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FRISCO, Texas — Alright stop, collaborate and listen, the Dallas Cowboys are back with a brand new invention — well, maybe. It remains to be seen what the offense will look like in the post-Mike McCarthy era with Brian Schottenheimer calling the plays and taking over as head coach, most of the public's ignorance being designed by the latter during a very vanilla month of August.
So vanilla. All the vanilla.
It's time to extract it, though.
That has to begin during Thursday Night Football, when the Cowboys march onto the hostile field at Lincoln Financial to take on none other than their bitter NFC East rivals who, oh by the way, also happen to be defending champs and who, oh by the way way, have the ability to score both on the ground via Saquon Barkley and quarterback Jalen Hurts as well as in the air to targets like A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert.
It may or may not be necessary to unveil the other 30 flavors of ice cream this week, but keeping to the vanilla will make for one hell of a rocky road.
To that end, I wanted to make sure there was a great chance the Cowboys will take the reins off of an offense that, on paper, has the possibility of holding me tightly, and flowing like a harpoon, daily and nightly, so I asked the question to the resident sorbettiere, Schottenheimer.
"Preseason was the only chance we'd ever get to do it. When you put a new staff together, it doesn't matter whether it's offensive, defensive or special teams, why would you want to, already, give a very, very talented defense with an incredible coach like Nick [Fangio] and his staff — why would you want to give them those opportunities to prepare for things? Do they know we're going to run the football? Yes. Do they know we're gonna try to throw football to George and CeeDee? Is Turping going to be involved? Yep. But they don't have to see exactly how." - Brian Schottenheimer to me (Sept. 2, 2025)
Fair enough, but it's time to show and prove.
It honestly couldn't be more perfect to have the Cowboys' first test be against the Eagles, and on the road, because it'll test so many things right out of the gate: run defense, passing defense, ability to establish their own run and ability to realize the potential of having Lamb and Pickens on the same offense with Pro Bowl tight end Jake Ferguson's ribs touching — starving to deliver a bounceback season and to remind the NFL of what his ceiling looks like — and not only a speedster like All-Pro returner KaVontae Turpin, but also a home run hitter in rookie running back Jaydon Blue presumably in rotation with Javonte Williams and former Eagles' halfback Miles Sanders.
Sanders will want to prove to Philadelphia and the entire NFL that he's still a playmaker, as he once was, and Williams has garnered so much respect from the coaching staff this offseason that he was put in bubble wrap during the entirety of the preseason; and is expected to be the Week 1 starter against the Eagles.
Ability was never the albatross that slowed Williams' development in Denver, but rather his injury history, though he's completely healthy now and had zero issues in Oxnard.
He was a second-round pick for a reason, after all.
A human highlight reel in his own right, Pickens was a showstealer in training camp, as he often was for the Pittsburgh Steelers before landing in Dallas, and the dynamic, and chemistry, with Lamb can't be overstated.
It's evident, and it's potent, and it needs to be nourished in games.
"George is looking forward to the moment because he loves playing the game of football and I think he'll step up and play well, but also with a lot of passion, come Thursday night." - Brian Schottenheimer (Sept. 2, 2025)
Turpin needs his fair share of burn as well, because he's deadly when the play is a dope melody, and anything less than the best is a felony.
The turbocharged, but megatough, personification of lightning in a bottle was taking defensive players' cookies only months after getting his cream, a multi-year extension that hints largely at a heightened use on offense, and not simply as a wideout but also at running back, a position he played in both high school and in the European League of Football, and then at times during his USFL MVP season in 2022.
Factor him into the ground attack, as much as you would into the aerial assault.
"I'm excited to watch those guys every day in practice. It's fun to watch those guys. But what I love is the way they feed off one another, and they celebrate one another. As we all know, there's only one ball, and the ball can't go to multiple spots on a play, and we've got a lot of really good weapons. Terps having a great leadup to the season. We're going to run the football, we know that. And so I'm just excited for how much fun those guys have." - Brian Schottenheimer (Sept. 2, 2025)
The thing about all of this is, well, love it or leave it, the Cowboys' offensive line better gangway, and they better hit the bullseye because Jalen Carter and the Eagles don't play.
Make no mistake about it, outside of Tyler Smith and, to a degree, Terence Steele, there is a lot of youth in the Cowboys' offensive trenches that will earn every red cent of their paycheck on Thursday night. The two headlines surrounding the group include former first-round pick Tyler Guyton, looking for a substantially more impactful second year but also working to try and take the field against the Eagles after missing the majority of camp with a bone fracture in his knee.
Whether Guyton can play or not is to-be-determined but, even if he does, his first game back, and of the season, and against the Eagles, might require some rotational assistance by Nate Thomas, another second-year talent.
Either way, great potential, little experience.
Cooper Beebe, the third in the group of starters who is entering Year 2 (sensing a theme here?) was so impressive as a rookie convert to center that it opened plenty of eyes and kept some people's eyelids taped open, willfully, because it was difficult to look away from his progress for fear of missing a great block, or a pancake, or someone potentially being dirted, as he calls it.
His second training camp flew under the radar of most, because of the more click-worthy names surrounding him on offense, but I voted for Beebe as one of camp MVPs, if that tells you anything about how I graded him this summer.
But, as it goes, game reps tell all, and the heights of Beebe's level-up will be more easily measured when he's facing one of the best fronts in the NFL.
In 2024, he allowed a total of four pressures and ½ sack in 33 pass plays in Week 10, and bested those numbers with only one pressure allowed and zero sacks in the Week 17 rematch.
That's substantial progress in the span of only a month and a half, and he was the best Cowboys' offensive lineman not named Tyler Smith in those, and several other, matchups — Smith allowing a total of only four pressures with zero sacks in both games combined.
The two make for a stout interior presence that only needs completion in the wake of Zack Martin retiring, gargantuan shoes being stepped into by rookie first-round pick Tyler Booker.
"I know he's gonna be excited and all that, but the type of person that he is and the type of personality that he is, and the type of competitor that he is, I mean, I get goosebumps just thinking about it because I know what he's going to look like before that game, and I know how he's going to respond. He's a guy that manages himself very well." - Klayton Adams (Sept. 1, 2025)
Booker will often, and mainly, be matched up against All-Pro defensive tackle Jalen Carter, some good ole fashioned Alabama versus Georgia drama that the SEC was robbed of because of their paths narrowly avoiding crossing each other during their collegiate careers.
Carter was the name Booker circled following the draft as one he's most excited to measure himself against, and he'll get his wish to begin his NFL career, and with all the world tuned in, though talking to the 21-year-old reveals anything but nerves or anxiety.
If anything, Booker gives off an aura of "he bleeds just like I do" when asked about the matchup with Carter, and that's the exact energy that could serve him well.
Booker is anything but arrogant, mind you, and he simply understands that while Carter's abilities and dominance are known and dangerous, looking up to it only softens the approach because it poisons the well with doubt.
The young guard is choosing to instead stand tall and look that dominance directly in its eyes and welcome the test before him, as anyone who's spent months studying for it would and should, because confidence lies in the preparation and his own share of God-given talent.
"[Booker has] played against great players [at Alabama] … Jalen's going to win some battles, and Book's going to win some battles; and that's football, man. And if you can't get excited about that going into a matchup in a game, and in the blocking game — how cool is that?" - Brian Schottenheimer (Sept. 2, 2025)
It's actually pretty damn cool, to be honest.
Almost as cool as a refrigerated 18-wheeler full of vanilla ice cream, as a matter of fact, but let's hope the Cowboys throw some mint chocolate chip, butter pecan and, hell, feel free to go full Coldstone Creamery out there in Philly.
In other words, create some flavors from scratch and watch the faction of fans and analysts watching and … waffling … in their support of what the offense could be suddenly throwing their full weight and support behind the offense's potential for 2025.
I could use this column to tell you how Dak Prescott is 2-1 against the Eagles when Jalen Hurts is at the helm, or that his touchdown to interception ratio in those games is 16:1, but I won't (wait, I think I just did — oops ;-)). That's because I would also have to remind you that, overall, Vic Fangio usually has great success against the All-Pro quarterback, so let's call the past exactly what it is: the damn past.
The only thing that matters on Thursday is Thursday, and if being offensively vanilla even remotely becomes a problem early on, let the other flavors solve it, and then check out the score as Prescott revolves it.
