FRISCO, Texas – What took place Sunday night was not happenstance.
The foundation for at least this 40-40 tie under some dire circumstances was laid by Brian Schottenheimer way back in February when the new head coach was completing construction of his coaching staff. There were some serious clues of what he wanted to do, especially if you knew what he previously had done during several of his offensive coordinator stops.
Then there's his coaching heritage, guarantee you if by nothing more than by osmosis because of his late-father Marty's offensive philosophy of making running the football a priority. And in needing to facilitate that aspect of the game of football by placing a huge significance on building a sturdy offensive line.
As former Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett reminded me back then, Brian was raised on "Marty Ball."
Offensive line play matters.
Do you realize the adversity the Cowboys had to overcome to put 40 points on one of the best defenses in the NFL? They nearly scored more points in one game plus overtime than the total amount of points the Green Bay defense had given up over the first three games of the season (44), 18 being the most in any of those outings.
The Cowboys a 40-burger for the second time in their three games.
There was no CeeDee Lamb, and that speaks for itself.
But also no starting center, Cooper Beebe.
No starting right guard and 12th pick in the NFL Draft, Tyler Booker.
And by time the extra 10 minutes rolled around no starting left tackle, Tyler Guyton.
If you are scoring at home, that's missing three-fifths of the starting offensive line, giving new meaning to Next Man Up.
Yet the Cowboys put 40 points on Go Pack Go, the most they had given up in 44 games, having to go back to Nov. 27, 2022, when the Eagles beat Green Bay 40-33.
Impressive.
Reminded me of this conversation I had with Schottenheimer out at The Star when he was walking up the stairs toward his office while his assistant coaches were doing their first media interviews down in the hallways outside the locker room. And though previously documenting our brief conversation, it went like this:
Me: "Judging from what I'm hearing and evaluating from your previous stops as offensive coordinator, there seems to be an emphasis being placed on running the football."
Schotty: "I'd say that's accurate. I'd say you have to be able to run the football in this league."
Me: So seems these offensive coach hires have been intentional to this philosophy of running the football."
Schotty: "I think so."
Not just running the ball but putting a priority on coaching offensive linemen.
Schottenheimer hires Klayton Adams as a first-time NFL offensive coordinator. Klayton had made his NFL coaching bones as an offensive line coach. Heck, Schotty knew he himself was going to be the coordinator/play-caller, but this was a way of bringing on board a noted offensive line coach who had not coordinated an offense since being the co-offensive coordinator in 2018 at Colorado.
When Adams was asked if he might still have a hand in coaching the offensive line while the OC, he said, "I definitely won't stay away from that."
He hasn't, spending the majority of his practice time over there with the big guys.
Then Schottenheimer doubles down on the offensive line. He hires Kansas State offensive coordinator Conor Riley, a highly respected college offensive line coach who had 18 years of offensive line coaching duties at seven different schools.
And on top of that, Schotty retains assistant offensive line coach Ramon Chinyoung.
Catching my drift?
Think that coaching talent didn't pay off Sunday night?
Look, Brock Hoffman first landed on the Cowboys' practice squad thanks to his versatility playing center and guard. In fact, last season when Zack Martin finally gave in to his ankle in need of surgery, Hoffman started the final seven games in his place and then made the Cowboys 53-man roster this year in the same capacity, as a backup center/guard.
Tell you what, Cowboys didn't miss a beat with Hoffman at center.
Then there is T. J. Bass, another third-year player, an undrafted free agent signed in 2023. Made the team as a backup guard but also was being groomed to potentially become a backup center. When Booker goes down in Game 3, Bass, who primarily had been playing left guard in training camp, goes in at right guard. Played well.
Those two guys next to each other had created chemistry playing on the second-team line but also as part of the offensive line room.
"When you can create that, then you can live through situations when you've got two or three guys down," Adams said. "And somebody is getting called up because the guys that are still in there, kind of the survivors playing in the game know, 'Hey, I got no issues here. Brock is going to be fine, or I got no issues because T.J. is going to be fine.'
"That's what you are trying to create, specifically with those two guys. … They just know."
Not a stretch to suggest those offensive line coaches did a heck of a job having those backups ready to play.
And it's not just Dallas scoring 40 points, but the Cowboys also ran for 117 yards, Javonte Williams rushing for his fourth touchdown this season when the Cowboys only had six all of last year. And on top of that, Dak suffered just one sack. The Cowboys now have rushed for more than 100 yards in all four games, just one of four teams in the NFL currently with that streak.
But hey, that's not all. Guyton suffers that concussion and in comes Nate Thomas, who had been working at right tackle during practice that week to rotate in for the series he did. Well Thomas, a seventh-round draft choice, spent his rookie season on IR. Didn't play a down of football. Not a down since his final year at Louisiana in 2023. Hey, big guy, don't think anything about of it, but now you're in at left tackle. You're the next man up over there too.
Didn't miss a beat.
"And he did a pretty good job when he got in there," Adams said. "He didn't blink. I was surprised by that, but that is what you are hoping to see."
But as if this offensive line stuff is a beach game of Limbo – you know, how low can you go – this offensive line challenge now goes even lower into the Cowboys' depth. Appears starting left guard Tyler Smith, the Pro Bowl guard just paid a huge extension to keep him here for forever more, now has a knee injury. Hasn't practiced all week and at best is being listed as questionable for Sunday.
Well, Hoffman and Beebe are already preoccupied. Now likely, if needed, in comes either Hakeem Adeniji or Trevor Keegan. One would start; one would be the sixth-man backup. Keegan, but a second-year player the Cowboys gobbled up off the waiver wire when released by the Eagles, has offensive line versatility. He hasn't played a down of football so far this year. Played just 35 snaps last year with Philadelphia. One game. And then Adeniji, a sixth-year veteran playing limited backup time at guard and tackle during his career, started 15 of the 45 NFL games he played for Cincinnati and Miami.
Kidding me, right?
And guarantee you, the Jets are probably smacking their lips, especially the mammoth Quinnen Williams in the middle of that defensive line. He's 6-3, 303, reminding of the late Philly defensive tackle Jerome Brown. Probably need two of these starting backups tending to him at all times.
Meaning, the 0-4 Jets are champing at the bit to get that first win, having won just three of their last 18 games. But hey, the Cowboys have only won one of their last six, the tie notwithstanding. And now for sure are missing three-fifths their starting offensive line and potentially four-fifths if the questionable Smith can't go, Terence Steele the last starter standing.
Have at it Klayton, Conor and Ramon. Good luck Schotty with that game plan. And Dak Prescott, good gosh, be careful out there.
"That's the overarching theme, whether your 100 percent healthy or not, everybody better be ready to play," Adams said. "Because if you're getting a jersey on game day, you're going. You're expected to play well.
"Standard operating procedure I think in the NFL is that somebody else is going to be up, and they've got to carry the flag. And they've got to get ready to play, and they've got to play well."
Maybe 40 years later John Fogerty could amend his "Centerfield" lyrics to, "Put US in, coach. WE'RE ready to play, today. Look at US. WE can be CENTER, GUARDS, TACKLE."
These next men up.
