Why Cowboys' Brian Schottenheimer unfazed about talking to Tom Brady despite facing Raiders later in season

FRISCO, Texas -- Fox Sports lead NFL analyst and Las Vegas Raiders part-owner Tom Brady drew plenty of attention to himself Monday night when his Raiders hosted the Los Angeles Chargers.

Brady sat in the Raiders coaches' booth with a headset on, indicating he's much more involved in football operations than the average owner is with their respective team. The scene raised eyebrows and concern about the retired seven-time Super Bowl champion's ability to avoid conflicts of interest when calling games for Fox Sports. 

Normally, announcers would be able to attend teams' practices and enter teams' facilities as part of their game prep, but the league blocked Brady from doing that in the lead-up to games. This season, they have allowed Brady to participate in production meetings in a virtual capacity. 

None of this concerns new Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer entering his team's Week 3 game at the Chicago Bears. Brady is on the call for Dallas' game on Sunday, and then the Cowboys will play in Las Vegas against Brady's Raiders on "Monday Night Football" in Week 11. 

One of the reasons why Schottenheimer isn't concerned is because of new Raiders head coach Pete Carroll's high level of familiarity with Schottenheimer, who was Carroll's offensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks from 2018-2020. At his Dallas introductory press conference, Schottenheimer identified Carroll as one of his biggest football mentors, and on Wednesday, he revealed his viral postgame celebration after his first win with the Cowboys in Week 2 was inspired by Carroll as well.

"Yeah, I'm not even going to talk to Tom," Schottenheimer said with a smirk. "Everybody has everybody's playbooks. Everybody knows somebody that knows somebody that's been some place. I don't have a problem with it. Some people might. Look, I'll talk football with anybody. I just love the game. What Tom does with his ownership position is up to Tom. But in terms of me being concerned about something I might say to Tom getting back to Pete [Carroll] or getting back to them, I think Pete and I know each other pretty well."  

Schottenheimer's position echoes the NFL's position on Brady's broadcasting involvement, so there won't be any complaints of espionage from Dallas. Bears head coach Ben Johnson holds a similar view as Schottenheimer even though Chicago will immediately turn around and face the Raiders in Week 4. 

"Tom continues to be prohibited from going to a team facility for practices or production meetings," the league statement given to CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones said. "He may attend production meetings remotely but may not attend in person at the team facility or hotel. He may also conduct an interview off-site with a player like he did last year a couple of times, including for the Super Bowl. Of course, as with any production meeting with broadcast teams, it's up to the club, coach or players to determine what they say in those sessions."