The Cowboys love attention. New Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker doesn’t love one specific aspect of it.
Via Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News, Parker recently addressed the habit of media and fans filming training-camp practice.
“It’s weird,” Parker said on 105.3 The Fan. “Not a fan.”
On Saturday, the full practice was broadcast locally in Dallas and streamed online.
Parker’s boss, Brian Schottenheimer, doesn’t share the new defensive coordinator’s viewpoint.
“You know me, I think at the end of the day, I don’t worry about that stuff too much,” Schottenheimer said, per Watkins. “I mean, we all have each other’s playbooks. We all know what we run. We have videos going back decades that we can pull up. It’s not like they’re showing it from a game standpoint; the camera’s on, it’s moving. Are there things you can get? Yeah. But we get the same thing. So that doesn’t bother me.”
Schottenheimer’s shift may be a simple product of the reality that his boss, Jerry Jones, prefers the reward of extra attention over the risk of competitive disadvantage.
“I’ve not always been that way,” Schottenheimer said regarding his current attitude toward the filming of practice. “I think my dad [Marty] was definitely like, absolutely not. I think it’s more as I’ve gotten older and been around it and understanding. And look, we like eyes on us with the Cowboys. It’s a good thing. We’re proud of our brand and it doesn’t bother me.”
It bothers Parker for one specific reason. In past stops on his coaching journey, Parker’s teams used the available footage from Cowboys training camp to help prepare to face them in early-season games.
“Once you get past Game 3 or 4, everything is on tape,” Parker said on 105.3 The Fan. “When you’re in Week 1 or 2, you’re looking for things. So actually, I don’t know if people realize this, I was following some of our media members and stuff even before I got [to the Cowboys] because when I was in Green Bay and Denver and Philadelphia, I’ve played Dallas in all three spots, us kinda trying to look for things.”
Now that Parker is in Dallas, he could be on the other end of that. It’s just one of the prices to pay when getting paid to work for America’s Team.
