Dak Prescott explains why Dallas Cowboys’ viral practice decision it’s bigger than it seems at first sight
The Dallas Cowboys’ joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams proved how bought in they are into what head coach Brian Schottenheimer is preaching.
Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer isn’t fond of wearing shorts. But as he team visited the Los Angeles Rams in Woodland Hills, California for a joint practice, he had no other choice.
“I actually wanted the heat,” Schottenheimer said after practice. “I never wear shorts [. . .] but it was hot and we need that getting ready to go back to Texas here in a couple of weeks.”
Fortunately for Schottenheimer, his players were comfortable enough with the heat to run 20-yard sprints after a full 90-minute practice against another NFL team. To the point that it was them calling for it and not the coaches.
“That was not my decision,” Schottenheimer confessed. “That was led by the players. Yeah, I was over there saying goodbye to a few of the coaches and the guys that I have relationships with, and I was alerted by our strength staff that the guys wanted to run 20s.”
And while this may come off as a “cheesy” takeaway from Cowboys practice, it actually matters very much. And the players’ quotes on the whole thing reveal why.
Cowboys players are fully bought in
It may not have been Schottenheimer’s decision to run on Tuesday, but it was evidence of the Cowboys buying into what the head coach has preached this offseason.
Quarterback Dak Prescott explained it’s something the Cowboys are taking pride in.
“Conditioning was something that he put on us at the beginning of the year, said why we’re going to do it,” Prescott said. “We want to be the best-conditioned team and the most conditioned team. And guys are taking pride in it.”
That alone reveals how bought in the Cowboys are into what Schottenheimer is preaching. That kind of thing matters for a coach who is big on “culture.”
In fact, it was Cowboys LB DeMarvion Overshown who approached Prescott to propose running the sprints. At that point, no one made a big deal out of it. In Dak’s words: “It was just like a normal practice. Let’s go and get our runs in and get better.”
Even the Rams acknowledged the Cowboys’ effort in their own way.
“Putting that extra work in?” Rams players said when watching Cowboys players run in a video captured by Jeff Kolb from FOX4. “We ain’t doing that with y’all!”
Dak Prescott explains importance of conditioning
While this speaks a lot about the Cowboys intangibles, there is a tangible effect on the team too.
If the Cowboys-Rams game set for Week 15 is defined in favor of Dallas in the fourth quarter, many fans and media members will think back on this practice. Rightfully so. But even that falls short in explaining why conditioning matters.
“When you’re conditioned, you just play faster, you play better, you think faster, you think quicker, you react quicker,” Prescott said. “It just helps.”
“If you’re the most conditioned team in any fight, you’re going to have a huge upper hand throughout the whole game, not just late in the game,” Prescott adds. “And so, if we can steal that advantage, why not try?”
The Cowboys’ first chance to show off their conditioning will come this Saturday night, when the team kicks off its preseason against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field.
