We are one day away from the Cowboys Week 8 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. With injuries piling up and a weakened roster from the 2023 season, Dallas is going to need to win based on strategy.
Throughout the first half of this season, I can’t point to a single game where the story line after was how great the Cowboys coaches prepared, and executed, that week.
Make no mistake about it: Jobs are on the line this season in Dallas.
Head Coach Mike McCarthy’s contract ends after this year, and if he isn’t brought back, you can bet that Mike Zimmer, Brian Schottenheimer, and just about everybody else will not be retained either.
In short, the Cowboys coaches need a good game just as much as the players do, and the key to achieving that may be to “out-49er” the 49ers.
Dallas’ roster is uniquely suited in some areas to replicate some of San Francisco’s most successful strategies and schemes; let’s dive into two of those similarities and how the Cowboys can use them.
Hunter Luepke’s Expanding Role
Since 2017, one of the key aspects of Kyle Shanahan’s offense has been his All-Pro fullback, Kyle Juszczyk. Acting as a true Swiss Army knife, Juszczyk truly does it all for the 49ers offense.
Everything from blocking to rushing to receiving, Juszczyk is always all over the field for San Francisco.
His versatility makes it difficult on defenses to prepare for what’s coming, as he could literally be asked to do just about anything when he steps onto the field.
Enter Hunter Luepke, the Cowboys Week 8 secret weapon.
The second-year fullback out of North Dakota State has been acting as a Juszczyk-lite kind of player in McCarthy’s offense.
We have seen him block, we have seen his rushing prowess expand, he has caught more passes than Ezekiel Elliott, Jalen Brooks, and Deuce Vaugh, and his 91 receiving yards on the year matches Brandin Cooks’ total exactly.
Few could have predicted that coming into the season, and this expanding versatility has to grow even more against the 49ers.
Despite Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Jake Ferguson’s presence, it is no secret that the Cowboys’ offense has slumped. They are not that creative, they don’t use motion enough, and they lack the deception and explosiveness of other teams.
If the Cowboys can find a consistent place for Luepke in the offense this week, this dry offense may be able to spark some new life against a tough San Francisco defense.
DeMarvion Overshown’s Breakout Game
In the lead up to the 2023 NFL Draft, then-Texas Longhorns Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown caught my eye. I asked some fellow draft enthusiast friends of mine what they thought of him, and the name Fred Warner came back almost every time.
Warner, 27, has been leading the 49ers defense from the moment the team drafted him in the 3rd round of the 2018 draft.
He is now a three-time Pro Bowler, and First-team All-Pro, but before that he was just a super athletic, slightly undersized linebacker at 6’3″, 230 lbs, that needed a lot of “development” before he’d start to contribute.
Now, Dallas has their own 3rd-round, super athletic, slightly undersized linebacker, and this could be his chance to shine.
We have seen some incredible flashes from Overshown this season; his speed and range is simply hard to replicate.
That said, he has been chasing his best performance of the year since Dallas’ season opener against Cleveland ended. He ended that game with 11 total tackles, a forced fumble, and a sack.
He has not surpassed any of those stats in a game since, but the Cowboys Week 8 strategy is counting on him to do that this week.
Despite some key injuries to the 49ers offense, they are still explosive, and Shanahan’s scheme is always a threat. Dallas’ defense has shown a weakness towards these offenses, and it will be on Overshown’s shoulders to match that explosiveness.