Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images Breaking down the offensive and defensive schemes of the Dallas Cowboys, who the Detroit Lions will square off against in Week 6. The Detroit Lions will face off with the Dallas Cowboys in Week 6 of the 2024 regular season, marking the third time these teams have squared off in the previous three seasons, While the Lions' coaching staff has remained the same over that time period, the Cowboys staff has seen some transitions. Let’s take a look at the Cowboys' coaching staff and their offensive/defensive schemes. Cowboys head coach: Mike McCarthy McCarthy has been coaching in the NFL for over 30 years, spending the mid-to-late 1990s in offensive position coaching roles, 2000-05 as an offensive coordinator, and becoming a head coach in 2006. He spent 13 years as the Packers head coach in Green Bay, where he won a Super Bowl, but was eventually let go after his relationship with quarterback Aaron Rodgers deteriorated. McCarthy resurfaced just over a year later in Dallas and is in his fifth season as their head coach. McCarthy has always called the offensive play during the majority of his head coaching tenure, but he has developed a reputation for being predictable. He has an impressive 169-104-2 record, but he largely doesn’t get credit for it, as most point to talented rosters winning in spite of McCarthy’s coaching. In Dallas, McCarthy went 6-10 in his first season, but has helped the Cowboys reach 12-5 records in each of the most recent three seasons. Yet, the Cowboys still strongly considered moving on from McCarthy this offseason after a first-round exit from last season's playoffs at the hands of the Packers. Offensive coordinator: Brian Schottenheimer While McCarthy currently calls the plays on game day, he does lean on Schottenheimer to help develop the offensive game plan. Schottenheimer entered the NFL in 1998, working for his dad, Marty, who was head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. He spent a couple of seasons working with college teams (Syracuse WR 1999, USC TE 2000) but quickly returned to the NFL in 2001 when Marty was hired in Washington 2001. He then followed him to San Diego in 2002-05, and was a quarterbacks coach in both spots. Over the last two decades, Brian Schottenheimer evolved into an offensive coordinator for five different NFL teams, before eventually landing with the Cowboys in 2022 and being promoted to their coordinator role in 2023. McCarthy’s “Texas Coast” offensive scheme At its core, McCarthy’s “Texas Coast” is a variation of a West Coast offense that leans on play-action, pre-snap motion, screens, quick outlet passes, YAC (yards after catch) from their skill players, targeted deep shots, ball protection, and efficiency. They use a variety of different offensive personnel groupings to keep players fresh and defenses on their toes. For example, like most of the NFL, 11 personnel (1 running back, 1 tight end, and 3 receivers) is their most popular, followed by 21 (12%), 10 (10%), 12 (6.5%), as well as a few others (all under 4%). While this is an offense the Lions just faced late last season, there have already been some big variations in how the Cowboys are operating in 2024. In 2023, Dallas passed about 58% of the time (around league average) which was aided by an efficient scoring attack that got them early leads and allowed them to lean on the run. This season, they have not been jumping out to big leads and the running game has been lackluster, leading to the Cowboys passing the ball 64% of the time, fourth-most in the NFL at this time. This also coincides with the Cowboys' use of play-action. While it’s a core principle of the scheme, quarterback Dak Prescott is using play-action less than 20% of snaps, which is currently the lowest mark in the NFL. Relying on skill players to gain yards after the catch (YAC) is another core principle, but they’ve increased their reliance this season, with Prescott passing the ball short of the sticks 51.4% of the time, with a -0.9 air-to-stick mark, according to NextGenStats. Basically, Prescott is getting the ball out of his hand quickly (under 2.5 seconds), putting it into the Cowboys’ skill player's hands, and asking them to gain the first down on their own. On a positive note for Dallas, they’re able to find success on offense because Prescott has been efficient. Currently, he has over 1,424 passing yards (second in the NFL), eight touchdown passes (tied for fifth-most), and is making the most “tight-window” throws in the NFL (when receivers have less than 1 yard of separation). Because Prescott is getting the ball out quickly, teams have blitzed (21.7%) and pressured (26.7%) him at career lows. Defenses are opting to lean on their coverage units to be sound tacklers. Defensive coordinator: Mike Zimmer After 15 years coaching in college, Zimmer joined the Cowboys in 1994 and held a variety of jobs for them over the next nine seasons. During that tenure, he eventually became their defensive coordinator, and at one point leaned on Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn as his CB1. Lions head coach Dan Campbell was also with the Cowboys during Zimmer’s first stint in Dallas, illustrating a 20+ year connection with some of the Lions staff. Zimmer held a few more defensive coordinator positions in the NFL (Falcons, Bengals) before being hired as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. After eight seasons, Zimmer was eventually fired following back-to-back losing seasons. Zimmer planned to return to football in 2022 but when his son Adam, a Bengals offensive analyst, unexpectedly passed away, Zimmer took some time away, mainly performing consulting work for college teams. In 2024, Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn was hired to be the Washington Commanders' next head coach, opening the door for Zimmer to return to where it all started and he accepted the job as Cowboys defensive coordinator. Zimmer’s 4-3/4-2 defensive scheme Quinn deployed a 4-2 scheme last year that operated more like a 4-1-6 because of his reliance on three safety sets, but Zimmer has brought them back to a more traditional approach, deploying a 4-3 base with a 4-2 subpackage that leans on three corners and two safeties. “Last year, you’ve got a lot of nickel and a lot of dime,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said of the Cowboys' defense. “And that was regardless of what (personnel group) you were (in) [...] And I think now, it’s a little bit more match-personnel, pretty steady, a lot of things that Zim(mer) has done for years is in there, and a little less chaotic but more (structured), if you will, just when you’re watching it from an offense.” Zimmer historically prioritizes stopping the run, which leads to Dallas staying in their base around 35% of the time, and leaning on subpackages around 65% of the time (close to league average), though it will vary drastically depending on the opponent. For example, against the Browns in Week 1, they used nickel sets almost the entire game, but against the Ravens, it was around 50% of the time. Additionally, Zimmer prefers to disguise his coverages and will alternate between press-man concepts with two-deep safeties, as well as quarters-coverage (dropping four defensive backs in equal zones). This suits the Cowboys’ personnel in the secondary very well and directly counters one of the biggest criticisms in Quinn’s previous scheme. Zimmer’s most well-known trait is his blitz variations. He blitzes around 28% of the time, which is currently a top-12 blitz rate in the NFL in 2024, but it’s how he blitzes that makes him unique—most notably the Double-A gap blitz, that stresses the interior of an offensive line. “On third down, he’s the master of manipulating protections,” Campbell said of Zimmer. “He’s always been that way. To me, he was one of the geniuses of the Double-A (blitz). He kind of—this whole third-down package, seven threats, Double-A, where’s is coming from, so he’s always been able to do that.” The biggest obstacle for the Cowboys' defense in 2024 has been their inability to consistently stop the run. Currently, they’re allowing the ninth-most rushing yards (675), ninth-most yards after contact (3.37 per attempt), the second-most rushing touchdowns (8), have a PFF team run defensive grade of 38.6 (lowest in the NFL), and their “stuff rate” (ability to stop offensive runs for a loss or no gain) is just 10.5%, which according to NextGenStats, is worst in the NFL. They have shown signs of improvement over the last two weeks against the Giants and Steelers, but if they can’t fix their issues, Detroit's top-five rushing attack could find a lot of success.