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What Cowboys coaches said about new Panthers OC Ben McAdoo

Anthony Rizzuti
·6 min read

Before news of his hiring as the new Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator on Friday, Ben McAdoo spent a season in Dallas as a “consultant.” Now, what exactly did that entail?

While “consultant” may be vague by its title alone, the higher-ups of the Cowboys coaching staff were anything but when speaking of McAdoo’s impact throughout the campaign.

So to give you a better idea of the play-caller’s most recent activity, here are a few quotes from head coach Mike McCarthy, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and defensive coordinator Dan Quinn on what McAdoo brought to the team in 2021.

HC Mike McCarthy praises McAdoo as a pre-planning asset

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

June 3, 2021

On why he hired McAdoo and McAdoo’s role:

  • “Ben McAdoo has been added as a consultant, and he’s a great resource. I’ve had a long history with Ben. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a football coach, and he’s going to work primarily with both offense and defense coordinators with more on a pre-game plan focus. I think he’s a great asset particularly in that role.”

  • “We’re still working through the details on that. Right now there’s a virtual component to it, but he’ll be here throughout the offseason program and he’ll be at training camp. We’re kind of designing the role. I personally haven’t had this type of role on my staff before. So, Ben has great flexibility. Obviously he’s been a head coach in this league. He’s been a coordinator. So, he’s worked in the back with our offense and defense. So, I know Dan [Quinn] was particularly excited about it because he’ll give some other side of the ball perspective as far as what he can see and doing some pre-game planning on a weekly basis when we get into the in-season stuff.”

  • “It was an easy decision. It was a very easy decision because I know the value of what Ben McAdoo can bring to your staff. But with both Kellen and Dan this is a role we felt would really benefit them both. Not to get super philosophical, but every coaching staff, the game plan schedule and the design of when you put third down in and when you put red zone in. Some systems of game planning you do things earlier than others. The point I’m making is we put a lot of stress on our coaching staff earlier in a seven-day a week. We put a lot of stress on our coaching staff on Mondays and Tuesday more than some do. And the volume of information to our players earlier on Wednesdays and Thursdays so that we have Friday and Saturday more for review. Some people spend more on that four-day period. My point is with that we do a lot of pregame planning where we’re a week ahead getting ready for the next opponent. So, any type of resource that you can have to improve that process, I think that’s a real benefit. So, that will be one of the primary focuses that Ben will be focusing on.”

Nov. 5, 2021

On how the staff’s creativity and approach improved:

  • “I think it’s definitely been on the high side. The creativity from Kellen [Moore] and throughout the staff is definitely high from my experience on staffs that I have been on. Joe Philbin and Jeff [Blasko] do a tremendous job with the run game as far as what they bring to the table. The staff is in year two. They are in a good mode right now. Ben McAdoo has brought as element to staff that we didn’t have last year. The pre-planning is lot more in depth. So it’s definitely saving Dan [Quinn] and Kellen time on Monday’s I think our whole process has improved.

OC Kellen Moore believes McAdoo provided a comforting influence

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

June 7, 2021

On what McAdoo was bringing to the table as a consultant:

  • “Ben will be awesome. Obviously he’s been around for a long time He’s been a head coach, been a coordinator, had a lot of success in this league. So during the season those weeks go fast and there’s a lot of stuff going on and so to have a guy like Ben who can potentially be a little bit ahead of the game week in, week out for us offensively, I think it’s going to be a huge advantage. He also will be a great sounding board and resource for the things we’re doing.”

Sept. 28, 2021

On how much help McAdoo had been to the process:

  • “These weeks are huge to have guys like Ben that have already seen these guys and watched them and have their observations, notes and all that sort of stuff. It’s huge to have guys like that who are ahead of it. In a week like this, you’re a little compressed. You can get a head start.”

DC Dan Quinn values McAdoo's perspective from the other side of the ball

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

June 4, 2021

On working with McCarthy and McAdoo:

  • “Well if I could have just some of the impact that Mike [McCarthy] had on me so far, it would be super valuable for me. Having a guy like Mike who can talk about what the offense is thinking on a certain play or a certain concept, it allows me to look at something from a different perspective. And I’ve really appreciated that from him whether it’s in meetings or after practice, have you thought about this when the quarterback is looking this way. We do some drills at practice that they haven’t done before that’s totally designed by him and that’s been a big deal for me defensively to learn some new things, how a QB is looking at a different situation. So not just the players are learning, I have too. And so the fact that Ben’s been a part of that system with Mike, can look at it from the offensive side, that’s what I hope to get. Basically, I want them to look at us and how they would try to attack. I don’t want them involved on the self-scout defense. I want to be able to say ‘How would you go after us on what you’ve seen?’ That’s what I’ve met with Ben about. But Mike kind of gives me that on a regular basis. But I’m looking forward to doing that with Ben as we get during the season.”

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