of his press conferences.

“I am very happy to have Brian take on this key role with our team,” McCarthy said following his promotion, per the team website. “He has been an important part of our staff already and has a great grasp of where we are and where we want to go. Brian also has an exceptionally strong foundation, history and relationships beyond his time here that translate very well into understanding what our approach to operating and executing will be for the future. This will be an exciting and efficient transition for us that I am confident will help yield the growth and results we all want and expect.”

What Schottenheimer does with his new OC role remains to be seen, but how the Cowboys fill the consultant position that they, presumably, have seen the value of after back-to-back 12-win campaigns, will also be fascinating to see.

Though a small sample size, history says it will be someone with NFL cred and an offense-centric mind. Breer suggests ex-Ravens OC Greg Roman, though there is no obvious connection to McCarthy. Veteran assistant Brian Angelichio, the Vikings passing game coordinator who interviewed for the Dallas OC job and spent three years under McCarthy in Green Bay, might also be a name worth monitoring (if he doesn’t get hired for Roman’s former spot in Baltimore).

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What to expect from new Cowboys OC Brian Schottenheimer

Brian Schottenheimer is a safe hire, picked to support and complement Mike McCarthy’s efforts on the Cowboys. But there are misconceptions about what Dallas now has. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys are entering Year 4 of the Mike McCarthy Experience in Dallas, which means it’s essentially put-up or shut-up time for the former Super Bowl winning coach. Gone is Kellen Moore, the inherited offensive coordinator from the previous regime.

In comes Brian Schottenheimer, the well-traveled play-designer, handpicked by McCarthy.  What the hiring lacks in creativity, it makes up for in fit and acquiescence.

Rather than tweaking the current model, McCarthy is expected to build an offense that better resembles his system in Green Bay. Wanting someone he knew and someone he felt confident would support and enhance his efforts, McCarthy hired Schottenheimer, who was most recently working in a supportive role of coaching consultant in 2022.

Working together last season, McCarthy and Schottenheimer likely laid the groundwork for a successful working relationship in 2023. McCarthy knows what to expect from Schottenheimer and Schottenheimer probably knows what will be demanded by McCarthy.

He hired familiar for a reason.

McCarthy will be calling plays for the Cowboys in 2023 and Schottenheimer will be helping with play-design and game-planning. But who really is Schottenheimer and what does he bring to his new role in Dallas?

Cowboys name Brian Schottenheimer offensive coordinator

The Cowboys replace Kellen Moore with Brian Schottenheimer.

The Dallas Cowboys parted ways with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore last week. Now, unlike the Washington Commanders, who fired offensive coordinator Scott Turner two weeks before, the Cowboys have a new offensive coordinator.

On Saturday, the Cowboys officially named Brian Schottenheimer as their new offensive coordinator.

 

While Moore led the Cowboys to a top-10 finish in total offense in three of his four seasons as offensive coordinator, Schottenheimer hasn’t always enjoyed similar results.

The son of legendary former NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer, Brian Schottenheimer spent the 2022 season with Dallas as a consultant.

The 49-year-old Schottenheimer began his coaching career back in 1997 with the St. Louis Rams. In 1998, he spent a year with the Kansas City Chiefs before going to the college ranks as a wide receivers coach with Syracuse. In 2000, he took a job with USC as a tight ends coach.

He returned to the NFL in 2001 with Washington as its quarterbacks coach under his father. However, in one of owner Daniel Snyder’s worst moves — and there have been many — he fired Marty Schottenheimer after only one season as head coach.

Schottenheimer followed his father to the San Diego Chargers as quarterbacks coach for the next four seasons before landing his first offensive coordinator position with the New York Jets in 2006. After six seasons in that role, Schottenheimer was named offensive coordinator for the Rams for three seasons.

In 2015, Schottenheimer again returned to college as Georgia’s offensive coordinator. That lasted one season as head coach Mark Richt was fired, so Schottenheimer came back to the NFL as quarterbacks coach for Andrew Luck and the Colts for two seasons.

In 2018, the Seattle Seahawks hired Schottenheimer as offensive coordinator, where he worked for three seasons. In 2021, he was Urban Meyer’s passing-game coordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Here are some thoughts around the league regarding Schottenheimer’s hiring.

Eagles fans were celebrating the Cowboys’ new hire.

It isn’t known if Schottenheimer or head coach Mike McCarthy will call plays for Dallas in 2023, but both, at least from the outside, seem like a downgrade from Kellen Moore.

The rest of the NFC East appears happy with Schottenheimer’s hiring as we await who Washington will hire as its next offensive coordinator.

 

NFL fans couldn’t believe the Cowboys replaced Kellen Moore with Brian Schottenheimer

Wyd, Dallas?

The Dallas Cowboys continue to make befuddling coaching decisions with their offensive staff this winter.

After strangely firing Kellen Moore and giving head coach Mike McCarthy the play-calling duties, the team has promoted NFL veteran Brian Schottenheimer to Moore’s old job. (Oh, and Jerry Jones apparently wants McCarthy around Dallas as long as Tom Landry!)

It’s a bizarre sequence of events after Moore took head coaching interviews last month and landed the coveted Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator role shortly after parting ways with the Cowboys.

Moore figures to be a head coach eventually in the NFL, while the Cowboys have raised plenty of eyebrows around the football world with this latest coaching decision.

Schottenheimer has worked around the NFL for more than two decades, but he’s not really etched himself down a long-term job with any team.

He last worked as an offensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks from 2018-20 before spending the 2021 season on Urban Meyer’s doomed Jacksonville Jaguars staff as a passing game coordinator. This past season, he worked in Dallas as a coaching analyst.

Let’s just say Schottenheimer’s fourth stint as an offensive coordinator left NFL fans a bit confused at what Jerry Jones and company are going for here.

From Within: Cowboys promote Brian Schottenheimer to offensive coordinator

The Cowboys promotion of Brian Schottenheimer isn’t a flashy hire, but one that could bring much-needed wrinkles in Dallas. | From @CDBurnett7

After the Cowboys parted ways with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, they needed to fill the two roles he held. Head coach Mike McCarthy was given the reins as the play caller in Dallas, but the Cowboys still needed someone manage the actual coordination of the scheme and design the plays for McCarthy to call. They decided to stay in-house for the hire.

Brian Schottenheimer spent the 2022 season on the Dallas staff as a coaching consultant on a team that delivered their first back-to-back playoff seasons since 2007. After multiple interviews from outside, the Cowboys announced Schottenheimer as their new offensive coordinator Saturday.

Schottenheimer began his coaching career in 1997 as an assistant for the Rams, but bounced around the ranks with his most notable years as offensive coordinator for the Seahawks from 2018 through 2020.

McCarthy issued a statement on his new offensive partner.

While Schottenheimer isn’t the flashy hire that many were hoping for, it was the obvious one. The Joneses have been known to stay in-house and this is no surprise. That said, there’s a lot of detail that he can bring to the offense, as noted by PFF’s John Owning.

Unfortunately, Schottenheimer’s offenses were often criticized due to their predictability on account of a lack of creativity as a play caller — those aren’t the kind of critiques that will inspire Cowboys fans after the team jettisoned a boy wonder for this retread candidate. Luckily for Dallas, the predictability of Schottnehimer’s play-calling shouldn’t be an issue because McCarthy will be calling plays. That could allow Schottenheimer to focus on what he does best: designing an offense that intertwines the running, play-action passing and dropback passing games at a high level.

Cowboys fans will be happy to hear that hiring Schottenheimer would likely mean a move away from the hitch/curl routes that were so frequently leaned on during Moore’s tenure as offensive coordinator. The Cowboys targeted hitch routes the fourth most in the NFL; however, Schottenheimer appears to favor routes where his receivers are on the move rather than a stationary target, as his offenses are littered with drive, shallow-cross, spear and “China” passing game concepts — none of which have a stop, curl or hitch route baked into the basic play.

If Schottenheimer can focus on his strengths while McCarthy improves as a play caller, Dallas hopes to find success in this change of scenery as they look to finally get over the hump and reach a conference championship next year.

Report: Cowboys DC Dan Quinn already being eyed in Denver as Broncos fire HC Nathaniel Hackett

Quinn was a finalist for the Denver job in January; his familiarity with QB Russell Wilson could make him a top candidate once again. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Just a day after Christmas, some NFL clubs are already putting together wish lists for next year. And just like this time 12 months ago, Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn figures to be one of the hottest must-haves for teams making a change at head coach.

One of last season’s suitors may already getting back in line.

The Denver Broncos fired Nathaniel Hackett on Monday after just 15 games with the organization. And several reports are already naming Quinn as a potential top candidate.

Quinn interviewed with the Broncos after the team fired Vic Fangio in January. The 2021 NFL Assistant Coach of the Year was reportedly among three finalists for the job and was said to be a favorite of general manager George Paton. Paton will remain in place next season, as per a statement issued by Broncos CEO and co-owner Greg Penner.

Josina Anderson tweeted Monday that Quinn is among the names being discussed internally for the 2023 job.

Paton and Quinn already have history; they were on staff together in Miami in 2005 and 2006, and Quinn reportedly had a “strong interest” in joining forces with Paton in 2015 when Paton was a GM possibility for either the Jets or Bears. Paton ultimately did not pursue either position, and Quinn accepted the head job in Atlanta, where he went on take the Falcons to a Super Bowl.

The Broncos’ statement specifies that Penner will lead this head coaching search “with support” from the ownership group and Paton.

It’s thought that Denver will look for a candidate who can turn things around with quarterback Russell Wilson; Quinn was a defensive coach with Seattle during Wilson’s time there in 2013 and 2014. The two went to back-to-back Super Bowls with the Seahawks in those seasons and won rings for Super Bowl XLVIII.

Anderson went on to suggest that Quinn might also bring Brian Schottenheimer- currently a Cowboys consultant- with him to Denver were he to be hired by the Broncos. Schottenheimer was offensive coordinator in Seattle from 2018 through 2020 and helped guide Wilson to career numbers for the majority of their time together.

Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore also interviewed with Denver last year, but did not make the first cut of candidates.

A popular interview with several teams this past cycle even as Mike McCarthy was supposedly on the hot seat, Quinn reached out to McCarthy asking if his staying in Dallas would make the work environment worse for both men.

Quinn announced that he would stay on as DC in Dallas just hours after Hackett was announced as the Denver hire on Jan. 27.

Quinn is a vocal proponent of the notion of “being where his feet are,” but he’s also made it clear that he’d like a second crack at being an NFL head coach.

So now with the Broncos position open once again less than 12 months later, Cowboys fans may have to worry about the Mile High City finally luring away the man who’s put the Dallas defense into rarefied air.

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Russell Wilson ‘pushed hard’ for Seahawks to move on from former OC

The more we learn about the split between the Seattle Seahawks and former franchise quarterback Russell Wilson, the uglier it gets.

The more we learn about the split between the Seattle Seahawks and former franchise quarterback Russell Wilson, the uglier it gets. After the trade that sent him to the Denver Broncos, Wilson and the front office shared conflicting stories about the nature of their divorce. At least publicly Wilson had maintained that he wanted to stay in Seattle all along, while head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider claim he didn’t want to sign another contract with their organization.

Now we’re learning of more friction behind the scenes between Wilson and one of his former coaches. According to Corbin Smith at Sports Illustrated, Wilson “pushed hard” for the Seahawks to move on from former offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer after the 2020 season.

“In fact, per a team source, while they didn’t hold ill will towards one another and maintained respect for each other, the perennial Pro Bowl quarterback and his representatives “pushed hard” for a coordinator change behind the scenes after a disappointing finish to the 2020 season. ‘Don’t let his comments mask his real thoughts,” the source remarked. “He had grown tired of Schotty from a play calling perspective and wanted something fresh. As much as he benefited from his coaching, he didn’t think the two could co-exist anymore in a football marriage.'”

This seems a bit strange considering that Wilson played the best football of his career while Schottenheimer was making the calls from 2018-2020. While the passing offense struggled in the second half of the 2020 season, Wilson had been performing at an MVP level up until around Week 9. The team did a poor job of adjusting to more two-high safety looks after that, but dismissing Schottenheimer always seemed like an extreme move and frankly the wrong one considering his success the previous two and a half years.

Wilson is unquestionably by far the best quarterback in franchise history, but he comes off as duplicitous. We’re willing to bet we’ll be hearing more than a few negative stories about his time with the team in the years to come.

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Dallas Cowboys hire former Georgia OC Brian Schottenheimer

Former Georgia Bulldogs offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has taken a job with the Dallas Cowboys.

Former Georgia Bulldogs offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has taken a job with the Dallas Cowboys. Schottenheimer previously worked as offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks and the passing game coordinator for Jacksonville Jaguars.

Schottenheimer worked with No. 1 2021 NFL draft pick Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville during the tumultuous Urban Meyer era. He will look for more stability in Dallas.

Schottenheimer will work with Cowboys’ defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who was previously the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, and Cowboys’ offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. His role will be to study the NFL’s trends and how the league game plans.

Jacksonville Jaguars passing game coordinator Brian Schottenheimer walks down the sideline. Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The former Georgia offensive coordinator (2015) has bounced around the NFL in several different roles as either offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach before coming to Jacksonville for the 2021 season. Schottenheimer played football at the University of Florida in college.

Albert Breer reported the hiring:

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