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DALLAS, Texas -- Now that the dust has settled around the Dallas Cowboys promoting Brian Schottenheimer from being Mike McCarthy's offensive coordinator to his successor, both Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman and current starter Dak Prescott are ready to weigh in on the hire.
Aikman previously questioned if the Cowboys' head-coaching vacancy was "a coveted job" and said Jerry Jones' process suggested there wasn't "a real plan." It was a fair assessment given the Cowboys owner/GM only officially interviewed four candidates, with two of them being former Dallas offensive coordinators in Schottenheimer and Kellen Moore. Jones himself called the hire of Schottenheimer "as big a risk as you could take" at his new head coach's introductory press conference.
"Yeah, and I think that's probably why the reaction from the fans has has been what it's been when you're talking about not having had an official interview with arguably the greatest coach of all time [Bill Belichick] and then the hottest coach in this hiring cycle in [new Chicago Bears head coach] Ben Johnson, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything," Aikman said Tuesday.
"I don't know how much Jerry looked into what he wanted to do when those decisions were made, so it's easy on the outside to try to make conclusions," Aikman said. "I think it's probably unfair to a lot of people, but as I've said before, it's one thing if you hire someone that everyone's excited about, for instance, like they are in Chicago, but none of that matters now."
The Washington Commanders hired Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as their head coach for 2024 after then-Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who was their first choice, got cold feet at the last second and chose to remain with the Lions for one more season. Quinn and Kliff Kingsbury, his offensive coordinator, helped turn the Commanders around immediately. The defense transformed from the worst in the NFL in 2023 to around league average, and Washington's 2024 second overall pick quarterback Jayden Daniels cruised to an NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign that ended with the team in the NFC Championship game.
"Over the next few months, it might [matter] as far as how people are talking about your team, but when the season rolls around Week 1, whether it's Ben Johnson or Kellen Moore or Brian Schottenheimer, everybody's then being judged on a level playing field and it's all about winning," Aikman said. "So it doesn't matter who won the headlines once the coach was hired, and we'll see. I think Dallas has some really good players. They've got a lot of good things, a lot of things to like, and I'm hopeful that they can have a heck of a year."
The difference in Dallas with Schottenheimer
Prescott has worked with Schottenheimer as his offensive coordinator the last two seasons, and he gushed about the person the Cowboys' new head coach is. The Dallas quarterback pointed toward how quickly the new Cowboys head coach was able to put together his staff after concluding interviews with candidates. Schottenheimer being an NFL assistant for 25 years without receiving a head-coaching gig was viewed "as big a risk as you could take" by Jones. However, Prescott lauded the relationships and connections Schottenheimer has been able to build throughout his coaching journey in addition to filling out his Cowboys coaching staff immediately once he decided on his ideal candidates.
"He's been an assistant for a long time, and something else I admire is the way that he went on with the interviewing process," Prescott said. "When you've been an assistant for 25 to 30 years, I know there's a quarterback coach, I know there's a receiver coach, a D-coordinator, and a safety [coach] that you can call up without them thinking twice that they're going to come work for you. For him to go through the due diligence of getting the guys in, interviewing them, and then taking it amongst the other guys that are there and making final decisions, I think speaks speaks highly of his approach and the way that he's going to take care of things."
Schottenheimer's 2025 coaching staff:
- Offensive coordinator: Klayton Adams
- Defensive coordinator: Matt Eberflus
- Special teams coordinator: Nick Sorensen
- Quarterbacks coach: Steve Shimko
- Running backs coach: Derrick Foster
- Wide receivers coach: Junior Adams
- Tight ends coach: Lunda Wells
- Offensive line coach: Conor Riley
- Defensive line coach: Aaron Whitecotton
- Linebackers coach: Dave Borgonzi
- Cornerbacks coach: David Overstreet
- Defensive pass game coordinator: Andre Curtis
That being said, Prescott knows Schottenheimer isn't afraid to be hard on him because he's already done so in practice. The new Cowboys head coach would take Prescott out for a play after any time he threw an interception in training camp, something the Dallas quarterback initially bristled at before respecting that approach.
Even though Schottenheimer didn't call plays, Prescott learned a lot about his game-day impact while having the headset on the entire game and sitting out the second half of the 2024 season after tearing his hamstring.
"Yeah, I mean a huge impact," Prescott said on Schottenheimer's impact as an OC. "He was a guy that was a vital part in putting the game plan together each and every week. Obviously, McCarthy was the one making the calls at the end of the day, but he was a big part in the on-game process, which call was being made. I was on the headsets the latter part of the year, so I heard all of that. Very professional guy, as I said. He's ready, earned it, and deserves every bit of this opportunity."
So what's going to be different for the Cowboys' offense in 2025? Both Schottenheimer and Prescott have pointed toward emphasizing the run game and utilizing play-action passes off it. Dallas used play-action at the fifth-highest rate in the league (27.7%) in 2023, and Prescott was the league MVP runner-up. This past season, that rate dropped to the third lowest in the league (17.9%), and the Cowboys went 7-10 in a season in which Prescott suffered a season-ending hamstring tear in Week 9.
"I think he spoke on it in the press conference and then following this year, we've just got to get to running the ball, being a little bit more consistent on that," Prescott said. "Then, from there go back and look at the numbers, I've always enjoyed play-action pass, so just being able to get back to that, but you got to start with the run game, and when you have that, the rest of the offense can open up. You saw that this past season."
Cowboys offense last two seasons, NFL ranks
| 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Points per game | 29.9 (1st) | 20.6 (21st) |
| Offensive Snaps/Game | 66.0 (3rd) | 64.9 (4th) |
| Third Down Pct | 48.3% (2nd) | 36.8% (23rd) |
Play Action Per Dropback Pct | 27.7% (5th) | 17.9% (30th) |
Motion Pct | 49.2% (15th) | 47.1% (19th) |
| Dak Prescott's Tight Window Throw Rate* | 18.3% (29th) | 21.3% (Worst) |
| Dak Prescott's Average Yards of Target Separation* | 3.1 (31st) | 3.1 (32nd) |
| Tempo (Average Time in seconds Between Snaps) | 33.9 seconds (4th fastest) | 33.2 seconds (Fastest) |
Rush yards per game | 112.9 (14th) | 100.3 (27th) |
Rush Yards/Carry | 4.1 (20th) | 3.0 (30th) |
* Per NFL Pro/NFL's Next Gen Stats
Aikman and Prescott teamed up to speak at the Children's Cancer Fund Gala model reveal -- patients from the age of 5 to 17 -- on Tuesday for the non-profit's 35th annual flagship fundraising event focused on advancing research and treatment programs in pediatric oncology.
