Deeper dive on Parker

[Verdict]

Very well done man.

As one who sees the defensive talent challenges that Parker is forced to work with as the problem moreso than just his defensive play calling, I can really appreciate your post. I was not and am not an Eberflus apologist but I did think he did not have much talent to work with.

I'm one of the very few here that thinks Parker needs way more to work with, the same that Eberflus did. Or in other words I just don't see this year's group as that much more talented than last year's.

For this reason I have been waffling back and forth on if he should be fired or given another year after he's able to acquire another year's worth of talent.

Because thats where I'm kind of in a catch 22 as well because they still shouldnt look "this bad" and improvement needs to be much faster too.
So now my one opinion almost contradicts the other. The epitome of being on the fence.
But that's where I'm at.

Again, great post.

Parker may indeed crash and burn but the sample size is far too small to declare Parker a bust at this point. The injuries have really hurt. The only injury which may have been worse would possibly have been Barham. It’s obvious that we need Porter.

 

[FiveSuperBowls]

So Parker told Jerry it would take time? Jerry stated he is all in now! Doesn’t make sense.

 

[FiveSuperBowls]

Let’s say that you are Jerry Jones and you have called Christian Parker into your office. Jerry says Christian, you seem a bit over your head, but before I fire you I would like to give you a chance to change my mind. Is there anything you would like to say?

Let’s say Parker says this:

1. You hired me to do a job. It’s a complicated system and I told you it would take time. It’s only been 5 games.

2. I told you what I need to succeed. To your credit you moved OSA for me and let me add several players in this draft, and I think we got some legit players but they are young. I told you there would be growing pains. But with playing time they will improve.

3. The players that I brought in —that I needed— have been hurt. Thompson, Durant, they are difference makers but they can’t help me if they aren’t playing.

4. The defenders I chose in this draft have all shown promise. Even Overton who people weren’t high on. Moore is a player but he’s been hurt too. I wanted a defender at the top of round 4–there were some great players available that I liked and we added Shelton instead. I can list a dozen really good players available that could have helped us at that draft slot.

5. I didn’t choose Bland, Revel, Steward, or Bell. But that’s who I am playing with.

6. Barham is a beast like I told you he would be.

7. I don’t know how I can win with ends that won’t stay home and contain. I’m not coaching them to play like that, but they can’t seem to follow instructions. I’m trying to work with them, but I’m going to have to bench them to make a point at some point, the problem is that the guys behind them aren’t any better. The rookie has promise (Lawrence) and Houston can rush the passer a little but they will run on him.

8. Winters hasn’t been the player I thought he would be. That’s on me, but he is the least of our problems. I wanted one of those linebackers at the top of round 4 that I knew would be good but you guys didn’t take one. I understand why, but I still have holes at linebacker.

9. I’m out on Overshown. He’s never available. We can’t count on him. I know the team is high on him. But I’m not. He can’t help us win if he’s not playing.

10. We are several players away, Jerry. Porter will help. He is ACTUALLY a corner. Thank you for bringing him in. Durant and Thompson will help us. I think Downs will help us too, but I think we having him playing out of position by necessity.

11. If you want me to leave I’ll pack my bags, but you are going to have to pay me anyway. Why not let me do my job, that I know I can do and get this right. Are you going to have 6 different DCs in 6 years? When does the merry go round stop? Let me do my job, Jerry. You won’t regret it.

If you are Jerry, I think you say, alright. I’ll give you some time. But I want to see results.

Let’s say that you are Jerry Jones and you have called Christian Parker into your office. Jerry says Christian, you seem a bit over your head, but before I fire you I would like to give you a chance to change my mind. Is there anything you would like to say?

Let’s say Parker says this:

1. You hired me to do a job. It’s a complicated system and I told you it would take time. It’s only been 5 games.

2. I told you what I need to succeed. To your credit you moved OSA for me and let me add several players in this draft, and I think we got some legit players but they are young. I told you there would be growing pains. But with playing time they will improve.

3. The players that I brought in —that I needed— have been hurt. Thompson, Durant, they are difference makers but they can’t help me if they aren’t playing.

4. The defenders I chose in this draft have all shown promise. Even Overton who people weren’t high on. Moore is a player but he’s been hurt too. I wanted a defender at the top of round 4–there were some great players available that I liked and we added Shelton instead. I can list a dozen really good players available that could have helped us at that draft slot.

5. I didn’t choose Bland, Revel, Steward, or Bell. But that’s who I am playing with.

6. Barham is a beast like I told you he would be.

7. I don’t know how I can win with ends that won’t stay home and contain. I’m not coaching them to play like that, but they can’t seem to follow instructions. I’m trying to work with them, but I’m going to have to bench them to make a point at some point, the problem is that the guys behind them aren’t any better. The rookie has promise (Lawrence) and Houston can rush the passer a little but they will run on him.

8. Winters hasn’t been the player I thought he would be. That’s on me, but he is the least of our problems. I wanted one of those linebackers at the top of round 4 that I knew would be good but you guys didn’t take one. I understand why, but I still have holes at linebacker.

9. I’m out on Overshown. He’s never available. We can’t count on him. I know the team is high on him. But I’m not. He can’t help us win if he’s not playing.

10. We are several players away, Jerry. Porter will help. He is ACTUALLY a corner. Thank you for bringing him in. Durant and Thompson will help us. I think Downs will help us too, but I think we having him playing out of position by necessity.

11. If you want me to leave I’ll pack my bags, but you are going to have to pay me anyway. Why not let me do my job, that I know I can do and get this right. Are you going to have 6 different DCs in 6 years? When does the merry go round stop? Let me do my job, Jerry. You won’t regret it.

If you are Jerry, I think you say, alright. I’ll give you some time. But I want to see results.

Parker, is that you!

 

[Ranching]

Let’s say that you are Jerry Jones and you have called Christian Parker into your office. Jerry says Christian, you seem a bit over your head, but before I fire you I would like to give you a chance to change my mind. Is there anything you would like to say?

Let’s say Parker says this:

1. You hired me to do a job. It’s a complicated system and I told you it would take time. It’s only been 5 games.

2. I told you what I need to succeed. To your credit you moved OSA for me and let me add several players in this draft, and I think we got some legit players but they are young. I told you there would be growing pains. But with playing time they will improve.

3. The players that I brought in —that I needed— have been hurt. Thompson, Durant, they are difference makers but they can’t help me if they aren’t playing.

4. The defenders I chose in this draft have all shown promise. Even Overton who people weren’t high on. Moore is a player but he’s been hurt too. I wanted a defender at the top of round 4–there were some great players available that I liked and we added Shelton instead. I can list a dozen really good players available that could have helped us at that draft slot.

5. I didn’t choose Bland, Revel, Steward, or Bell. But that’s who I am playing with.

6. Barham is a beast like I told you he would be.

7. I don’t know how I can win with ends that won’t stay home and contain. I’m not coaching them to play like that, but they can’t seem to follow instructions. I’m trying to work with them, but I’m going to have to bench them to make a point at some point, the problem is that the guys behind them aren’t any better. The rookie has promise (Lawrence) and Houston can rush the passer a little but they will run on him.

8. Winters hasn’t been the player I thought he would be. That’s on me, but he is the least of our problems. I wanted one of those linebackers at the top of round 4 that I knew would be good but you guys didn’t take one. I understand why, but I still have holes at linebacker.

9. I’m out on Overshown. He’s never available. We can’t count on him. I know the team is high on him. But I’m not. He can’t help us win if he’s not playing.

10. We are several players away, Jerry. Porter will help. He is ACTUALLY a corner. Thank you for bringing him in. Durant and Thompson will help us. I think Downs will help us too, but I think we having him playing out of position by necessity.

11. If you want me to leave I’ll pack my bags, but you are going to have to pay me anyway. Why not let me do my job, that I know I can do and get this right. Are you going to have 6 different DCs in 6 years? When does the merry go round stop? Let me do my job, Jerry. You won’t regret it.

If you are Jerry, I think you say, alright. I’ll give you some time. But I want to see results.

Number 5 makes it easy for me to fire him...you coach who you got. As a coordinator, you have to fit the scheme to your players, not the players to the scheme. If you can't do that, you should be told what to do as an assistant. Now get the flip outta my office!!!!

 

[xwalker]

Let’s say that you are Jerry Jones and you have called Christian Parker into your office. Jerry says Christian, you seem a bit over your head, but before I fire you I would like to give you a chance to change my mind. Is there anything you would like to say?

Let’s say Parker says this:

1. You hired me to do a job. It’s a complicated system and I told you it would take time. It’s only been 5 games.

2. I told you what I need to succeed. To your credit you moved OSA for me and let me add several players in this draft, and I think we got some legit players but they are young. I told you there would be growing pains. But with playing time they will improve.

3. The players that I brought in —that I needed— have been hurt. Thompson, Durant, they are difference makers but they can’t help me if they aren’t playing.

4. The defenders I chose in this draft have all shown promise. Even Overton who people weren’t high on. Moore is a player but he’s been hurt too. I wanted a defender at the top of round 4–there were some great players available that I liked and we added Shelton instead. I can list a dozen really good players available that could have helped us at that draft slot.

5. I didn’t choose Bland, Revel, Steward, or Bell. But that’s who I am playing with.

6. Barham is a beast like I told you he would be.

7. I don’t know how I can win with ends that won’t stay home and contain. I’m not coaching them to play like that, but they can’t seem to follow instructions. I’m trying to work with them, but I’m going to have to bench them to make a point at some point, the problem is that the guys behind them aren’t any better. The rookie has promise (Lawrence) and Houston can rush the passer a little but they will run on him.

8. Winters hasn’t been the player I thought he would be. That’s on me, but he is the least of our problems. I wanted one of those linebackers at the top of round 4 that I knew would be good but you guys didn’t take one. I understand why, but I still have holes at linebacker.

9. I’m out on Overshown. He’s never available. We can’t count on him. I know the team is high on him. But I’m not. He can’t help us win if he’s not playing.

10. We are several players away, Jerry. Porter will help. He is ACTUALLY a corner. Thank you for bringing him in. Durant and Thompson will help us. I think Downs will help us too, but I think we having him playing out of position by necessity.

11. If you want me to leave I’ll pack my bags, but you are going to have to pay me anyway. Why not let me do my job, that I know I can do and get this right. Are you going to have 6 different DCs in 6 years? When does the merry go round stop? Let me do my job, Jerry. You won’t regret it.

If you are Jerry, I think you say, alright. I’ll give you some time. But I want to see results.

Parker: I told you we would only win in 2026 if the offense scores 32 or more and the offense/ST don't turn the ball over...

 

[roy31]

I think it’s a bigger problem than Parker… considering Quinn is the only coordinator that has had any success in the last few years. I wouldn’t doubt it there’s too many people that aren’t involved with the defense giving too much input the defense.

 

[gtb1943]

In fairness it is 5 games. Lol.

5 games of the worst Defense in Franchise History

 

[MikeT22]

Jerry would say I'm sorry we didn't discuss a 3 year rebuild on the front end. We discussed Dak being in his last 2 or 3 good years of football, George Pickens playing on a 1 year deal, and a couple years from being so hamstrung by huge salaries we won't be able to field a competitive roster.

Knowing Dak only has 2-3 years left and Jerry hires Schotty. Nuff said.

 

[FiveSuperBowls]

Parker most likely will say “you get what you pay for”.

 

[Q_the_man]

Jerry would say I'm sorry we didn't discuss a 3 year rebuild on the front end. We discussed Dak being in his last 2 or 3 good years of football, George Pickens playing on a 1 year deal, and a couple years from being so hamstrung by huge salaries we won't be able to field a competitive roster.

What we did discuss is maybe while this would not be a top tier unit right away, we would have to see a major improvement over what was a historically bad defense in 2024.

Then CP should have asked Jerry "if you wanted to win before Dak retires, why did you hire 2 rookie coaches to run the team?"

 

[Verdict]

5 games of the worst Defense in Franchise History

I agree it has not been good.

 

[AbeBeta]

Let’s say that you are Jerry Jones and you have called Christian Parker into your office. Jerry says Christian, you seem a bit over your head, but before I fire you I would like to give you a chance to change my mind. Is there anything you would like to say?

Let’s say Parker says this:

1. You hired me to do a job. It’s a complicated system and I told you it would take time. It’s only been 5 games.

2. I told you what I need to succeed. To your credit you moved OSA for me and let me add several players in this draft, and I think we got some legit players but they are young. I told you there would be growing pains. But with playing time they will improve.

3. The players that I brought in —that I needed— have been hurt. Thompson, Durant, they are difference makers but they can’t help me if they aren’t playing.

4. The defenders I chose in this draft have all shown promise. Even Overton who people weren’t high on. Moore is a player but he’s been hurt too. I wanted a defender at the top of round 4–there were some great players available that I liked and we added Shelton instead. I can list a dozen really good players available that could have helped us at that draft slot.

5. I didn’t choose Bland, Revel, Steward, or Bell. But that’s who I am playing with.

6. Barham is a beast like I told you he would be.

7. I don’t know how I can win with ends that won’t stay home and contain. I’m not coaching them to play like that, but they can’t seem to follow instructions. I’m trying to work with them, but I’m going to have to bench them to make a point at some point, the problem is that the guys behind them aren’t any better. The rookie has promise (Lawrence) and Houston can rush the passer a little but they will run on him.

8. Winters hasn’t been the player I thought he would be. That’s on me, but he is the least of our problems. I wanted one of those linebackers at the top of round 4 that I knew would be good but you guys didn’t take one. I understand why, but I still have holes at linebacker.

9. I’m out on Overshown. He’s never available. We can’t count on him. I know the team is high on him. But I’m not. He can’t help us win if he’s not playing.

10. We are several players away, Jerry. Porter will help. He is ACTUALLY a corner. Thank you for bringing him in. Durant and Thompson will help us. I think Downs will help us too, but I think we having him playing out of position by necessity.

11. If you want me to leave I’ll pack my bags, but you are going to have to pay me anyway. Why not let me do my job, that I know I can do and get this right. Are you going to have 6 different DCs in 6 years? When does the merry go round stop? Let me do my job, Jerry. You won’t regret it.

If you are Jerry, I think you say, alright. I’ll give you some time. But I want to see results.

These are all solid arguments.

I do think that Parker would benefit from having a more senior person around to bounce ideas off. Parker is early career and pretty much all of his assistants have less experience.

Just hire an expereinced consultant -- Del Rio, Phillips -- could could use the perspective of somene who isn't from the Fangio school -- you just need different perspectives.

As it is in all forms of business, more diverse employees will produce better results.

 

[Kevinicus]

If he said anything resembling number 7, I'd fire him and tell him he's banned for life from any Cowboys property.

 

[exciter]

Well except for there was an interview earlier in the year where Parker praised Bell for being able to perform in multiple roles.
Bland hasn't been nearly as bad as what he's been made out to be, especially if what was supposed to be his inside help didn't inexplicably drop down to help double cover the check down receiver or get left on an island on a deep route where the receiver had an inside/outside option. Still don't know where the safety was on that. Unless Parker runs the only zone I've ever seen where the corner in responsible for 2 zones. Or if he simply wasn't having to cover forever!
Yeah Bland's gotten beat some but on at least half those receptions he didn't get the help the scheme was designed to give him. And it's predominantly "Parker's" people who are blowing the coverage!
If Parker didn't think Steward was capable then why call him up from the practice squad? And hell, where's the guy who said we would have won the Giants game if Steward would have been playing nickel instead of Downs!

 

[75boyz]

I think it’s a bigger problem than Parker… considering Quinn is the only coordinator that has had any success in the last few years. I wouldn’t doubt it there’s too many people that aren’t involved with the defense giving too much input the defense.

Me too.
I mean when every Defensive Coordinator who has held the job after Quinn has yielded the exact same results, this systemic type pattern points back to the players moreso than it does to whomever holds the DC job title.

A vast majority still wants to believe more should be done with the so called talent. I stick to my opinion that the existing "our guys" aren't as talented as thought and just need to be replaced.

The absolute real problem is nobody in the organization can evaluate defense.

 

[Johannes44]

Knowing Dak only has 2-3 years left and Jerry hires Schotty. Nuff said.

Dak Prescott is not the answer, was never the answer. Anyone who took 5 seconds to watch him spaz out in the pre-season can tell you that the only way you would win with Dak Prescott is if he was a backup QB.

 

[JBS]

Thanks for sharing

 

[big dog cowboy]

sorry, the excuses do not work for me
what is going on is someone that is in over his head
and just like with Ginger he will hang on way too long

Given all the new coaches and all the new players and a new system for all the players and now the injuries........

I'm not listing excuses just saying that sometimes things happen for a reason.

 

[8FOR!3]

I think it is a good argument. But right now I believe the fanbase deserves more transparency from him. If the problem is “hey this is complex and the players need a lot more time” then just flat out say it. But all I heard this offseason was how he was going to make it simple for the players so they didn’t have to overthink.

 

[NDGAEDE]

All of those are legit excuses. But let's see what this thing looks like when everyone's all healthy. One thing concerning me is the front is, outside of Overshown, fully healthy and in tact. And they consistently a) can't rush the passer b) can't stop the run c) can't tackle d) can't blitz.

My feeling is he's too green as a DC and a healthy roster won't make a big difference. But we'll see.