Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer made the trip to Brazil with football as his sole focus, but his wife, Gemmi, remained back in Dallas after falling ill with the flu.
Schottenheimer and the Cowboys departed Dallas on Thursday for their Week 3 matchup with the Baltimore Ravens in Rio de Janeiro, leaving their families behind as part of a deliberate decision to keep the team focused on football.
While Schottenheimer prepared for his first international game as Cowboys head coach, Gemmi stayed home and shared an update on social media about an eventful weekend that left her missing the family.
“Not my weekend…flat tire to under the weather… I miss you @savannahschottenheimer,” Gemmi Schottenheimer posted on her Instagram story alongside a photo of herself.
Savannah is the couple’s daughter and attends Auburn University. Brian and Gemmi also have a son, with both children now away from home.
Schottenheimer had previously explained that the Cowboys‘ trip was being treated strictly as a football operation, with the team avoiding the tourist activities that might normally accompany an international trip.
“We’re going to be busy. This is a business trip,” Schottenheimer said. “The meetings and the walkthroughs and the practice that we’ll have [Friday], the trip to the stadium on Saturday, those are all critical parts to what we’re doing so we go into the game feeling prepared.
“I’m not planning any touristy attractions. My thing is to focus on getting down there. It’s going to be a long trip. We know that. We own that. Got a good plan in place.”
Field for Brazil’s NFL game raises concerns
The Cowboys arrived in Brazil with a 1-1 record for a matchup that marks the NFL’s first game in Rio de Janeiro as the Ravens enter the contest with their own expectations, while the condition of Maracana Stadium’s field has emerged as another storyline.
Images and videos from the stadium showed areas of patchy grass ahead of kickoff, prompting concerns from the NFL Players Association about player safety and the quality of the playing surface.
JC Tretter addressed those concerns publicly but the NFL field director Nick Pappas later said the surface had passed the necessary tests as he aimed to calm worries that the pitch could be dangerous to the players.
He pointed out that an independent inspector and an NFLPA representative were both involved in Friday’s assessment and Pappas also explained that synthetic fibers had been added to the grass using a Grassmaster Stitching machine in an effort to reinforce the surface and provide additional stability.
Schottenheimer‘s attention remains on preparing Dallas for Baltimore, but his wife’s update provides a reminder of how hard it can be to leave home affairs at home after the Cowboys‘ coach insisted the trip would be about football.
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