Brian Schottenheimer vows to put 'elephant in his garage' if Cowboys beat Cardinals

Brian Schottenheimer has endured some unexpected developments during his first season as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

While speaking with reporters on Friday, Schottenheimer indicated he could grow a little superstitious if 3-4-1 Dallas notches a home win over the Arizona Cardinals (2-5) on Monday night. 

How far will Brian Schottenheimer go to help the Cowboys win?

"S---, I'll put an elephant in my frickin' garage," Schottenheimer revealed, per ESPN's Todd Archer. "I'll do that next. If that's what it takes to win, I'll do it."

Schottenheimer was referring to the odd encounters his family has had with wildlife since September. As Archer noted in a previous piece, two of Schottenheimer's dogs were bitten by snakes ahead of Dallas' Week 2 game versus the New York Giants. Additionally, Schottenheimer's 82-year-old mother suffered a broken arm when she fell at the airport before she could fly to Dallas for that matchup. 

The Cowboys ultimately handed Schottenheimer the first win of his coaching career after Dallas' Brandon Aubrey made a game-tying 64-yard field goal as time expired. Aubrey later kicked a game-winner in the closing seconds of the overtime period. 

The Schottenheimer family versus an owl

More recently, an owl flew into the Schottenheimer family home on Thursday. 

"I'm in game plan meetings last night, doing some red zone stuff, and I leave the meeting about 10 o'clock, and I go back to my phone, and I literally had 72 text messages on my phone. Seventy-two," Schottenheimer explained. "...It literally started with a text from my son to his mother saying, 'Umm, there's a big hawk-sized bird in here,' and I began to look down and there was an owl."

It turns out that Schottenheimer's son accidentally left the sliding doors open before the owl was discovered. Schottenheimer added that animal control safely removed the owl from the house and "returned to its safe domain." 

"I might have to look at that as another job," Schottenheimer joked. "Just kinda become an animal control guy. I'm so experienced now with wildlife in and around Dallas. Can't make it up."

Shortly after Schottenheimer concluded his remarks, ESPN BET had the Cowboys as 2.5-point favorites over the Cardinals. It sounds like some insiders think Schottenheimer might soon need to explore what it would take to keep an elephant in a garage for at least a few months.