FRISCO, Texas – Several coaches spoke out today at the third week of Cowboys’ OTA’s. The positive energy radiated off of tight end coach, Doug Nussmeier, running back’s coach, Gary Brown, and offensive coordinator, Scott Linehan as they discussed the bright future ahead with the young talent that the Cowboys have acquired this year.
Nussmeier remarked, “ You start everything from scratch and from base one. I think that is important, especially with younger players. We cannot assume we know anything. We have to learn together and we have to grow together. We tried to go back to walking before we start running. You walk, you jog, and then you run. “
Nussmeier is new as well to the ‘silver and blue’ this season, as he took the place of Steve Loney who retired. Nussmeier is reunited with Linehan, where they served together on the Rams staff from 2006-2007, with Linehan as head coach and Nussmeier as quarterback’s coach. Prior to joining the Cowboys, Nussmeier was the offensive coordinator at Florida from 2015-17. He is beginning a new chapter and starting from scratch with a new team, as are most of the young players on the practice field at the Star. Together, they have the opportunity to begin a new legendary era for the Cowboys’ offense.
Brown discussed the league as a whole becoming younger“ It is a young man’s game. It is what it is. Always has been and probably always will be. You know there are only certain positions you can play over 30 so you gotta be young at these positions and much faster than what I played. You have to be much more athletic so you have to have young athletic guys. “
As the league continues to progress, players are becoming faster and bigger. Hits are becoming harder, which is why the league is constantly upgrading the rule book, like they have for this season with the new kickoff rule to protect players from injury. This is no secret to Brown as he has watched his rushers battle for gained yardage down the field through the league’s big and mighty defensive lines. The Cowboys have an ideal situation in front of them with young and hungry players that want their spot on the Cowboys 53 man final roster, and a future with “America’s Team” for several seasons.
Linehan described the Cowboys depth “ it is a lot of fun to have the competition that we have and the depth we have at some of these young positions like tight end, wide receiver, and running back. I don’t think a lot of people have them on their radar because their young guys that have not had the history in the league… I think we are gonna have guys that have specific roles based on the plays we have called and will try to utilize guy’s strengths in that way and have good balance as to the targets of our skill players in the passing game. “
In 2017, the Cowboys passing game was nonexistent as receivers struggled to connect with quarterback Dak Prescott. They were forced to rely on the running game and this year, Linehan is focusing on fixing that issue by fitting their scheme around the talent of the new young players they have obtained, instead of fitting the players to their already made schemes, as they have done in the past. The Cowboys recognize the promise and versatile abilities in the depth of their positions, and will take full advantage of them in order to succeed this season.
