CeeDee Lamb has never beaten the Arizona Cardinals, and this week he said Arizona always seems to bring more energy to the game. Brian Schottenheimer heard that and disagreed. “I know why,” the Cowboys coach said Friday. “Minus 11 turnover differential in those games. Last year we were minus three. So the ball is what this game’s going to come down to. I don’t think it’s got to do with energy.”
The 3-4 Cowboys host the 2-5 Cardinals on Sunday. Arizona has won the last four meetings and has never lost at AT&T Stadium, and Schottenheimer said he hit that “right between the eyes” with his team. “One and eight against them going back to, I think, 2011,” he said. “It’s a noon kickoff. Both teams are going to have to draw from it. We have the fans, but again, the ball.”
Shemar James keeps the green dot
Second-year linebacker Shemar James wore the green dot as the middle linebacker in Monday night’s 38-21 win in Philadelphia, ahead of rookie Jaishawn Barham, and Schottenheimer said he has earned the job. “Based on the way Shemar is playing, he’s earned the right to be in there,” he said. “He takes charge, which is really important. There’s a lot of moving parts that go on out there on defense and I think he has a very settling effect because of the way he takes control.”
He said he explains changes like this to every player involved, and that he will need all of his linebackers. “The linebacker position, as we’ve already seen this year, is a revolving door because of the physicality and the brutality of the position,” he said. Where DeMarvion Overshown lines up depends on the package and the call, and Schottenheimer said the linebackers cross-train so well that both James and Barham can call the defense in the same practice.
He does not think the early load was too much for Barham, who had the green dot from mid-September. Schottenheimer said Barham has been “elite in the run game” and is “getting thinned out a little bit at times” in the passing game. “All these young players, they need time to grow, and he’s no different,” he said. “Going to be a fine, fine, fine player in this league.”
Stopping Trey McBride
Schottenheimer coached Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett in Indianapolis and said his preparation is “elite.” He warned that Brissett is hard to bring down and will force some balls into tight windows if the pass rush gets around him. The main target is tight end Trey McBride. “He’s got receiver movement qualities in a tight end’s body,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s got running back make-you-miss change of direction ability in a tight end body. The play just gets started when he gets the ball, because he is dynamic with the ball in his hands.”
“The ball’s going to go his way,” he added. “So if we don’t do a good job of getting people in his face and getting people around him and near him, then he’s shown the ability to hurt people.” He also expects Arizona to blitz “getting off the bus” and said the Cowboys have not punished blitzes enough this year. “The expectation is this week we will,” he said.
Arizona’s defense changes its look often, and Schottenheimer said the answer is simple. “They create chaos. That’s what they try to do and they do a good job of creating chaos,” he said. “But what we talk about is taking our playbook to the stadium. They have 11, we have 11. So unless they find a way to play 12 and 13, our rules should handle it as long as we’re on the same page.”
How the play sheet gets built
Schottenheimer, who calls the offense, explained how his game-day sheet comes together. The staff builds it by section, starting with first- and second-down runs and passes, then third down, short yardage and goal line, with his chief of staff moving the lists onto the sheet during the week. After practice he starts “tweaking and moving things,” talks with his coaches and Dak Prescott, and usually finishes on Saturday night, or on the day of the game in prime time weeks.
His big habit is on Saturday. “I like to go back through the week and watch the entire week of practice again and get refreshed about why I might like certain runs on first and second down that you haven’t seen since Wednesday,” he said.
On fourth downs and two-point tries, he said analytics are part of every decision but his gut often wins as the play-caller. He told a story from his time on Pete Carroll’s staff. “I remember Pete Carroll always asking me, ‘On fourth down, you got a good one?’ And I’d say, ‘Yeah.’ And I might have been like, ‘No, I don’t,’” he said, laughing. “As the play-caller, for sure, you trust your gut, because you kind of know what you’re looking at.”
The offensive line, Luepke and the injury report
He said the offensive line was “elite” against the Eagles. “They like going forwards, they don’t like going backwards,” he said. “What I just was blown away by was the consistency of the execution. It wasn’t one play. It was multiple plays where they were moving people.” The whole line, the tight ends included, got game balls.
Schottenheimer said he expects safety Caleb Downs, receiver George Pickens and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to be available. Linebacker Dee Winters (calf) and returner KaVontae Turpin (ribs) were ruled out on Friday, and tight end Luke Schoonmaker (groin) is questionable after missing practice. If Schoonmaker cannot play, Schottenheimer said fullback Hunter Luepke could do more. “Hunter Luepke’s a guy that we talk a lot about that does just everything good,” he said. Luepke got a game ball for his special teams work in Philadelphia, and Schottenheimer called the coverage units “elite” with “an identity and a swag” right now.
As for the noon start after three straight prime time games, he said the music will be “blaring” in the locker room, with Von Miller helping pick the songs. “We can’t be talking about being hungry and motivated to play to our standard and then just because it’s a noon game, the game’s not different,” he said. “Playing at home should be something that we love to do.”
The Cowboys host the Cardinals on Sunday, November 1, at 1 p.m. ET, which is 8 p.m. in Cairo.
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