Dallas, TX
Dallas Cowboys scouting report: Breaking down the Browns offensive scheme
Just six months ago, Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was awarded the NFL’s Coach of the Year trophy after leading his team to the playoffs despite starting five different quarterbacks throughout the season. It was Stefanski’s second time winning the award, putting him in a rare category of coaches.
Now, Stefanski will follow up that magical season by hosting the Cowboys in Week 1. This marks a full circle moment for Stefanski, as the head coach and offensive play-caller will be going up against the man who played a pivotal role in his rise to coaching stardom: new Dallas defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer.
Until Stefanski took the Browns head coaching job, the Minnesota Vikings were the only NFL team he had ever worked for. A Philadelphia native, Stefanski played defensive back at Penn, twice being selected to the All-Ivy League team. Upon his graduation, Stefanski spent a year as the assistant director of football operations for his alma mater. Then, at just 24 years old, he joined the Vikings as the assistant to then head coach Brad Childress. Stefanski was later promoted to assistant quarterbacks coach and retained in that role by interim head coach Leslie Frazier, who was named the full time head coach soon after.
When Frazier was ultimately fired, though, Zimmer was brought in to lead the franchise next. Zimmer made sweeping changes to the Vikings, but he opted to retain Stefanski and, in fact, promote him to tight ends coach. Two years later, Stefanski moved to the running backs room. A year later, he was the quarterbacks coach. And in 2018, when Zimmer fired offensive coordinator John DeFillippo halfway through the season, he turned to Stefanski as his interim coordinator.
The offense stabilized under Stefanski’s watch and, more importantly, Stefanski operated the run-first approach that Zimmer wanted. So Zimmer named Stefanski the full time offensive coordinator moving forward, bringing in coaching veteran Gary Kubiak as an offensive advisor to mentor Stefanski. A year later, Stefanski left for the top job in Cleveland, where he has a 37-30 record with two postseason appearances.
Stefanski’s story cannot be told without highlighting his history with Zimmer, but it also informs his own schematic preferences. Stefanski has worked under a wide list of offensive minds: Childress was an offshoot of Andy Reid’s West Coast spread offense, as was Bill Musgrave under Frazier; Norv Turner brought his signature Air Coryell offense that helped win two Super Bowls for the Cowboys back in the 90’s; Pat Shurmur offered a more traditional version of the West Coast; and Kubiak led a masterclass in the offense he and Mike Shanahan popularized in the 80’s in Denver, which has since evolved into what Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay are doing that’s taken the league by storm yet again.
It is this final schematic preference that is most prevalent in the Browns’ attack, but to call Stefanski a Shanahan devotee is a little too simplistic. From the top down, things look the same. Stefanski’s offense features plenty of wide zone run plays and lots of play-action with deep crossing routes. But Stefanski has a much more diverse run scheme, which he has pieced together over time from all the different coaches he’s learned under.
You’ll see just about every type of run concept in Cleveland, all of which has been fine-tuned to operate efficiently behind one of the league’s top offensive lines. Nick Chubb has long been the face of Stefanski’s electric rushing attack, but last year tested their ability to still produce without him when Chubb tore his ACL and MCL. The results were a mixed bag: the Browns finished fourth in rushing attempts and were just outside the top 10 in rushing yards for the year, but the efficiency fell quite a bit. Cleveland ranked 25th in yards per carry, 23rd in run DVOA, and 28th in EPA/rush.
Chubb won’t be back for this game – he’s set to miss at least the first four games of the year while on the PUP list – but they’ve bolstered their running back room in preparation for Chubb’s absence. They return Jerome Ford, who ran for 813 yards last year, and also added bruising runner D’Onta Foreman, who tallied 425 rushing yards last year as part of a deep running back rotation in Chicago.
The hope for Cleveland is that the run game gets back to its normal self – top 10 in DVOA in Stefanski’s first three years as head coach – because quarterback Deshaun Watson has struggled mightily in his time as a Brown. Without even discussing the off-field factors for Watson – who has played just 12 games in two years between suspensions and injuries – the quarterback’s play has been severely lacking.
Still, though, Stefanski’s offense is designed to put minimal pressure on the quarterback. Like many other schemes from the Shanahan tree – an offense that Zimmer himself has done well against historically – this scheme aims to give the quarterback layups in the passing game. Having a route running aficionado like Amari Cooper, who will face his former team for the first time since being traded away, also helps.
Now, Stefanski will get a chance to show what he can do against his former boss. He’s faced Zimmer once before: the Browns played the Vikings in 2021, Zimmer’s last season as head coach, and Cleveland won 17-14. A win for Stefanski’s team, but not a banner day for his offense against Zimmer’s defense. The head coach expects a similarly tough challenge for Round 2:
“Preseason obviously is not a great indication for any team in terms of the scheme. Coach Zim, obviously I know really well, is an outstanding football coach so we know that we’ll have our work cut out for us. Personnel wise… they have a bunch of really, really good players from the d-line back through the secondary.”
The Browns should present a similar challenge for Zimmer, too, as the new coordinator aims to beef up a unit that struggled far too often against the run last year. There’s few teams who pose a taller task in that respect, but perhaps Zimmer will be able to pull one over on his former protégé.
FIFA World Cup 2026 isn’t the only international competition in Dallas this summer. The Dallas International Piano Competition, hosted by the Dallas Chamber Symphony, will present its final round of competition on June 23 at Moody Performance Hall in the Dallas Arts District. The finals will feature three finalists, each playing a concerto with the Dallas Chamber Symphony.
The orchestra established its international instrument competitions in 2012, only one year after its founding. Every other year, the orchestra hosts a piano competition. Next year, the competition will feature violinists. The competition has grown significantly throughout the years.
“We had 172 applicants this year. So, that’s an increase. It continues to increase, especially since the pandemic. The events have really bounced back. It’s kind of going full steam ahead since things generally paused during the pandemic. We’ve got top-notch applicants,” said Richard McKay, Dallas Chamber Symphony’s Artistic and Music Director. “In all, we’re just really happy that the level of the competition continues to increase year after year.”
Mitch Lazorko Mitch Lazorko During the final round of the competition, three finalists will play a concerto with the Dallas Chamber Symphony.
Like the World Cup, the competitors are from around the world.
“I think we had applicants from roughly 20 different countries. And many of them already have a home base in the United States, even though they’re from elsewhere. So, maybe they have recently graduated from an American conservatory or currently enrolled and looking to start a career,” McKay said.
With the World Cup in town, this year’s Dallas International Piano Competition is a different experience for the pianists.
“FIFA has really been a complexifier this year for us, because we have all these people traveling to Dallas at the same time that everyone else is traveling to Dallas. They’re all needing to stay in Dallas at the same time everyone else is staying in Dallas. They’re going to experience busy traffic and events happening constantly so I’m sure their experience is quite a bit different from a normal year, but we’re making it through. We’ve got everyone lined up. we’ve got what they need to be successful during the competition places to stay and a great orchestra to perform with. So, all the hard work’s been done. Now it’s just time to make a great concert,” McKay said.
The competition began quarterfinals on June 18 at Murchison Performing Arts Center in Denton. The jury for the final round of the competition at Moody Performance Hall consists of James Giles, coordinator of the piano program and director of music performance graduate studies at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music; Elinor Freer, the Associate Professor of Piano and Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music; and Alexandre Moutouzkine, the co-head of the piano department at Manhattan School of Music. The audience will have a say as well when they get to vote for an audience favorite.
“They love voting on the Audience Choice Award. That’s for sure. People love that. It’s always interesting to see if there’s a difference between what the jury selects for the top prize, and who the audience selects for the top prize. Sometimes there’s agreement, sometimes there’s not. So, it’s always fun to watch and see,” McKay said.
With two intermissions, the final round of the competition has a different atmosphere to the orchestra’s other concerts.
“There’s a long intermission in between each concerto. So, people are up and about talking a lot more and they’re getting drinks more. And this just makes the event feel more relaxed and fun. It’s more conversational all night long,” McKay said.
Preparing for the final round of competition is a different process for the orchestra.
“They have to learn about 12 different concertos, because that’s what’s in play at the start of the competition. And then as the results come in for the competition, we start narrowing down the three concertos that will be performed at the concert. So, we’re sending out messages to our orchestra, letting them know, which ones they don’t have to practice any longer. They will find out the results of semifinals on Friday afternoon so they’ll have the weekend to focus on the actual three that they will end up performing. And then rehearsals on that start on Monday,” McKay said.
Mitch Lazorko
Mitch Lazorko Adam Jackson was the top prize winner at the Dallas International Piano Competition in 2024.
Jim Stopher will guest-conduct the final round, with McKay, a trained pianist, sitting in the audience knowing what those competitors are experiencing.
“As someone who’s played in competitions before, I think the best thing you can possibly do is play your music as you intend and just as intentionally as you possibly can,” McKay said. “It’s very easy when performing in a competition, to adjust or to conform to your idea of what you think will help you be most successful in one venue or arena, as opposed to just maximizing what you do well and what really fits you. Each person’s going to know best how they best make music and how they can most successfully perform very well and I would advise they all do that because it’s a comfort you feel afterwards, having done what it is you intended to do in the way that you intended to do it, even if the chips don’t quite fall the right way for you, it’s hard to regret doing that. It’s hard to have any regrets when you did the best you could and you did your job as well as you knew how and exactly as you want it to. That always feels good.”
Learn more: Dallas Chamber Symphony
Drivers both human and autonomous across the North Texas region experienced heavy flooding, with several becoming trapped along roadways that had filled with several inches of rainwater. FOX 4’s Shaun Rabb has more on the waterlogged morning.
Dallas Parks and Recreation will distribute 25,000 all-access passes that give Dallas teens free admission to cultural and recreational attractions across the city throughout July.
Passes will be available beginning June 29 on a first-come, first-served basis at City of Dallas recreation centers.
The program, now entering its fifth year, is open to Dallas residents ages 13 to 17. City leaders say the initiative, which launched in 2021, helps promote positive engagement opportunities for teens and reduce crime during the summer months.
Teens must register in person and provide proof of Dallas residency to receive a pass.
The city says the program is made possible through partnerships with local cultural, recreational, and entertainment organizations.
Participating attractions include:
- African American Museum
- Bahama Beach
- Bath House Cultural Center
- Latino Cultural Center
- South Dallas Cultural Center
- Oak Cliff Cultural Center
- Dallas Museum of Arts
- Community Art Pop Up Cultural
- Dallas Arboretum
- Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum
- Dallas Park and Recreation Summer Fitness
- Dallas Zoo
- Frontiers of Flight Museum
- Golf Dallas
- Reunion Tower
- Shakespeare of Dallas
- State Fair of Texas
- Southern Skates Roller Rink
- Texas Discover Garden
- The Sixth Floor Museum At Dealey Plaza
- Trinity River Audubon
A full list of participating attractions and recreation centers distributing passes is available at DallasParks.org
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