Jeff Saturday, well-versed in the oddities of head coaching hires, was genuinely taken aback by the Dallas Cowboys’ press conference introducing Brian Schottenheimer. Typically, the focus is on the incoming coach during these introductions, but this time, it was Jerry and Stephen Jones who, rather unexpectedly, missed the mark for the Cowboys.
On Tuesday morning’s episode of First Take, Saturday shared that he couldn’t pull his eyes away from the Cowboys’ unusual introduction of Schottenheimer, likening it to the morbid curiosity of a car crash. “I’m not a huge social media guy; I watched eight minutes on my phone of this thing. Because I was awestruck,” Saturday remarked. “I couldn’t believe it. You’re talking about him like, ‘It’s not glamorous… it’s the biggest risk,’ while he’s sitting a foot away from you (Jerry Jones). And then you have Stephen on the other side giving air quotes around ‘drought’ that they’re supposedly not in? The whole thing seems like bizarro world.”
Former Indianapolis Colts head coach Jeff Saturday seemed baffled by the Dallas Cowboys introductory press conference for Brian Schottenheimer pic.twitter.com/Y1UbBd2rxU
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 28, 2025
Having participated in a similarly surreal press conference as the Colts’ interim coach two seasons ago, Saturday couldn’t help but note the irony. He highlighted that the Cowboys labeled their new head coach a “less than glamorous hire” even as the air quotes were thrown around “drought,” despite Dallas having the longest championship game drought in the NFC, now standing at 30 years. This particular drought is evident, especially when compared to the Chicago Bears, who have not reached a championship game in 15 years.
“What don’t they understand about the only constant that has been for the 20 or 30 years is them?” Saturday queried. “Everything else has changed. Coaches have changed. Players have changed. They have remained the same. And while I’m not suggesting that everything they’ve done is wrong or poor—because they’ve assembled some competent teams—the expectations of Cowboys fans remain: NFC Championship Game or Super Bowl. That’s a significant issue.”
The core problem with the Cowboys lies in Jerry and Stephen Jones’s failure to recognize their role as the constants in a franchise that has struggled to meet expectations. While everyone else sees Jerry Jones’ interference, the peculiar organizational structure, the lack of free agency spending, and the frequent embarrassing press conferences as reasons for their struggles, the 82-year-old owner appears blind to these obvious issues.
