WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer spent a lot of time during Tuesday’s joint practice with the Rams watching his defense. That meant someone else was behind the wheel of the offense against the Rams’ defense on the other field.
Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams called plays during Tuesday’s practice. It was a decision that’s been reflective of what Schottenheimer’s done in his second season. He’ll be the play-caller on game day, but he’s also wanted to be more involved with the defense this year. Schottenheimer said he’s spent more time in defensive personnel rooms and with first-time defensive coordinator Christian Parker. That’s also given more responsibility to Adams, who hasn’t been a full-time play-caller in the NFL yet.
“I wanted to see these guys, all of them, compete,” Schottenheimer said. “I wanted to see us play fourth-down defense. I wanted to see us play third down offense. I wanted to see us in the red zone. I wanted to see us play red zone defense. So I let the coordinators call it. Klayton, I thought, did a really good job of spreading the ball around.”
The Cowboys’ offense had some good moments against the Rams defense and some bad ones. Running back Jaydon Blue had a fumble. There was a good amount of pressure on Prescott, especially from the right side of the offensive line.
“It was good; wasn’t great,” Prescott said. “Us, with our expectations and standards, hell, we want to go out and we want to dominate. But this is another NFL team and a good NFL team.
“Ultimately, I feel like we got it going and finished with a good day.”
Even though he wasn’t calling plays, Schottenheimer took some out of it, too.
“All in all, I got my steps in today,” he joked.
And Adams got some good playcalling experience.
Briefly: Cowboys safety Malik Hooker (personal), defensive end Jonathan Bullard (groin) and rookie linebacker Jaishawn Barham (groin) were noticeable absences from Tuesday’s practice.