'Creating competition': Schottenheimer's Cowboys go head-to-head on field, in locker room

USA Today

20-05-2025

'Creating competition': Schottenheimer's Cowboys go head-to-head on field, in locker room
Many of the Cowboys' current star players have been around through the team's recent successes. Some of the key playmakers were right there for the three consecutive 12-win seasons, so they certainly know how to compete.
But with a new head coach and a revamped staff in town for 2025, what they're quickly learning under the new regime is that nothing is being taken for granted.
Organized team activities got underway this week, and as Brian Schottenheimer explained in a Tuesday press conference, there is a newfound emphasis on competition, and it's bleeding into every aspect of day-to-day business around The Star.
Take Schottenheimer's first meeting with George Pickens. After the wide receiver first arrived at the facility following the team's trade with Pittsburgh, one of the first things the two did was get into an informal free-throw contest.
"I think he beat me twice, I've beaten him once," Schottenheimer said. "But the last time we played, I beat him. So I do want to put that out there."
Apparently that test of skill wasn't just a one-off icebreaker with the new guy. Some of the team's top competitors are getting in on the action, too.
"Anywhere and everywhere," the coach told reporters. "We do some things in the team room, we do some things in my office. I just lost to the QBs in my office. Actually, Dak [Prescott] was my teammate, so I guess Dak lost, too. He'll be mad that I told you guys that."
But it's not just silly fun and games, Schottenheimer explained. There's a much bigger purpose at play.
"The central theme of the program is 'compete every day,' and so we find different ways to do it."
There was a putting competition during The Masters. Schottenheimer teased an upcoming hockey-style shootout in honor of the hometown Stars. A ping pong table has even made its way back into the Cowboys players' locker room. That seemingly-innocuous-but-legitimately-controversial fixture is so important to the new culture of the team that the media was allowed to take photos of it, despite it being in a sacred space that is normally strictly off-limits to cameras.
"It's fun to watch these guys compete and get outside their comfort level," the coach offered, "try to one-up each other."
The competition that matters most, obviously, will come on the gridiron, and Schottenheimer is pushing players- even his superstars- right out of the gates.
"We're trying to create competition at every level," he said. "What makes Dak Prescott better? Joe Milton. What makes CeeDee Lamb better? George Pickens. What makes Jaydon Blue better? Having Javonte Williams. So I think as you look at what we're doing, Jerry and Stephen [Jones] and Will [McClay] have done an incredible job of creating that competition across the board at multiple spots. That's what you're going to see today. You'll see guys that are taking first-team reps; are they the starters? No, they're just taking first-team reps today. Do we change it up? Of course we do. Because we're all about creating competition."
But that doesn't mean the players are always at odds with one another and keeping a never-ending tally of points scored. Because at the heart of all the mano a mano competition is a larger goal of unity and brotherhood.
"We've added all these new pieces," the coach went on, "so it's our job as a coaching staff to get these guys to hang out together outside of the building, spend time together in the building, get to know each other. Coaches get with their players, go to dinner, do things together, because we have to learn each other's stories and each other's scars so that we can truly learn how to work together and love one another and support one another."
It's not just shooting free throws. It goes beyond games in the coach's office. It's far more than just a ping pong table.
Is it frivolous and unimportant? Maybe to some. But things like camaraderie and togetherness matter in a team-building environment, and they're the kinds of things that can endear a coaching staff to the players who he hopes to extract maximum effort and sacrifice out of in the coming months.
In short, if the players buy in, then yes, it does matter.
"I want our players to want to be here," Schottenheimer said. "I want our players to come in the locker room and for us to have to kick them out."
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