Cowboys HC praises team's staff member who will play very underrated role
As part of his takeover as the offensive architect of the Dallas Cowboys, head coach Mike McCarthy is having an old pal of his Green Bay days step up to a more prominent role: Scott Tolzien. The former NFL quarterback who spent three years with the Packers will now be Dak Prescott's quarterback coach. Tolzien […]
As part of his takeover as the offensive architect of the Dallas Cowboys, head coach Mike McCarthy is having an old pal of his Green Bay days step up to a more prominent role: Scott Tolzien.
The former NFL quarterback who spent three years with the Packers will now be Dak Prescott's quarterback coach. Tolzien arrived at Dallas alongside McCarthy as a "coaching assistant" in 2020.
Now, after three years of working behind the scenes, he's likely to get plenty of airtime when cameras focus on the Cowboys quarterback talking to his coaches on the sidelines.
Since the days he coached Tolzien, McCarthy figured out the quarterback's football junkie habits could translate into a solid coaching career. Why? His hunger for football knowledge.
"Scott's mental preparation from day one, he stood alone," McCarthy told reporters on Thursday reminiscing of Tolzien's years with the Packers. "Instead of playbooks, we went from a paper playbook to the iPads. So you know, there's something that you watch for, you've got corrections and testing and things like that. Scott was always at the top of the list of how much time he spent on his iPad, compared to his teammates. It wasn't even close."
In his days as an NFL player, Tolzien finished a short-lived career with only 10 games played and four total starts, including two in 2013 under McCarthy. The 2011 UDFA might not have caught his big break as a player.
That could change with a shot at being involved with the Cowboys' offense, which is expected to be better than last year's already productive unit. Based on his playing career, the staff is getting a guy addicted to football.
"I don't know if he ever went home," added McCarthy on Thursday. "He was always at the facility. […] He couldn't get enough of it. You could tell right away, just his mental preparation was top-notch of all the guys I've worked with."
While the spotlight is shining bright on McCarthy and even OC Brian Schottenheimer, Tolzien's promotion to QB coach might be one of the most under-the-radar stories of the season.
Featured image via Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
