Dallas Cowboys scouting report: Breaking down the Panthers offensive scheme

For the third time in as many years, the Cowboys are going on the road to face the Panthers. It’s the kind of recurring matchup usually reserved just for division rivals, but this has become an interesting sort of rivalry in recent years. Not much of one, though, as Dallas won both games by a combined 63-24 score.

However, there’s a new layer to this pseudo-rivalry: the head coaches. In Dallas, Brian Schottenheimer is a first-year head coach who calls the plays. In Carolina, it’s Dave Canales, in his second as both head man and play-caller.

Both have cited Pete Carroll as a major influence. Schottenheimer only spent three years with Carroll, as his offensive coordinator from 2018 to 2020, but it helped shape his approach to being a head coach. Meanwhile, Canales was on Carroll’s Seahawks staff for 13 seasons, overlapping with Schottenheimer’s tenure; in fact, Canales was promoted to pass game coordinator in Schottenheimer’s final season there.

When you listen to the two coaches speak, it’s not hard to pick out the similarities, either.

That’s permeated into the way they build a locker room culture, but also in the way they call an offense. Canales has often spoken about crafting his offense around the quarterback, seeking to create layups for them in the passing game and asking them to be a point guard – a facilitator – rather than chucking bombs every other play.

For both Schottenheimer and Canales, much of that can be accomplished through a reliable run game. The Panthers have excelled in their ground game thus far, with Chuba Hubbard leading the way. Of course, Rico Dowdle took the reins this past week with Hubbard injured and piled up over 200 yards in just one afternoon.

On the whole, Carolina is 10th in both total rushing and yards per carry while ranking ninth in EPA/rush. They’ve accomplished that without being overly run-heavy either, as only 10 teams (including Dallas) are running the ball at a lower rate. In short, they’re successful at running the ball without having to pound the rock. Sound familiar?

The reliable run game has helped open things up in the pass game for Bryce Young, the former first-overall pick who looked to be catching fire towards the end of last year. Young hasn’t been spectacular this season, but he’s been decent. So far this year, he’s completing 60.9% of his passes for 951 yards with seven touchdowns and just four picks.

Part of the rub for Young has been adjusting to a new supporting cast. Veteran Adam Thielien is gone, and first-round rookie Tetairoa McMillan has taken a bit to build chemistry with his quarterback. Not for lack of trying, though: McMillan has 43 targets, nearly double the second-most targeted player on the team, but he’s only caught 24 of them for 351 yards. McMillan also has yet to score this year.

Outside of McMillan, it’s been a bit of a committee at receiver consisting of slot merchant Hunter Renfrow and second-year players Xavier Legette and tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders. Jalen Coker has yet to play this season due to injury, though there’s growing optimism he’s will go this week.

All in all, though, the Panthers’ offense has been a bit of a mixed bag. Their run game is really efficient, but the pass game is 26th in EPA/dropback. The offense as a whole is 21st in EPA/play but 13th in success rate; they’ve also scored three or more touchdowns in three games but been held under 14 in the two other games. Their good games have been really good, and their bad games have been really bad.

That makes it hard to identify this unit’s real talent right now, but Canales is clear in his approach. He wants to make things easy for Young and avoid leaning too much on any one player or facet of the game. With so many young pieces right now, that’s been easier said than done, but this Panthers offense has proven one thing in 2025: they’re capable of going off on any given Sunday.