Brian Schottenheimer: Excited to Get Back Out There | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Brian Schottenheimer: Excited to Get Back Out There | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Good afternoon, Calvin. Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News. Um, when you talk about moving forward today’s practice, is this that part of the process? How difficult will it be or is it easy? What do you think about that? You know, I think most of us, I know myself, I’m excited to get back out there and just, you know, do what I love to do with the people I love doing it with. Uh, I think the players feel that way. We had good energy this morning in the meetings. The meetings were very productive and like I said yesterday, we’re ready to get this week underway and put our best foot forward getting ready to honor Marawn. Is there be a certain point where you say you have counselors and all that? Will they be here throughout the course of the season or you tell the counselors just be here until as long as we Yeah, we’ll provide whatever our guys need. The answer is there’s people always in the building and uh we can get more if we need them. Again, I think uh I was really encouraged by uh our guys this morning. They were back shooting hoops and stuff this morning before meetings and the energy was good. So again, I think you know, like I said to them, you know, we’re not done honoring, you know, Maran, but we we have business to take care of and the best way of honoring him is to take care of business. Uh Brian Ali Jawad DLS. Uh just looking at Monday’s matchup, there’s a lot of familiarity for you on that sideline with Pete Carol and his sons and um Joe Filman as well. Just in general, how does it feel to go up against, you know, those guys, especially one being your former boss who you learned under for a couple years? Yeah, I mean, you know, they’re people I’m very close to. Uh I’ve talked glowingly about Pete and uh I feel that way. It’ll be great to see him. And uh again, you know, it’s just that’s the best part of this business is the people side of it. And that’s what I really look forward to. You guys know me, I’m a people person. But um I love getting to see those guys before, after the game, and just getting a chance to catch up. and um he uh he’s been so instrumental to me in my career and and how I view my job and my position here with the Cowboys that uh uh I’ve talked to him, but I haven’t really probably shared with him how much he means to me. And I will with ESPN. Uh with oversh um do you temper expectations? Do you expect him to be the guy you saw last year before he got hurt? How how do you view what he’s been able to do and what he can do? Uh I just want him to play free. I I really do. I I can’t answer that question, Todd. I don’t want to put too much pressure on Demo. Um you know, he hasn’t played in a long time, but uh he hasn’t forgotten how to play either. Uh but I will know this. Uh he uh he will be running to the football. He will be making plays. And uh but we’re going to be smart, you know. Um is it fair to say he’s going to play the entire game? Maybe. We’ll see. But, uh, there is kind of a, you know, ramp up pitch count that we have to see how he’s feeling. But, um, he, uh, he can’t wait. He’s he’s really excited along with the other guys. How have you guys gone about getting Quinn Williams and Logan Wilson up to speed since coming on board with the by-week and obviously everything that’s transpired? Yeah, again, both those guys are veterans. It’s been uh, a little bit um, maybe unusual. Just uh, the good news is Quinnon obviously knows ADUB. He’s been around ADU, so there’s some translation there. Logan’s very very bright. He’s been around uh football for a long time. Uh but I’ve just been blown away by both Logan and uh Quinn’s professionalism. You talk about two guys excited to come into a new new program, new situation and then of course, you know, the tragedy happens and those guys have been just incredible through this whole, you know, moment. And you know, I know, you know, Quinn talks all the time about his faith and you can see how real that is to him. But, um, you know, in terms of them being ready, they’ll be ready. um from a mental standpoint and I’m excited to watch him move around today. John Modto with the Athletic, you’re obviously in in in a difficult spot having, you know, try and help the team move forward and and doing things the right way. How do you know what to do and and do you lean on somebody else or or how do you what’s kind of like guiding you through this process? Um it’s a good question. You know, John, I think I I try to lean on my instincts. I think I have pretty good instincts. I wish I could talk to my pops. I actually do talk to my pop some uh in prayer and things like that, but I have people I talk to. Um but honestly, I talk a lot to the players. You know, I love those guys, man. And and they’re the ones that matter the most to me. You know, how you doing? How you feeling? What are you feeling? And um again, their energy today fuels me and feeds my spirit to where I can walk up here today and feel, you know, more like myself than I did, you know, yesterday. Um, and each day helps the healing process. Does that mean that we’re not we’re going to have guys that go out there today and don’t have, you know, a lot of emotions? No. There’ll be a lot of emotions tomorrow, the next day, you know, Monday night before we kick off, there’ll be emotions. But it’s my job to kind of prepare those guys on what to expect as well. Like I want them to know what we’re doing, which I will share with them as it gets closer. What are we doing to honor Marawn before the game just so they can kind of prepare for when it happens because they deserve that. And uh I want them to be able to go into this game and play the game the way they love to play, which is free with their hair on fire, running the football and being physical. And then will today be a typical practice like you normally have? I guess with it being a Monday game, this will be more like a Thursday, but is that how it’ll be or is there anything changed about? Uh it’s a little shorter just because, you know, we haven’t done football for a while. Uh they moved around yesterday, uh which or two days ago, which was good. Uh it’s going to be a little shorter, about 90 minutes. It’s normally an hour and 45. Um, and we’ll make up for that some tomorrow with the mock and things like that. But, uh, today’s really about kind of getting back, letting these guys focus. My big push to them this morning was it’s about this game’s going to come down to execution and we have to execute. Um, if we execute well, I feel good about it and that starts with what? Fundamentals. So, you’ll see us do a lot of fundamental work out there today, but we’ll we’ll get the team stuff in and it’s kind of a Wednesday for us. So, today will be a first and second down emphasis um, leading into a normal flow of a seven-day week. Nicar Telegram. I know you don’t want to give away everything, but as far as the bye-week and being able to maneuver everything that’s happened, what changes were you guys able to talk about and get implemented throughout the bye? Yeah, again, I think, you know, the biggest thing is we kind of have a better idea of the things, not just statistically, but watching the film, Nick, that we’re pretty good at, uh, that our guys are comfortable with, that we execute at a high level. you know, there’s basically, you know, all these stats, but you know, where you have a win and a loss, and so first second down, a win would be four yards or more on offense, less than four on on defense. And you kind of look at the stats, then you watch the video, and I think we figured out um some things that we really do know that we could do at a high level and we maybe need to do more of that as a coaching staff. And it’s just a chance for you to kind of catch your breath and look back at the video. But the video is so powerful because it tells you, hey, you know, hey, we’re not good at this. And so, let’s stop doing that and let’s do more of this. And again, you’re right. I’m not going to give you any answers to the test. But, uh, there were a number of glowing things that we’ve learned. You talked yesterday about how getting back on the grass can be therapeutic. Is there a time in your life you can think back to when when that’s the case for you? Not really. Um, it’s just always been my escape, you know? I mean, when you know, that’s You know, that’s why when, you know, I lost my dad, I I ended up taking a job in Jacksonville when in reality, I wasn’t planning on doing that. You know, it’s it’s your escape. It’s what you love to do. It’s what you’re great at. It’s what you find comfort in. And, you know, uh there’s a lot of things I love to do, but one of my favorite things to do is coach football and be around these guys. Tomstowboys.com. What have you seen from Savone the last couple weeks of practice? And how does it being his first NFL game kind of maybe, you know, go into how much you want to use him on Monday? Well, well, I’ve seen the talent. Uh the size jumps out at you, the speed jumps out at you. Um, you know, again, a little bit like Demo, but probably even a little bit more uh being uh smart is, you know, he’s going to play. We want him to play and I think he’ll play well, but he is young. He is he is a rookie. He plays a very difficult position. Um, but I just love the way he shows up every day with a smile on his face. He works. Uh, a lot of times the workouts they’re doing with Britt, you know, are harder than what we do on the practice field. Uh, we do that for a reason because we want those guys coming back as soon as they can. But, um, I don’t think it’ll be too big for Von. I think he’s looking forward to it. But, uh, uh, we’ll be we’ll be smart with how we use him. And then Ashton Gent is a local kid and he was talked about a lot in the draft process here. What have you seen from from him this season and how much of a challenge is that going to be? Yeah, I mean the guy is exactly what you saw at Boise State. You know, I mean, they’ve um had a little bit of a hard time, you know, getting the running game going, but he runs hard, he’s physical, he can make you miss, he’s powerful, he’s hard to bring down. Um but, uh the talent is there and you can see why so many teams coveted him and why he went six overall. And uh knowing Pete, you can see why they made that uh that that move to get him. Joe Hoy, Dallas Morning News. In regards to Savone, uh, anytime you get a rookie, there’s a learning process about what they do. Once again, you’re building obviously with the injury, you didn’t really see much on the field. What have you learned from him just in the last 21 days with him being on the field about what he could potentially do? Yeah, again, I think the press manto man is is what the first thing that jumps out at you. I mean, again, he gets a chance to cover, you know, GP and CD and those guys, you know, every day, but he’s so comfortable and confident when he’s in press manto man. like he’s just he’s number one he’s got incredible length so he can use his hands which allows him to control receivers and things like that but a lot of guys play very much a mirror technique and it’s just different ways you teach it on defense schemes are different but like he is very comfortable because of his size length and speed that he’s one of the more aggressive corners uh that I’ve seen especially for a young corner and uh that gets you excited because if you can throw off the timing of the passing game or disrupt the receivers’s initial route stem then the pass rush has a chance to get home to the uh uh the quarterback and then of course uh you know we like his ball skills. You said before the buy there’d be more changes when the buy happened. Obviously Nick kind of asked about that. What was the process for installing these things? Was it hey when you guys leave the facility for the buy here are the things I want you to know. What was the process for installing? Yeah, really the biggest thing was just hitting the highlights to the players. Um you know as we started today you know really you try to just group it. Today is a first second down day. So, we hit some of the things that jumped out of our first and second down study on both sides of the ball. Run game, pass game, protection wise, getting after the quarterback. Um, but we didn’t go, you know, too too much into it. We just hit the highlights. Like, we didn’t hand them the the big packet that says all the different reports that we wrote up. It was more hitting the highlights of different things that we think will make the biggest difference in us playing uh at a high level over these next couple weeks. Garrett Garel, CBS Sports. Hey, Brian. Um, Dak the last couple of games, one touchdown, three picks, but before that 13 touchdowns, no picks in the previous four games. Kind of in your film review, as you mentioned, what have you seen from Dak this season? And what do you think you guys need to do to get him back playing more like those prior four games instead? Yeah, I think, you know, Garrett, when you look at it, it’s really the the type of games we’ve had to play the last two games against Denver. And, you know, we got behind in both games and had to kind of play catchup. And you know, unfortunately, that’s there’s not many guys that are going to, you know, play at a high level. That’s not how we want to play. Certainly, we want to be a team that can run the football and use our action passing game and um, you know, make people guess. And it feels like really for most of the, you know, second half of Denver and then certainly the last quarter against Arizona, we were playing mostly two-minute and and that’s hard when they know you’re going to pass and you have to pass and everyone in the stadium knows you’re going to pass. It’s difficult. So, um, the biggest thing I would say is just, you know, we got to do a good job on first down in this game. That’s going to be a big part of it. You know, uh, win first down. Um, and I think that allows us, you know, on defense and offense as play callers being flues to be able to control what we want to do instead of the defense having the control of the offense when you’re ahead or behind. What goes into winning on first down? Uh, execution. You know, you got to run the ball well. You know, you can’t have self-inflicted wounds. You can’t have penalties. you can’t have, you know, things like that. Uh, you got to throw completions. Um, doesn’t mean you just check the ball down. You go through your progression. Um, but, uh, you know, for us really in this game, it’s going to be, you know, a lot of things that we’re very comfortable with. You know, it’s been a unique, uh, week to say the least. And, um, I think that’s why coming off the buy and knowing what we do well and what we kind of don’t is a good formula, I believe, for this week. Yeah. Skyler Dixon with the AP. You mentioned meetings this morning and the buy was pretty good. What are you going to be looking for on the practice field that makes you feel like these guys are beginning that process or continuing that process and moving forward? Yeah, it’s a good question. I haven’t really thought about it. Uh because I just don’t think there’ll be um much that’s different. You know, there’ll be music on out there. I’ll be I’ll be jumping around and do what I normally do. And again, I think, you know, these guys are going to be excited to be out there with their brothers and doing what they love to do. You know, I I’ve said it’s not just a distraction for me. You know, it’s a distraction for them. You listen to these guys talk. You know, these guys have a lot of them have lived through a lot of tragedy in their life. And their escape is to come and be in the locker room with their brothers, put their helmets on, go out to the practice field, and um again, we might be feeling some a lot of emotions. I’m sure we will. But, uh, my hope and what I believe is that it won’t feel that different. Jeff Cole with Foxport. Um, kind of going right off of that, coach, you know, not changing some of the things like we talked about at practice. You said yesterday there’s no playbook for navigating forward with this. How much advice have you taken from some of the brief counselors around? What, if any, has resonated the most about how to handle this? Yeah. Uh, quite a bit. You know, I think what they talk about is everybody’s different, but you have to stay true to who you are. Uh I’m a very authentic person and I am who I am and I’m not going to change for anybody whether we win, we lose in this situation, you lose a a family member. Um because I only know one way to do it. And I think if I’m not who I am, the players are going to read that. And my job as a leader is to stand up front and be the first one that that takes accountability, responsibility for the things we don’t do well and and passes the responsibility and the praise to them because that’s what they deserve. Um so I’m always going to be me and I’m never going to change. And um I think we’ve got a lot of guys I know talking to a number of the leaders, man, they’re like, “We’re done talking. we want to play and that as a coach gets you excited. Your leadership council, do they do more in this type of moment? How crucial have they been? Yeah, they’ve been great. Um they, you know, they do things that I don’t even know about, you know, but they’re on top of the the guys in the room that, you know, maybe are struggling a little bit. You know, there’s plenty of, you know, guys on both sides of the ball. But, you know, it’s been um it’s been fun to just watch different guys lead. Like I’ll talk a little bit briefly about Donovan Asaku. I mean, here’s a guy that I’ve raved about from day one and to hear him just speak and some of the things that he says and believes the maturity of of Donovan is incredible. Um, you know, it’s just and there’s guys like that all the time. I mean, I mentioned Quinnon, you know, he just got here, but you know, it’s like what do you say? Hey, man, you know, this is difficult situ. I’m good. I’m just happy to be here and whatever I can add from leadership standpoint and I just want to win and things like that, you know, give you comfort as a coach. Ed, Kenny and uh Quinn in the trades. uh what’s your vision for how you want to use those three guys and how unusual construction is it on defense to develop all that? Yeah, it’s a fair question. It’s a good question. I think you know you saw us last game get into some of the five down stuff. Um there’s creative ways we can use it with those guys. We don’t just have to play five down to get those guys in the game without giving it away. We can move pieces around and put certain guys in different spots. Uh, I think that’s part of what, you know, you’ll see us do some this game, maybe even more moving forward. Um, but when you have that much talent inside, it is a problem for the defense. You talk about stopping the run. You know, you’ve got penetration, you’ve got ability to move those guys, package those guys in the pass rush. It’s the closest thing to the quarterback. Uh, and then, you know, we are going to play some four down and when we do, the good news about having guys like that is they’re going to be fresh. They’re going to be over there catching their breath and then when they come in, they’re going to be hunting. Kevin, Kevin Sherington, Dallas Sporting Minutes. You mentioned the other day that you told that group a couple stories about Mar. I’m wonder if you could tell us those stories that you related. Um, you know, I honestly I’m not trying to, you know, keep it from you guys, but it’s just something that to me is is probably private between us and the guys. Uh, I appreciate you asking that. Uh what I will say is uh you know I’m sure the players will be very very uh open to tell their favorite Marshon stories. You know they’ve told me some that are incredible. Um, but uh, you know, right now with what we’re going through, I’d probably keep that private and uh, um, but I I would ask them because I I I know there’s I was chuckling listening to a couple of them tell some stories just because he was just such a a playful young man like he just liked to have fun and him and Osa doing anime and things like that. Things I didn’t even know. So I would I would leave that to them. All righty. Thank you. Thanks, guys.

Head coach Brian Schottenheimer speaks with media before Thursday’s practice to discuss the team’s preparation for the Raiders on Monday night, his expectations for DeMarvion Overshown, Shavon Revel, Quinnen Williams, and more.

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