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Cowboys OC Scott Linehan might change his preseason view for a game
Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer
OXNARD, Calif. -- The last time Scott Linehan called plays from a coaching booth came when he was at Louisville in 2001.
The Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator is considering giving it a look this preseason now that the NFL has altered the coach-to-quarterback communication system.
In the past, coordinators in the coaches’ booth had to relay the play call to an assistant on the sideline, who would then relay the call into the quarterback. Now the play call can go from the booth directly to the quarterback.
“There’s some things I’d like to find out and make sure that never breaks down, make sure that’s always working,” Linehan said.
Since Tony Romo has been the quarterback, the Cowboys’ playcaller has been on the sidelines: Tony Sparano (2006), Jason Garrett (2007-12), Bill Callahan (2013) and Linehan (2014-present).
Linehan likes the hands-on approach he can have when he’s on the field. And with a quick signal, he can instruct the offense to pick up the pace easier.
“You have that eye-to-eye communication where you want to talk about something that comes up (and) you don’t have that communication gap where it always has to be over the phone,” Linehan said. “It can be face to face. And you can get this group together and talk about something. You can get this tight end over here about something. You can walk over to the O-line and talk about that. You can’t do that in the booth.”
But the view the coordinator has from the booth can be helpful during the course of the game. He can see plays and coverages develop with a different perspective from the field. He can get a better feel for the coverages.
In between series, the coaches and players can view pictures to gain that perspective. In the preseason games, Garrett said the tablets will now have video as the NFL considers it in the future for regular-season games.
“I understand why we want to do it -- a lot of the other sports have video that they use during the games,” Garrett said. “I certainly understand the other compelling arguments against using it. It’s a long discussion, though.”
Todd Archer
ESPN Staff Writer
OXNARD, Calif. -- The last time Scott Linehan called plays from a coaching booth came when he was at Louisville in 2001.
The Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator is considering giving it a look this preseason now that the NFL has altered the coach-to-quarterback communication system.
In the past, coordinators in the coaches’ booth had to relay the play call to an assistant on the sideline, who would then relay the call into the quarterback. Now the play call can go from the booth directly to the quarterback.
“There’s some things I’d like to find out and make sure that never breaks down, make sure that’s always working,” Linehan said.
Since Tony Romo has been the quarterback, the Cowboys’ playcaller has been on the sidelines: Tony Sparano (2006), Jason Garrett (2007-12), Bill Callahan (2013) and Linehan (2014-present).
Linehan likes the hands-on approach he can have when he’s on the field. And with a quick signal, he can instruct the offense to pick up the pace easier.
“You have that eye-to-eye communication where you want to talk about something that comes up (and) you don’t have that communication gap where it always has to be over the phone,” Linehan said. “It can be face to face. And you can get this group together and talk about something. You can get this tight end over here about something. You can walk over to the O-line and talk about that. You can’t do that in the booth.”
But the view the coordinator has from the booth can be helpful during the course of the game. He can see plays and coverages develop with a different perspective from the field. He can get a better feel for the coverages.
In between series, the coaches and players can view pictures to gain that perspective. In the preseason games, Garrett said the tablets will now have video as the NFL considers it in the future for regular-season games.
“I understand why we want to do it -- a lot of the other sports have video that they use during the games,” Garrett said. “I certainly understand the other compelling arguments against using it. It’s a long discussion, though.”
