Blogging The Boys
Our writers provide their opinions on the latest Dallas Cowboys news during our weekly review on the Roundtable
Every week, we gather the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the roundtable. This week we have Tom Ryle, David Howman and Jess Haynie.
It was announced on Thursday that Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer, will be the next head coach, taking over from Mike McCarthy. The hiring has already generated widespread comments from media, Cowboys fans, and even fans from all 31 other teams.
Howman: On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 6. Schottenheimer would not have been my pick but I believe he can be successful. The issue is the message this sends: Jerry Jones has no idea what he’s doing. He bungled the Mike McCarthy situation and had no plan in place when McCarthy ultimately left him at the altar. We already knew there was a fundamental problem with the way this organization operates, but this coaching search has suggested it may be even worse than we thought.
Tom: It’s a bit hard, because Schottenheimer was kind of invisible to us. There might be great reasons to hire him. We don’t know. But I’m reading this as a Dave Campos type hire where familiarity and a willingness to not rock the boat were prized. It seems evident Jerry wants to continue business as usual. That does not bode well. I don’t know about grading the hire, but I give the process a flat F.
Jess: I give it a “D” as there was one move that would’ve been worse; keeping McCarthy. We all have our feelings, and mostly doubts, about the potential success here. But one thing I was 100% sure of was that running it back with Big Mike wasn’t going to work. They had to mix something up on the offensive coaching staff and in the overall spirit of the locker room after five years. So hopefully change is a good thing, albeit with a very suspect option.
Although Schottenheimer has never been head coach he has extensive experience as offensive coordinator. In Seattle, Schottenheimer’s offense set franchise records in points scored and gave Russell Wilson his career season. But that was followed by a down year in Jacksonville and being the OC for a Dallas offense last year that struggled to run the ball.
Howman: I think fan expectations will be super low because this isn’t a sexy hire, but the realistic expectation should still be the playoffs. The Cowboys have holes to fill, but the core nucleus remains intact, and they have enough talent to reach the postseason.
Tom: I think seven or eight wins is the ceiling. I have to disagree with Howman. Dallas has...
