RIO DE JANEIRO
On Friday morning, the Dallas Cowboys arrived in Rio de Janeiro for their Week 3 clash with the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
After a roughly 10-hour flight, the team made the short drive to the hotel and embarked on a roughly hourlong drive to the home of the Flamengo soccer club for a practice Friday afternoon.
Rio brings in more than 10 million annual tourists from around the world, but the Cowboys are not classifying themselves among that group. With just over 48 hours between the time of arrival to the time of kickoff on Sunday afternoon, the Cowboys will have a packed schedule to ensure maximum preparation for the Ravens.
“We’re going to be busy. This is a business trip,” head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Thursday. “The meetings and the walkthroughs and the practice that we’ll have [Friday], the trip to the stadium on Saturday, those are all critical parts to what we’re doing so we go into the game feeling prepared. I feel really good about the plan right now. It’s keeping these guys focused on the things that went in earlier in the week.”
The Cowboys treated the week back in Frisco like a short week — similar to having a game on a Monday night and turning around for a Sunday game. Some game-plan preparations even stemmed as far back as before the Week 2 game against Washington last Sunday.
In needing to pack as much information and teaching in as possible with a limited amount of time, the Cowboys will quickly review what was taught in Frisco at the team hotel ahead of Sunday’s game. Along with Friday’s practice, it will also include multiple walkthroughs in the team hotel’s ballroom.
While the Christ the Redeemer statue and Copacabana Beach may be enticing for some, there won’t be time to be a tourist this weekend for the team.
“Yeah, I’m not planning any touristy attractions,” Schottenheimer said. “We get them down there, we’ve got a really good plan. I think the league is ready, we’re ready, and now we just got to go execute.”
“It’s going to be hard,” wide receiver George Pickens said about not being a tourist. “Because me and some of the guys haven’t been there. But we definitely know what the goal is at the end of the day … just being safe. The brand we have is a lot bigger to risk. We got fans out there, it’s a bigger brand. We definitely want to stay safe. We don’t want to risk that as a team.”
The team won’t be allowed to leave the hotel outside of Friday’s practice, Saturday’s walk-around at the stadium and Sunday’s game. For some, it’s easy to treat it like a business trip when they know it won’t be possible to go sightseeing.
“You just have to get yourself in the mindset of, ‘This is a business trip.’ We’re not going for leisure,” tight end Jake Ferguson said. “We’re not going for sightseeing or anything like that. When you look at it like that, it’s a little bit easier to lock in. It’s a little bit easier to focus on the preparation. Our team has done a great job of making sure we’re prepared.”
Game schedule dates, times, locations Sept. 18 Rangers 7, Toronto 1 Sept. 19 Rangers 6, Toronto 2 Sept. 20 Toronto 7, Rangers 2 Sept. 22 New York Mets 6, Rangers 3 Sept. 23 New York Mets 7, Rangers 2 Sept. 24 Rangers 3, New York Mets 1 Sept. 25 at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m., RSN Sept. 26 at Minnesota, 3:10 p.m., RSN Sept. 27 at Minnesota, 2:10 p.m., RSN End of the regular season Sept. 17 Wings 97, Los Angeles 77 Sept. 19 Wings 87, Phoenix 82 Sept. 21 Phoenix 87, Wings 86 Sept. 23 Wings 103, Seattle 91 WNBA playoffs First-round series (best-of-3) Game 1: Sept. 27 at Golden State, 8 p.m., USA, CNBC Game 2: Sept. 30 vs. Golden State, 8 p.m., ESPN Game 3 (if necessary): Oct. 2 at Golden State, TBD Sept. 13 N.Y. Giants 28, Cowboys 20 Sept. 20 Cowboys 37, Washington 20 Sept. 27 vs. Baltimore (at Rio de Janeiro), 3:25 p.m., CBS Oct. 4 at Houston, 12 p.m., Fox Oct. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, 7:15 p.m., Amazon Prime Video Oct. 18 at Green Bay, 7:20 p.m., NBC Oct. 26 at Philadelphia, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC Nov. 1 vs. Arizona, 12 p.m., Fox Nov. 8 at Indianapolis, 12 p.m., Fox Nov. 15 vs. San Francisco, 3:25 p.m., Fox Nov. 22 vs. Tennessee, 12 p.m., Fox Nov. 26 vs. Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m., Fox Dec. 7 at Seattle, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC Dec. 20 at L.A. Rams, 3:25 p.m., CBS Dec. 27 vs. Jacksonville, 7:20 p.m., NBC Jan. 3 vs. N.Y. Giants, 12 p.m., Fox Jan. 9 or 10 at Washington, TBA Aug. 29 North Carolina 15, TCU 10 Sept. 12 TCU 63, Grambling State 7 Sept. 19 TCU 31, Arkansas State 7 Sept. 26 at Central Florida, 2:30 p.m., FS1 Oct. 3 vs. BYU, 6 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2 Oct. 17 at Baylor, TBA Oct. 24 vs. West Virginia, TBA Oct. 31 vs. Kansas, TBA Nov. 6 at Arizona, 9:15 p.m., ESPN Nov. 14 vs. Kansas State, TBA Nov. 21 vs. Utah, TBA Nov. 26 at Texas Tech, 7 p.m., ESPN Sept. 5 Indiana 52, North Texas 16 Sept. 12 North Texas 44, UNLV 6 Sept. 19 Texas State 49, North Texas 35 Sept. 26 vs. Houston Christian, 6:30 p.m., ESPN+ Oct. 1 at Tulsa, 8 p.m., ESPN Oct. 10 vs. Charlotte, TBA Oct. 24 at Navy, 2:30 p.m. CBSSN Oct. 29 vs. Florida Atlantic, 6:30 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2 Nov. 7 vs. Rice, TBA Nov. 14 at UTSA, TBA Nov. 21 at Tulane, TBA Nov. 28 vs. UAB, TBA All home games at Crowley ISD Multi-Purpose Stadium Aug. 27 Central Oklahoma 59, Texas Wesleyan 7 Sept. 5 McNeese State 52, Texas Wesleyan 0 Sept. 12 Texas Wesleyan 56, Texas College 20 Sept. 26 vs. Nelson, 6 p.m. Oct. 3 at Arkansas Baptist, 2 p.m. Oct. 10 at Louisiana Christian, 2 p.m. Oct. 17 vs. Mary Hardin-Baylor, 1 p.m. Oct. 24 at Langston, 2 p.m. Oct. 31 vs. Oklahoma Panhandle State, 2 p.m. Nov. 7 at Ottawa (Arizona), 6 p.m. Nov. 14 at Wayland Baptist, 2 p.m. Aug. 30 FC Dallas 3, St. Louis 3 Sept. 5 FC Dallas 4, Kansas City 3 Sept. 9 FC Dallas 2, Minnesota 1 Sept. 12 FC Dallas 2, Portland 1 Sept. 19 FC Dallas 0, Austin 0 Sept. 26 vs. LAFC, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV Oct. 10 at Charlotte, 6:30 p.m., Apple TV Oct. 14 vs. Seattle, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV Oct. 17 at Houston, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV Oct. 24 vs. San Jose, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV Sept. 25-26 Dumpster Expo Oct. 1-3 Dirt Track Championship Oct. 2-3 Goodguys Lone Star Nationals Oct. 14 Tony Stewart Bowling Tournament Oct. 16-17 High Limit Racing Championship Oct. 29-31 POWRi Racing
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Nick Harris is the Dallas Cowboys beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He has experience working on the beat for DallasCowboys.com and previous work experience at Yahoo Sports/Rivals and 247Sports.