Russell Wilson is now the Giants’ quarterback. Brian Schottenheimer is now the Cowboys’ head coach. Old friends, now opponents. And somewhere in Schottenheimer’s head, maybe still in a dusty Seattle playbook, lives a five-year-old note on Wilson’s game. The little things only a former play-caller would know. When he bails from the pocket. How he drops a moonball. What rattles him? On Sunday, September 14, in Arlington, those memories could become weapons.

“Yeah, I think that’s the fun part of the chess match that we love so much as coaches and players, and why you look forward to playing against your friends,” Schottenheimer said. This isn’t film study. This is personal. Schottenheimer helped build Wilson’s best football. Now he’s trying to break him before the Week 2 game against the Giants.

“I’m not the only one that knows Russ,” Schottenheimer said. “(In the defensive room) there’s Andre Curtis. He was with Russ for a long time, and actually longer than I was.” That is double the intel. One coach who schemed for Wilson. Another who schemed against him every day in practice. Few quarterbacks face that much familiarity in one matchup.

But Schottenheimer doesn’t underestimate him. “You know his strengths, you know his weaknesses, but I also know what an incredibly hard worker Russ is. I’m not fooled for one second that he’s not working on certain things that he knows I know, and that Andre knows, and stuff like that.” Wilson won’t just sit there and let Dallas read his mail. He is rewriting his own tendencies, daring Schottenheimer to guess wrong.

And the deep ball. Schottenheimer couldn’t stop talking about it. “One of the greatest deep ball throwers I’ve ever been around. This guy’s ability to just drop the ball in the bucket, put the perfect amount of air to the receiver that it was intended to.” That is a nightmare for Dallas. One clean pocket. One Malik Nabers go route. And those old notes suddenly look very fresh.

He added detail only a former OC could. “Tyler Lockett was a 4.25 (second) guy, so he would put a little bit more air up underneath it and let Tyler go track it. Whereas D.K. (Metcalf), he would throw it a little bit flatter. The ability to extend plays when I was with him was incredible, because he’s a great improviser.” That improvisation is exactly what the Cowboys have to snuff out. Because when Wilson starts painting outside the lines, he is at his most dangerous.

Seattle served as the proving ground for the Schottenheimer-Wilson partnership. In 2018, Schottenheimer’s debut season, the Seahawks led the NFL in rushing while Wilson achieved a career-high 110.9 passer rating. The success continued with Wilson throwing 31 touchdowns against just five interceptions in 2019, followed by a franchise-record 459 points scored in 2020. Those seasons represented peak Russell Wilson, with Schottenheimer orchestrating every offensive decision during their most productive years together.

So Sunday isn’t just Cowboys vs Giants. It is five-year-old notes vs. old and improved Russell Wilson. Teacher vs pupil, memory vs adjustment. Someone’s prep work will pay off. Someone’s instincts will get exposed. It’s not just about the player-coach; both head coaches have a history.

Brian Schottenheimer knows Brian Daboll, too

The times have changed. Brian Schottenheimer is running the Dallas Cowboys now. Brian Daboll is leading the New York Giants. Two offensive minds, forged on the same staff, now standing on opposite sidelines with the whole NFC East watching.

Their history starts in Florham Park. Schottenheimer was the Jets’ offensive coordinator from 2006 to 2011, architect of a bruising run-first attack that powered back-to-back AFC Championship runs. Daboll joined him in 2007 as quarterbacks coach, working directly under Schottenheimer. Together, they turned Mark Sanchez from a rookie into a playoff starter, blending Schottenheimer’s play-calling with Daboll’s QB-room teaching.

Those years were formative. Long nights, game plans built from scratch, high-pressure playoff runs. Now, there’s no collaboration. Just competition. Brian Schottenheimer said this week, “I’ve spoken a lot about my respect for Brian Daboll. He was a quarterback coach for us with the Jets when I was the coordinator, and I think he’s an awesome coach.”

This is deeper than just Cowboys vs Giants. It’s a memory bank of six years’ worth of staff meetings, film breakdowns, and sideline conversations now weaponized against each other. And the stakes? Brutal.

In an NFC East race where every win matters, one man will walk away with bragging rights and one will have to sit through the film knowing he got out-schemed by someone who used to share his locker room.