Cowboys fans will lose their minds over Brian Schottenheimer’s NFL resume

Fans have become able to read the Dallas Cowboys like a book. From the minute the organization dismissed Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator, and promoted Mike McCarthy as the offensive play-caller, Cowboys fans took to social media in droves to predict the inevitable appointment of Brian Schottenheimer as OC.

In fulfilling the NFL’s Rooney Rule, the Cowboys conducted interviews with a handful of candidates, including Panthers running backs coach Jeff Nixon, Rams assistant head coach Thomas Brown, and Vikings pass-game coordinator Brian Angelichio, who has earned a second interview for the Ravens OC job, for what it’s worth.

Despite the string of interviews, it felt written in the stars Dallas would appoint an in-house staff member to replace Kellen Moore. Now-former quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier was an option before he was let go, and that only added to the growing inevitability that Schottenheimer would get the gig.

That was confirmed on Saturday, and the announcement led to mixed reviews (mostly negative) from Cowboys fans on social media.

While McCarhty will ultimately get the final say in play-calling, Schottenheimer’s career resume is enough to make you question why (and how) the Cowboys came to this decision. Get a load of where Schottenheimer’s former offense’s ranked under his tutelage.

Cowboys fans are furious the team hired Brian Schottenheimer to replace Kellen Moore as offensive coordinator.

The grass, as it turns out, isn’t always greener.

It’s important to note Schottenheimer hasn’t been an offensive coordinator at every stop throughout his career. That being said, it speaks volumes that he’s never presided over an elite offense.

The fact there’s even a debate about which of his jobs was the most disappointing is a major concern, especially when you consider Dak Prescott is coming off the worst season of his career after he led the NFL in interceptions despite missing five games.

Ultimately, this is a domino effect of McCarthy taking over plays. Given Schottenheimer’s experience, and ties to McCarthy — the head coach’s first NFL coaching job was as an offensive quality control coach under Marty Schottenheimer, Brian’s late father — Dallas was never going to give a serious look to an outside candidate.

No matter how you spin it, though, the fact of the matter is Schottenheimer has failed to flourish despite working with talented quarterbacks. Trevor Lawrence, Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson are the gunslingers he’s recently collaborated with, and each of those offense’s finished in the bottom half of the league.

Again, McCarthy is the chief play-caller, but it’s also OK to get anxious thinking about Schottenheimer installing McCarthy’s scheme and getting players on the same page for matchups on a weekly basis.

This is a scenario where Cowboys fans will gladly take egg on their face, but it’s admittedly hard to see the forest for the trees here.

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