ARLINGTON, Texas -- The last name Shanahan has become a four-letter word around the Dallas Cowboys.
Not only have Kyle Shanahan's San Francisco 49ers beaten the Cowboys three straight times -- ending two of Dallas' past three playoff runs -- his coaching-tree offspring have done a number on them as well.
In January, Matt LaFleur led the Green Bay Packers to a wild-card win against the Cowboys (their other recent playoff loss). In December, Mike McDaniel put together a plan that led to the Miami Dolphins beating the Cowboys.
On Sunday, Klint Kubiak, in his second game as the New Orleans Saints' offensive coordinator, overwhelmed the Cowboys' defense on the way to a 44-19 victory.
Later this season, the Cowboys (1-1) will face the Houston Texans (OC Bobby Slowik), Atlanta Falcons (OC Zac Robinson) and Cincinnati Bengals (HC Zac Taylor). Those coaches have direct ties to Shanahan or Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, who coached with Shanahan under Shanahan's father, Mike, when they were with Washington. The Detroit Lions visit AT&T Stadium next month with offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who despite having no direct ties to Shanahan or McVay, has a similar attack.
Whether it has been Dan Quinn or Mike Zimmer as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator, it has not mattered.
In the past nine games against a "Shanahan offense," the Cowboys have lost seven. Four have been decided by one score or fewer, and three have been blowouts decided by a combined 73 points, including that 25-point blowout by Kubiak's Saints on Sunday. The only wins came last season versus McVay's Rams and the Seattle Seahawks, who still gained 406 total yards.
"To me, it had nothing to do with the scheme," edge rusher Micah Parsons said of the New Orleans game. "I thought Zim called a pretty good game."
Parsons put blame on a lack of execution and effort, although coach Mike McCarthy and Zimmer wouldn't go there Monday.
"It's easy to look good when everyone's playing their best, right?" Parsons said. "Trials and tribulations is going on, how's a guy playing? That's what I can't wait to look at the film at. When we were down 21-3, what are guys doing? How are we playing? I think that stuff matters. Seeing it's early in the year, yeah, you hate it, but those are the details."
There has been one commonality to the Shanahan scheme succeeding versus the Cowboys' defense: the rushing attack.
Only once in the past seven losses to a Shanahan disciple has a Dallas defense allowed fewer than 100 yards rushing, and that was when the Dolphins had 91 yards last season. In the January playoff loss, LaFleur's Packers ran for 143 yards and three scores. Shanahan's Niners have run for 452 yards and five touchdowns over their past three meetings against Dallas.
On Sunday, the Saints ran for 190 yards and four touchdowns. The Cowboys' defensive line was mostly manhandled, which meant linebackers were left working against bigger blockers. The edges were hardly set. The backside flow to the ball was too slow or contained.
Zimmer accepted responsibility.
"You know what, really most of the guys I didn't coach up good enough," Zimmer said. "It really isn't one spot. There were some things that we didn't do well. We ran under some blocks. We had some perimeter-run force issues. But that's me."
Quinn was the coordinator in every one of those games but the New Orleans contest. However, the core of the players, from defensive ends DeMarcus Lawrence to Parsons to defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa to cornerbacks Trevon Diggs and Jourdan Lewis to safeties Donovan Wilson to Malik Hooker, were around for most of them.
Linebacker Eric Kendricks is in his first year with the Cowboys, but he was with Zimmer in Minnesota when the Vikings went 1-2 against Shanahan's 49ers. In 2018, the Vikings beat San Francisco 34-26 behind four takeaways. In 2019 (playoffs) and '21, they lost and gave up 186 and 208 rushing yards and five total rushing touchdowns.
The Saints just dominated them, scoring touchdowns on their first six possessions.
"The NFL will humble you like that," Kendricks said. "This isn't the first time I've been a part of that, but we got to make a stand. We got to come back to work [Monday]. Obviously, let it hurt for a little bit -- I think that's a good thing -- and then put it in our rear view and work towards the next."
On Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox), the Cowboys will have to contend with the power of running back Derrick Henry and the speed of quarterback Lamar Jackson. Zimmer expects Baltimore to incorporate some of what the Saints did.
"In this league, they're all going to copycat," Zimmer said, "so we have to fix things that we didn't do well and move on from there, but they're going to have their meat and potatoes that they do."
Two games into his second tenure as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator, Zimmer reminded everybody of the 2000 season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. In a 41-14 loss, the Cowboys allowed 306 rushing yards as temperatures soared well over 100 degrees at Texas Stadium.
"My first game here as a coordinator was the 'pickle juice' game," Zimmer said, referring to the Eagles drinking pickle juice to avoid cramping. "I vowed to fix it after that, OK. So if I didn't fix those, I wouldn't be standing here today."