Dallas Cowboys: The 2 most important coaching positions and their impact
By Dink Kearney
Dallas Cowboys Offensive coordinator: Brian Schottenheimer
I hope Brian Schottenheimer has camped out with Dak so much that the two are bunk buddies and are waiting for the new release of the next Spiderman movie because that was the type of relationship Dak had with Moore.
That might be hyperbole but Dak has been close to Moore since his rookie season. Moore was Dak’s friend, quarterbacks coach, and offensive coordinator. That is a trustworthy bond that won three NFC East titles together, witnessed Dak win 61 games against 36 losses, go 2-4 in the playoffs (send Tom Brady into retirement), and earn Dak a luxury contract.
As my late Grandma used to say, “baby those two friends are tighter than a Dixie hat band”.
Schottenheimer has been an offensive coordinator with three different teams-the New York Jets (06-11), Los Angeles Rams (12-14), and the Seattle Seahawks (18-20). Schottenheimer best years were with the Seahawks where the offense ranked in the top-10 in scoring points, ninth in EPA per play -0.023- and 16th in successful play rate.
This is good news for a Dallas Cowboys offense that wants to run the ball more and score points in bunches. Schottenheimer is committed to the run and play-action pass that will only benefit Dak and create an efficient offense. With the Seahawks, Schottenhimer’s offense ranked a respectable sixth in the run play rate at 42 percent and eighth in the play-action rate of 28.4 percent.
Under Schottenheimer, the Seahawks ran the ball 51.5 percent on first downs compared to the Dallas Cowboys running it 57 percent last season. It’s okay to run the ball on first down but its how/when you run it. Meaning Schottenheimer more than likely will employ the inside zone as the major run construct instead of the outside zone scheme Dallas’ offense heavily relied on.
This bodes well for the explosive Tony Pollard, who averaged a whopping 5.2 yards per carry in the backup role. And Schottenheimer’s Seahawks offense ranked in the top-5 in the inside zone rate of 41.1 percent; in comparison, Dallas ranked 19th at 20 percent. Wow!
Combine the West Coast offense to the equation, and the Dallas Cowboys offense should flourish with Pollard being the lead back that split his carries. But Schottenheimer’s run concept featuring play-action pass is what Dak needs to overcome his uncharacteristically high interception rate from last season. Although half of his 15 interceptions were deemed not his fault.
Moore had his flaws as an offensive coordinator but we cannot deny his offenses were high scoring and he interviewed for head coaching jobs in his last two seasons-earning the title “Boy Wonder”. Schottenheirmer has been handed the a high scoring offense that got better with key additions. So, he has no excuses not to make this offense better than last season’s version.
Which leads to the main man running the show…