IRVING, Texas – Along with his new playcalling duties comes a new seat for offensive coordinator Bill Callahan – the one up in the coaches' booth.
Callahan said Thursday he'll be moving upstairs to call plays to start the 2013 season, away from the sideline spot he's accustomed to. He said he consulted with Cowboys coach Jason Garrett about having a better perspective while determining play calls.
"I think it's a great view," he said. "I talked to Jason about it, just because when you're upstairs, you're really looking at the game from that viewpoint or that vantage point in the same sense that you look at film."
Sitting upstairs is something Callahan said he's familiar with, but not in the recent past. He called plays from the coaches' booth during parts of his stint as Oakland's offensive coordinator, but he has primarily roamed the sidelines in the decade since. The ability to see the full field again is something the veteran coach said he expects will benefit him.
"The ability to recognize coverage, fronts, what the defenses are doing, I think it's a lot easier from up top than it is down at the bottom," he said.
As he's stressed multiple times in the past few weeks, Callahan emphasized the importance of collaboration regarding the move. With an extra preseason game against the Miami Dolphins, the Cowboys will have plenty of opportunity to test the new setup before settling into a set routine.
"I haven't been in the box too much, but we're going to try it out and see how it works out and see if that's comfortable, if it's a good communication sequence for everybody," Callahan said. "If it is, we'll roll with it, and if it's not, then we'll alter it." [embedded_ad]
Of course, the newly-named playcaller was quick to point out another familiar talking point. Callahan added once again that his new duties don't give him any extra authority over the gameplan – though they did earn him a new chair.
"It's our offense. That's the main thing to understand here," he said. "Like Jason has talked about, we've all mentioned, it's a collaborative effort, it's a collective effort across the board with the offensive staff. I'm just a guy that's up in the box and going to call the play, a play that there's consensus on, there's agreement on that we've all planned and prepared for."
