FRISCO, Texas — Cooper Beebe will be sidelined for quite some time with an ankle injury that forced him out of the overtime win against the New York Giants, just before the Dallas Cowboys could mount their eventual comeback win — thrusting Brock Hoffman into the role of starting center under a mountain of pressure to protect All-Pro quarterback Dak Prescott.
Hoffman would do exactly that, in the face of two-time All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, no less, and a single bad snap transfer was the only black mark on his day.
He'll now get the start for upwards of the next two months, making the decision by the Cowboys to secure him on an extension this past spring a very wise one.
"Obviously,I feel for Beebe getting hurt," Hoffman said. "But we've definitely prepared. It sucks, but it's the game of football. There's injuries that happen all the time. Obviously, like last year with Zack [Martin], stepping in for him, so when you're in that kind of backup role, swing role, it's just coming in, doing your job each and every day — be ready to play multiple positions and do whatever it takes to help this team win."
An excellent point by Hoffman in pointing out how being asked to take over for a future Hall of Fame right guard makes doing so in any other capacity, at any other position on the offensive line, is par for the course for him.
Of course, there is the added responsibility of presnap reads and IDs, and the operation of the snap to consider, as he's well aware.
"How I look at it, even when I'm playing guard, I still look at the game as like a center," he explained. "I [was] making sure everybody's on the same page."
There's another reason he's exceedingly comfortable playing center, though.
Hoffman played the position in high school in Statesville, North Carolina, going on to start 12 games at the position as a freshman for Coastal Carolina before being moved to guard as a sophomore. He'd then transfer for Virginia Tech as a junior where he started at, you guessed, center, for 11 games and then another 10 starts in the middle of the offensive line for the Hokies as a senior.
Add that to the fact head coach Brian Schottenheimer, offensive coordinator Klayton Adams and offensive line coach Conor Riley had the foresight in training camp to have Hoffman take snaps at center in the event of injury, it's safe to say he's more than prepared for what comes next.
"I guess I would say it's my natural position throughout, you know, playing football in the younger days has been center," he said. "But as I've gotten into the league, I've played more guard, right? So it's just making sure me and the rest of the O-line are on the same page in how we're seeing things, and obviously me and Dak to be ready."
And with one of Hoffman's best attributes being his bully demeanor, a fiery and cerebral approach to the game that often gets under the skin of the opposition, forever starved to impose his will and physicality upon the competition to try and get them to tap out completely at some point.
It's the same mindset of rookie first-round pick Tyler Booker and All-Pro left guard Tyler Smith, making for a very visceral, physical, domineering and mauler-mentality interior.
Asked about playing with Booker and Smith on each shoulder, the usually stonefaced Hoffman produced a rare, huge smile that put all of his pearly whites on display — for good reason.
"I'm excited, and it makes me smile a little bit," he said. "I'm definitely ready for this group to get out there Sunday [against the Chicago Bears] and really go after these guys, obviously. As a unit, we just want to be physical, do our job, make sure we're on the same page, and have fun."
And if he and the Cowboys leave Soldier Field with a win and a few souls in their luggage, all the more pleasant for a brute like Hoffman.
