Brian Schottenheimer - Offensive Coordinator, cowboys Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-07 | Full transcript (primary source).
On September 7, 2026, Brian Schottenheimer addressed the media in a press conference as the Dallas Cowboys prepare for their upcoming game against the New York Giants. The discussion focused on the team's progress since training camp, the importance of maintaining a daily focus, and updates on player injuries, including Tyler Smith's upcoming surgery.
Related analysis: Our take on what this means
Transcript
Schottenheimer: Yeah, the biggest thing I talked about was trust the process, win the day. You know, it's a long time till Sunday night we're all excited, but you know, we got we can't skip steps. You know, we have to, you know, have a good Monday then they're off tomorrow and then come in Wednesday and we'll, you know, grasp and grab the first second down plan and then Thursday and Friday. So just stay in the moment, win the day, trust the process.
Schottenheimer: A lot better, you know, you know, I just, I think that they've come together from a cultural standpoint, you know, very quickly as well. I think the talent is better. I think that, you know, these guys are playing with a lot of confidence, coming out of training camp and preseason and part of what we're trying to do this week is to do the same thing. You know, have a good idea, good plan. You know, we'll put together a really good plan for the Giants, but you know, they're a really good football team, you know, coached by a heck of a coach, Super Bowl winning coach. And so should be fun.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, Tyler Smith is going to have surgery on his thumb tomorrow morning, something that he's just been dealing with and he'll probably go on IRDTR, you know, for four to six weeks. Just at the end of the day, felt like, you know, couldn't do the things that, you know, he had to do at a high level. We know this is a long season and so, you know, it's unfortunate, but that's why we coveted T.J. Bass and having T.J. Bass back. And I think he's played a lot of really good football for us and we expect he'll continue to do so.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, it's over time. And, you know, he's such a tough guy. I mean, I can't say enough about Tyler. I mean, just the toughness. But at the end of the day, you know, we can't pinpoint when it happened. It's just one of those deals that, at the end of the day, you know, made the decision that we all did that, hey, the best thing is to get in front of the thing. And it's a long season, so let's go get fixed.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, no, I think at the end of the day, you always see if you can kind of play through these things. He's done, you know, things like that. Like a lot of guys have, they've been able to play through them. And, you know, unfortunately, you know, when you're an offensive lineman, grip strength and things like that are really important. And again, we, you know, we know he's a quick healer and we want to get it, you know, fixed and he'll be back before too long.
Schottenheimer: A ton of confidence. You know, I mean, Tyler Smith's a great player, but we feel, you know, really confident in TJ and he's put great film on here. He's played next to Cooper BB. He's played next to Guyton. So that's nothing new, the communication and all the stuff. He actually gets a ton of reps with those guys anyways, because we manage Ciz and some in some areas. But at the end of the day, like I said, you know, we tendered him the way we tendered him because we trust this guy as a football player. And he's a damn good football player that unfortunately is just playing behind a lot of really, really good players. And so we have great confidence in TJ.
Schottenheimer: I mean, again, Tyler Smith's a great player. But again, offensive line play is tied together, you know, and like I said, we've gone into games with four new starters on the offensive line. And again, I think, you know, I'm very, very confident that this group will play well against a really good front. And, you know, I have great confidence in TJ Bass. You know, he's extremely bright, very physical, great athlete. And so, again, he'll do a marvelous job for us, I'm sure, stepping in.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, you know, I think we've got, we've got scheduled a little bit better, you know, John, in terms of, you know, the times that we'll spend together, you know, whether it's Tuesday, you know, mid afternoon, just kind of getting on the same page about some stuff and then tying it together on a Friday and through a Saturday. And so, we've got some things scheduled that maybe Felucian and I didn't. I think that's part of the evolution in me learning. It's always better to have something on the schedule. So, it's, you know, not impromptu. And hey, I need to go figure this out. So, really excited. One thing about Christian I love is he over communicates that stuff. He just wants to make sure that I'm getting what I need to feel good as the play caller and the head coach to know exactly what's going on with the defense.
Schottenheimer: No, uh-uh, yep.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, again, I think, you know, it's one of those things that's going to be ongoing. I think, you know, Terrence Steele is a starting right tackle right now. Broderick's here learning, doing an awesome job learning. And, you know, I think one thing we've done is we've gotten a lot more athletic overall as an offensive line unit. When you look at, you know, Broderick coming on board, you know, Wonyea, you know, coming on board. And I think that's a good thing for us. We've got, you know, some depth now at tackles. Drew Shelton, I think, is going to be a really good football player. And, you know, again, we'll see how the week goes and we'll see how the numbers plays. We carry the eight offensive linemen. You know, we got to figure that out throughout the week and we've got time to do that. But, really like what Broderick's done, coming in, learning the system. And, again, very, very unique athlete when you watch him move and play and do those things.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, they think they've done a really nice job. Obviously, you know, starts with, you know, getting Coach Harbaugh, terrific coach, a lot of respect for him. But they've spent money and resources and you look at their front, you know, very experienced, you know, from the inside out, D.J. Reeder and, you know, some of the pieces they have in there. Shelby Harris and, you know, Brian Burns is a great player. And then they get, you know, Tremaine as a Mike linebacker. R. Valreese, very talented group. And, again, we're going to see talented groups each week. But they've done a nice job.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, he's been, you know, he's been kicking ass in rehab. Tommy feels a lot better. And it's been great to see him back out there.
Schottenheimer: Well, number one, Denard and I go back to St. Louis. I've known Denard was a good coach for a long time. I was the coordinator when he was, I think, the assistant secondary coach, assistant DB coach. Might even had a title. Safety's coach back then. It's going way back 2011 or 12. Damn good football coach. He knows what he wants to do. The secondary base, you know, drives it. You know, they're a bunch of shell defense like we see. Really good job disguising. Very multiple. And he's got some really cool pieces to use. So this is one of those games that, you know, you don't want to overthink. You know, you're going to kind of do what you do. They're going to do what they do. It's going to come down to execution and probably going to be a pretty close game in the fourth quarter and see who can finish.
Schottenheimer: Sure. So how do you look at it? I think it's always easier to score when you have explosives. We look for explosives. Teams have a way of trying to take them away. But what I love about our team, our quarterback, I'll start there, the accessibility to process information. And if people are playing really, really soft, check the ball down underneath, take what they give us. We're pretty aggressive when it comes to third and fourth down, certainly in certain parts of the field. I think that's part of it. But I think it's a compliment to be able to say you can go 10-plus plays and score touchdowns. Means you're in condition. Means you're mentally tough. It means you understand it's one play at a time mentality. And I think that that's a good thing. We're fast and we're explosive as well. But I think we take pride in the fact that we're able to do that.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, it is a big deal. Because if you get a three and a half, you can't get those 10-plus play drives. Again, I think it comes down to the players. I mean, their ability to execute, Dak's ability to convert their downs, the people we have protecting Dak, the weapons we have on the outside. Again, we don't talk enough about what Javante does without the ball in his hands. I mean, a guy's a terrific runner, scored a ton of touchdowns last year. But this guy's a pass protector, is unique. And so the big thing for all of us is we want to live in third down and manageable. You'd love to not have a third down. You'd love to avoid third down altogether. But from a third down standpoint, we were really good last year in third and sixth or less. And like the rest of the league, third and seven-plus is tough.
Schottenheimer: Well, I just want to see him play hard. Patrick, I think they'll do that. I think the play style has been evident throughout the preseason without our vets. I think, you know, the one thing that, you know, if you talk to CP about, you know, the play style is real. We've got speed, you know, at every level. You know, Jalen Thompson's fast. D-Winners, maybe he's one of the fastest linebackers in the league. He can really run. D-Mo, obviously, great speed. You know, so when you have these athletic edge pieces, that's one of the reasons why you invest in a guy like Malakai Lawrence. You know, they can run and all that. So that's where this game has gone. You know, a lot of these mobile quarterbacks that are athletic, and they can extend plays, and they can beat you scrambling. They can beat you throwing. Jackson Dart does a great job, you know, when he gets out, you know, scrambling and scrambling to run and making plays and keeping things alive. And, you know, we got to be really good with our past Russian integrity and keep them in the pocket. But the team's speed on defense does help us.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, I mean, I think he is. I think, you know, we haven't finalized that. Today was a bonus Monday. So we're really just kind of getting them exposed to some of the basic concepts that they do offensively, defensively, and special teams. But in terms of play time and the roster numbers and all those things, we'll finalize that. But I don't see any reason from a physical standpoint that Von wouldn't be ready to play this week. And then if he's one of the guys that makes it, then he will. But we haven't had those discussions yet.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, you know, I think it starts during the week, Garrett. I mean, I think game day will be different because the week's going to be different. You know, like I talked about to John's question, I think, you know, I'll have a better idea going into games, what the plan is on defense, certainly on special teams. And I think, you know, one of the things we're going to do, it's a little bit different. This year is kind of have a meeting later in the week with the coordinators talking about, you know, hey, how we think the game's going to go. You're always ready to adjust, but we can kind of anticipate, you know, hey, okay, we're thinking this on offense. How does that affect the defense? Defensively, they're thinking this. How does that affect special teams? Special teams is thinking this. It allows you to get ahead of some things. And we didn't do it last year. And part of the evolution is, it kind of helps you go in with a mindset of how you think the game's going to start. But as always, the best coaches and best teams find a way to adapt as the game usually doesn't unfold how you think it's going to.
Schottenheimer: I love the way the guy plays, man. I think you see the team loves the way he plays. You know, I think guys are very athletic. You know, I think they've done a nice job pairing him with Matt Nagy. You know, Greg Roman, they've got some things that fit them from the RPO game to the way they want to use some of the quarterback run game stuff. So again, it goes to the fact that, you know, they're going to have a number of things for us that we haven't seen.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, again, Ed, it's a good question. I think it's fair. You know, we don't really look back. But like, again, I feel very different about this defense going into game one. Doesn't mean that, you know, we won't have, you know, big plays given up here or explosive run or a blown coverage. That's going to happen week one. Early season football is usually that way. But, you know, I'm pretty comfortable that as I'm planning to call the game and even on game day, I have a sense of kind of what's going on on the other side of the ball. Last year was not a very good year for us defensively. So it was easy to be in an aggressive mindset. But like I said, I'm very comfortable playing 10-7 games and field position. And, you know, we just want to find ways to win. And I think, like I said, the three units that we have that we'll put out there on offense, defense, and special teams give us a chance to do that.
Schottenheimer: I think they're going to win with preparation. That's what, you know, John's all about. You know, he takes a lot of pride in the preparation part. I think we all talk about that. But I think, you know, talking to people that have been on John's staff, he does a great job, kind of like we're talking about today, staying in the moment, trusting the process. Wednesday's Wednesday. Don't skip Wednesday to get to Friday or Saturday. And, you know, the guy knows how to win. And so, again, I think they've had a really good off-season, just like we have. And now we get a chance to go compete and, you know, play 60 minutes or 60 minutes plus, whatever it takes, in a really cool environment on Sunday Night Football.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, we haven't decided. It's based off of packages and plans. Obviously, Caleb gives us a lot of versatility, but you'll see them all play.
Schottenheimer: Yeah, there's a lot of decisions. Yeah, I think he's awesome at, you know, just handling, you know, lots of information down in distance. Personnel, defensive personnel, formations, motions, things like that. And I think it speaks to the benefit of having a veteran, you know, being a guy that's been in this system for, you know, almost five plus six years, whatever it's been, with, you know, Kel and Mike and myself. I think that's important. But, yeah, I mean, it's amazing how much he can handle and do it in a short period of time. That's why people don't, you know, probably talk about, you know, they say, some people say the hardest thing to do is hit a baseball, which I can't hit one. So I'm not saying it's not, but playing quarterbacks got to be up there, man. These guys are on a time clock against some of the best athletes in the world and they have to process a lot of information. They got to bail us out when we make [unclear] calls. So it's a, Babel attests to it. It's really hard.
Schottenheimer: You know, Givante's our bell cow. And, you know, the other guys are certainly going to play. But, you know, Givante's one of those guys that, you know, the stronger he gets is based off how many carries he gets and what we think we learned with Givante is more about how we handle him during the week, Nick, in terms of his workload during the week, not so much on game day. But again, you know, in terms of rotations and things like that, we haven't finalized that stuff.