There was a time when Brian Schottenheimer knew the Seattle sideline as his own. From 2018 through 2020, he stood beside Pete Carroll at Lumen Field as the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator, helping build an offense that leaned on the run. Nearly eight years later, on Saturday night, Schottenheimer was back in the same stadium, only this time, he was looking across the field.

Now the Dallas Cowboys were his team, and the preseason opener offered his first chance to see how its younger players would handle a live game. The scoreboard mattered little. The details did. How they blocked. How they ran. How they handled themselves when things went wrong. By halftime, Schottenheimer had plenty to circle.

“At the end of the day, the penalties are killing us. We have to be way better with our hands.…We gotta run the ball. We’re not getting any movement up front.… Hey, it’s young-guy football,” Schottenheimer said, as per The Athletic’s Jon Machota on X.

Schottenheimer’s connection to Dallas began in 2022, when the Cowboys hired him as a coaching analyst. He worked with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and defensive coordinator Dan Quinn on opponent analysis and league-wide trends, giving him an early role in the club’s weekly preparation.

Dallas promoted Schottenheimer to offensive coordinator in February 2023 after Kellen Moore’s departure. He held that position for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, although Mike McCarthy remained the team’s play-caller. Over those two years, the Cowboys ranked among the NFL’s top teams in completions, passing attempts, explosive pass plays, points per game and total first downs.

Schottenheimer was then elevated to head coach on January 24, 2025, making him the 10th full-time coach in franchise history and giving him his first NFL head-coaching job. His return to Seattle, then, came during his second preseason as Dallas’ head coach, not simply as another former Seahawks assistant revisiting an old stadium.

Dallas’ preseason evaluation began when its rookies and veterans reported to training camp in Oxnard, California, on July 28. The club’s first practice followed on July 29, beginning a camp period built around roster evaluation before preseason games.

The Cowboys then traveled to Woodland Hills for a joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams on August 11, four days before the preseason opener in Seattle. Schottenheimer called the session “a battle” and said Dallas would review the film before shifting its attention to the Seahawks. The practice gave Cowboys players competitive work against another team before their first live preseason game.

The penalty count was already at six when Brian spoke, but the trouble didn’t start there.

Dallas finished with 13 penalties for 103 yards, two more flags than it had in last year’s preseason opener against the Rams. The Cowboys also had a fifth penalty called on Marist Liufau for holding on Seattle’s opening touchdown, though that infraction was declined. Cornerback Caelen Carson accounted for three of Dallas’ accepted penalties, including two on Seattle’s opening drive.

Seattle made those early mistakes hurt. The Seahawks marched 80 yards on 13 plays on the opening drive, taking a 7-0 lead, but Dallas’ defense did not allow another point the rest of the night. Over Seattle’s final seven drives, the Cowboys gave up just 76 yards.

That turnaround became one of the more encouraging parts of Christian Parker’s first game calling Dallas’ defense. The Cowboys forced two fourth-down stops and survived a goal-line situation after a muffed punt handed Seattle the ball at the Dallas 5-yard line. Three plays later, the Seahawks turned the ball over on downs. Schottenheimer liked the response.

“We need the adversity. There’s going to be adversity, and that’s going to happen in this season,” he said of Parker. “And so it was really cool for our guys to respond, but I thought he did a great job.”

The special teams unit, however, kept making life harder for the defense. Seattle’s average drive began at its own 42-yard line, while Dallas started its possessions at its own 19. That meant Parker’s defense was repeatedly asked to protect short fields, making its ability to keep Seattle out of the end zone even more significant.

Dallas eventually found enough on offense to take control. Brandon Aubrey hit a 29-yard field goal before Sam Howell connected with undrafted rookie Camden Brown for a 39-yard touchdown late in the first half. Brown later caught another touchdown from Joe Milton III, finishing with three catches for 62 yards and two scores.

Brown’s emergence was one of the night’s clearest offensive positives, especially with the Cowboys trying to sort out their depth at wide receiver. But the same game also gave Dallas more evidence in another competition: the battle to back up Dak Prescott.

Howell started and completed 8 of 12 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. Milton followed with 11 completions on 13 attempts for 96 yards and a touchdown. Neither threw an interception, and both found Brown for a score. Schottenheimer was encouraged by both quarterbacks, particularly considering the pressure Seattle brought.

“I thought both guys functioned outstanding,” he said. “They both were tasked with going out there and playing against heavy pressure… They just hung in there. Made the throws when they had to make them, and they’re both very efficient, and that’s what we want.”

The running game was less convincing, which tied directly into Schottenheimer’s halftime complaint about Dallas not getting enough movement up front. The Cowboys rotated Jaydon Blue, Phil Mafah, Malik Davis and Israel Abanikanda at running back, with Davis leading the group at 39 yards on seven carries. Schottenheimer praised all four for running hard, but acknowledged that Dallas’ offensive line struggled early against Seattle’s front.

“Definitely some leaky moments, but early on especially, we struggled to move their guys up front,” Schottenheimer said. “That’s why the run numbers in the first half weren’t very good.”

That is where the 17-7 score needs some context. Dallas finished strong, but Schottenheimer did not leave Seattle with only a win to evaluate. He saw a defense that settled down, two quarterbacks who protected the football and a rookie receiver who made himself difficult to ignore. He also saw 13 penalties, shaky field position, and an offensive line that needed to be more physical.

The victory did give Dallas a small piece of preseason history. The Cowboys had not won their preseason opener since 2017, when they beat Arizona in the Hall of Fame Game. The streak finally ended in Seattle, although the result itself will matter far less to the coaching staff than what the film shows.

And for Schottenheimer, this was not his first preseason as Dallas’ head coach. It was his second. That makes the evaluation a little different: the Cowboys are no longer simply learning what he wants. They are now showing him how much of it has actually carried over to the field.

For now, the QB2 competition remains open, while Dallas has a much longer list of corrections to make before the regular season. The Cowboys will hold a joint practice with the New Orleans Saints on Tuesday before facing the Arizona Cardinals on August 22, giving Schottenheimer another chance to see whether Saturday’s mistakes were simply preseason sloppiness or the start of a problem he needs to attack.