NEW ORLEANS 鈥 As Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore prepares for the biggest game of his career as a coach or a player in Super Bowl LIX, he reflected on his time with the Cowboys as a foundation to set up his coaching career.
"Being in Dallas, it was my first time really coaching, first time being an offensive coordinator," Moore said. At the end of the day, it's your first time, you're going to learn a lot. You're going to screw up a lot, you're going to be able to learn and grow."
Moore was the Cowboys' offensive coordinator from 2019-2022, serving under both Jason Garrett in his final season and Mike McCarthy's first two years in Dallas. In those three seasons, he feels like he was able to soak up a lot from his lessons that came from both his fellow coaches and players.
"I was fortunate to be around some of the best from coaches to players," Moore said. "It was a really, really great opportunity, really growing opportunity for me, and I feel like I was fortunate to be in that situation."
Moore and new Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer spend one season together in 2022, when Schottenheimer was a coaching analyst in Dallas. Even though he's competition now, Moore believes that Schottenheimer's hiring will be one that can help the Cowboys and their offense as a whole.
"Schotty's a great person, loved my year working with him, obviously we connected a lot just as far as the game plans鈥" Moore said. "Schotty was phenomenal for me, and he'll be great for Dak [Prescott] and all those guys."
In both his time as a player and coach, Moore has been around some of the best quarterbacks in the league such as Prescott, Justin Herbert and now Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia. Moore credits their work ethic as the common thread between what makes them elite.
"Your best players are your hardest workers," Moore said. "They put in the most time, they're connected and around the entire team, and I've been fortunate to be around some of the best."
Moore's name is one that's been popular on the NFL's head coaching carousel this offseason, including with the Cowboys. Moore interviewed for Dallas鈥 head coaching vacancy on January 16, and completed interviews with the Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints jobs as well.
There's been buzz around Moore and the Saints, who are the only remaining team in the league without a head coach. But none of his focus is on whether he'll be coaching in the Superdome going forward, it's only about the game on Sunday.
"There's rules set up in place to allow you to focus on this, it's been a great last week and a half here to really just hone in," Moore said. "You don't know how many opportunities you're going to have at this, so we're really focused and we're really excited about this."
"I think it's part of the process, obviously we're fortunate to be in this situation, it's been a lot of fun."
