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Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer joined Shan, RJ, and Bobby ahead of their game against the Colts. Schotty discussed honoring Marshawn Kneeland, offensive line adjustments, trusting the defense, and more.
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00:00Brian Schottenheimer joining us to talk about it now.
00:02Good morning, Coach. How are you?
00:03Morning, guys. How are we doing?
00:04Doing pretty well. Thank you for asking.
00:07Obviously, Marshawn Nealon is a humongous factor this week,
00:11the one-year anniversary.
00:13Just kind of talk about, Coach, wherever you want to go with Marshawn
00:17and the initiatives that you guys have set up in honor of him.
00:22Yeah, you know, a tough day being the one-year anniversary that we lost Marshawn.
00:28I can't talk enough about just his smile, the way he would light up a room,
00:34we would walk into the room, and the way he played the game, guys,
00:37was just really incredible, his motor.
00:40But very, very proud of our team, our organization,
00:43some of the things that we've done.
00:45You know, we're starting a program really under the direction of Dr. Heather Trudell
00:50called the Huddle 94 program.
00:52It's a program that basically is going to be led with our players
00:57in terms of roundtable discussions, talking, sharing their thoughts and feelings.
01:01And it kind of came out of some of the pain that was felt last year
01:06after we lost Marshawn.
01:08So we've also done some really great things for his high school,
01:12looking after Catalina as well and their child.
01:16But I can promise you this, miss Marshawn every day.
01:19And, you know, he's still a huge part of what we're about.
01:23Coach, today, I'm curious, do you guys still have those sort of conversations
01:28about him over the course of the last year?
01:30Do those things ever come up of, you know, people who just want to discuss it
01:34or discuss what happened?
01:35Or is it even helpful sometimes to look at it in the sense of perspective
01:40and saying what actually matters or what's important whenever there are other things
01:44that you guys are frustrated about that are going on?
01:46Well, again, I think, you know, number one, the answer is yes.
01:49I mean, you never, you know, you never stop talking about the people that you love
01:54and care about.
01:54And, you know, even after losing Marshawn, you know, we talk about him quite a bit.
01:59And then certainly as you got closer to the anniversary, it became more and more important.
02:04Like I said, this Huddle 94 discussion started happening, you know, last year around this time.
02:10And the fact that we're going to be able to roll it out here and get it started is big.
02:14But, you know, Marshawn is around the facility all the time in terms of the things that we have
02:20to honor him.
02:21It's kind of in the player-led areas, if you will.
02:25But I know I go into one of those areas at times and just sit and literally talk to him.
02:32How far, Coach, have these discussions and openness come today versus 20, 25 years ago
02:39when you first started with just openness and honesty and programs like this for players
02:46to be able to share things versus this rough and gruff gladiator sport that we didn't discuss
02:5215, 20, 25 years ago?
02:54Yeah, it's incredible.
02:56You know, shoot, when I first broke into the league a long time ago, these things were never
03:01talked about.
03:02You know, you didn't talk about how your body felt or where your mind and your heart
03:08and your spirit was at.
03:10I think that, you know, the league and the teams and really the PA and owners and everybody
03:16have made it to where, you know, this is the stuff that matters.
03:20And, you know, we all go through things that are hard and difficult.
03:23We all have good days and bad days.
03:24But I do think that, collectively, the National Football League is in a much different spot
03:32than it was certainly when I came in.
03:33And, you know, you never want to lose these incredible young men.
03:38And there's been, unfortunately, this has been going on for a long time.
03:42But, unfortunately, we're all having those discussions now.
03:45And hopefully that makes it better.
03:47Brian Schottenheimer here on 105.3 The Fan.
03:50Over to football, Coach.
03:51Coach, offensive line, maybe game of the year run-wise against Philadelphia.
03:56Then last week against Arizona, it seemed to completely flip with a 180.
04:01How do you know what offensive line you're going to get this week and week to week with
04:07all this talent up front?
04:09Yeah, again, you know, you guys hit the nail on the head.
04:11It wasn't good enough against Arizona.
04:13I think, you know, I've given Arizona plenty of credit.
04:16But we're better than that.
04:18We know that.
04:18And what I do know, guys, with that group of men, there's a lot of pride in that room.
04:23I think we saw that on Monday night against Philadelphia.
04:27But, again, really, you know, starting with, you know, Tyler Smith, Cooper Beebe, Tyler Booker,
04:32those three inside guys.
04:33I mean, we expect them to be dominant each and every week.
04:36And, you know, we weren't to the standard against Arizona.
04:40And then, you know, I've talked a lot about, you know, Tyler Guyton, you know,
04:44how good he's played all year long.
04:46But, overall, we weren't good enough.
04:48And that starts with us as coaches.
04:51Was that commitment to the run what we can expect to see moving forward the way they ran,
04:56the way you ran, not the way you ran the ball, but the amount of times?
04:59And, like, when during the game do you decide, all right, we just can't do it today.
05:03We've got to abandon this.
05:04Yeah, again, I think, you know, I'll always say this.
05:07The complementary football aspect of the National Football League in general,
05:11but really our team is where we want to live.
05:13And that was one of those games where, you know, I'll be honest with you,
05:17you come out of the game, you're like, man, you know, 2.2 yards per carry.
05:20You know, that's not very good.
05:22But, again, that was one of those games that we felt really strongly that, you know,
05:26we would crack the hole.
05:29You know, we would get a big run.
05:31You know, you're running for two and three and then one.
05:33And then, you know, you just keep, you know, taking shots at the rock.
05:37It's going to split at some point.
05:38And, unfortunately, we didn't get to split.
05:41Coach, you know, Dak Prescott gave a quote after the Philly game to Jory Epstein at Yahoo.
05:47And he had said that, talking about the run improvements and staying committed to the run.
05:51And he said, it's important and you can stick to it even when runs are inefficient.
05:55Can you talk about the philosophy or the thought process behind the idea of just,
06:00even when a play is inefficient, staying committed to it is something that,
06:04at times, we may want to do?
06:06Yeah, again, I think, you know, when you say committed to the run,
06:10I think what you see is you see us having to try to, on the staff part, make adjustments.
06:17And maybe, for example, there's, you know, lots of different run types.
06:20There's inside zones.
06:21There's outside zones.
06:22There's misdirection plays.
06:25It's, you know, staying committed to it and then also looking for, okay,
06:29well, this play type's not working, so let's go to this play type.
06:32And that's what we work really, really diligently on.
06:35But, again, like I said, the complementary football aspect and balance in this league
06:41is really, really important.
06:42And that's where we've always kind of been at our best going back to last year,
06:45going back to, you know, some of our greatest success.
06:49So it's figuring out the best way to not just stick with the run, but, okay,
06:54we're going to stick with the run, but what runs give us the best chance to,
06:58like I said, find a crease in the seam that goes for a big play.
07:01Brian Schottenheimer here on Sean and RJ 105.3 The Fan.
07:04We talked to you last week about Jerry telling us right now our offense needs
07:08to be our best defense.
07:09And one of the loudest criticisms has been in the second half the Cowboys aren't
07:15getting that end-the-game touchdown and that the offense and Brian Schottenheimer
07:22are not going for the kill as if they have a better defense on the other side
07:26to protect that lead.
07:27Why do you disagree with that?
07:30Well, again, number one, you are kind of what you've done.
07:32And, again, I'm very disappointed that we collectively as an offense,
07:36starts with me as the play caller, weren't able to, you know, end that game.
07:41But, again, you know, I can promise you this, you know, every game we go into,
07:44you know, when we have a chance late, that is the goal and the objective.
07:48I'm, you know, the first one to tell you that when we get the ball in four minutes,
07:52we should put that game away.
07:53And then when we get the ball in overtime, we shouldn't go three and out.
07:56So, again, that is not something that we shy away from.
08:03And so we've looked at a couple different things this week.
08:06And, you know, we've talked through some stuff as a staff.
08:08And, again, we know we need to be better.
08:10Shottie, is that something that goes through your head when you're making an evaluation
08:14of a play call late?
08:16Or is that the discussion sometimes in your head,
08:18do I trust my defense right now enough to not go for this play
08:21or not go for this kill shot?
08:23No, I think at the end of the day, I mean, you're just feeling the game.
08:26You know what I mean?
08:26You're going through and you're feeling the game.
08:28But you're really looking at your play sheet and saying,
08:29okay, what gives me the best chance to go score?
08:32You know, that's ultimately at the end of the day.
08:34You know, we feel like we can score with anybody in the league.
08:36And, you know, that's the biggest thing you're thinking about.
08:39Okay, hey, what plays get my players involved?
08:43What plays gives us the best chance to execute
08:46and go do the things we need to do to score touchdowns?
08:48You know, we just kicked too many field goals in the second half against Arizona.
08:52Brian Schottenheimer, joining us here on 105.3 The Fan.
08:55When do you decide in a game, let's just take the Arizona game, for example.
08:59You get the ball, it's like 10 minutes to go, you're up seven.
09:01And it was a long drive.
09:02It was like a six, seven-minute drive.
09:04When do you decide it's time to start milking clock?
09:08Like, how does it take us through that process?
09:11Yeah, usually it comes in the fourth quarter.
09:13Usually it comes in that area where you say,
09:15okay, there's X amount of time left, we've got a one-score game,
09:18we've got a two-score game, we've got all that stuff.
09:21And there's terms that, you know, Dak and I use together to know,
09:25not milk the clock or anything like that,
09:26but to eat a little bit of clock and not get out of the huddle quite as quick
09:30and things like that.
09:31But usually it's with, you know, a two-score lead with a certain amount of time left,
09:37and then with a one-score lead different than four-minute,
09:41there's times where you want to just kind of say, okay,
09:42hey, let's milk the clock here a little bit and, you know, shorten the game,
09:46if you will.
09:47Shotty, you know, with the offense not performing up to what it had been
09:51at times last year at this point,
09:53have you noticed that teams are playing you schematically
09:57significantly different this year?
09:59Like, do you think they looked at anything over the offseason
10:01or things they learned from you guys last year
10:04that they're trying to counter you with some stuff,
10:06and now you guys are having to figure out how to crack that?
10:08No, I mean, I do think, you know, we've talked, you know,
10:10a couple weeks back about, you know,
10:11the blitzes and stuff that we've seen.
10:13I think that's probably the biggest thing that I would say.
10:16You know, we usually get, you know,
10:18a higher percentage of blitz than what they've shown going into a game.
10:22You know, this week we think is no different.
10:25Luana Ramo is a, you know, veteran NFL, you know,
10:28longtime defensive coordinator, and he's got a lot of blitz packages.
10:31But probably the biggest thing is just the amount of pressure that we've seen.
10:34And the biggest thing I would say is we have just not, you know,
10:38we've not gashed the blitz yet.
10:39And that's what, you know, is what stops that.
10:43Brian Schottenheimer here on 105.3 The Fan.
10:45We all know that Brandon Aubrey has been a cheat code.
10:48It has not felt like the 60-yarders have been as automatic.
10:52Are you reconsidering, you know, end-of-half scenarios like last week
10:57where you're like, all right, let's try to get this to 54, 55 versus 60, 61
11:03and settling for that long of an attempt?
11:05Yeah, we're always trying to get closer.
11:07The end-of-half situation, you know, we had a play on that we felt like
11:12whatever they did we were going to have the right play on
11:15and, you know, would have loved to get a few more yards there.
11:19But, again, we have great confidence in Brandon.
11:21And, you know, he just kind of mis-kicked that one, and that happened.
11:23But, believe me, we're always trying to get closer than the 60-yard field goals
11:27or longer.
11:28We're always trying to get them in because it's like anything.
11:30The percentages go, what, way up when you're closer.
11:33So when you run there versus pass, and I think you had a timeout,
11:38you have confidence that that's going to be significant yardage gain
11:42versus a pass attempt versus a two- or three-yard,
11:46I think it was a three- or four-yard pickup while running it?
11:50Yeah, again, sometimes it's based, guys, on what the defense is in.
11:53You know, we've got different packages or plays that you put together.
11:56If they do this, we'll do that.
11:58If they do this, we'll do that.
11:59And so usually they're called premier looks,
12:01and we have to maximize and get the most out of those premier looks.
12:06Shoddy, fans always want blood.
12:08Tail's old as time.
12:09They want players kicked off the field in practices and games,
12:12take their helmet.
12:14When it comes to penalties, we've heard coaches say,
12:17I don't coach penalties.
12:19In today's league, how do you coach penalties?
12:22Do you punish penalties?
12:24How does that work?
12:25Yeah, well, again, first of all, we talk a ton about penalties.
12:28I mean, but I think it's really important that you talk about
12:30there's two types of penalties.
12:32I think we've talked about this before on the show.
12:33You know, there's the pre-snap penalties, really, that can't happen.
12:37We know that.
12:37You know, you can't jump off sides.
12:39We're jumping off sides way too much on defense.
12:41We know that.
12:41You know, talked with Quinton about that.
12:43He understands that.
12:44He's the first to tell you, hey, I have to be better.
12:47And then, you know, it's those that we have to clean up.
12:50And then, of course, it's the unforced ones late.
12:52Like, you know, RG's just got to be better.
12:55He's got to lower his target on the roughing the passer penalty.
12:58But we definitely point them out.
12:59We definitely coach them.
13:00And our guys are very receptive to the things that we're saying.
13:04And there are penalties in practice that, you know, we remove guys
13:08and you take them out and things like that just because the unfortunate part
13:13is the penalties hurt, you know, the entire team.
13:14Brian Schottenheimer here on The Fan.
13:16Coach, still an early working relationship as a head coach with Jerry and Stephen.
13:21How have they been throughout the past few weeks when obviously the heat
13:25is getting turned up?
13:27How have your interactions changed or been with Jerry and Stephen?
13:31Yeah, guys, they've been exactly the same.
13:33I mean, you know, the one thing I pride ourselves on, I know they do too,
13:36is, you know, we communicate all the time.
13:38I mean, we talk about the things we're doing well,
13:40the things we need to clean up.
13:41But, and again, I really, I just, I respect them so much for our ability
13:46to have those real candid conversations because that's how you find solutions.
13:50You get in a room and you talk and whether it's our Monday meetings,
13:53our Friday meetings, game day, but all the different conversations
13:56that we have throughout the course of the week, you know,
13:58we're all in this thing together and we're all working very,
14:01very hard to get it fixed.
14:03Coach, yesterday on the injury report, Joey Porter went from full to limited.
14:08DeMarvin Overshown popped up as limited on the practice report.
14:11Downs and lock trended up and were, you know, from DNP to limited.
14:15Where do you stand with those guys right now,
14:17their injuries as you're heading into Sunday?
14:19Yeah, so, you know, Caleb and PJ both have to, you know,
14:22they're progressing well.
14:24They both have to practice today and that's the last thing that they have to do.
14:27So, you know, D-Mo, we need to get him out there today, see how he does.
14:32D-Winter's had a great day yesterday.
14:34I think we hope to get Ferg back on the field some today.
14:37And then with Joey and GP, it's the same thing, kind of as last week.
14:41They'll be a little bit limited, but we're hopeful that they're able to play.
14:46Do you have a – hopeful for GP as well – do you have the conversation of
14:49if you can't play the whole game, it's better off just not playing
14:54when it comes to Porter versus having to stand on the sideline
14:58for the fourth quarter in crunch time?
15:00Is that where you guys are?
15:01Do you have to say, can you do the whole thing
15:04or let's give you an extra week to recover?
15:06Yeah, again, it's game plan specific in terms of, okay,
15:10what's the roster numbers look like?
15:11Again, there's a puzzle that you try to fit together, right?
15:14Like, if you've got a guy at any position that might be a little bit limited,
15:18he's a really good player, he feels good going into the game,
15:20but you're not sure.
15:22We'll see a lot today.
15:23Today's a big day for us, Friday, because you want to see these guys move around,
15:27see how they feel, but there's ways of protecting yourself
15:29by carrying an extra safety, an extra offensive lineman based off the roster,
15:36and so that's kind of the way we look at it.
15:38Coach, are you expecting Indy to throw a lot of Jonathan Taylor at you this week
15:42as they've obviously had a lot of struggles and are kind of in a renovation period,
15:47it looks like, for their roster, but they've still got Jonathan Taylor.
15:49Do you think that's going to be a big focus for what you expect them to throw at you?
15:53Absolutely.
15:54I think that should be their starting point, just because he's such an elite player
15:58and you guys have seen him play, and he's a great example of you can hold this guy
16:03to two yards a carry for 8, 10, 12 carries, and then if he gets a crease,
16:08he's got that electric home run speed.
16:10So I definitely think we'll get a bunch of that.
16:12And then again, they're really good with their quick rhythm passing game,
16:15and Daniel Jones gets through his progression quick, and the tight end's a really good player,
16:20but I think this thing will get run through JT for sure.
16:23What do you think about Caleb's brother there on the other side, Josh Downs?
16:27I love Josh.
16:29I was actually at his pro day coming out of North Carolina a couple years ago.
16:32It was the first time I actually met Caleb's dad,
16:35and he's a dynamic receiver that's got big play potential
16:40and certainly one of the favorite targets of Daniel Jones.
16:44Shadi, last one.
16:45We've talked a little bit how unique it is that Carly Ursae has the headset on on the sideline.
16:52Do you think that would be unnerving as a head coach to have the owner listening in?
16:55Would that be a deal breaker for you, like if you were interviewing for a job?
17:00Well, again, I think it's definitely unique, but to me, everything runs through ownership.
17:05I mean, if they want to listen to calls and wear a headset, I don't have a problem with it.
17:09But, again, I think the biggest thing you look at is you're able to get a lot of things done
17:13throughout the course of the week, and that's what we pride ourselves on here
17:16is having those weekly conversations in person, on the phone,
17:20where we're just talking about different things.
17:22But I was in Indianapolis, and Carly's trying to learn and grow,
17:27and I think she'll do a great job.
17:29Thank you for the time, Coach.
17:30We appreciate it.
17:31Good luck on Sunday.
17:32Thanks, guys.
17:33Appreciate you.