February 04, 2023
On the heels of a demoralizing NFC Divisional Round playoff loss to the 49ers, the Cowboys were in need of a new offensive coordinator. On Saturday afternoon, they hired Brian Schottenheimer, son of late NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer. The younger Schottenheimer served as a "coaching analyst" with Dallas in 2022 before this promotion.
For a franchise desperate for a spark entering head coach Mike McCarthy's fourth year in Dallas and with quarterback Dak Prescott in need of some big-time revitalization, this is about as boring and uninspiring of a move possible.
This will be Schottenheimer's fourth offensive coordinator job in the NFL despite little tangible success in the role. Schottenheimer's offense was the downfall of Jets teams with vaunted defenses when he was the offensive coordinator in New York from 2006-2011. In three years with the Rams from 2012-2014, they never produced a top-20 offense by any metric. With Russell Wilson at his peak as a passer from 2018-2020, the Seahawks won just a single playoff game with Scotty as OC in that timeframe. If there was ever a time where it felt over for Schottenheimer as a legit offensive play-caller, that was it, but here comes Jerry Jones to save the day.
Schottenheimer was also Drew Brees' quarterbacks coach from 2002-2005. Brees had a bumpy early career before he went to New Orleans in 2006 at age 26 and became a record-breaking, inner-circle Hall of Famer. Strange! His most recent job before coming to Dallas in 2022 was working as the passing game coordinator for the train wreck that was Urban Meyer's 2021 Jaguars team. Yikes.
If the Cowboys wanted to maximize their aging core, this wasn't the right move. If they wanted to be on the cutting edge as they reboot their program in the hopes of success come 2025 and down the line, this also wasn't the right move. I don't know in what context this was the right move!
Schottenheimer replaces former Dallas offensive coordinator and play-caller Kellen Moore, who is now in Los Angeles with the Chargers and Justin Herbert in the same capacity.
If Eagles fans are online celebrating the hiring of their biggest rival's offensive coordinator, that's not a great sign for the Cowboys.
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