Brian Schottenheimer: What We’re Capable Of | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Brian Schottenheimer: What We’re Capable Of | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Yeah. No, I did not. But, uh, I feel that way a little bit. So, we’re all good, though. How you doing? Doing good. Doing great. Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News. Uh, can you give us an update on uh Tyler Gayton? Uh, yeah. Uh, he has an ankle. Uh, we’ll see how he does this week, but uh uh might be tough, but we’ll see. Um, these ankles are all different, you know, and uh we’ll kind of see how he does. Didn’t do anything today. Uh, not going to do much tomorrow. you know, we’re pretty bruised and banged up, but uh we’ll see. Nate, obviously, you had a lot of expectations for Nate because you was going to be the left tackle before when guy got hurt. Just your thoughts on how he played. Yeah, I thought he did a good job. You know, complete confidence in Nate. You know, I mean, we love the upside. We love the way he competes. Uh the size is real. You know, he’s got real power when he’s had to play for us. He’s played, you know, well, started against the Jets and things like that. But, uh, you know, another really talented young young player. Clarence Hill DLSS. Uh, I know you talked before the game about want to stack wins and obviously to get back in the playoff chase. That’s that’s the big goal. All wins are wins, but does a win like that though give you even more of a confidence boost that you can really do something special? Yeah, I think so. Um, I think it shows us what we’re capable of for sure. You know, I think um I love where we are from a defensive standpoint over the last couple weeks. I think that’s been huge for us. Um, I think when you, you know, just see the way we’ve played really the last, you know, I’ll say six of the last eight quarters cuz the first half wasn’t our best half of football. Uh, but uh, more than anything, I think it’s the confidence that the team has, you know, and again, played really well against the Raiders really for most of the game and um, the ability to bounce back. I think that confidence is more important for me than, you know, okay, the main objective is to win. you know, we expect to win, but there’s a lot that we can draw from from that game with how we won and how we ended up finding a way to make the plays and we had to make the plays and get the stops and we had to get the stops and um you know, we we know we have uh put ourselves in a position where you got to keep stacking wins and uh this week will be no different. Very difficult against a very good team in Kansas City. This team is certainly the defense been blind, been stopping the run, pass, but the way you played the run the last two weeks, is it as simple as Quinnon coming in or is it the fiveman front? What is it? What’s been the difference? Yeah, a little bit of both. It’s a lot of things actually. You know, uh I think, you know, the five down fronts have been really good for us. Um you know, Quinn’s an incredible player. I think the fits have been a lot better. We’ve talked about that at length for the past, I think, six or seven weeks is some of our fits and stuff weren’t really off and we’ve gotten better with our eyes. We’ve talked about how we wanted to train the linebackers’s eyes a little bit differently. I think we’re starting to get that done. Um, but you know, we’ve gotten a lot of guys healthy, too. I mean, again, I can’t talk enough about our safeties with Malik and Donno and, you know, those guys, you know, they do a incredible job helping to secure the front, you know, when they’re dropping in there. So, um, it’s not as simple as one player. Uh, great team defense is exactly that. It’s team defense. One more thing. Um, the three difference tackles had the most snaps of anybody in the front snap. And I don’t know if that’s even heard of cuz you lean linebackers and certainly the secondary, but the fact that you leaned on those three guys and their snap count was hide the linebackers, hire anybody the edge, that just tells you how you lean on those three guys up front. Yeah, they’re good players and we want them out there and uh you know, again, a lot of people have said, “Well, how are you going to play all those guys?” You know, you got three elite defensive tackles and uh there’s ways to do it and uh the rotation was really good. Whitecott does a great job with that. But um you know, our job is to play our best players and I think we uh shown that we’re going to do that and again they’ve rewarded us with some really good play over the last two weeks. Brian Todd Archer with ESPN. you knew about Quinnon the player when you got him uh guys after the game and talking about what he was like at halftime and getting guys going and things like that. What have you learned about him that way in the three whatever weeks he’s been here? Yeah, it’s it’s it’s everpresent, Todd. I mean, it really is. I mean, just non-stop him investing in guys and talking to guys and the leadership jumps off the you the jumps out of the meeting room. I mean, just the way you watch this guy interact with his teammates and the way he holds himself accountable, the way he teaches the young guys, like there was a moment against the the Raiders, you know, where he’s talking to Azeraku and guys like that. Like that’s what you want, you know? You want uh these veterans, whether it’s Dak, Quinnon, Clowny, you know, CD, whoever it is, you want these veteran guys leaning into some of the younger players and um sharing some of their wisdom because a lot of playing this game is is feel. And these guys have played the game at a high level for a long time. They feel the game differently than these young guys are trying to do exactly what we tell them to do or exactly what the playbook says to do. And there’s a feel to play in this game as well. And so, um, he’s a terrific young man. I know his faith is really important to him and, um, you know, we’re just thrilled to have him. And then you alluded to it a little bit last night after the game, but what does the Chiefs organization mean to you, the family, your time there, high school football, all that kind of stuff to play against them? Yeah. Uh, you know, I just I think I hold the Hunt family in such high regard. You know, they were so good to um us, you know, when we were, you know, when my dad was coaching there. I I was there for one year with him. But just even the way they, you know, looked after my dad after he was, you know, um, sick, I think that means the world to me. You know, Lamar and Norma and my parents had a very good relationship. And, um, you know, they just, you know, I can remember that stadium, the first game my dad ever coached there, 1988, I think. Uh, there was like 21,000 fans there, Todd. and um he turned it around. they turned it around as an organization and then it became what it is today which is you know Arrowhead is packed and you drive in and there’s the tailgating and so um I remember that first game coming from Cleveland being like man this is different cuz Cleveland was always sold out you know and when we went to the first game in Kansas City I don’t remember who it was against but remember thinking this is different and then of course when you have the success that they had it was uh it’s fun for me to look back on that but incredible people in the organization and They’re a lot like this organization. It’s family. Family first. And then if Clarence can have three, I’ll take three. Sure. Uh Hard Knock. We didn’t say hello today. My bad. The Hard Knock Scammers or what? Now that they’re here, what is that? You remind guys, hey, they’re around or how do you deal with all that? Yeah, I told the guys on Saturday, I said, hey, just a reminder when we come in here on on Monday today, I said the Hard Knocks guys will be in here. Uh, I mean the partnership with NFL Films, you know, and and the league and just the stories that they were able to tell, I think is really cool. And, um, I’ve done it. You know, I lived the let’s go get a GD snack with Rex. I was there for that. And I did. I got a damn good snack. I was I was hungry. And, um, I just told these guys, say, “Hey, look, you know, we’re proud of what we’re building here. Be authentic. Be who you are.” And, uh, I think these guys do a great job of telling the story. And um I said the guys that play to the camera and there were some back in the day. I said they’re not going to use it cuz it’s going to come off as phony. So we don’t change who we are. Um we’re proud of who we are and what we’re building. But uh I did tell the guys and again we’re used to cameras around here. John Michur with Athletic. Can you give us any update on Quinn’s ribs and George’s leg contusion? Yeah, we’re we’re beat up a little bit. I think um you know I want to get him moving around a little bit tomorrow, but I think you know other than you know Tyler he’s probably the biggest question mark that we have right now. Gayton of course um but everybody else other than being pretty sore and banged up is a very physical game. I was when I watched the game I was really excited about how we attacked and our play style like that’s what we want to have and I know the the clip of um you know Elijah has gone viral I guess you know deservedly so. incredible play, but you know, the Sam Williams fumble, we showed that to the team today. You know, just the pursuit of that and then K9 falling on it. But I thought our team played very, very physical and uh you’re going to be beat up a little bit when you play that way. And so, yeah, back to the Clark play. So, you obviously have have a lot going on during the game. So, when you see that play, when you’re watching it back, and then also, I mean, he’s a guy in Friday you mentioned to us as, you know, kind of a guy that maybe we won’t notice as much, a little under the radar. Just what do you think when you’re watching that play? It’s what I see every day in practice. It’s the way he’s wired. Uh he loves football. He practices like that. If you watch Well, you guys are out there for special teams, right? When do I kick you guys out? I don’t remember. After special teams. Yeah. So, there you go. Let’s go. You kick you guys out then. Hey, let’s kick him out earlier next time. Uh but watch Elijah during special teams, even in walkthrough. Like, he’s got a little bit more pace to him because it’s important to him and he realizes that’s how he’s going to make his mark. And um I certainly didn’t see it. I saw the end result. I saw the ball on the ground and all that stuff, but um when I saw it, I was not surprised. Now, I think we need to go to the enhanced shot like we’re looking for for the uh the blocked punt, but Maris Bell swears he got a piece of that ball, too, on Elijah’s. So, um I don’t know if we’re going to give him an assist or not, but Maris Bell swears that he got a piece of that ball, too. So, we got to pull out the enhanced shots, see if Fox has some of those to send us. How many How many game balls you give away? Uh, short week. Good question. No game balls. No time. No time. Yeah, that’s four. Hey, that’s four. That’s That’s for That’s for That’s for you. Well, why are you going to ruin the story for next week when we give him the game ball? I mean, now he knows. Jeez. Your halftime speeches uh from your defensive leaders. I mean, not only Quinnon, but Dear and Malik, do apparently there were a lot of guys that came forward. Dak had said he had seen what was going on on that side of the ball and it gave the offense confidence. I mean, just to be able to and put that culture together and see it come to light in that type of moment. How proud of can you be as a coach? Oh, so proud. Uh, but it’s not just me that’s proud. It’s it’s I’m proud of the assistants. I’m proud of the players. I’m proud of the fact that, you know, the things that we put up on the wall and the meetings and the things that we say that these guys, they truly believe. Uh, they echo those things. And you know, again, from the time I took this job, I’ve talked about culture, brotherhood, connection, and you saw that on display yesterday. And you can do it when you’re up 21 nothing. It’s harder to do it when you’re down 21 to nothing and people are, you know, concerned or you’re not playing your best football. But, you know, when you have good people that believe in one another and they believe in what you’re doing, and oh, by the way, most of those guys are elite football players, you got a pretty good chance. So extremely proud. Um, and again, I can’t say it enough. The impact that these veterans can have on these young guys is so important because the young guys will be the veterans in a couple years. And that’s where we’re trying to take this thing because we want to do what? Sustain success in pursuing championships. Yeah. Kind of along those same lines, how much during the offseason when you guys were acquiring guys like Kenneth Murray or Javvante Williams, how much of that was the idea of like, hey, let’s make sure we get the right veterans in here as well. Huge part of it. I think if you look at some of the moves that we made and you go back to free agency and all that, there was a there was a type, you know, tough guys, physical guys, guys that had leadership ability, leadership qualities, guys that played the game a certain way. Um, you you know, and then you see us making moves for guys that do that as well. That’s there’s a there’s a type and uh you know certainly with football teams you’re going to have all types of personalities but there’s a there’s a personality type in terms of the the the traits that you’re looking for in terms of how they approach the team, how they approach the locker room, how they approach practice that that we’re certainly searching for. John Tommy Dallascowboys.com. We talked a little bit yesterday about how you know you got you guys are excited to move on to Kansas City. How much reflection were you able to do today on some of the first half stuff that you mentioned you didn’t like or is it just kind of a quicker process wash it out so you can move on with a short week? Yeah, that’s a good question, Tommy. It’s uh it’s faster than normal. I mean, that’s the truth. You because you have to move on. You know, you watch the game and then you you live the game and then you watch the game and you have a few conversations about it, but really by 7 a.m. this morning, we were on to Kansas City because we had to get the first second down plan done. by noon when the players walked in the door, we let them, you know, sleep in a little bit, get a little extra sleep. But, um, you know, not not as much as we normally do. Uh, but there’s certainly things that, you know, we took away that, you know, we can do better. I’m not going to share those cuz we need to do them better. And so, I don’t want to give up the secrets, but um, it’s faster than normal and that’s anytime you play a a game couple days later, you got to you got to move on pretty quick. You mentioned the veterans pouring into the younger guys. Do you see any like tandemss or something like that where a younger guy is noticeably kind of soaking up everything that one of your veteran players has to say and how that’s paying off? Um, excuse me. I’m trying to think. You know, it’s different with everybody. I think you know um ear early on it was uh you know I think Clowny with Ezaraku. Now I think you know Donovan’s doing a great job. He’s leading people and I’ve I’ve kind of challenged Book and and and and easy that I said, “Hey, you know, this team wants and needs your leadership. You guys were brought here. You guys have those type of leadership traits. You’re not rookies anymore.” You know, they’ve earned the respect of the veterans. They’ve earned the respect of the coaching staff. They’ve earned my respect. And um it was great after the game because Book was obviously everybody’s excited, but um you know, he loves that matchup. you know, he loves going against Jaylen Carter and um but you know, we’re trying to we’re trying to bring it out of all those guys and sometimes, you know, the rookies need just a little bit of uh persuasion like come on now, you can you can lead and uh they they both have done that over the past couple weeks. Joe, Joe White, Dallas Morning News. Dear Van Overton had two significant injuries early on his career, but seemed his positivity and perspective never wavered. How rare is that? incredibly rare, you know, because again, what we don’t see, I don’t see, you guys don’t see, is the thoughts you have in your mind when you lay down at night after a long day of rehab and it’s sore, it’s hurting, or people are questioning you and people are saying you’re not going to come back and there’s so much stress that goes into these, you know, young men’s lives about is he going to get back? What’s it going to look like? And, um, I just I’m blown away by his his mental toughness, his grit. we call it competitive stamina. Um because he’s never wavered. No one no one has attacked rehab as hard as as he has. And I think that’s why you’re seeing him, you know, back probably earlier than most people thought and playing at a high level. With that in mind and just knowing the injuries he’s had and what the talent he showed, just how much do you want success for him in sustained health? Oh, yeah. I mean, I want it for all of our guys. Uh but he’s certainly a guy that uh he’s earned the right to have the incredible career that he’s going to have. He’s going to have an incredible career. Agent Zero will be out there for a number of years wreaking havoc on football teams that we play. And you know, again, he’s not the only one, but um again, you cheer for those guys because you tell them it’s it’s it’s it’s part of your journey. You know, it’s a it’s a little bit of a of a setback, but it’s going to make the story all the more sweet. scholar Saturday with the AP. Uh, for the record, according to the playbyplay, Maris got an assist, but Elijah got full credit for it. Okay. So, he was right. Maris was right. He wasn’t on there. Okay. All right. All right. I’m going to write that down. He get he gets an assist. They don’t give out assists very often, guys. I’m going to write it down. He’s got an assist. He’ll be excited to know that. I’m going to tell him you said that. Skyler, um, as Clarence mentioned that the rally was huge for the postseason. Jerry said after the game, daunting schedule. Um, you guys like the phrase keep your feet where they are. How do you keep your feet where they are when you’ve got a number of games coming and they’re still in the postseason picture and that kind of thing? Well, you really don’t have a choice. I mean, the way the schedule’s set up, you don’t have a choice. If we spend too much time looking back on Philly today, then we’re hurting our ability to prepare and get ready to play a really good team in Kansas City. And, uh, you know, be where your feet are just means stay in the moment. You know, today’s really a Monday, but it’s a Wednesday. And as soon as I’m done with you guys, I got to go do third down and all that stuff. So, it’s late nights and the players are sore and grumpy and uh but uh they’ll bounce back and uh they’ll uh they’ll be ready to go. But uh it’s a good way to be because whether you’re sitting here at, you know, undefeated or you’re sitting here where we are at 55 and one, you know, it’s it’s the process that matters. And the process is, hey, you take each day one day at a time, each game one day at a time because every game is a championship opportunity. And um I think when you do that, it’s easy to just kind of trust the process and take it one one step at a time. G. Got to LCBS Sports. Hey, Brian. Kaylin Carson went kind of in and out. See you, buddy. Yesterday’s game. What’s What’s his status? I’m sorry. I was distracted. Kaylin Carson, he went in and out of yesterday’s game. kind of what’s his injury? Yeah, he he’s okay. Uh some dehydration stuff. He had some cramps. Uh we uh uh we’ll just kind of help him get a better plan for that, but uh again, nothing we’re concerned about. And then with um going into this week against Patrick Mahomes, kind of what is your approach against a quarterback like that who many believe is the best? Yeah. Uh try to mix it up the best we can, you know? I mean, he uh he certainly has proven uh the ability to win the big game and incredible player, the ability to improvise is incredible. The arm talent’s incredible. So, um you know, we have to affect him. And how do you affect him? You affect him different ways. Pass rush, changing the looks, but he’s seen a lot of football. So, um be a great challenge for our defense. Uh but again, it’s going to come down to the teams on both sides of it. And um we look forward to the matchup. Uh Brian, I’ll lead you on DLS Cowboys just uh any updates with with Trayvon Digs. I know it’s been about four games now, you know, eligible to return. Yeah. Yeah, he’s doing better. Uh again, uh one of the issues this week, again, we’ll see how everybody does, but short weeks a little harder. Uh but he’s doing everything we’ve asked and uh has a really good look on his face. And I talked to Trey today actually and uh he feels really good. Brian Jonah Jad with WFAA. um heading into your first Thanksgiving game as a head coach, just curious if any of that crosses your mind as being, you know, the man of a football family and, you know, being around it your whole life. Does it add any extra juice for you this week? You know, I I don’t think so. Uh, you know, I love having my family around. You know, we’ve got a bunch of people in town just because of my mom actually came to her her first game this weekend yesterday, so she’s one and0. So, she’s allowed back. Although I was going to get her out of here. Um, but uh, no, I mean I, you know, I just, you know, I’m so blessed. I mean, I really am just, you know, to have the family that I have and the people that support me to be in charge of this incredible group of young men. I’m as thankful as anybody on the planet, man. I really am. And, um, you know, it’s just one of those situations that, you know, you uh, you take time to, you know, count your blessings. And again, it starts for me with my my faith and then my family and then certainly this football team. And again, I I’ll remember, you know, last night’s game for a while just because again, it was very, you know, um it was very big step for us to do what we were able to do uh in that second half. Piggy back on that. I mean, you’re kind of approaching one year as an NFL head coach. What have you learned about yourself since uh you’ve taken that role? Oh man, you should have asked that question at the beginning of the press conference because there’s been a lot of things. Um, I think the number one thing I would say is that I I I believe and I say this humbly, you know, I was ready for this opportunity. Why? I knew what I wanted. I knew what I was made of. I knew the type of young men that I wanted to coach and be around. And I think I feel really good about the coaching staff we put together. Um, there’s certainly been things that have come across my desk that I had no idea how to deal with. I’m just say that being honest. Uh, and I either leaned on my contacts and trusted adviserss or I trusted my instincts and my gut. And I think one of the things that my pops probably gave me from being around the game my whole life is uh my instincts for how to lead people are pretty strong. And um, you know, I think that uh I I I do trust and listen to my gut a lot. If I’m I’m torn, I I kind of listen to what my gut tells me. Good. Thank you. Thanks, guys.

Head coach Brian Schottenheimer speaks with media after Monday’s practice to provide an update on Tyler Guyton, how the team is prepping to play the Kansas City Chiefs on a short week, how a scheme change on the defensive line has improved the unit overall, and more.

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