For the Dallas Cowboys to be successful in 2025 under first-time head coach Brian Schottenheimer, the coach needs to show he has evolved from his time as the offensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks. Instead of letting the team run him, Schottenheimer needs to prove he has the final word.
The coach became the Seahawks' offensive coordinator in 2018 and helped change the offense from one that had a fairly even mix of run and pass to one that was focused much more on quarterback Russell Wilson. The raw results weren't bad.
In Schotty's first season, Seattle was sixth in points scored, and remained in the top ten in his next two years. The problem was that the team tended to break down late in seasons and was impotent in the playoffs. This was compounded by Seattle running the ball less each year that Schottenheimer was in Seattle.
Head coach Pete Carroll certainly noticed.
Cowboys' Brian Schottenheimer needs to avoid the same situation he faced with the Seattle Seahawks
A big issue was that Schottenheimer didn't seem to run the offense as much as Russell Wilson did by the end of the OC's stay. Who was the real OC? The Athletic's Michael Silver highlighted one example of the problem in a recent article about Schottenheimer's ascension to become the Cowboys' head coach.
Silver wrote, "During a mid-November (2020) road game against the Rams, Wilson looked capable of scrambling for a touchdown but pulled up and attempted a high-risk end-zone throw that was intercepted by cornerback Darious Williams. Afterward, Carroll was upset, telling Schottenheimer, 'I don’t recognize this offense' and mandating a shift to a lower-risk, run-heavy attack."
Things didn't change much, which led to the offensive coordinator being fired after the 2020 season. The Seahawks had gone from running the ball the most in 2018 to the 12th-most in 2020. What made the change more noticeable was Wilson being more vocal about wanting to win MVP awards.
The only way he was going to do that was by being a quarterback who threw the ball a lot. Brian Schottenheimer ended up letting him, to the detriment of the team.
For the last two seasons, Schottenheimer has been the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. The trend of starting as an OC who has a team that runs quite a bit to a more pass-heavy one is already occurring. In turn, the Cowboys scored the second-most points in 2023, but were 26th in 2024.
Part of the issue might have been injuries, but there is an obvious schematic change as well. Dallas is a team full of strong personalities, including owner Jerry Jones. A head coach who gives in too easily is not going to succeed for long. Brian Schottenheimer needs to make sure he doesn't fall into the same pit of doom he did with the Seattle Seahawks when he let Russell Wilson run the offense.