The Dallas Cowboys could learn several lessons from the Kansas City Chiefs' latest Super Bowl win after what went down on the big game on Sunday.

Some of them are applicable, some of them are not. "It would help to have Patrick Mahomes" is one that many NFL fans know is painfully unactionable. C'est la vie with truly, truly elite quarterbacks: Only few fanbases get to enjoy one. 

But there is a particular lesson that stood out to me when watching the Chiefs slow down the San Francisco 49ers in the biggest of stages as both sides exchanged punches for five quarters of football and 150 total offensive plays: The famous Kyle Shanahan offense can be stopped and Dallas has the pieces to do it.

Cowboys need to take a page out of Steve Spagnuolo's playbook

Over the last three years, a time span where the Cowboys enjoyed boasting the best defense in EPA/play thanks to Dan Quinn, they specifically struggled versus Shanahan-esque offenses, which focus on running wide zone, play-action (not so much this year), and a lot of pre-snap motions and shifts.

At the very least, it's worth taking a look at what worked for defensive mastermind Steve Spagnuolo on the Super Bowl. Specifically so because he had an aggressive gameplan that the 49ers rarely faced in 2023.

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According to data on coverages faced by the 49ers posted by Bob Sturm on Twitter/X, the Chiefs used a lot of man coverage and blitzing to pick apart Brock Purdy and friends. Per the numbers:

• The Chiefs used the highest rate of Cover 0 (all-out blitz with man coverage behind it and no safety help) the Niners faced all season (21%, next highest was 17% and no other team used Cover 0 over 10%). 
• Third highest Cover 1 rate at 40% (man coverage with one safety up high and an additional player playing a zone or blitzing).
• Second highest man coverage rate at 64.3%.

But you see, not every team can play man coverage against these group of playmakers and get away with it. It's not a coincidence that the other team to play more man coverage against them this season was the Cleveland Browns.

You've got to have top-tier cornerbacks and a solid pass rush to get away with it. Otherwise you'll get smacked for running such a gameplan. And I can't help but think the Cowboys have that in Trevon Diggs, DaRon Bland, and potentially Stephon Gilmore and Jourdan Lewis if they do return for another year.

The Cowboys still need better off-ball linebackers to help this be even more viable, which should remain their top priority in free agency. 

The Cowboys didn't do this versus the 49ers in Week 5

Despite leading the NFL in man coverage rate for the regular season, the Cowboys didn't run a lot of man coverages in San Francisco when they were whooped 42-10, doing so in only 31% of the snaps.

The good news is Mike Zimmer isn't afraid to play man nor to blitz. And more than that, he's happy with changing coverages on a week to week basis depending on the opponent, while one of the weaknesses from Quinn was he showed some stubbornness in playing his style regardless of who was on the other side. 

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