https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js
When the Dallas Cowboys announced the hiring of Brian Schottenheimer as their next head coach, fans scrambled for answers. The long-time assistant coach didn’t have a head coaching history to reference, and his years as an offensive assistant were mixed in both style and substance. Even his time in Dallas was shrouded in mystery because despite holding the role of offensive coordinator, it wasn’t Schottenheimer calling the plays but rather head coach Mike McCarthy.
The Schottenheimer name is synonymous with ground-and-pound football. It was the legacy of Schottenheimer’s father, and the defining trait at more than a few of the younger Schottenheimer’s coaching stops. But to simply call Schottenheimer a “run-first” offensive mind is being a little disingenuous. He’s really much more than that.
The Cowboys new head coach opened up about his offense on Monday at the introductory press conference. He dropped some worthwhile nuggets that should be pleasing to most inquiring minds.
“He and I see the game of football, offensively, very similar,” Schottenheimer said of Dak Prescott. “We’ll have tons of communication moving forward on some thoughts of things we want to do, whether that’s tempo or some of the different things we’re trying to do with our play action passing game, the run game, things like that.”
To anyone nostalgic for the days of Norv Turner’s play-action rich offense, this should be music to the ears. McCarthy was generally averse to play-action passing, with both Prescott and Cooper Rush ranking near the bottom of the league in its usage.
When Schottenheimer was offensive coordinator for Seattle, he had one of the deadliest play-action offenses in the league. Based off a strong ground game, Russell Wilson cooked up big plays when utilizing play action. It’s that same thing Schottenheimer hopes to do with Prescott in Dallas.
To make it all work he’s going to want a stronger running game. The Cowboys ranked 26th in the NFL last season in EPA/rush so it’s safe to say significant attention will be paid to improving the running game for 2025.
“I’m a big believer in cut splits,” Schottenheimer explained. “I’m a big believer in shifts and motions to distort things. We’re going to do a great job of marrying our runs and our passes and make those look the same. I’m proud to say that two different times in my career as a coordinator we led the league in rushing.”
This could come off as a major red flag to some, and rightfully so. An outdated offense centered on the running game is an analytically minded person’s worst nightmare. Even with a recent resurgence of the ground game in 2024, the NFL is a passing league. Only three teams posted a higher EPA/play on the ground than through the air and those offenses all finished in the bottom 10 overall last season.
But again, referencing Schottenheimer’s days with the Seahawks provides some clarity on his run-pass splits.
Schottenheimer ran the Seattle offense from 2018 through 2020. During that time his pass rate over expected was -2%. It leaned towards the running game but not overwhelmingly. Year to year, Schottenheimer moved in the passing game’s direction, going from -11% to -2% and finally landing on +6% in 2020.
To those happy at the love Schottenheimer paid to play action, they’re probably even happier hearing the new coach discuss shifts and motion as staples of his ideal offense.
While he didn’t clarify whether the motion was pre-snap or at the snap, he gave the impression it was the more impactful latter category.
Those comments, combined with his mention of cut splits spark visions of the 49ers offense under Kyle Shanahan. Shanahan is notorious for deploying versatile personnel groups in tight formations. He uses motion at the snap regularly and designs passing plays to look almost identical to running plays in both personnel and formation. He’s a big believer in the running game but he designs it to be productive and efficient. It all sets the stage for big chunk plays downfield and in today’s NFL, it’s all about those explosive chunk plays.
It’s safe to say the Cowboys will not be passing the ball at the same rate they were under McCarthy, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The new coach sounds as if he’s embracing the tricks of the trade that have made the Shanahan coaching tree so expansive.
He’s not going to run the ball for the sake of it, but rather run the ball more efficiently and use it to set up a more efficient and more explosive passing game.
Whether any of this comes to be is anyone’s guess but based on his recent history and what he said in the press conference, the Cowboys are going to have an efficient and deceptive offense in 2025.