RIO DE JANEIRO — Faith is central to the Dallas Cowboys, coach Brian Schottenheimer told Brazilian reporters Friday, and he credited team chaplain Tony Evans for teaching players to be open about it.
Evans founded Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas. According to Schottenheimer, Evans has preached all over the world and is better known than the coach or most of the team’s players.
Tony Evans’ Message To The Dallas Cowboys
Schottenheimer said Evans’ chapel message is about being open with faith. He added that fans will see players give praise to God before and during games.
“You know, one, faith is really important to our football team. We’ve got an incredible team chaplain, Dr. Tony Evans. He’s world-renowned,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s probably more well known than certainly myself and a lot of other players. He’s preached all over the world. His message is incredible. But when we have chapels and things like that, we talk about a lot of different things. And Tony’s message is it’s about being open about your faith.”
“I have a handful of, and most of mine are all about God and the Lord will provide and things like that. So we’re very open about it,” Schottenheimer continued. “You’ll see our guys before games and during the game giving praise to God. You’ll see it. So our faith is real. He has blessed us tremendously to be able to play this great game and to do it together.”
Brian Schottenheimer Calls Football ‘The Ultimate Team Game’
A Brazilian reporter asked how a sport with specialized body types and roles compares to soccer. Schottenheimer’s answer was that football rewards teams whose 10 or 11 players do their jobs together on a given play, and that the Cowboys build their culture around brotherhood.
“This is the ultimate team game. I’m talking about football. You’ve got 11 guys on offense going against 11 guys on defense,” Schottenheimer explained. “And it requires really on most plays, the teams that have 10 or 11 guys doing things right and doing it connected and together are the teams that usually win the play. And over the course of a 65, 75 play game for each phase, the teams that do that more consistently end up winning.”
“And so I think it’s real. And that’s why we talk a lot in our family, our culture about brotherhood and competitive spirit and things like that,” Schottenheimer added. “So hopefully that’s what we display for the world on Sunday.”
The Cowboys play the Baltimore Ravens at Maracanã Stadium at 3:25 p.m. CT on CBS.
