Brian Schottenheimer couldn’t help but let a little sarcasm slip when he talked about the Dallas Cowboys’ upcoming stretch.
The schedule ahead is rough. Dallas faces the Baltimore Ravens in Brazil in Week 3, then has to make two 10-hour flights just to get there and back after a 4:25 p.m.
ET kickoff on Sunday. That means the Cowboys won’t be back in Dallas until Monday.
And there’s no real breathing room after that. The Cowboys turn around for a Week 4 matchup with the Houston Texans on what is basically a short week, though at least that one stays in Texas. Then comes another Thursday game in Week 5 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, giving Dallas yet another abbreviated week.
Schottenheimer said he “thanked” the league for the way the schedule breaks, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer, which was about as clear a sign as any that he’s not thrilled with how things line up.
Still, he made it plain he isn’t planning to lean on the schedule as an excuse.
“I'd be a hypocrite if I said, ‘I think it's a tough task,’ but we're up to it," Schottenheimer said. "And mentally tough, we need to be. This is a long season, and I can't be a win-the-day type guy and be angry about it."
"But in reality, it's a long trip, come home, Houston, short week, but we're going to win today and then we're going to go down there and we're going to win Friday, Saturday and play a really good team and hopefully win that," Schottenheimer added. "But you’ve got to stay in the moment, but it does require mental toughness. The schedule is the schedule, and we will play anybody anytime, anywhere, but it's a unique schedule for sure.”
The numbers behind the trip are hard to ignore. Dallas will cover more than 10,400 miles round trip for the Brazil game, and according to CBS Sports’ John Breech, the Cowboys will be the first team in NFL history to travel 5,000 miles for a game and not have a bye the next week. Their bye doesn’t arrive until Week 14.
Baltimore doesn’t get a Week 4 bye either, but the Ravens’ trip is a lot lighter, with under 5,000 miles to travel each way, so they won’t be the ones setting that mark.
There is some precedent for international games without a bye the following week, but those contests didn’t come on Sundays. That mattered because the teams involved had extra time to recover before their next game.
The Rams and 49ers played in Australia this year, but that game was on a Thursday. The Eagles and Packers, along with the Chiefs and Chargers, both played in Brazil on Fridays.
Dallas arrived in Brazil on Friday morning, then is set to practice before a walkthrough on Saturday. After the game, the Cowboys will fly straight back and begin preparing for the fast turnaround in Week 4.
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