Dallas Cowboys fans are now six months into the Brian Schottenheimer era, and we are already seeing major debates around the new head coach.
At the very beginning, the outrage in the fan base was severe; hiring a career-long assistant, understudy to Mike McCarthy, all while refusing to interview any serious candidates, did not make anybody happy.
That said, we saw the tide turn over the past few months as “Schotty” got to talking. Many, including myself, love the rhetoric to this point in his tenure.
Finally, we reach last night, and the pendulum on Schottenheimer has seemingly swung again. Yes, it was preseason, but boy, are Cowboys fans displeased with the product on-field and the coaching off it.
It begs us to ask the admittedly early question: Should we be concerned about Brian Schottenheimer? I’ll cover both answers to that query here.
The “No Concern” Side: Don’t Judge A Coach From The Preseason
Schottenheimer warned fans that they would not see the real bag of tricks this early in the year. He said it would be a vanilla game plan, and that’s exactly what it was.
Pretty? Far from it. Somewhat expected? I think that’s a fair characterization. We’re talking about the first preseason game; barely any starters played for Dallas, the playbook was highly limited, and it ended up being an ugly performance.
Is that really enough to say Schottenheimer might not be the right guy for the job?
Additionally, second-year quarterback Joe Milton did him no favors as he struggled with accuracy throughout the game, and no single receiver reeled in more than two catches.
Dallas ended up running the ball efficiently, especially with the recently signed Malik Davis, though it took Schottenheimer a full quarter to call a running play.
Overall, if you’re on this side of the argument, I get it. That game was the earliest matchup of the entire calendar, and it was Schotty’s first as the top dog. It’s easy to see a world where they improve with fewer nerves and rust, and a deeper playbook.
The Reason To Worry: Coaching Lapses Are Troubling, No Matter When
The flip side here is understandable too; pushing Schottenheimer’s oratory skills to the side, what’s left is the same unimpressive resume we were all worried about in the beginning.
Always an assistant, never the head coach, and the assistant career was never that strong. He was never sought after as the premier OC in the league.
What we saw last night, even with the limitations on play-calling, brought those red flags back into memory.
If you give him a pass on the defensive side, which was surely the worst unit of the night, it was an ineffective, pass-happy offensive scheme that reminded many of the Jason Garrett years. You NEVER want to be reminiscent of the Jason Garrett years.
Schottenheimer is trying to lead his team beyond their 8-9 to 9-8 expectations, and last night’s game didn’t do anything to help that goal. If you were worried before that he might just be another mid-tier coach, you are worrying even more now.
The Bottom Line: No New Concerns, No New Confidence
Fans didn’t see anything last night that should, if you’re realistic, spark new concerns about Brian Schottenheimer. You also, however, got nothing new to be confident about.
All the problems with his coaching last night were predictable; the limited playbook, lack of stars on the field, and track record concerns all showed up.
That was all we saw. We’re seeing an increase of confidence when he’s speaking, and a decrease when the product hits the field.
Perhaps that will change over time, considering just how early we are into this experiment, but he shouldn’t expect fans to wait around forever. He needs to start putting fears to bed quickly.
