Will the offensive scheme really change under Schott?

[Pass2Run]

As would I but yeah this run game would have to show me as a DC.

I like what Stephen said. "We want to move people." If they can do that, they'll have success. I like the upgrade at guard. I've been saying since before he got a new contract that Martin was on the decline.

They've spent a lot of draft capital on run blocking.

 

[KingCorcoran]

Everyone knows what his philosophy is because he’s told us. The offense especially, is going to be different. At least they’ll start out the season with a focus on running the ball. A lot. Previous regimes have only played lip service to the running game. Scotty’s different. Sorry you don’t like that.

He was a member of the previous regime, for god’s sake. If he had so little confidence in his ability as a football coach that he was willing to retain, and draw a paycheck, as an NFL OC, but in reality did not have the responsibilities of an NFL OC what does that signify to you? What kind of professional coach would agree to that? I’ll tell you what kind. A lackey. Which is precisely what Jerry Jones wants.

I get this is the time of year all NFL fans speak in terms of what they hope to be true. Why not? It’s the off season. Most stop short of saying things are definitively a certain way when there is no way of knowing. All 32 teams want to run the ball more. Some are going to do it better than others.

The Cowboys watched their best running back sign with another team and then traded for a top tier wide receiver. How that indicates increased emphasis on running the ball is beyond me. I get what the hope is. But no fans the lord ever put on this earth can talk a running game into existence. It’s going to take more than a highly touted rookie right guard, two questionable vet RBs and not so big 5th round draft pick RB who says he want to take his pass receiving to a new level. Come on!

 

[thunderpimp91]

Shotty had very little to do with the MM offense. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been the WCO focusing on the passing game and just giving lip service to the running game. Scotty’s philosophy is totally different.

We've been down this road before, but we can certainly do it again. I find it completely disrespectful to Brian Schottenheimer to assume that he had very little to do with the offense that he was OC over.

If you want to have an actual football conversation without just resorting to meaningless buzz words you fall back on like "texas toast offense" and generic coach speak that we hear year after year I'm here for it.

I'm all for listening to what will be different about this years offense. I'd love to get your actual take on what I should keep an eye out for.

Personally when I watch last years film I see a ton of the same concepts, especially in the run game that Shotty used in 2014 with the Rams. He used a ton of power lead runs from the offset I. He loved to use inside zone runs to get the RB running backside after front 7s over pursue. Same stuff that was on film for the Cowboys last year. The passing attack he had with Seattle looks very similar to the Cowboys last season. His blitz beaters were nearly identical to what youll see on the Seattle film. We see a lot of stick....a lot of drive concepts. When lined up out wide our WRs tend to run more vertical based routes with an underneath drag option. Bunched in with short splits its alot of shorter crossers, often with movement from the QB off play action. Same stuff that let Russell Wilson play some of his best football.

Even just the idea of being run first isnt exactly new from Shotty this year. The Cowboys were often times run 1st in 2024. The overall numbers dont show it, mostly because of the number of blowout losses they had...you also had games like Tampa where running the football simply wasnt an option. Pretty much everything the coaching staff has talked about implementing in 2025 offensively has been a carry over from the back half of 2024.

I'd love for you to have something of substance to give me hope for some new wrinkles to the offense I'm not expecting, but I really get the sense it has a lot more to do with you hating on Mike McCarthy than anything. Personally I loved a lot about the Cowboys offense last season. They were undermanned at the skill positions and had massive holes on the OL, but still found a way to be middle of the pack in total offense. I'm hoping it stays 80% similar to the offense Rush led last season. I'd like to see some tweaks, especially with tendencies and motion usage, but overall it was a very fun offense to rewatch the tape on.

 

[Pass2Run]

May be, can the line block? i get alot of us want to see the coaches realized scheme on the field during a game but if the players cant execute it then what good is it gonna do. "why the hell are we throwing the ball 40 times"..looks down at the first half stats where we ran the ball for 2ypc and gave up 5 ypc.."Ooh thats why"

With Eberflus' scheme, we'll be a top 12 run defense with the personnel we have.

We'll also be top 5 in takeaways.

 

[Rockport]

He was a member of the previous regime, for god’s sake. If he had so little confidence in his ability as a football coach that he was willing to retain, and draw a paycheck, as an NFL OC, but in reality did not have the responsibilities of an NFL OC what does that signify to you? What kind of professional coach would agree to that? I’ll tell you what kind. A lackey. Which is precisely what Jerry Jones wants.

I get this is the time of year all NFL fans speak in terms of what they hope to be true. Why not? It’s the off season. Most stop short of saying things are definitively a certain way when there is no way of knowing. All 32 teams want to run the ball more. Some are going to do it better than others.

The Cowboys watched their best running back sign with another team and then traded for a top tier wide receiver. How that indicates increased emphasis on running the ball is beyond me. I get what the hope is. But no fans the lord ever put on this earth can talk a running game into existence. It’s going to take more than a highly touted rookie right guard, two questionable vet RBs and not so big 5th round draft pick RB who says he want to take his pass receiving to a new level. Come on!

You do go to great lengths to bury your head I’ll give you that. The offense will be different next year. If you don’t agree, fine.

 

[conner01]

From what I've heard the offensive assistants come from a variety of schemes so maybe it will change here. At minimum, a few new wrinkles?

I think you see a bit more creativity, more sticking to the run. But biggest change is likely to be in play calling more than the actually scheme

 

[Chasing6]

Barkley, Gibbs, Jacobs, K. Williams, Irving, A. Jones. Pretty clear what is important to be a playoff team in the NFC. It’s supposedly a “copy cat league”. Jerry needs to pay attention.

Well GM Jethro still fails the test, while the answers are stare him in the face.

He should know Philly better than anyone.

 

[Ironicalicon]

I think you see a bit more creativity, more sticking to the run. But biggest change is likely to be in play calling more than the actually scheme

I'll believe the claim of emphasizing the run when I see it. I think GP & CD will want 15-20 targets between them each game but we'll see how it plays out.

 

[conner01]

I'll believe the claim of emphasizing the run when I see it. I think GP & CD will want 15-20 targets between them each game but we'll see how it plays out.

Doesn’t matter what they want. If we can run the ball their jobs get easier. There still gonna be 20 or more targets to go around. But running ghe ball well means more overal offensive plays and less double coverage since the run then has to be respected. Winning is more important than stats and running the ball means our offense is better which leads to more winning and helps the defense

 

[JoeKing]

It isn’t just the coaching, players need to due their part

...and I will ask you again until you directly address my question. Are you implying the players won't execute? You have to know, without coaching, the players executing won't happen.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Yeah honestly I loved the offense they ran later in the season.

The 105.3 guys like Belt say that was Schottenheimer. Like you've said, there were some different things and some improvements from earlier in the year. But it was hard to tell because we were playing a backup QB, Zeke was finally on the bench, etc.

Anyway, on the thread topic, I think the biggest change will be in the run game with Adams. We know we'll run less zone and more gap and power stuff. In the passing game I don't expect huge changes, unless BS can convince Dak we need to do things differently. Maybe he can.

 

[shabazz]

I know MM didn't like to use a lot of motion as he was so worried about pre-snap penalties. If they cannot play disciplined football they have to find the players who can.

MM also used to have a Qb in Green Bay that could dice up defenses without motions or shifts. He also always had 2-3 Receivers that were man-beaters......he remained stuck in 2009 and never truly adapted.

 

[Johannes44]

Scotty’s philosophy is totally different.

You don't even know what his philosophy is, let alone if he even has one.

 

[thunderpimp91]

The 105.3 guys like Belt say that was Schottenheimer. Like you've said, there were some different things and some improvements from earlier in the year. But it was hard to tell because we were playing a backup QB, Zeke was finally on the bench, etc.

Anyway, on the thread topic, I think the biggest change will be in the run game with Adams. We know we'll run less zone and more gap and power stuff. In the passing game I don't expect huge changes, unless BS can convince Dak we need to do things differently. Maybe he can.

I'll be very interested in watching the zone vs gap split they end up going with. I know a lot of talk is about them shifting to a power run game, but some of the zone designs Schottenheimer has come up with over the years are absolutely beautiful. Hes also done such a nice job of using those zone runs to get great play fakes and roll the QB out of the pocket. Its an area I'm hoping we see more tweaks than full on changes.

 

[thunderpimp91]

MM also used to have a Qb in Green Bay that could dice up defenses without motions or shifts. He also always had 2-3 Receivers that were man-beaters......he remained stuck in 2009 and never truly adapted.

I'm not sure its accurate that the Cowboys didnt run a lot of motion last year. They seemed to run quite a bit of it, especially after Dak went out. My big concern is that they didnt seem to run it all that well, as motion typically led the defense right to where the ball was going.

 

[blueblood70]

will it?????????????????? hmmm stay tuned ,

We have 17 games to discuss that that actually has or will change I mean asking us a question we have no answer to it's rhetorical and 4 pages in we're talking about something we have zero idea of what the offense is going to look like and I guarantee that's their exact philosophy why would they tell the world what they're going to do?

They're going to play football offense, defense, and special teams....

We get to watch them play 17 games unless the world ends, and that's where it's at that's the fun part of reality TV ,we don't know what's going to happen or what it's going to look like, therefore it should be more exciting to look forward to...​

By the way,

I find it ironic you think they're not going to change anything are we just going back to this same ridiculous narrative that we don't want to make Prescott uncomfortable???!!! we don't want to make this offense uncomfortable, so we will not make any changes that makes him uncomfortable ,you know that's the biggest bunch of horse hockey pucks..

Literally,

if they felt the need to change it I guarantee Prescott would have no problem running a completely different offense..

he did it coming from college and won rookie of the year he had no problem adjusting to the NFL, not even in the slightest,

what we're missing here is a strong run game a physical mentality from the trenches and that that goes through the whole team and whatever they decide to run Prescott in this team can adjust to it all teams do it...

I don't get it you see backup quarterbacks go team to team you see guys change teams that have to learn a new offense or learn a new defense that is not a problem for most players, maybe not named Johnny Manziel who can't read a playbook,

Dak Prescott can run any offense in the NFL guaranteed so let's stop the nonsense that they're not changing much to make sure the players don't have to learn anything I don't know where that comes from they literally have all these OTA's mini camps training camp and preseason to purposely have the time to install and adjust this type of stuff...

Which by the way how many head coaches and offensive coordinators had we had and people keep saying nothing's changed that they didn't want to change much from Garrett to Mike Mccarthy and then from Kellen Moore back to McCarthy as the OC you're trying to tell me there was no changes there weren't many changes and some of them were for the worse..

By the way I think some of you have the misconception that there's like 65 different offenses in the NFL where really there's not that many the play calls the the the route running the schemes they're almost all identical football has not changed much over the last 100 years what has changed is the coach's ability to run them at a different formations and try to disguise what you're doing and also being smarter than the defensive coordinator by giving them eye candy more motion doing things per game the game plan to adjust to the defense at hand and make sure you're utilizing your players that you have on your team to the best of their ability meaning you go as deep as you can into your playbook that's probably as thick as an encyclopedia Britannica at times four and use the plays that best suit your players and that's the ones you call the most when you're devising your game plans.

It's really not that difficult again to ask anyone there aren't that many offense or defensive plays in the NFL not much have changed they changed some of the language they changed some of the cadences and the words they use for the audibles and whatnot of course they have to change a lot of things but the routes being ran through all the same they're just done at a different formations that is up to the coaches to make sure that when they're implementing game plans week to week they're putting the best plays they can against that defense are about to play the problem around here is our coaches over the years have seemingly loved to just be vanilla we're just going to overpower the other team screw out smarting them screw devising any kind of game plans and adjustments in games to actually beat the other team.

the DC history of coaches, for far too long relied on our superstars that they're just going to be better than the players on the other side and the hell if it breaks down in the game and doesn't work we're just going to keep doing it.. Think about it you remember back in the day that old saying I don't remember who said it that they said that the offensive line looked over at the other team and told them the plays and said this is we're about to run and you're not going to be able to stop it... Sure that may have worked for the 90s teams once we became dominant but that's not the proper philosophy now and I believe coaches do it too often they need to scheme better it's not the actual offense or defense it's literally when you call it and how you use it and how you disguise the actual plays coming I call it eye candy but you show one thing you do something else you make the other team believe you're about to run and you pass and vice versa we have for far too long just lined up and just try to play straight ahead football and it gets old around here screw simplicity and vanilla...

I'm pretty sure Brian Schottenheimer in this staff are doing the best job they can getting a playbook devised for this group of players and hopefully week to week they make adjustments and they add plays they add formations and they try to disguise things are going to do in all three phases we need to make sure every week we're not looking exactly the same we can't be so vanilla that things are not evolving throughout the year that's been the biggest problem around here it's not about changing the offense it's changing the way you're practicing and strategizing weekly on what you're going to do against that particular team and when it breaks down in the game you have to have a backup plan and that's what's been missing around here for a very long time.....​

rant over.

 

[speedkilz88]

The 105.3 guys like Belt say that was Schottenheimer. Like you've said, there were some different things and some improvements from earlier in the year. But it was hard to tell because we were playing a backup QB, Zeke was finally on the bench, etc.

Anyway, on the thread topic, I think the biggest change will be in the run game with Adams. We know we'll run less zone and more gap and power stuff. In the passing game I don't expect huge changes, unless BS can convince Dak we need to do things differently. Maybe he can.

Klayton Adam's was an outside zone guy in Indy and his first year with Cards but realized his guys weren't good at it. So he switched more to pin and pull. He adjust to what his guys can do.

 

[CowboyFrog]

With Eberflus' scheme, we'll be a top 12 run defense with the personnel we have.

We'll also be top 5 in takeaways.

that would be great, lets see it on the field.

 

[Cowboyny]

...and I will ask you again until you directly address my question. Are you implying the players won't execute? You have to know, without coaching, the players executing won't happen.

Yes, players have struggled to execute the plays and have committed too many self-induced mistakes.

 

[Cowboyny]

Yeah honestly I loved the offense they ran later in the season. It had some flaws, but that was mostly issues with predictable tendencies, motion working against them, etc....all things that should be correctable. WIth what should be a more talented offense this year I think they can have a ton of success by continuing down the road of a run first approach with heavy formations.

12 personnel is the key for this offense and is why I also would like to keep Dak more under center. Defenses will be forced to match up.