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Todd ArcherNov 2, 2025, 10:00 PM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Todd Archer is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Dallas Cowboys. Archer has covered the NFL since 1997 and Dallas since 2003. He joined ESPN in 2010.<\/p>\n FRISCO, Texas — As head coach of the Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, Brian Schottenheimer can be pulled in many directions.<\/p>\n Schottenheimer is also the offensive playcaller, which requires a lot of time in the meeting rooms with Dak Prescott<\/a>, CeeDee Lamb<\/a>, George Pickens<\/a>, et. al, but given the defensive issues of the team, he is spending a “significant amount” of time in defensive meeting with coordinator Matt Eberflus.<\/p>\n In a perfect world, Schottenheimer wouldn’t do it. He remembers his feelings when head coaches Rex Ryan or Pete Carroll was in his meetings when he was the offensive coordinator of the New York Jets<\/a> and Seattle Seahawks<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n “Having been a coordinator and having had head coaches come and sit in my meetings, it’s tough. You don’t like it. You kind of take it a little, umm, myself personally, I took it personal,” Schottenheimer said. “Like, ‘Why are you in my meeting? Hey, Pete, get out of my meeting. I don’t want you in my meeting, Pete.’ ‘Hey, Rex, why are you in my meeting? Get out.’ Flus hasn’t been like that at all. And he’s been very open to some of the thoughts.”<\/p>\n Schottenheimer was in the defensive meetings in 2022 when he was a consultant with the Cowboys. Now with greater responsibility, he wants to know what is going on in meetings when the defense ranks 31st in points and yards allowed per game.<\/p>\n “It’s not to get in the way,” Schottenheimer said. “It’s to offer my expertise on what I see and how I would attack them and things like that.”<\/p>\n Eberflus was that way as the head coach of the Chicago Bears<\/a>, and he sees the benefits of Schottenheimer’s presence.<\/p>\n “When you can get that … it’s really beneficial because you can see it through the offensive coordinator’s eyes. You get his insight. Not only in that meeting, a defensive meeting or a unit meeting, but also just talking in the office together. I think that’s really important to soak that in.<\/p>\n “Even with the quarterbacks I’ve been with. I’ve always asked them, Philip Rivers<\/a>, Tony Romo<\/a>, all those guys I’ve been around, I’ve always asked, ‘What’s tough on you in terms of a presentation and what we can do to make it look a certain way?’ that’s always beneficial.”<\/p>\n Always be ready<\/p>\n Not long before the inactives were due before the Cowboys played the Washington Commanders<\/a> in Week 7, Schottenheimer came by Malik Davis<\/a>‘ locker for a brief visit.<\/p>\n “Hey,” the coach said, “you’re going.”<\/p>\n The practice squad running back knew it was a possibility since he was elevated to the game-day roster a day earlier, but it wasn’t a sure thing he would dress for the game.<\/p>\n “I actually went out [to the field] a little later than I normally would if I knew I was playing,” Davis said. “It was like a last-minute kind of thing. In this business, that’s just how things work sometimes.”<\/p>\n It has worked twice that way for Davis. Released by the Cowboys in April, he rejoined the team on Aug. 8, the day before the first preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> because of injuries at the position. Without a practice or walkthrough, he finished with 63 yards on seven carries. Ultimately, he ended up on the practice squad.<\/p>\n “I feel like I knew what I was capable of,” Davis said. “Me out there on that field, the show I put on, that’s me, that’s who I’ve always been. I was just blessed and thankful I was able to showcase that talent on such short notice.”<\/p>\n On short notice against the Commanders, Davis was credited with three special teams tackles and was given a game ball by Schottenheimer and the staff.<\/p>\n “It meant a lot,” he said. “I’m able to prove to myself and my teammates that I’m supposed to be here and I’m able to help them win games if I’m up.”<\/p>\n Hometown hero, home-field advantage<\/p>\n Arizona Cardinals<\/a> quarterback Kyler Murray<\/a> has never lost at AT&T Stadium, going 8-0. He won three straight state championships (2012-14) with Allen High School, finishing 5-0 at AT&T Stadium, where he also won a Big 12 championship with Oklahoma in 2018 and a pair of NFL games with the Cardinals.<\/p>\n Although Murray won’t start Monday against the Cowboys (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC\/ESPN<\/a>) due to a foot injury, coach Jonathan Gannon said he could play a role<\/a>.<\/p>\n Prescott is aware of Murray’s success in his stadium.<\/p>\n “I think that’s mad impressive, … [the] state championships. Don’t know how many regular seasons he played there. Then I’m sure he played a few in college, playing for the teams he played for,” Prescott said. “And then what, having won against us. Twice? Twice?”<\/p>\n Prescott remembered the 2022 loss, 25-22. He forgot about the 38-10 loss in 2020, which also came on “Monday Night Football,” probably because that was the first game after he suffered a dislocation and fracture of his right ankle.<\/p>\n “It’s something that I’m sure he wants to continue and build off of,” Prescott said, “and I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen this Monday.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Todd ArcherNov 2, 2025, 10:00 PM CloseTodd Archer is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Dallas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-257436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer has been sitting in on coordinator Matt Eberflus’ defensive meetings lately.\u00a0AP Photo\/David Zalubowski<\/p>\n