Brian Schottenheimer: Nothing's changed; the goal remains to win a championship

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones insists he didn’t make the decision to trade Micah Parsons alone. He called it a “unanimous decision,” and coach Brian Schottenheimer confirmed Friday that he signed off on the deal that sent the star edge rusher to Green Bay.

“We just went through the whole process. At the end of the day, this was unanimous decision,” Schottenheimer said, via video from the team. “This is not something we came about; it wasn’t something where it was like an overnight thing. We had talked about it, and at the end of the day, I think when you look at a football team, when you can potentially add up to four or five players and things like that, it gives you the ability to do some things. We were certainly excited about the addition of Kenny Clark. I’ve played against Kenny and he is very, very disruptive inside. When we looked at it, it was something that, at the end of the day, when you get a chance to get things back in return that you’re excited about, you make the move. Obviously, at the end of the day, we’ve got to maximize the picks that we have, and that will be the plan.”

Schottenheimer said he was “confident” all along that Parsons would be back with the Cowboys, playing Week 1 against the Eagles. Instead, Parsons will play for the Packers against the Lions on opening day.

While Jones said Thursday he is “absolutely zero worried” about the reaction in the locker room, Schottenheimer said he called 12-14 team leaders after the trade. He also spoke to the entire team Friday morning.

“Nothing’s changed. My goals haven’t changed. Our team goals haven’t changed,” Schottenheimer said. “I hit the players on that today after I talked about the tough couple of days for all the guys. It doesn’t change. The standard is the standard. I said that. With all the new pieces and people we had in there, I needed to hit the goal, which is to win a world’s championship. I needed to hit that we also want to build one of the greatest professional sports cultures in the world.”

The Cowboys lost a generational talent who made the Pro Bowl in all four of his seasons in Dallas. He averaged 13 sacks. But the Cowboys believe they have enough talent to replace Parsons with an edge rush by committee.

No matter what anyone else outside The Star thinks, the Cowboys are convinced the trade made them better in the short term and long term. Time will tell.

“I would say Micah is an incredible player. Nobody disputes that. He’s a great player,” Schottenheimer said. “This is the ultimate team game. You know, it’s the ultimate team game. We’re not going to win a championship with just one person. It’s going to take variations of the 69 guys plus that we have on this roster. Injuries are a part of this. We’ve built our depth up and we’ve done those things. . . . At the end of the day, this is the greatest team sport in the world, and to do that you have to have the pieces in place, and I think we have a lot of good players in place.”

Oddsmakers don’t feel the same. The Cowboys over-under dropped from 7.5 wins to 6.5 wins post-trade, while their NFC East odds remained about the same. Their NFC title odds went from +2000 to +3000 and their Super Bowl odds dropped from +5000 to +6000.