In this article
FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams said Thursday that the San Francisco 49ers have kept the same defensive identity through years of coordinator changes, and that Dallas has to check every old assumption about it before Sunday.
Raheem Morris is San Francisco’s fifth defensive coordinator in as many seasons, following DeMeco Ryans, Steve Wilks, Nick Sorensen, and Robert Saleh. Sorensen, who ran the 49ers’ defense in 2024, is now the Cowboys’ special teams coordinator.
San Francisco is 7-1 and forced five turnovers in its last game, a win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Linebacker Fred Warner recovered one of those fumbles.
Adams’ theory, which he acknowledged was a guess, is that coach Kyle Shanahan, an outside-zone play-caller, chose the defense that is hardest for that run game to attack.
“I think Kyle’s done a really good job of being an offensive guy that understands exactly what he wants on defense,” Adams said. “Because we were actually saying that earlier in the week is they’ve had a lot of great coordinators there, don’t get me wrong, but they’ve got good players and they draft to a philosophy. And I think essentially Kyle being, and I’m guessing here, but him being an outside zone guy decided what defense is the hardest to run outside zone against. And that’s essentially what they’ve done on defense there for a long time with that attack front. And, yeah, they’re very good.”
Klayton Adams On Checking His Notes Against The 49ers
The changes from one coordinator to the next have been subtle enough that Adams opens each 49ers week by checking his own notes on their players against the current tape.
“I think, whatever, one of the things that I try to do going into the week is, all right, these are my takeaways,” Adams explained. “When I think of this defense, I think of X, Y, Z, and I try to keep kind of backlogs on guys as you’ve played against them several different times or whatever teams, and the first thing that I think you have to do is check those things.”
“Because I think the worst thing that you’d want to do as a coach is say, well, these guys are always going to do this, and then you get halfway through the week and you’ve got a bunch of stuff planned for it, and you’re like, man, they’re not doing that very much,” Adams continued. “So, yes, and this is a different defense than they played last year. It’s subtle, and there are nuances, but the nuances, you’ve got to make sure that you’re on top of or else you’re planning for something that’s not there.”
Adams’ first reason for San Francisco’s success against the run is what Warner does for the 10 players around him.
“Again, number one is, like, they don’t have to think very much because of what 54 does for them,” Adams said. “They’re very well coached. They do a great job of drafting and acquiring players that they think are going to fit into that system. I think they’ve got good culture, all those reasons.”
Warner can run every play an offense has shown from a formation through his head before the snap, Adams said, which is why formations and motion are part of Dallas’ plan for him.
“I think guys that have played a lot of football like he has,” Adams said. “If you just line up in a formation, he’s going to, like, in his brain, compute every play that you’ve run out of that formation and know exactly what your tendencies are, to follow up on what you’re saying. I think if you’re building formations, you’re making it a little bit harder for everybody to see. Also, you’re, I think, forcing people to make adjustments, which isn’t allowing them just to kind of stand there and stay at the line of scrimmage.”
“Luke Kuechly was a player that was a little bit that way, so, like, you better paint the picture for him because if you don’t, he’s going to know exactly what you’re running,” Adams added. “So, that’s not to say that, I don’t know that we’ve recommitted to it over the past couple of weeks as much as every plan’s going to be a little bit different and the flow of the game’s going to be a little bit different.”
Dak Prescott On A Familiar 49ers Defense
The coordinator turnover has not changed what Dak Prescott sees from San Francisco’s defense, which has beaten Dallas in each of the teams’ last four meetings.
“Absolutely,” Prescott said. “And I mean, even coordinators for them have changed, and they’re still doing what they want to do on defense or what they’ve done on defense through the coordinator change. And whether that’s Shanahan’s overall call, this is what I want to get done or not, or what Fred does a great job, and Greenlaw do a great job of doing. Yeah, I mean, the core is there and it’s a defense that very, very familiar with.”
That familiarity cuts both ways for Prescott, whose week still has to find the new players in San Francisco’s lineup and the soft spots they create.
“I think anytime you have that thought, you have to guard against it,” Prescott explained. “You have to go through the same preparation and through your same process the same way. And also with there being new personnel, find new guys to attack or what’s the soft spots in the defense that you can get to.”
The Cowboys (4-5) host the 49ers (7-1) on Sunday at AT&T Stadium, with kickoff set for 3:25 p.m. CT on Fox.
Join the conversation