Brian Schottenheimer Compares Sonny Styles’ Confidence To Caleb Downs

FRISCO, Texas — Sonny Styles reminds Brian Schottenheimer a lot of Caleb Downs. The Dallas Cowboys coach said Wednesday at The Star that he sees the same confidence in the Washington Commanders rookie linebacker after one game that he sees in Downs, who played with Styles at Ohio State.

Styles recorded the first sack of his career Sunday in Washington’s 24-22 loss at the Philadelphia Eagles. He ran over running back Saquon Barkley on his way to Jalen Hurts on the play. The first-round pick finished with 4 tackles, 2 for a loss.

Schottenheimer has not leaned on Downs for a scouting report on Styles. Dallas did a lot of research into Styles, Schottenheimer said.

“No, not really. I mean, I think we did a lot of research into Sonny, and we know how his brain works. He’s very bright, very smart, incredible young man. They got a good one with him. He played well last game. Very physical blitzer,” Schottenheimer said. “He had a great rush against Saquon where he kind of caught Saquon and bull-rushed him over. That was a cool play by a young player against an elite back in the league. But you see the confidence of a guy like Sonny Styles after one game, and it reminds me a lot of Caleb Downs.”

Caleb Downs Forced A Fumble In Dallas Cowboys Debut

Downs, the No. 11 overall pick, played 61 of 69 defensive snaps in the 28-20 loss to the New York Giants. He had a sack, a forced fumble, a tackle for loss, and a quarterback hit.

In the second quarter, Downs came on a blitz and dropped Jaxson Dart for an 8-yard loss at the Dallas 36, knocking the ball loose. New York recovered. Dart did not know he had a free runner coming, Schottenheimer said.

“I thought he played really well. Obviously everyone saw the strip-sack fumble, the timing of it, really good disguise. Jaxson Dart didn’t know that he had a free runner coming, which was great,” Schottenheimer explained. “I thought he attacked the ball beautifully. Some of the coverage stuff and communication stuff was really good.”

“And then the last really kind of third down of the game, he was right there on Likely, and Jaxson made a great throw and Caleb was matched up on him and he tried to get the PBU and Likely made a great catch and great throw by Jaxson,” Schottenheimer continued. “Caleb Downs is a tremendous football player.”

New York took over at its own 28 with 5:21 left and never gave the ball back. On that drive, tight end Isaiah Likely caught a 12-yard pass on third-and-9 and a 5-yard pass on third-and-3. Likely finished with 8 catches for 78 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Sonny Styles Faces Dallas Cowboys In Second NFL Game

Washington’s defense sacked Hurts three times in its opener, once each by Styles, Frankie Luvu, and Odafe Oweh. Daronte Jones called the defense for the first time as the Commanders’ coordinator.

Dallas sacked Dart twice. Downs had one, and Donovan Ezeiruaku and Jonathan Bullard split the other. Safety Malik Hooker had surgery Tuesday on a fracture from the opener, and linebacker DeMarvion Overshown is working back from a hamstring strain.

The Cowboys host the Commanders on Sunday at AT&T Stadium. Kickoff is 3:25 p.m. CT on FOX.