Cowboys OC Scott Linehan could head up to booth for a preseason game

Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott Linehan likes being on the field during game days. He likes the direct communication he can have with players.

But Linehan might consider going upstairs in a coaching booth during a preseason game this year. The NFL is now allowing coordinators to directly call plays from the booth to the quarterback.

In the past, coordinators had to call the play to an assistant who then relayed it to the quarterback.

“There’s some things I’d like to find out and make sure that never breaks down,” Linehan said. “Make sure that’s always working.”

Linehan hasn’t been in the booth since he coached at Louisville in 2001. Coaches can see plays develop and get a better feel for the defense’s coverage in the booth, but that comes at the expense of communicating with players over the phone.

That eye-to-eye communication is something that Linehan covets and something that has been a staple since Tony Romo has been the Cowboys quarterback. The Cowboys’ playcaller has been on the sidelines ever since Romo became the starter in 2006 – Tony Sparano (2006), Jason Garrett (2007-12), Bill Callahan (2013) and Linehan (2014-present).

As stated, Linehan may experiment with the booth during the preseason, but is going to stay on the sidelines for the regular season.

As he said, “I like being on the field. I like to be able to have that communication with those guys between series. Sometimes it takes a little signal, you know, from the sideline, get in the formation, signal the play and go run it faster, not even going to say anything. You can’t do that from upstairs.

“And you can get this group together and talk about something. You can get this tight end over here about something. You can walk over the O-line and talk about that. You can’t do that in the booth.”

This story was originally published August 10, 2016 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Cowboys OC Scott Linehan could head up to booth for a preseason game."