Kellen Moore's college coach heard from his former quarterback while

Moore was thinking about trading his helmet for a whistle.The next thing Chris Petersen knew Womens Leighton Vander Esch Jersey , Moore was in charge of Dak Prescott as quarterbacks coach of the Dallas Cowboys not too long after sitting third on the depth chart behind the 2016 NFL offensive rookie of the year."When I heard that, I think, 'Really? You're sitting next to the guys and now you've got the chalk and you're telling them exactly what to do?'" said Petersen, now at Washington after coaching Moore at Boise State. "It's not like he played for a long, long time in the NFL. I think all those things just speak to how rare he is and how special he is."Nobody close to Moore is surprised he ended up in coaching. They've been saying that about him since he was winning high school state championships under his dad, Tom Moore, in Washington. The only surprise is that his younger brother, Fresno State receivers coach Kirby Moore, beat him into coaching by several years.That's because Kellen Moore's NFL career lasted six years despite him playing just three regular-season games after going 50-3 as the starter at Boise State.Two years ago, Moore went into training camp as the backup to Tony Romo before breaking an ankle in practice. Because of that injury, Prescott became the starter when Romo hurt his back in a preseason game.The Cowboys ran off a franchise-record 11 straight wins that season, forcing Romo to concede the job to Prescott before retiring to go into broadcasting. Moore was a backup again, this time behind Prescott, before losing that job to rookie Cooper Rush last season.Retirement was on Moore's mind when the Cowboys decided not to bring back Wade Wilson, who coached Dallas quarterbacks the previous 10 years. Moore, who turned 30 in July, decided the time was right."There's nothing like playing," said Moore, who started two games at the end of a lost 2015 season marred by Romo's twice-broken collarbone. "Certainly wasn't planning on something like this opening. When the opportunity presented itself, felt like it was a really good opportunity. Hard to turn down."As for running meetings so soon after sitting next to Prescott in the QB room, the understated Moore shrugs."You talk a little bit more in meetings. That's about it," he said. "I think simply it's a collaborative effort in that room. We're all trying to achieve the same things. One quarterback plays at a time. Do everything you can to help that guy succeed."Moore's transition has been eased by his relationship with offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who had the same job in Detroit when the Lions signed Moore as an undrafted free agent in 2012.He never took a regular-season snap with the Lions, and came to Dallas a year after Linehan was hired. They share roots in Washington state — their hometowns are 15 miles apart — and a reserved demeanor that Linehan believes plays well with most quarterbacks."They didn't even blink," Linehan said of Moore's teammates-turned-pupils. "The respect is there, the whole just understanding that that's not an easy transformation for a lot of people. But they also knew that Kellen Youth Allen Hurns Jersey , there's nobody that takes more diligent preparation and notes and prepares as a player."Moore can relate to his head coach, too, since Jason Garrett did the same thing 13 years ago. The former backup to three-time Super Bowl winner Troy Aikman in Dallas, Garrett ended with playing career with Tampa Bay and Miami in 2004. In no time — two weeks, Garrett said — he was Nick Saban's quarterbacks coach with the Dolphins."Oftentimes as players, we sit back and we have all the answers but someone else is running the show," Garrett said. "When you click into being a coach, you have to have the answers from A to Z. And you have to be really thorough on how you teach all different guys in the room and all different guys on the field."The most important guy is Prescott, but even that won't really be new to Moore. Since his injury him sidelined all of 2016, Moore was a de facto coach for a first-year player navigating the sudden success of a 13-win season before the Cowboys lost to Green Bay in a divisional playoff game.Moore said that season got him to thinking about the next phase of his career. And because of that season, Prescott doesn't feel much of a change."Obviously he's being vocal. He's being more of a coach," Prescott said. "He's always been there teaching me the game, teaching me different things about the defense and the offense. But now that's his job. He's done a great job in the film room, on the field."While agreeing that the move is unusual, Petersen also sees it as logical."He has paid attention like a coach," Petersen said. "He's so laser-focused on the mental part of things. He knows that system inside and out. It's not like he's learning a new system and all this. He can tell them exactly like this is what you do. I think it's pretty smart by the Cowboys."And not surprising to Petersen, or anyone who knows his former quarterback, that Moore went for it.Get on the Swaim Train: The Cowboys’ unheralded tight end is becoming a key role player There were some heroes in the Dallas Cowboys’ win over the Detroit Lions, players we are relying on to continue the winning against the Houston Texans. Ezekiel Elliott, Dak Prescott, DeMarcus Lawrence, Byron Jones, Jaylon Smith, Leighton Vander Esch, Krispy Kreme-loving Joe Looney and the rest of the offensive line - all have been praised, and deservedly so.But there was one other hero from that much-needed win who has not gotten the notice he should. That is tight end Geoff Swaim Womens Sean Lee Jersey , whose role in the victory was a lot more significant than you probably think. As a matter of fact, he deserves a lot of credit for getting the Dallas offense out of neutral.Think back a moment. After a week heaping ashes on our heads, rending our garments, and gnashing our teeth over the lack of big offensive plays against the Seattle Seahawks, we were all starting to feel a little queasy after the first Cowboys possession went three-and-out when Ezekiel Elliott (who carried the ball on all three of those snaps) was uncharacteristically stuffed on 3rd and 1. Dallas needed something, anything, to get the offense rolling and create some confidence. Then, after the defense got off the field and Dallas had the ball on their own 10-yard line to start their second possession, this happened.Now, the text on that tweet is certainly not accurate. Swaim has a long way to go to show he has the craftiness at getting open and the sure-handedness that were hallmarks of Jason Witten.But he is certainly a better open field runner than Witten was in his last few seasons. That play was just what the Cowboys needed. It got them a nice chunk of yardage, gave a little nudge to the composure of the Detroit defense, and greatly improved the field position. In addition to there being a very nice run after the catch, Swaim was a wide-open target for Prescott. That is almost certainly due to a very nice play call and design from Scott Linehan.And of course, the Swaim Train wasn’t done for the day.It was a career day for Swaim. Although, that is not saying all that much. In addition to the 31-yard kickstart and the touchdown, he only had one other catch for seven yards (it was the first play of the final, game-winning drive, however). Swaim has only caught 11 passes total this season, and projects out to just over 400 yards and four scores on the season. Even as paltry as his numbers are so far, they still eclipse all he had done prior to 2018. One of the most cited stats during the offseason was that Swaim was the only tight end on the roster with any catches at all - a grand total of nine.But this isn’t about becoming a superstar or part of a new “triplets”. It is about whether Dallas has a functional tight end, something that is required to make their offense work. No one was sure of that before the season started. Now, to this point at least, the answer is starting to look like “yes”. Not everyone on an NFL team can be a superstar. The salary cap makes that impossible. Nor is there enough talent to go around in the league. What does work is to have a handful of those All-Pro and Pro-Bowl types, with a bunch of good, solid, working-class players to complement the roster. Players who go out Womens Connor Williams Jersey , do their jobs, and don’t let the team down. What Swaim demonstrated against the Lions was that he can do the basics. He can be a cog in the machine that makes it all work better. And part of it all is the way he is used by Linehan. While the two plays you can watch above were different in many ways, they have one thing in common. In both, Swaim is wide, wide open. There are no defenders within yards of him. That allowed him to get going and make that very nice run in the first one, and on the touchdown, all he had to do was not drop the danged ball. This is not a testament to Swaim’s skill at running a route or getting away from a defender. Nope. This was pure scheme and play-calling. Both plays were in situations where the Lions were likely looking for the ball to go to Elliott, so Swaim was able to sneak out and find those vast spreads of green (or blue and silver in the end zone) to basically wait, unhindered, for the ball to get to him.So Swaim’s success going forward is going to be dependent on his OC, and also on the ball-handling and faking skills of his QB. The latter is not really doubted, as even in his bad stretches, Prescott has done well with play-action and such. And last Sunday, at least, Linehan was dialing up the good stuff.From a broader perspective, the win was also about building confidence on the offense, particularly among teammates. Swaim did his part by making the catches and the plays he needed to. He does not need to play like a future Hall of Famer. There are three or four players with that potential on the offense already. And he doesn’t need to put up huge numbers. While 400 yards may not be enough, 600-800 should get ‘er done, and three more touchdowns will suffice if Linehan can get some of those for the rest of his receiving corps. Swaim may never garner any post-season honors, but that in no way lessens his value to the team. What the Cowboys needed was someone who could do a good enough job at tight end to make things work. Last game, he showed us exactly that. If he can just keep it up, and maybe do a wee bit more, then he will be carrying his part of the load.Kind of like a freight train. Nothing glamorous or flashy, just getting the job done day after day.