Brian Schottenheimer: Ready to Fix It | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Brian Schottenheimer: Ready to Fix It | Dallas Cowboys 2025

How’s everybody doing? Happy Halloween. No one’s in costume, huh? Solid. We had a number of guys in costume today. Yeah. Uh, yeah. Cooper BB was Nacho Libre. Uh, as a rock was a 50 Cent. Um, let’s see. Jay was a rapper that I was not aware of. Yeah, they they did a nice job. Yeah. Uh, and uh, it was it was fun. Guys had some some good time with it. by the DMX. DMX today now. Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News. Uh Donovan Wilson, how much you think he’ll do today and tomorrow? Yeah, it’ll probably still be with Britt. Uh trying to do some rehab, get him feeling better. Uh it’s going to be close, but um not sure yet. Digs, is he still in concussion protocol? Is he or did he get out? Yeah, he’s actually meeting with the neurologist today and uh hopefully that’ll be the last step, but we’ll have more information after he sees his neurologist. But everything’s been good. Everything’s been positive. One more thing, please. Thank you. Uh, uh, what was the biggest feedback you got from the defensive players this week when you were in their meetings and stuff like that? Um, you know, I think again I’m going to go to Wednesday’s practice was probably the biggest feedback. I mean, I’ve talked to a couple of the guys about just some of the different things. They like, um, you know, they like the plan. I thought Wednesday’s practice was excellent. Um, and, uh, the energy’s been good. You know, these guys are they’re they’re ready to fix it. you know, they want to fix it. You know, we’re all aligned on that. We need to be better. We know that. But I would say I start with going to Wednesday and uh the energy and the way practice looked um it felt different in a good way. Clarence, tell the LLS Cowboys the splits offensively home and on the road. Is there Can you explain what’s the difference? Uh not really. I mean, I know you know the the home stuff is way better. I think each game is different. Um, I really I really can’t speak to it. We’ll dive into that a little bit more over the buy and just kind of see, okay, hey, what is the what is the issue? Um, but uh I can’t really put my finger on it, you know, and we’re talented enough and and dominant enough as an offense at times that it shouldn’t matter where we play, we should be able to do what we need to do. And um, you know, but we’ll get that answered if we can. I can’t promise you that there’s going to be something that stands out. We’re like, oh man, look at this. the crowd think just look in the Carolina Denver game the running game wasn’t there at those two road games I don’t know if it’s a false start day and crowd thing just not get being aggressive off the ball something that’s not getting that thing jump started yeah each game is so different you know Clarence I I really I I can’t speak to the answer and again we’ll look but again um it might be hard to figure some of those things out and Brian Taru with the ESPN um sometimes you see see things on social media you don’t know if they’re true or not you have an owl in your house? Well, yes, we did. I don’t know if the owl was looking for the snakes or like what was going on, but uh it’s actually it’s the story of a coach’s wife. Uh so I’m in game plan meetings last night. We’re doing some red zone stuff and uh I I leave the meeting about 10:00 and I go back to my phone and I literally had 72 text messages on my phone. 72. I’m a popular guy, so that’s nothing unnormal, you know. But um and it literally started with a text from my son uh to his mother saying um there’s a big hawk-sized bird in here. And I began to look down and there was an owl that was uh so my son was sitting there doing some work and uh he had the sliders open and all of a sudden an owl came to visit and uh uh we’re not very outdoorsy people and so he wasn’t really quite sure to what to do. So, we called uh my soon to be uh nephew uh who’s marrying my uh niece. And uh the two of them together, freaking frack, tried to figure it out. They couldn’t do it. All they did was piss it off. Um and so uh in typical coaching fashion, you know, I called my wife and said, “Honey, I’m going to stay at the condo tonight. You you got this.” But they did. They got the owl removed. Uh the owl has been returned to its uh safe domain, but you can’t make this stuff up, man. You know, so it it’s real. And when you say it’s big, like I I would have I would have not stayed in the house. I would have I would I would have stayed at the condo no matter what. How’ they get it out? They called animal control. Gentleman gentleman came with a net like a a pool net. You know, I might have to look at that as like another job, you know, just kind of become animal control guy. I’m so experienced now with wildlife in in and around Dallas. So, can’t make it up. I think we won when uh we when we had the snake issue. So, that’s probably a good omen, you know. I think when we have I’ll put an elephant in my freaking garage if I have to. Yeah, I’ll do that next. If that’s what it takes to win, I’ll do it. Uh football question. How’s over showing been this week? Awesome. Yeah, awesome. Um, you know, he’s been getting a little bit of looks uh with the defensive stuff, uh, with the with the the ones, but really we’re, you know, just letting him play some scout team stuff. He’s doing a little bit of both, man. And, uh, disruptive as ever. And, uh, you just I love watching him play football, man. Just the passion and the energy has been great. But, uh, we’ll ramp him up a little bit. Today’s a bonus day for us, so he’ll get some more stuff with the ones. And, um, getting close. And then he left early when we were out there. Was everything okay? Uh, yeah. had he banged up his finger, his thumb, and was right back to practice. John Mashoto with the athletic. Uh you had uh I think it was some of the kids in I don’t know if it was from just the coaches or the players or whatever for a Halloween thing recently. Why did you decide to do that? Uh it’s a good reset for the staff. Um it was everyone was invited. It was mostly it was a it was Tuesday, so the players were off. Um but uh bunch of people from around the building, you know, from different departments scouting and stuff, brought their kids and um my wife, you know, she’s a she’s amazing. She’s a saint. She uh kind of organized like a little trick-or- treat line and um then they did arts and crafts and stuff down there. It’s our normal family dinner night. And so uh it’s just a good reset for us, man. You know, and uh it’s good for us to see. I know it calms me down, you know, seeing the kids and my kids are old and we’re empty nesters and uh so they didn’t dress up. I didn’t dress up. Um but uh it’s just uh it’s what it should be. You know, we can carve out 45 minutes for our families and for our loved ones. We do it every week, win or lose, and um it was awesome to see the kids smile and um you know, see their dads and and for us to feel a part of you know, we miss a lot and so it’s cool to have them around. And then for the family dinner thing, is that always up here or do you guys go different places? No, it’s always here. Yeah, we don’t have the time to leave. It’s a kind of a hard stop. Come have dinner. But again, they run around on the practice facility. They run around, you know, and we we’re doing the moms a favor because the kids usually fall asleep on the way home, which is great. And uh again, my wife is is a saint. She’s amazing. And uh she goes out of her way to make make everybody feel welcome. And again, the the the kitchen staff, you know, legends. They doing an incredible job feeding everybody. And so very appreciated. Nick Harris, forward start telegram. I know you’ve talked about this bonus day throughout the week, but how valuable is this day today to fix some issues on both sides of the ball and then you have a few awkward weeks coming up. How how have the schedule plans been with those? Yeah. Uh it’s a big day for us just because again you get a chance to hit first, second, third down which is the biggest part of the game when you look at in terms of the number of snaps that happen. Um we’re, you know, like we’ve talked about, we’re in the midst of some changes, uh that we want to look at and there’s going to be some things that maybe we like even more than other things. And so I think that helps us get another day look at it. Uh but uh in terms of the other schedule, you know, we’ll you know, all the focus is on Arizona and then obviously we have the buy coming up and we’ll get a chance after this game to, you know, go back and really dive into the first whatever it is, nine games and and find some patterns and maybe look at, you know, find some answers to things Clarence was talking about and some of the areas that we need to improve. But right now, the focus is solely on Arizona and deadline coming up on Tuesday. I know you’ve talked a lot about, you have conversations with the personnel staff on a consistent basis. A guy we haven’t talked a lot about is Alex Lumis. Uh how valuable has he been to this process and leading up to Yeah, I appreciate you ask about Alex. He’s uh incredible. Uh I know he’s um you know, he’s a lot like me. You know, he grew up around the game with his dad Mickey in New Orleans. And uh sometimes you learn things through osmosis just being around it. And uh but uh he’s got a great football brain. Um, I know Will leans on him incredibly hard in the draft meetings and stuff in the free agency meetings that we have. He’s so prepared. His his attention to detail um is incredible and again I think at some point he’ll be a general manager in this league and um we’ve got an incredible, you know, personnel department. Klein Kubak, you know, Ross Wench. Um there’s a ton of guys, but um Alex does a great job. And awesome Richard Strade right before the season with the Saints. Was that kind of a father-son deal or was that just uh there’s some probably insider information going on there, but uh again they didn’t make they didn’t make the trade. That was done through the proper protocols, but I’m sure it was uh Hey, Alex, how you doing? Hey, Dad. And uh they worked it out. Joe, Joe White, Dallas Morning News. We’ve talked about the three defensive coordinators in three years before from a scheme perspective, but in terms of developing players, how can kind of those changes maybe hinder or what can it do to development with players that you have? Yeah, it’s not ideal. I mean, we’ve talked about that. It’s it’s not ideal, you know, and the biggest change really was when DQ left, you know, and you bring Zim in here and Zim’s an incredible coach. And um but it’s an adjustment. And you know what people don’t realize is whether you’re playing 3, four, 51 with DQ and then to Zim’s four down to Flucus four down, they’re not the same systems and they’re not built on the same things. And um you know, there’s different variations. And so what do you do with the words and and and the verbiage? And it’s not okay, you just call it this, it’s well, how do you play it? how you fit the gaps, how do you handle bunches, how do you handle stacks? And um again, it doesn’t affect um you know, it doesn’t affect as much of the fundamentals, you know, because you know, really, you know, tackling and coverage and things like that, but there are subtleties. I mean, there’s different ways to play press manto man. There’s different ways to tackle, whether it’s hamstring tackle or, you know, different things, rugby style tackle. And um again, but that that’s no excuse. I mean, um, but but it it’s a challenge and, uh, that’s why, uh, again, you know, we’re hopeful that some of these adjustments and things that we’re going to do will will pay off. And then obviously Don Hisar James, some of these rookies you’ve had to have make bigger roles on this team, other guys that maybe didn’t anticipate having bigger roles. Long question short, how do you kind of develop guys mid-season while you’re also asking to maybe take on bigger roles? Yeah, you don’t you don’t stop with the individual periods. You know, I would give up team team reps before I would give up individual period because I do think that um what’s going to uh allow us to s sustain success hopefully late in the season is that we’re taking better footwork than the opponent. We’re striking with better pad level than the opponent. We’re we’re wrapping up better. We’re breaking on the ball better. Uh, I just believe that that’s what gives you an advantage because I do believe that as you get into the later months of the season and you want to get them off their legs a little bit that something has to cut, you know, but I would rather cut reps, full speed reps, get those in the walkth through and not uh cheat your fundamentals and techniques. We have time for two more quick questions. Tommy, Skyler, Tommy, Dallas Cowboys.com. How do you reintegrate Jake into the offense this week after Denver did what they did? no catches for him. Yeah, it was it wasn’t Denver. Uh it just was the game kind of went the way it went and uh I don’t worry about Jake’s ability to get involved. Uh he’s a great player. Um it’s, you know, one of those things. Let’s just have a great week of practice. But um again, I gave Denver a ton of credit, but I really don’t think that they took Jake away per se. Uh I just think the ball really didn’t, you know, go his way and we didn’t we didn’t play great and I didn’t call a great game and um so I think it just starts with having a great week of practice. But, uh, Jake Ferguson will play very well this week. Scott Dixon with the AP. Just a quick question before the one I was going to get to. Back to the Are you a Harry Potter fan? Um, I’ve seen a few of them. I’ve not read the books. I’m a movie guy, not really a reader. Harry Potter fan. Yeah. Uh, my son was. Yes. So, he probably made that connection. My real question, I’m sure you’ve been briefed on what Jerry said with the thing that got a lot of attention. and this is why I’m talking to you and not trying to fix the defense. I just wonder how much if at all do you worry about the things that Jerry says or the things that go on in that kind of realm affect the locker room? Um I I don’t I don’t you know think too much about it. You know Jerry’s the owner. Jerry can say what he wants to say. Um you know we’ve had some I mean we have had some of the best communication over the last couple weeks. I mean, there’s been a consistent Monday meeting where we spend an hour and a half talking about the last game and he asks amazing questions and we’re able to sit in there, myself, the coordinators, and just talk about the game and what happened and these are things we need to improve and uh then we do it again on Fridays when you’re getting ready for the next opponent. Uh, and at the end of the day, I mean, no one wants to win more than Jerry and so the communication is constant. It it never ends there. We’re always on the phone uh with Stephen, Jerry, Will Mccclelay. Um, but uh at the end of the day, Jerry’s the owner and uh he can say what he needs to say and uh he is a busy man like all of us. All right, thanks guys. Thanks guys.

Head coach Brian Schottenheimer speaks with media before Friday’s practice to provide injury updates, insight on the defense’s feedback this week and their response to the game plan vs. the Arizona Cardinals, emphasizing different game situations with an extra day of practice, and more.

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