Cowboys Fans Should LOVE This Change Brian Schottenheimer Made To The Cowboys Offense To Help Dak

Cowboys Fans Should LOVE This Change Brian Schottenheimer Made To The Cowboys Offense To Help Dak

[Music] Welcome back into the Cowboys report. On today’s show, I want to do more of a deep dive into one particular element of the Cowboys offense that has been upgraded from what it was last year and how it is helping the Cowboys look like a much more competent offense under Brian Shottimer. In particular, it is the playaction game that has drastically improved for the Dallas Cowboys. Several reasons for that. We will break it down. But last year, I complained about this last year and it felt like the Cowboys struggled with what they were trying to do on play action. It felt like it was one of two plays. It was that little waggle, the play action roll out. Check it down to Ferguson. Or a first forced vertical deep shot to, you know, Tolbert or Turpin that was always covered. It always felt like defenses knew what was coming and they were they were prepared for it. I don’t think it was a good designed uh play action game because it didn’t really match they were doing in the ground game. They weren’t married together properly. Now, at the same time, personnel matters. Getting pickins on this team helps you there. Game scripts certainly matter. Play action doesn’t really do anything for you. If you’re down by 20 in the third or fourth quarter, okay, run the ball for six yards. That’s fine. You’re taking away the big explosive play. So, it game scripts do matter. And the Cowboys have been in a much more favorable game script this past season. Their run game is also better. The threat of the run game is also better this year. We broke this down in depth and kind of teased this video at the end of the uh run games fixing which is led by Javvante Williams and Clayton Adams. It’s all interconnected. So, if you have not checked out the in-depth breakdown on how the different designed run game stuff is helping out the Cowboys significantly, go check it out. It’s on the channel. Make sure you are subscribed. YouTube.com/cowboystv. Let’s just first look at what the Cowboys playaction game is doing this year. And it is clicking. So Dak leads, this is all per NFL’s NextGen stats, by the way. Dak leads the NFL in completions with 46. He is second in attempts. He is second in completion percentage. He is second in completion percentage over expectations. So based on down and distance, everything there. Third in yards, tied for first in touchdowns. Has yet to throw a pick this year. Uh eighth in yards per attempt. He is fourth in total EP. That’s expected points added. So just a a comprehensive stat of like is this working yes or no essentially and EPA per play he is seventh the Cowboys play action offense has been clicking this year to put that plus 19.8 number in perspective Dak Prescott this year total EPA a EPA play is plus 19.8 8 points. The previous three years combined, he was at plus 8.9. It has doubled this year compared to the three previous three years combined. The playaction game is way better right now for the Dallas Cowboys. And there’s a lot of different reasons for that. We’ll dive into them on today’s show. So, are you happy with Brian Shottimer as the Cowboys play caller? Overall, I’ve been pretty pleased with it. Let me know in the comments section of today’s show. Why for yes and for no? I think the single biggest thing the Cowboys have done this year to make their playaction game look better is they’ve married their pass game and their run game. And as a result, in part, there’s a lot of other, you know, pieces involved here. They they’re getting better play results. And what I mean by marrying the run game and play action game is you have to make it look at least somewhat similar. If you’re only going to run the ball under center, okay, well then it’s a run play. If you’re not going to do play action out of shotgun, play action out of under center. If you’re not going to have a diverse, you know, tree of getting into different looks again in the run and the pass, not going to help you. It felt like a lot in previous years. Then the data mostly backs this up as we’ll get into. Felt like the Cowboys would run under center and pass out of shotgun. To an extent that is still the case, but the fine-tuned details are a little bit better this year. And there’s a really great answer on this exact topic from Brian Shottenheimer cuz Greg Olsson had mentioned something similar uh in the broadcast on Sunday which I actually didn’t realize until Joe Hoy put it out and I was mad cuz I’m like no I was going to sit on that one. I had the idea first but you know great minds whatever. Great long long answer from Shottenheimimer. So bear with me on that which we’ll get to here in just a second. But today’s show is made possible by ethos. I’ve got two kids now and yeah, I got a lot of responsibility. It’s not fun to think about what would happen if something happened to you, but you do need to be prepared. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com/nflaily. That’s ethos.comnl. Ethos is a trustworthy company that disrupts the traditional life insurance industry and as of March 2025 was named by business insider as the number one nomed medical exam instant life insurance provider. Ethos is an online platform that makes makes getting life insurance fast and easy to protect family’s future in minutes, not months. There is no complicated process and it’s 100% online. No medical exam is required. You just answer a few health questions and get a quote in as little as 10 minutes. 3 million families have completed their applications and trusted ethos to help find the right coverage for them. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com/nl. Link will be in the comments section and the description of today’s show. Application times may vary and rates may vary. All right, long quote here from Shotheimer. Bear with me. He says, “Marrying the run of the past means there’s no scouting giveaways. There’s no tells. There’s no, hey, we’re in the gun, we’re throwing. If we’re under center, we’re running. And if we’re in a 2 by two with both edges closed, it’s 85% runs we have in the game. We’re going to have action pass off of that.” And vice versa. There is so much technology now in terms of our ability to get information that if you don’t do that, you’re battling uphill. If you don’t do that, in my opinion, there’s going to be a handful of plays in the game that the defense is predicting or the offense is predicting what you’re going to do. We actually have people on staff where that’s all they do. They tell us, “Hey, about this.” Some of it’s analytics, some of it’s coaches. I won’t get into the spec specifics of it, but they’re looking for trends. Then then we’re going to break those trends. If you break those trends early in games, for example, in the openers, then the player says, “Okay, that doesn’t hold up anymore.” You know, I’ll go to Carolina Luke Keequley. in terms of diagnosing things and having tells Russ coming off the bench and saying, “Yeah, he’s calling every play.” He was literally calling every play. What do you mean he’s calling out every play? Trap is here, a three-step there. I think the guys that over to do the studying, you can then use it as an advantage cuz otherwise you’re playing into their hands. I love that quote from Shottenheimimer. And in general, the Cowboys are simply just doing more play action, but what their play action stuff is is better aligned with what their passing concept is. you you this happens a decent amount in football where sometimes it feels like your run calls and your pass calls there’s no cohesion between them. It it’s just like these all look the same. You if you’re going to go with with two tight end packages and you’re for this is all hypothetical. You’re only running off two tight end packages well then there’s no threat of the pass. That’s an extreme example but that’s what Shotheim is talking about. And in general Cowboys are simply doing more play action. They are 10th in the NFL with play action rate this year at 28.2%. Behind the Colts and Lions, Packers and Broncos and Chiefs and Seattle and Rams and Bears. You know what I notice about that entire list from 1 to nine. You know what the common trend is? They’re all different schematics. There’s plenty of Shanahan variation and and some McVey stuff in there. But if you were to rank the top play callers in the NFL, how many of those names are on that list? Play action should make your life or make life easier on the quarterback. That’s why I was mad last year when it wasn’t making life easier and they weren’t effective with it. Cowboys are 10th in play action this year. They were 31st in play action last year. Now again, you know, it does matter with with game scripts and everything, but there’s been more of the of a dedication to run those play action. They had four touchdowns against the Jets off of play action last week. More on this to come, but I want you guys to grade Bryant Shottenheimimer as a play caller. So far, at least A, B, C, D, or F. Let me know in the comments section of today’s show. Again, I do think that just the designs of those playaction calls are good. That that screen to Jake Ferguson was a thing of beauty from a design perspective. You had a bunch of different stuff going on. You had under center, which we’ll go more in depth on here in a little bit. You had motion with Ryan Fenoy. You had a fake handoff to Williams and then the tight end screen. I that’s some that’s some lane keen college offense stuff. And I mean that in a good way. All that misdirection kind of freezes the linebacker’s eyes and you get an easy touchdown because of the play action. The one area I think the NFL is kind of adjusting and evolving here. It’s under center stuff. So 2024 Cowboys snap splits. They were in shotgun 69% of the time. It was a very high figure. They passed out of it 75% of the time. They were under center 27.8% of the time and ran it 72%. So, pretty big splits there of like if you’re in shotgun, it’s probably going to be a pass. Under center, probably going to be a run. That’s actually not that different of a split for most teams in the NFL. And in general, like game scripts matter. If you’re in shotgun a lot, you’re going to throw it. We saw some of that this year as well. The shotgun pass rate is actually up this year for the Dallas Cowboys. A little bit higher in 2025. The under center rates though are higher. Shotgun is down a little bit. Shotgun pass is up a little bit. Under center rates are up. Under center pass rates are up as well. So don’t sleep on that. Look at what the Cowboys have done from an under center perspective of late. They were in, you know, a thirdish, less than a third, more than a quarter under center rates against the Eagles and Giants and Bears. But game scripts probably matter for those games. But the Packers and Jets, they’ve upped that significantly to 43 and 52%. Look at who the top teams are in under center play action. Rams, Lions, Seattle, Buffalo, Bears, Ner, Vikings, Patriots, Jags, Houston. There’s a lot of Shawn McVey and Shanahan Trees involved there. But how often have we clamorred for those types of play calls? And those are all good offensive play callers. The up the the the trend in the NFL has been kind of reverting. It’s technical, right? You’re going back a little bit to some of the stuff work. I mean, it was funny to see like the Rams in particular lead the NFL in under center rates. They they’re they’re at the top of play action rates. That was the original McVey offense with Jared Goff under center and then they got to the Stafford aired out stuff. Now they’re back to it. And the one element of football that’s kind of died out but has made a bit of a resurgence is the straight under center dropbacks where you go under center and you do a five sevenst step whatever drop and throw it and no play action instead of shotgun game. It’s under center drop backs. Nobody uses this. The Cowboys are top five in this stat this year along with the ners, the Rams, Seattle, and Green Bay. And do you know what? Every single one of those teams have they’ve got some semblance of a Shanahan McVey guy. Every single one of them have that. They’re they’re all they’re they’re all built from that type of organizational structure of having the the Shanahan McVey. That’s what we’ve been clamoring for, right? On offense, we’re kind of getting elements of it with Brian Shottenheimer. So, what is your confidence level right now in the Cowboys offense? Scale it for me from 1 to 10. one in the low end, 10 on the high end. The NFL at its core is rather cyclical. You know, you’re going to have teams do a bunch of two high shell coverage. Well, how do you stop that? Easy way, run the ball down their throats. You’re going to pivot to the cover three stuff to to have the, you know, the Seahawk style stuff from way back when. Well, then you hit vertical shots over the top. The NFL is cyclical and the Cowboys leaning back into a more diverse run game that’s not just inside zone up the middle, utilizing more straight under center stuff, doing more play action stuff matters. It is very similar to what some of the adjustments have been as of late from the Shanahan and McVey Tree guys. And I wonder if maybe for the first time in a long time on offense if the Cowboys aren’t actually behind the curve here. You’re either ahead of the curve or slash on the curve or by then it’s already too late. And I wonder if some of these changes we have seen from Shanheimer and company on offense are going to pay massive dividends for this Dallas Cowboys offense. [Music]

Dallas Cowboys news today on how Brian Schottenheimer has helped overhaul the Cowboys offense to benefit Dak Prescott with some key changes to Dallas’ play-action game. Cowboys Report host Tom Downey takes you through how the Cowboys offense has had far better play-action results this year, what’s gone into the changes and how it bodes well for the Cowboys in 2025.

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Cowboys Pulled Off HIGHWAY ROBBERY And FIXED Their Running Game – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyfckIzNoN4

Cowboys play-action usage:
2025: 28.2% (10th)
2024: 17.5% (31st)

Dak Prescott stats on Play-Action:
Completions: 46 (1st)
Attempts: 53 (2nd)
COMP%: 86.8 (2nd)
CPOE: +18.3% (2nd)
Yards: 463 (3rd)
Touchdowns: 5 (T-1st)
INTs: 0 (T-1st)
YPA: 8.7 (8th)
Total EPA: +19.8 (4th)
EPA/Play: +0.32 (7th)

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Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer on marrying the run and passing games: “Marrying the run and the pass means there are no scouting giveaways. There’s no tells. There’s no: hey, we’re in the gun, we’re throwing, if we’re under [center] we’re running it, if we’re in two-by-two with both edges closed, it’s 85% run. Runs that we have in the game, we’re going to have action pass off of that and vice versa. There is so much technology now in terms of our ability to get information … that if you don’t do that, you’re battling uphill … If you don’t do that then, in my opinion, there’s going to be a handful of plays in a game, that the defense is predicting, or the offense is predicting, what you’re going to do. We actually have people [on staff] where that’s all they do. Hey, tell us about this. Some of it’s analytics, some of it is coaches. I won’t get into the specifics of it, but they’re literally looking for trends and then we’re going to break those trends, because if you break those trends early in games, for example, in the openers, then what the players say is, ‘OK, that doesn’t hold up.’ I’ll go Carolina and Luke Kuechly in terms of diagnosing things and having tells, and [Russell Wilson] coming off the bench and [say], ‘Yeah, [Kuechly] is calling every play.’ He was literally calling every play. What do you mean? He’s calling out every play: trap here, three-step there. I think the guys that overdo the studying, you can use it as an advantage, because otherwise you’re playing into their hands.”

Today’s Cowboys Report audience questions:
– Are you happy with Brian Schottenheimer as the Cowboys play-caller? Type ‘Y’ for Yes, ‘N’ for No
– Grade Brian Schottenheimer as the Cowboys’ play-caller: A, B, C, D or F!
– Confidence level in the Cowboys offense? Scale it: 1-10

Tom keeps you up-to-date with everything Dallas Cowboys on Twitter: https://x.com/whatgoingdowney

Dak Prescott under center snaps this season:
vs. Eagles: 32.1%
vs. Giants: 21.7%
vs. Bears: 28.8%
vs. Packers: 43.3%
vs. Jets: 52.5%

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Dallas Cowboys YouTube videos from @chatsports can be found here:
– Cowboys Trade Rumors: Jerry Jones WANTS A Trade? + Top Targets Ft. Roquan Smith & Minkah Fitzpatrick – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I0nY3p65Zk
– What Colin Cowherd Said About Dak Prescott Might SHOCK You – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsZBAG0bVv0
– MAJOR Cowboys Injury News: 15 Players On Injury Report Ft. CeeDee Lamb, Donovan Wilson & Tyler Smith – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRxJTF1k-h8

NFL straight dropback from under center (i.e. no play action):
#1 49ers: 20 (9.35%)
#2 Rams: 17 (8.76%)
#3 Seahawks: 13 (8.97%)
#4 Cowboys: 11 (5.16%)
#5 Packers: 9 (6.72%)

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