In Week 6 of the 2024 regular season, the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys will play each other for the third time in the previous three seasons. Over that time, there have been some changes to the Cowboys coaching staff, but the Lions coaching staff has stayed the same.
Let us examine the coaching staff and offensive and defensive tactics of the Cowboys.
Mike McCarthy, head coach of the Cowboys
McCarthy has nearly thirty years of NFL coaching experience. He coached offensive positions in the mid-to-late 1990s, served as offensive coordinator from 2000 to 2005, then took over as head coach in 2006. He led the Packers in Green Bay for thirteen years.
where he was fired because his relationship with quarterback Aaron Rodgers soured, despite the fact that he had won a Super Bowl there. McCarthy reappeared in Dallas a little over a year later, where he is currently in his sixth season as head coach.
For the most part of his head coaching career, McCarthy has always called the offensive play, but he has earned a reputation for being dependable. McCarthy has an outstanding record of 169-104-2, but most people do not give him credit for it since they believe that skilled teams won despite McCarthy’s coaching. McCarthy had a 6-10 season in his debut season in Dallas, but during the last three seasons, he has helped the Cowboys achieve 12-5 records. However, the Cowboys continued to seriously contemplate cutting ties with McCarthy this offseason.
Brian Schottenheimer, coordinator of offense
On game day, McCarthy still calls the plays, but he does rely on Schottenheimer to assist in creating the offensive strategy.
In 1998, Schottenheimer started working for his father Marty, the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, when he entered the NFL. After working with college teams for a few seasons (USC TE 2000, Syracuse WR 1999), he returned to the NFL in 2001 after Marty was hired by Washington. Then, from 2002 to 2005, he followed him to San Diego, where he worked as a quarterbacks coach. Brian Schottenheimer worked as an offensive coordinator for five different NFL clubs during the course of the previous 20 years. In 2022, he joined the Cowboys and was promoted to coordinator.
and advancing to the position of coordinator in 2023.
McCarthy’s offensive plan known as “Texas Coast”
Fundamentally, McCarthy’s “Texas Coast” offense is a variant of the West Coast offense, depending on play-action, quick outlet passes, screens, play-action, ball protection, efficiency, and yards after catch (YAC) from its skill players.
To keep players fresh and defenses guessing, they employ a range of offensive personnel groupings. For instance, like most of the NFL, their most popular lineup consists of 11 players (1 tight end, 1 running back, and 3 receivers). 21 players (12%), 10 players (10%), 12 players (6.5%), and a few other players (all under 4%).
The Cowboys’ offense in 2024 has already seen some significant changes, despite the fact that the Lions only recently encountered it in the latter part of the season.
Dallas was helped by an effective scoring attack that gave them early leads and allowed them to rely on the run in 2023, as they passed approximately 58% of the season, or league average. Due to their poor rushing game and inability to build large leads early in the season, the Cowboys have passed the ball 64% of the time, which is fourth most in the NFL at the moment.
This aligns with the Cowboys’ play-action strategy as well. Despite being a fundamental component of the plan, quarterback Dak Prescott uses play-action on fewer than 20% of plays, which
Another fundamental tenet is depending on skill players to earn yards after the catch (YAC). However, this season, they have relied more on this strategy, as evidenced by Prescott’s 51.4% of passes that end up short of the sticks (-0.9 air-to-stick mark), according to NextGenStats. Prescott is essentially expecting the Cowboys’ skill players to get the first down on their own by releasing the ball from his grasp in less than 2.5 seconds.
Positively, Dallas has been successful offensively thanks to Prescott’s effectiveness. He now ranks second in the NFL with over 1,424 passing yards, ties for sixth place with eight touchdown passes, and leads the league in “tight-window” throws made by receivers with less than
Prescott is getting the ball out quickly, which has led to career lows in pressure (26.7%) and blitzing (21.7%). These days, defenses like to rely on their coverage groups to be proficient tacklers.
Mike Zimmer is the coordinator of defense.
Following fifteen years as a college coach, Zimmer began his career with the Cowboys in 1994 and served in a number of roles for the following nine seasons. He later rose to the position of defensive coordinator during that time, and at one point he relied on Aaron Glenn, the defensive coordinator for the Lions, as his CB1. Zimmer’s first stay in Dallas was with the Cowboys, as head coach of the Lions Dan Campbell had a 20+ year relationship with several of the Lions personnel.
Before being appointed head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, Zimmer held a couple more NFL gigs as defensive coordinator (Bengals, Falcons). Following consecutive losing seasons, Zimmer was ultimately fired after eight seasons. After the untimely death of his son Adam, an offensive analyst for the Bengals, Zimmer took a hiatus from football and mostly worked as a consultant for collegiate teams. He had intended to return to the game in 2022.
Zimmer was able to return to his birthplace after Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn was hired in 2024 to take over as the Washington Commanders’ head coach. Zimmer accepted the position.
The 4-3/4-2 defense plan of Zimmer
Due to his dependence on three safety sets, Quinn’s 4-2 system from the previous season more closely resembled a 4-1-6. However, Zimmer has returned the team to a more conventional approach, using a 4-3 foundation with a 4-2 subpackage that depends on three corners and two safeties.
Regarding the Cowboys’ defense from the previous season, Lions coach Dan Campbell remarked, “You have got a lot of nickel and a lot of dime.” And it held true irrespective of the personnel group you were a member of. And I believe that now, it is a little bit more match personnel, fairly steady, contains a lot of the work that Zim (mer) has been doing for years, and is, when you watch it, a little less chaotic but more (organized).
simply as you are viewing it from an offense, if you please.
Since stopping the run has always been Zimmer’s primary priority, Dallas typically stays in their base 35% of the time and uses subpackages 65% of the time (around league average), however this depends greatly on the opponent. For instance, they played nickel sets nearly the whole game against the Browns in Week 1, but just about 50% of the time versus the Ravens.
Zimmer also likes to hide his coverages; he will switch between quarters coverage, which drops four defensive backs in equal zones, and press-man concepts with two-deep safeties. This precisely addresses one of the main complaints in and fits the Cowboys’ secondary personnel extremely well.
Zimmer’s blitz variants are his most well-known characteristic. He blitzes about 28% of the time, ranking among the top 12 in the NFL in 2024, but what sets him apart from the others is the way he blitzes—most notably, the Double-A gap blitz, which puts pressure on the interior of an offensive line.
Campbell described Zimmer as “the master of manipulating protections on third down.” It is how he is always been. He was one of the Double-A (blitz) geniuses, in my opinion. He is always been able to do it because of this complete third-down package, seven threats, Double-A, and where it is coming from.
The incapacity of the Cowboys defense to regularly stop the run has been the main challenge in 2024. They have the second-highest number of rushing touchdowns (8), the ninth-highest yards after contact (3.37 per attempt) and the ninth-highest rushing yards (675). Their PFF team run defensive grade is 38.6, which is the lowest in the NFL, and their “stuff rate,” or ability to stop offensive runs for a loss or no gain, is just 10.5%, which is the lowest in the NFL according to NextGenStats.
They have improved in their last two games against the Giants and Steelers, but Detroit is top-five rushing attack might have a lot of success if they can not resolve their problems.
