Brian

Schottenheimer

Schottenheimer was signed to the team in March 2022 as an offensive consultant, charged with working with the offensive coaching staff in a game-planning role. He now gets the in-house promotion following the departure of Kellen Moore for a franchise that continues to commit to a run-balanced offense. This move should continue that trend after Schottenheimer ran the league’s most run-heavy offense during his time in Seattle.

The guy who ran one of the NFL’s most conservative, run-heavy offenses while in Seattle will now work with both Dallas coordinators on “league trends.” It would be laughable if it weren’t tragic. Schottenheimer in 2021 took over play calling duties for the lifeless Jacksonville offense in the final weeks of the regular season, establishing the run as hard as ever. Hopefully for CeeDee Lamb, Dak Prescott, and the rest of the Cowboys offense, Schotty’s thoughts on game planning and “league trends” will be taken with a grain of salt.

That’ll fix it. Schottenheimer most recently held back a Russell Wilson-led offense in Seattle, so it seems unlikely he is able to turn around the dumpster fire in Jacksonville. That said, Schottenheimer has shown a propensity for leaning on the run, so this could be good news for James Robinson.

Schottenheimer will work alongside new coach Urban Meyer and OC Darrell Bevell after he was fired from the Seahawks last month following Seattle’s sputtering end to the season. Schottenheimer’s Seattle offenses were so scared to pass the ball, so “pass-game coordinator” is a curious title for him in his new city. But the title probably doesn’t mean a whole lot. After spending six years as the Jets’ OC, this will be Schottenheimer’s fifth job over the last 10 seasons.

Schottenheimer and the Seahawks “parted ways” citing “philosophical differences” as the reason why. The Seahawks offense has been good but inconsistent since Schottenheimer was hired in 2018. Critics believed Seattle’s balanced approach on offense was to blame, sparking the #LetRussCook movement. Russell Wilson was pacing for an MVP season through the first eight weeks of 2020 while ranking top-five in neutral pass rate, but the offense began running more on early downs and Wilson struggled making easy throws underneath. That set up a total stinker against the Rams’ Cover 2 defense in the Wild Card round. Ultimately, the Seahawks ranked 6th, 9th, and 8th in points under Schotty’s watch. He’ll likely be invited for offensive coordinator interviews immediately.

Cue the collective groan of Seahawks fans everywhere. Seattle’s offense started as a pass-heavy, aggressive juggernaut in 2020 only to fizzle out as an offense without a clear identity in the season’s second half -- a massive letdown for both fantasy managers and Seattle fans who thought the team had finally handed control of the offense to their all-world QB. The team will be in for at least one more season of managing the tension between Carroll’s and Schotty’s conservative, establish-the-run ethos and the potential of a passing game highlighted by ultra-efficient Russell Wilson and a dominant DK Metcalf emerging as one of the league’s best wideouts. Carroll said Monday that the team’s focus in 2021 would be running the ball more.

Schottenheimer seems to get head-coaching interviews every year, and we’re not sure why. His offenses are unimaginative and vanilla on an annual basis. In 2013, he couldn’t find a way to use Tavon Austin and didn’t feature high-priced TE Jared Cook nearly enough. Schotty likes to run a ground-and-pound offense. He did that with former Vanderbilt star Zac Stacy this past season and relied on Shonn Greene in the past. Schottenheimer has been the Rams’ OC the past two seasons. Colts OC Pep Hamilton is also in the mix at Vandy.

Although Schottenheimer has a poor reputation in the media, he did oversee career-best play from Sam Bradford in St. Louis and Mark Sanchez with the Jets. He’ll work under OC Rob Chudzinski in Indianapolis and directly with Andrew Luck, who is a prime bounce-back candidate following an injury-marred 2015.

Rams fans had grown tired of Schottenheimer’s vanilla scheme and passive attack. But he wasn’t given much in St. Louis, especially after losing Sam Bradford for 25 games the past two seasons and being forced to work with guys like Austin Davis, Shaun Hill, and Kellen Clemens. Schottenheimer ran the Rams’ offense the past three seasons, but they finished 25th, 21st, and 21st in points scored. He got the offense off to strong starts in games, but rarely made in-game adjustments. Coach Jeff Fisher has rarely hired exciting offensive coordinators, so we’re not getting our hopes up this time, either. It’s not a particularly attractive destination. The Rams don’t have a long-term quarterback or No. 1 receiver, play in the NFC West, and may relocate within a year.

It was time for the Seahawks to try something new on offense. It was not time for them to hire Schottenheimer, who has overseen one ineffective offense after another at the NFL level. Some of Schottenheimer’s struggles can be blamed on the defensive-minded coaches he coordinated for — namely, Rex Ryan and Jeff Fisher — but he’s simply provided zero reason to believe he is someone who should be leading an NFL attack. Throwing out an injured and aging Brett Favre, Russell Wilson will be the best quarterback Schottenheimer has worked with. It’s not a good development for Wilson, who has been tasked with carrying far too heavy of a load since Marshawn Lynch’s decline and departure from Seattle.