NFC Notes: Jason Kelce, Kevin Patullo, Brian Schottenheimer, Cowboys, Eagles

Cowboys

Dallas brought in some new faces after going to former OC Brian Schottenheimer as HC from Mike McCarthy. As someone who remained on the staff, Cowboys TE coach Lunda Wells wants to see them dial up their physicality in 2025 on both sides of the ball to take over the line of scrimmage. 

“One of the biggest things that we’re really focusing on offensively is being more physical,” Wells said, via Patrik Walker of the team’s website. “Really, on both sides of the ball, as a team, being physical and dominating a line of scrimmage is gonna be a big focal point for us this offseason and going forward. That will be one of the biggest themes going into this deal.”

Eagles

Former Eagles C Jason Kelce spoke about the Tush Push and mentioned that when you’re playing center there is a possibility of having four 300-pound players on top of you.

“For me, as a center, it sucks,” Kelce noted on The Steam Room. “It’s a grueling play where you’re going to get as low as possible . . . if I get grass on my facemask I probably did the play pretty good, because I got as low as possible and drove forward. If you get low and drive forward, it’s really hard for the defense to stop it.”

Kelce believes the play is a massive advantage but at the same time, doesn’t think the play should be banned given that it is what football is all about.

“You know how big an advantage it is, essentially we’re saving ourselves a turnover, whether it’s a punt or whatever. So it’s such a difference-maker at the end of the day that you’re always willing to do that for your team,” Kelce said. “Football is a sport that comes down to physicality, aggression, our will versus your will for a yard — I think that sums up football pretty well to me. It’s a 92 percent chance. Other teams don’t run it at the same success rate. Maybe the Eagles just happen to be really, really good at it. Is it fair to punish a team just because they’re better at it than everyone else? I don’t think that’s fair.”

Eagles

The Eagles officially promoted Kevin Patullo from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator this week. Nick Sirianni commented that Patullo has been “very important” to Philadelphia’s success after having a versatile role on their coaching staff. 

“Very important to the success that we’ve had. He wears a lot of different hats. Helps me a lot with different head coaching things. I can’t tell you that I make a decision without saying to Kevin first, ‘What do you think?’ That’s in everything. That’s in-game, out of game, with scheduling, that’s with offensive stuff, that’s with game-management stuff, I lean on him a lot,” Sirianni said, via Dave Spadaro of the team’s site. 

Sirianni said Patullo’s continuity is “really important” to their operation. 

“That continuity is really important because he knows what I’m thinking in certain situations, how you want things to be taught, all of those different things, so he’s been a great resource for me the entire time, our success this year, but really the success we’ve had since we’ve been here. Can’t be great without the greatness of others and that is definitely a fact with Kevin Patullo and I trust him with everything. Got a ton of trust and faith with him. He’s awesome.”

Patullo brings experience as a quarterbacks coach with the Jets and a wide receivers coach with the Colts. 

“Being able to coach both positions, you can really marry the two. Coaching receivers in Indy, I was able to use my quarterback knowledge from coaching that position and playing it and get the guys to understand why they needed to be somewhere and why we needed to have them there at that time. … I think you can teach the guys a perspective that they’re not used to hearing.”