Blogging The Boys
Brian Schottenheimer appears to have learned from his past.
Brian Schottenheimer may not have been there for the Seahawks’ peak, but he saw what a championship culture looks like. By the time Schottenheimer arrived in Seattle following the 2017 season, the Seahawks had already won a Super Bowl after appearing in the big game two straight years. They had also just missed the playoffs for the first time in six seasons, and were looking for a bit of a reset, hence Schottenheimer’s hire.
It was a strange time in Seattle. Pete Carroll had quickly turned the organization around after posting losing records his first two years, winning it all by Year 4. He did it with a combination of fundamentally sound schemes, strong personalities with a knack for leadership, and a collective chip on the shoulder.
As hard as it is to win in the NFL, though, handling success can also be just as much of a challenge. And the Seahawks team that Schottenheimer joined was experiencing that.
Marshawn Lynch - one of the bigger personalities and leaders in that locker room - had retired two years prior. Defensive lynchpins like Kam Chancellor, Richard Sherman, and Cliff Avril had all ended 2017 on the injured reserve; Avril and Chancellor never played again, while Sherman left in free agency that offseason. And Russell Wilson was entering the final year of his contract, eyeing a significant pay raise.
So much of the Seahawks’ success had been built on their identity of being the underdog - a third-round pick at quarterback, a handful of Day 3 picks on defense, lacking any bona fide star power - that becoming a perennial Super Bowl favorite and having their best players all making top-of-market money made it harder to retain that culture.
In some ways, Schottenheimer finds himself entering a similar situation in Dallas.
Over the past decade, only seven teams have a higher win percentage than the Cowboys. They don’t win in the playoffs, but they usually make the postseason, and are frequently closer to the top than the bottom in Super Bowl odds every year. Dak Prescott is the highest paid player in the league, while CeeDee Lamb is third in annual average salary for receivers; it’s only a matter of time until Micah Parsons is the highest paid defender, if not highest paid non-quarterback.
Schottenheimer, like Carroll after the 2017 season, is trying to figure out how to field a team that plays with an edge - with something to prove - every game when their best players are already getting paid (and talked about) like they’ve already proved themselves.
Similar to the Seahawks when Schottenheimer arrived, the answer is a mix of continuity and change.
Carroll made changes after the 2017 season, firing both offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and defensive coordinator Kris Richard. Schottenheimer came in to run the offense, and Ken Norton Jr. - who had coached Seahawks linebackers before departing to coordinate the Raiders defense - replaced Richard. Each coach...
