One of the biggest complaints of the Jason Garrett era was that the Dallas Cowboys’ offense was laughably easy to predict. Even Mike McCarthy’s offense lacked originality.
Although it’s still early, Brian Schottenheimer is showing signs that the Cowboys offense is going to be much more creative this fall.
Just imagine being an opposing defense and seeing Asim Richards lining up as an eligible receiver.
Do you play for him to be another big body blocking for the Cowboys’ running attack?
Or, do you try to cover him as a receiver? A bruising tight end that, once he’s caught the ball, will be hard to bring down.
Richards stands at 6-feet and 4-inches. He weighs in at 307 pounds.
It would require a linebacker to cover him.
He’d steamroll any defensive back in the league.
A Huge Change
Last week, Schottenheimer announced that the Cowboys would be adding the pistol and wildcat to their playbook this fall.
Watching the videos coming out of camp, it looks like Dallas has added a lot of pre-snap motion into the mix too. Something McCarthy and Garrett seemingly shied away from.
It’s also nice to see the “Here we go” cadence done away with as well.
Nothing tips off the defense that the snap is coming by saying the same thing every time just before the snap.
In the end, it will come down to creative play calling. Neither Garrett or McCarthy had that.
If Schottenheimer can keep things mixed up, and keep defenses off balance, he and the Cowboys have a solid chance to make the playoffs.
Work Still To Do
Schottenheimer is clearly trying to change the culture in Dallas. His task is made harder by the attention whore Owner/General Manager clown show, that is Jerry Jones.
Despite that handicap, the players seem to have noticed a difference already and that’s just in camp so far.
The players seem to be having fun and are putting in the work.
Even the coaches are getting into it. A little surfing on the practice field before practice seemed to get the energy levels up.
Will It Translate Into Wins?
Of course, all of Schottenheimer’s work is for nothing if the team doesn’t produce on the field when it counts.
In a little over five weeks, Dallas will open the season. They’ll get an early test of where the team is at on Sept. 4th.
If the Cowboys can open the season by beating the defending champions in Philadelphia, the sky is the limit for the Cowboys in 2025.
