The Cowboys’ offense might go back to the ground in 2014. And also onto the field.
While Bill Callahan called plays from the coaches’ booth last season, this year – starting with Thursday night’s pre-season opener in San Diego – Scott Linehan will down on the sideline to signal in the plays himself.
“A lot of it is that one-on one-communication,” Linehan told a group of reporters Tuesday at training camp in Oxnard. “The only thing that would frustrate me being in the box is you would have to talk to somebody to talk to the quarterback or to get the quarterback on the phone. You talk to him but then you miss the opportunity for three other guys to hear the same conversation while you’re sitting down there. I can talk to Tony then talk to the receivers, talk to the running backs, talk to the O-line all at the same time. You can’t do that from the booth. That’s the thing I like the most. There’s kind of a feel for the game when you call it on the field. You get to see the game better upstairs but you call it a little bit more from the call sheet probably a little bit more maybe than on the field because you’re looking down at the call sheet because you can kind of see what’s going on. Maybe the last play you see something that perks up your interest a bit.”
Last year Callahan had to call the play down to quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson, who then relayed the play to quarterback Tony Romo. This year the play will travel straight from Linehan’s mouth to Romo’s ears.
If nothing else, with this streamlined system we should see less of Romo frantically hurrying to the line to beat the play clock with the snap.
A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He currently lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.
