Category: Playbook & Scheme

Shifting the Overshown window: a major takeaway in Cowboys 27-20 win

DeMarvion Overshown has normalized the spectacular and that’s great for the Cowboys now and moving forward. | From @ReidDHanson

The Overton Window is known as the shifting spectrum of government policies that are deemed acceptable by the masses. What seemed crazy one year ago might now seem perfectly fine today. It’s achieved by changing circumstances and/or desensitization to the public.

DeMarvion Overshown has produced his own shifting window. When the Texas product was first drafted by the Cowboys in 2023, he was player without a clear and obvious position. At 6-foot-2, 220-pounds, he played a safety-linebacker hybrid role in college and projected to play something similar in the NFL.

After missing his rookie season to a season-ending injury, Overshown has been used largely as a linebacker in 2024. Yet day by day, he’s seen more and more opportunities to showcase the special talents other linebackers don’t possess. In the Cowboys’ 27-20 win over New York on Thanksgiving, Overshown has successfully normalized an abnormal role on the Dallas defense.

As the best weapon not named “Micah Parsons,” Overshown is an elite weapon blitzing up the middle, playing in the box, dropping into coverage, and playing off the edge. He’s become the player a defensive coordinator schemes for. He’s become a player offensive coordinators scheme against.

12 weeks ago, using Overshown as a regular pass rusher seemed like an absurd thought. A player built for the secondary didn’t have much business playing on the line of scrimmage. But Mike Zimmer’s infamous double A-gap blitz provided him a perfect opportunity to showcase his skills. He did that and more this season, logging 17 pressures and five sacks prior to Week 13. He trails only Parsons in the sack department this season and added another pressure, interception and touchdown to the ledger on Thursday.

It’s no longer a crazy proposition to use Overshown as a regular pass rusher, be it from the edge or up the middle. The Overshown window has shifted where the absurd have quietly become the expected.

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Mike McCarthy not using this elite weapon more is unjustifiable Cowboys crime

KaVontae Turpin has proven once again he needs a bigger role on the Cowboys offense. | From @ReidDHanson

For almost three years, return specialist KaVontae Turpin has made the Cowboys return game one of the most feared in the NFL. The former USFL MVP demanded respect from the start in Dallas, earning Pro Bowl honors as a rookie and seeing an ever-expanding role on offense along the way.

While Turpin’s workload on Mike McCarthy’s offense has seen year-to-year growth, it’s still a generally niche role. Through 11 weeks in 2024, Turpin has just five rushing attempts and 31 targets downfield. He’s on pace for a career season on offense but it’s considerably less than what many in the media and fan circles envisioned for the former TCU receiver.

Turpin has largely been stuck in a supportive and gadget role over the years. Despite the blatant need for speed and playmaking ability on offense, McCarthy has struggled to get Turpin involved. The 28-year-old hasn’t made things easy for his coach, dropping some key passes and running some undisciplined routes, but one can argue it’s not Turpin’s job to fit McCarthy’s roles but rather McCarthy’s job to find the right roles for Turpin.

Such a statement may sound like semantics or even blame shifting but the reality is Turpin is just 5-foot-9, 153-pounds soaking wet and stretched out. He’s not the plug-and-play WR McCarthy has been trying to make him be.

For the better part of the season Turpin’s results on the field have been fairly underwhelming. Until, of course, he was used in a way that leaned on his strengths over the past week. Turpin’s ability to be a gamebreaker was on full display against Houston when he took a routine slant route to the house for 64 yards. He showed off his ability to separate, create in space and take a short pass the distance in the blink of an eye.

According to Seth Walder at ESPN, Turpin’s slant route for six points was just the second slant Turpin has run all season. It’s an inexcusable situation from an offensive coach who naturally leans on slant routes to a near preposterous degree.

Rather than using Turpin on pick routes, screens and slants, the Cowboys have been running their diminutive dynamo downfield where his size and experience are understandably exposed. Over the past 2+ seasons in Dallas, Turpin has been misused and underutilized to an unforgivable degree.

An argument could be made his actual number of touches is near maxed out given his build and that McCarthy was simply preserving him as a return man. But with speed and game breaking ability such as Turpin’s, he doesn’t even need the ball in his hands to be impactful. Motioning him behind the line at the snap and dragging him shallow across the formation after the snap is a great way to spread defenses horizontally, opening space on passing routes and widening rushing lanes on runs.

It’s also worth pointing out no one has any idea where that usage rate maxes out at since it’s yet to be found. Turpin has played in 43 of a possible 44 regular season games since coming to Dallas. He’s been extremely durable even in the high impact life of a return man.

A restricted free agent in 2025, Turpin may be somewhere else in the near future. There stands a very real chance his best years as an offensive weapon are ahead of him if his next coach is more willing to feature him in ways that play to his strength.

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Cover 1, Cover 3, Cover your eyes: Cowboys defensive flip hasn’t worked

The Cowboys are doing something funny with their safeties and it isn’t working. | From @ReidDHanson

Most will agree, the Cowboys’ biggest shake up of the 2024 offseason was their change at defensive coordinator. Gone was Dan Quinn. After coaching the Dallas defense for three successful seasons, Quinn earned a head coaching job in our nation’s capital. Replacing him at the helm was long time coordinator Mike Zimmer. Zimmer brought with him his infamously demanding defensive scheme, a nonsense attitude and an acceptance for timely split safety looks.

While the Cowboys were still expected to lean on man coverage in 2024, they were also expected to show more two-high safety looks. Zimmer was known to disguise coverage frequently and split his safeties over the top from time to time. It was a departure from his predecessor who both preferred single high safety formations and didn’t put much value is disguises.

2024 has proven to be surprising but not quite in the way many imagined. Zimmer has indeed disguised coverages, rolling safeties and linebackers at the last second to catch passers off guard, but he hasn’t moved Dallas off the single-high safety reliance.

https://x.com/fball_insights/status/1848828006363529723

Between Cover 1 and Cover 3, the Cowboys play a combined 61% of their snaps in single high. While that may be down from the seasons prior, it still represents their two most popular coverages seven weeks into 2024.

It’s understandable since the Cowboys have two fairly different safeties starting on their defense. Malik Hooker, traditionally their free safety, has been one of the better centerfielders in the NFL. In his last two seasons under Quinn, he ranked inside the top 15 of the 88+ safeties Pro Football Focus graded. Donovan Wilson, their primary box safety, didn’t grade as well by PFF but since the majority of his splash plays come near the line of scrimmage with him running downfield, his positioning seemed appropriate as well.

Under Zimmer that has changed somewhat.

Hooker’s snap percentage at deep safety has dropped from 84 percent under Quinn to 66 percent under Zimmer. Wilson’s snap percentage at deep safety has jumped from 38 percent under Quinn to 57 percent under Zimmer. While the slight increase in split safety looks accounts for some of that, the two players can be seen routinely playing each other’s roles throughout a game.

Hooker can often be seen sneaking up into a box role while Wilson positions himself back as the single high. What would have been a unicorn moment in 2023 now looks commonplace on the Cowboys defense in 2024 and it’s hard to understand why.

Deception is one thing, but these are typically pre-snap alignments, so the intention is stated at the start. This is just a case of role swapping and based on early returns it isn’t working out great. Based on PFF grades Wilson is having the lowest graded season of his career in 2024. He’s flashed a nice play here and there, but most will agree it’s been a pretty poor season for the man who’s on the books for $7,370,575 this season.

Hooker is having a season to forget too. The former first-round pick is also having the lowest graded season of his career and is having a hard time justifying his more modest $3,985,296 cap hit as well.

It seems the two players were better when they were focused on their respective expertise. Maybe run fit discipline led to change or maybe it was matchups that has Zimmer playing mix and match with his two playmakers but whatever the reason, it doesn’t seem to be worth it.

The Cowboys are still leaning heavily on single high safety looks under Zimmer but where the new defensive coordinator differs from his predecessor is which safety he uses where. That may not be a good thing.

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Cowboys need to give these 2 backups more snaps or risk peril in secondary

It’s time the Cowboys give Donovan Wilson a rest and Juanyeh Thomas and Markquese Bell a chance. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys have made it four games into their 2024 campaign and it is already clear certain adjustments are in order. The struggles of the defense combined with recent injuries to key personnel necessitate the urgency of change. Covering the injury losses of Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence are not easy changes with simple solutions. Altering roles and workloads in the secondary are a different story.

The Cowboys run defense rightfully garners most of the scrutiny in Dallas this season, but the secondary deserves its fair share of constructive criticism as well. Not only does the secondary play a key role in gap assignments in run support, but it’s also responsible for coverage downfield and open field playmaking. Injuries have spread the cornerback room thin, but the Cowboys safety corps remains intact and as deep as any position on the roster.

When reviewing the Cowboys struggles through the first portion of the season it’s almost impossible not to notice Donovan Wilson. Wilson, Dallas’ primary in-the-box safety has struggled immensely in 2024. His gap discipline has been lacking and instincts haven’t been doing his propensity to freelance any favors.

Wilson has always been a feast or famine player. He’s been known to disappear for extended periods of time only to explode on the scene for a monumental play out of the blue. Unfortunately, in 2024 it’s been mostly famine for Wilson, and at a time when the Dallas defense is struggling in discipline and understanding, it might be time to put the veteran safety on ice for a while.

Reserve safeties Juanyeh Thomas and Markquese Bell are seen by many as starting quality players stuck in backup roles in Dallas. Thomas has flashed the ability to play deep in both 2-deep looks as well as in single high safety schemes. And after a year of filling in at linebacker, Bell is more than capable of playing in the box in a thumper role but also matched up in man coverage against the likes of running backs, tight ends and slot receivers.

Depending on the gameplan, either player looks capable of taking over for Wilson, or even Malik Hooker, for portions of a game. If Mike Zimmer is planning more split safety looks that week, Thomas is the better option. If Zimmer wants an extra defender closer to the line of scrimmage, Bell is a great option. The point is he has options as his disposal.

Such a shakeup could get better production from the position, or it might just serve as a wakeup call for the starters. Either outcome would signal success.

There’s a saying, “money plays in the NFL” and that seems to carry extra weight on the Cowboys. Higher drafted players and/or players making big money typically get the benefit of the doubt in Dallas, even if they’re being outplayed by others. Wilson, playing on a fresh three-year, $21 million contract, has the seventh highest salary cap number on the team this season. It’s a status no one would guess by just watching the film this season and it’s a status that brings with it extra scrutiny when performance drops such as it has.

As things stand Thomas and Bell are chronically underused and, in some ways, misused. Thomas and Bell only have a combined 21 defensive snaps this season. That usage rate would be understandable if both starters were playing at All-Pro levels, but neither are. Of the 76 safeties Pro Football Focus has graded, Wilson ranks 48th and Hooker 64th this season. If Thomas and Bell are truly as good as many seem to think they are, they could certainly stand to steal some of the starter’s snaps on defense in coming weeks.

Such a move wouldn’t have to be absolute or permanent, but it would be tapping a resource and potentially fixing a problem.

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Mike Zimmer’s coverage philosophy just isn’t working for the 2024 Cowboys

Cowboys coverage calls are much different than 2023, and the results haven’t been good. Causation or correlation? | From @KDDrummondNFL

It’s always tough to make a one-to-one comparison between coaching staffs in the NFL. From year to year, so much changes about team personnel that it’s sometimes tough to pinpoint what changed philosophically or what changed out of necessity.

Take the Dallas Cowboys for instance. Last year’s starting cornerback tandem of Stephon Gilmore and Daron Bland have played zero snaps for the team in 2024. Can a change in the way the secondary schemes be tethered to a necessary change with Trevon Diggs return and a fifth-round rookie in Caelen Carson playing opposite him? Or is it more about Mike Zimmer implementing what has always been a much different philosophy when it comes to coverages than his predecessor Dan Quinn?

So far in 2024, there’s been a major difference between the way the secondaries have been deployed. And while it was expected for their to be a learning curve for the secondary players as Zimmer’s coverages are notoriously complicated, it’s been a dramatic shift in results.

Last season, the Cowboys were equally as likely to deploy their secondary in Cover 1, man-to-man with a centerfield deep safety, as they were in Cover 3, where the two corners play zone along with said deep safety.

This year though, Zimmer greatly cut back on the man-to-man philosophies. Cover 1 calls have dropped from 34% of snaps in 2023 to just 17% through the first four weeks of 2024. 2-Man calls, man-to-man corners with two deep safeties, have disappeared completely, going from 3% to 0% accotding to data colleted by Football Insights.

Cover 3 calls have risen from 30% of all defensive calls to 38%, but the biggest riser has been the use of Cover 6. That’s where half the field plays quarters coverage (four-deep zone) and the other half of the field is in an underneath zone.

Are the changes working?

Last year the Cowboys ranked fifth in defensive dropback EPA (expected points added) at -0.06 and seventh in defensive passing VOA (value over average). EPA measures on a per play basis how well a defense does in preventing the expectation of a score for the offense at -3.3%.

VOA is a metric that takes into account game situation and opponent strength to measure how well a unit is doing. A negative rating means the opponent is seeing less success than the average opponent.

In 2024 those numbers have plummeted. Dallas currently ranks 18th in defensive dropback EPA, allowing opponents to increase their chances of scoring with each pass at 0.041. They’re also 21st in pass-defense VOA at 12.3%.

Things have gotten decidedly worse, but the question is are these issues due to other factors, or the philosophy? Everything about the Dallas defense is worse than it was a year ago, from their run stopping ability to their pass rush. So is the coverage calling a result of trying to compensate for what’s happening in the front seven or a symptom of the same core issue?

More 3-4 looks may cover Cowboys’ temporary personnel problem

The Cowboys can’t replace Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence but maybe they don’t have to

The Cowboys essentially saved their season with their Week 4 win over the Giants, but the cost of victory was significant, losing both Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence in the process. Parsons, out 2-4 weeks with a high ankle sprain, and Lawrence, out 4-8 weeks with a Lisfranc injury, are by most accounts irreplaceable.

Parsons and Lawrence aren’t just Dallas’ top pressure players and key run defenders, but they are leaders on the field and the heart and soul of the defense. The falloff behind them appears to be immense with the rookie Marshawn Kneeland and longtime reserve Chauncey Golston slated to replace them in the starting lineup. In his fourth season, Golston has less than five career sacks to his name. Kneeland, sackless in the NFL, never logged more than 4.5 sacks in a single season in college. Based on their individual track records, it’s unlikely either player can replace half the production of the men they’re replacing.

It might be best if defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer flips the script.

Instead of inadequately filling the need at defensive end with role players, Zimmer may be better served to mix up front seven entirely. Given the strengths and weaknesses of the roster, the Cowboys could find it easier to employ a more traditional odd man front that leans on the defensive tackles rather than the defensive ends.

Contrary to popular belief many 3-4 and 4-3 fronts are extremely similar. Just because these are changes in personnel groupings doesn’t mean they change the system being played. The Cowboys already bounce between odd and even fronts frequently, using under, over and BEAR looks, including a 3-3-5. It wouldn’t be a fundamental change for Zimmer’s defense per say, just an effort to avoid plugging a round hole with a square peg.

Under this proposal the pressure players would come largely from the linebacker ranks. Dallas’ most explosive player, DeMarvion Overshown, could man an outside LB spot and serve as the chief pass rusher. The other outside LB spot could be filled by someone like Carl Lawson who has played that very role in both the NFL and back at Auburn.

Mazi Smith and Linval Joseph would rotate as the nose tackle and Osa Odighizuwa looks perfectly capable of being a playmaking defensive end. The other DE spot could be handled by a number of players including Kneeland and Golston. As 3-4 DEs they wouldn’t need to be the explosive players Parsons and Lawrence were because the playmaking roles would be on the edge LBs.

For the first time in a while the strength of the roster appears to be the LB position, so it only makes sense for the Cowboys to lean on it. And given Dallas’ issues defending the run this season, mixing things up could be just what this defense needs.

Moving to more three-man fronts sounds like a bigger change than it really is. It allows the Cowboys to lean on the strength of their roster and with any luck survive the losses of the team’s best playmakers.

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Teams are eliminating this unique Cowboys weapon, so how will Dallas fix it?

Teams are avoiding KaVonate Turpin and it’s time the Cowboys figure out how to stop that. | From @ReidDHanson

Let’s run through a quick strategy session, shall we? Let’s say an opposing team is fielding two kick returners. One of those returners is a reserve safety with average speed and below average return ability. The other returner is an actual kick return specialist with elite speed and Pro Bowl return ability. How would you handle this situation as the kicking team?

If you answered, “kick it to the reserve safety” you’re not alone. Each of the Cowboys opponents this season has opted to target the safety, Juanyeh Thomas, rather than the professional return man, KaVonate Turpin. It’s not hard to see why either. Turpin is one of the most feared return men in the game today. If given the choice between the two, no one in their right mind would target Turpin. It’s why the former TCU star only has two returns on the season while Thomas has six.

https://twitter.com/GehlkenNFL/status/1561395165071380481

This strategy has rendered Turpin nothing more than a lead blocker on the kick return unit. At 5-foot-9, 153-pounds, he’s not exactly the ideal blocker, but if teams are kicking away from him what else is he supposed to do?

It seems there’s a Turpin avoidance problem at the moment in Dallas and it’s incumbent on the Cowboys to figure out a solution.

One possible solution is upgrading the return spot next to Turpin. Thomas is averaging just 24 yards per return this season, well below league average and significantly below Turpin’s 34.5. Thomas also has the fourth most return attempts in the NFL, indicating it’s not a product of sample size.

It stands to reason a more explosive player could produce better results in the role. Possible solutions are Deuce Vaughn, Rico Dowdle, Jalen Tolbert and Ryan Flournoy. Given Donovan Wilson’s volativity at safety, Thomas could really stand to get more snaps at safety anyway.

Another possible solution is to fight the opponent’s predictability with unpredictability. Opponents are predictably targeting the player opposite Turpin so what if the Cowboys disguise which side of the field Turpin is on?

If both return men begin the process positioned in the middle of the field, making a break to their respective sides only when the kicking motion has begun, they will remove the kicking team’s ability to target specific players. It would give Turpin a 50-50 shot at returning the ball which would be a marked improvement over what he’s getting today.

What the Cowboys can’t do is keep allowing teams to dictate the terms of a return because they’re just going to keep targeting the man not named “Turpin” every time. In that case the Cowboys might as well just take Turpin off the field altogether and replace him with an actual lead blocker since that’s all he’s been doing anyway.

It’s innovation time in Dallas. John Fassel and crew are facing a very predictable situation right now and they need to find ways to work around it.

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Spy vs Spy: These 3 Cowboys defenders hope to minimize Lamar Jackson’s impact for Ravens

The Cowboys have three spy options for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in Week 3. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys are notoriously dreadful against dual-threat quarterbacks. They routinely give up massive gains on scrambles, critical conversions on third downs and undisciplined execution on designed read-options to athletic QBs.

Dallas’ heavy use of man coverage, specifically Cover 1 looks, only compounds the damage since cover cornerbacks are playing with their backs to the QB. These coverages probably won’t change with Mike Zimmer at the helm on defense.

Like Dan Quinn, Zimmer loves man coverage, and given the Ravens propensity to run, coupled with Dallas’ struggles to stop said run, the Cowboys will likely once again lean on Cover 1 in Week 3. That’s because playing with just one deep safety means Dallas gets an extra player in the box which is something the Cowboys could desperately use.

Lamar Jackson, Baltimore’s explosive weapon at the position, isn’t just a good rushing QB, he’s by most accounts the best rushing QB in the NFL. The two-time NFL MVP is lightning fast with the ability to start and stop on a dime. He makes the other dual threats in the NFL look like they’re running in mud.

The Ravens utilize Jackson as one would expect – a runner. They frequently call designed runs, read options, zone reads, and even RPOs with a QB run element attached (RPO’s don’t inherently have run options for QBs attached).

Even the Ravens passing game leaves run options open for Jackson. Tuck-and-run is often his second read on plays so the Dallas defense will have to be prepared for a QB run every single down.

Normally this would spell certain doom for the Cowboys. That’s especially true coming off their embarrassing efforts in Week 2 against the Saints. But the Cowboys have a couple aces up their sleeves that could prove difference makers in Sunday’s showdown. They have DeMarvion Overshown and Marist Liufau.

The Cowboys’ two young linebackers are as explosive as it gets from the LB position. Overshown has a level of click-and-close that makes even Micah Parsons look mortal. Liufau is a hyper intelligent player known to play like his hair on fire for all 60 minutes. Both are positioned to serve as QB spys this Sunday. Both could be the difference maker in the Cowboys ability to stop Jackson.

There’s a debate raging over which one will be tasked with the job. Liufau is typically in base packages while Overshown is in for nickel packages. After shining like a star in Week 1, Overshown took the backseat in Week 2. The reason behind that is the Saints heavy use of 12 and 21 personnel warranted more base packages from Dallas last week.

Week 3 could bring a similar reaction from Zimmer since the Ravens have only played 11 personnel (3WR, which prompts nickel defense) 26.2 percent of the time this season. Unless Zimmer changes his packages, Liufau should expect the bulk of the snaps.

Dallas has also hinted at Parsons doing some spy work. Given Zimmer’s use of complicated and/or deceitful blitz packages, he could very well fake a pass rush and then drop Parsons into a spy role at times on Sunday. Based on what we know, Liufau will likely get the most spy opportunities with Overshown plugged in as a close second. Parsons or even a safety could be used in select situations behind them.

Will it be effective?

That’s anyone’s guess but the Cowboys seem to finally have some solid options on their staff who can successfully fill this role, which is much more than they’ve ever appeared to have in the past. Which spy on the Cowboys will be the biggest difference maker?

Everyone is about to find out.

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It’s time for McCarthy to make this serious change to Cowboys offense

it might be time for Mike McCarthy to better embrace his West Coast offense’s roots

When Mike McCarthy first came to Dallas it was seen as an instant boost for the Cowboys offense. In addition to have coached three of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game, McCarthy was regarded as a guru of the famous West Coast offense. The West Coast offense, or WCO, is an offensive attack conceived by Bill Walsh in Cincinnati in the 1970s, popularized in San Francisco in the 1980s, and eventually canonized by the many branches of the Walsh coaching tree in the years since.

McCarthy, hailing from that very Walsh coaching tree, was set to bring the WCO offense to the Cowboys. It was said he would merge his famous attack with the preexisting Air Coryell offense being run by holdover Kellen Moore. For years there was comprise between the two brands, but after Moore was allowed to seek other outside opportunities in 2023, it’s been the McCarthy show in Dallas.

With McCarthy alone at the helm things have predictably moved in the direction of passing. The WCO is an offense designed to move away from the run-heavy approach of yesteryear. It replaces many of the runs typically associated with the Air Coryell and replaces them with short horizontal passes in space. When game situations and box counts call for it, there are still runs, but the short passing game essentially takes the place of the running game. Given all that, it’s not surprising to see the Cowboys passing at a rate over expected these days

It’s neither a secret nor surprising to see the Cowboys struggling to rush the ball in 2024. Not only did they piece together a running back group with retreads and complementary players, but they replaced two-fifths of the offensive line with rookies. Through two games the Cowboys’ leading rusher has just 56 yards with the most efficient rusher averaging just 3.7 yards/carry. It’s so bleak the No. 3 RB, Deuce Vaughn is actually leading the unit in missed tackles forced and in yards after contact/attempt.

As a team the Cowboys are rushing the ball with a success rate (SR) of just 37 percent this season. That means on 63 percent of rushing attempts the Cowboys were in better shape before the play than they were after the play. Specifically, Ezekiel Elliott is contributing a 31.3% SR while Rico Dowdle is averaging 46.7% SR. If there’s ever been a time to truly embrace the WCO it’s now.

More high percentage short passes on early downs could effectively replace a portion of the Cowboys’ rushing attempts. Granted, receivers Jalen Tolbert, Jalen Brooks and KaVonate Turpin aren’t exactly begging for more opportunities with the ball, but since they’re ascending players who offer a little more juice in space, they are options worth exploring.

The Cowboys are in a tough spot right now. They don’t want to become so one dimensional they are predictable, but they also don’t want to keep doing something that clearly isn’t working all in the name of balance.

The WCO is just another tool on McCarthy’s toolbelt. The Cowboys are already more pass-heavy than most NFL teams, so this isn’t a call for wild changes but rather a continued shift.

Early downs especially should shift away from the running game since far too often they lead to obvious passing situations on third down. These third-down passing situations typically call for Dak Prescott to spend more time in the pocket since the ball needs to get beyond the sticks. That means more pressure on Terence Steele and Tyler Guyton to maintain blocks on the edge which is not something anyone wants.

The Cowboys don’t need wholesale changes on offense, but they need some changes. It might be time for McCarthy to go full West Coast offense on this Cowboys team.

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Mike Zimmer to get first Cowboys test against dreaded Shanahan offense Week 2

Mike Zimmer was brought to the Cowboys to stop Shanahan offenses like the Saints bring in Week 2, says @ReidDHanson

The Shanahan offense. For years it’s been a thorn in the Cowboys’ side. Popularized in San Francisco, coach Kyle Shanahan has created a schematic juggernaut that’s elevated numerous offenses across the league to be far greater than the sum of their parts. Its branches extend from coast to coast and its many spinoffs have traditionally given the Cowboys absolute fits.

In Week 2 the Cowboys welcome New Orleans to take on the latest Shanahan spinoff, Klint Kubiak’s Saints. This will mark the first big test of the Mike Zimmer era and will go a long way into making fans and media believe this year might be different in Dallas.

Zimmer’s predecessor, Dan Quinn, enjoyed enormous success during his three years with the Cowboys. But despite building a one of the best defenses in the NFL, Quinn couldn’t get over the Shanahan hump.

Quinn’s unit was often exposed going up against a Shanahan offense. All three postseasons under Quinn, two of which were at home, abruptly ended at the hands of a Shanahan offense. As John Owning of PFF pointed out over the winter, in the Quinn era the Cowboys gave up an EPA of 0.045 against Shanahan offenses compared to -0.094 EPA against non-Shanahan offenses. That’s a +0.139 swing which, to put it bluntly, is nothing short of radical.

Kubiak’s ties to the Shanahan offense extend beyond his one-year stint in San Francisco last season but go to his roots as the son of Gary Kubiak. Gary Kubiak worked for years under Mike Shanahan, Kyle Shanahan’s father, and as many recall this is where the original conception of the Shanahan offense began. The wide zone scheme held a legendary status even before Kyle Shanahan evolved it into what it is today. Therefore, it’s safe to say the younger Kubiak has a pretty firm grasp on this Cowboys killing scheme even if he only had one year of tutelage in San Francisco.

In the Saints Week 1 win over Carolina, Kubiak hit the ground running, putting up 47 points on the hapless Panthers. They were among league leaders in play-action, condensed formations and motion which are all staples of a Shanahan offense.

https://twitter.com/jagibbs_23/status/1833154900437406157

Historically, this scheme has caused fits for the Dallas defense. In the past Cowboys’ defenders have been lacking gap discipline, often allowing big gains on the ground. They’ve also been eager to bite on play fakes allowing exaggerated separation on routes downfield.

The 2024 Cowboys defense returns many of the same players guilty of these lapses in discipline, but the hope is under the leadership of Zimmer, the issues get corrected. It’s not just that Zimmer is a renowned disciplinarian as a coach, it’s that Zimmer’s defenses historically do very well against Shanahan offenses.

https://twitter.com/CowboysStats/status/1753225757055156534

Pass coverage specifically has made Zimmer a standout coordinator against these types of offenses. Since the run typically exists to set up the more fruitful gains downfield through the air, both elements need to work harmoniously to stop an offense such as Kubiak’s. It’s what made Zimmer the most optimal defensive coach to replace Quinn this past winter. He’s a decisive upgrade against the offenses that have been proven Cowboys killers.

Week 2 is Zimmer’s first test in proving 2024 will be different.

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