Matt Eberflus has a history of quick defensive turnarounds

[blueblood70]

Very possibly his schemes and styles will get more out of the players than the previous coaches did.
Zimmer was here for one year, and he pretty much knew that. So with him trying to undo what Quinn did was not going to be great.

The FO has tried to address DT, just not to the fans liking. Yes they could have done better. But it is what they have.
As Bob said in his OP, Eberflus turned around the Colts with not much to work with.

As much as that might be true let's not leave out the fact that port might zimmer that side of the ball was absolutely decimated by injuries he pretty much was playing with a lot of practice squad players literally there were entire groups that were destroyed.. So yeah he comes in and has only one offseason to try to change a lot of things it didn't help that everybody got injured...

We just gotta hope for a healthy season so that way we get to see what it really is supposed to look like because Mike Zimmer was unfairly judged by trying to patch together a defense the entire year... All the while we also didn't have much on offense either I mean the whole year you could throw away and say it was due to injuries sounds like an excuse but it's a fact..

I expect this defense to be better if They can stay healthy.. Health is like your 12th man, having that luck to be healthy as your 12th man for most teams is big plus...

 

[JoeKing]

Eberflus is overrated and over his head with this D.

 

[5Stars]

Eberflus is overrated and over his head with this D.

But the history, bro, the history. Don't you know past history repeats its self? The NFL better get ready is all I can say.

 

[Parcells4Life]

The plan works if you have horses all along the DL. But what happens if Micah misses 2-3 games.

I’ve always preferred blitzing DCs ever since Jim Johnson wrecked havoc on the Cowboys in the early 2000s with his 4-3 blitz scheme.

Spags his longtime disciple did the same with the Giants and now with the Chiefs.

Bend and don’t break is awful. Every team can find a soft spot in a zone. Death by 1,000 paper cuts

 

[Bobhaze]

Is it going to be the bend don’t break / passive style?

If so then gross.

I don’t see that as ME’s style. It will be closer to what we had with Quinn as far as getting after the QB but less one on one coverage situations.

One concern I do have is how well will our LBs do because Eberflus seems to put a lot on the backers. We will see.

 

[75boyz]

The plan works if you have horses all along the DL. But what happens if Micah misses 2-3 games.

I’ve always preferred blitzing DCs ever since Jim Johnson wrecked havoc on the Cowboys in the early 2000s with his 4-3 blitz scheme.

Spags his longtime disciple did the same with the Giants and now with the Chiefs.

Bend and don’t break is awful. Every team can find a soft spot in a zone. Death by 1,000 paper cuts

Yep.
Spot on.

 

[blueblood70]

Yeah that's the big problem. I'm not sure how he makes a hybrid work, because I don't know these guys can play zone as well.

Well there's a reason they probably went and got Elam because that guy does not do as well in pressure and man and he's supposed to be pretty dang good in zone so some of these additions you get a guy in the draft and revel who reminds us a lot of Richard Sherman I mean he's getting some people i'm sure he's got this in mind.... Would I worry about is Carson what does he play the best his second year but it'll be his 1st year with Matt and we got Butler coming back as well as digs but that might not be right away so we need to worry about who's here now that can play game one..

.

 

[Hawkeye0202]

Run Defense isn't just about the Joes. It is just as much about discipline as it is the players. Being great at Run D doesn't get you big contracts, getting to the passer and making splash plays is what gets you paid in today's highlight driven culture. I hope Matt E can get the guys to play as a group and get each player to just do their job within the playcall. Don't do to much, don't over shoot a gap because you have a feeling or hunch, just play your position and do your job. This is something that Bill B was great at, his defenses were always disciplined and the players did their job.

Challenge for all DTs coz they know sacks get you paid

 

[Cowboyny]

My biggest concern is that we have been drafting corners who can play man-to-man for years now to fit Quinn's defense. Are they going to be able to adjust to playing zone? I would love for someone to tell me Diggs and Bland will flourish in a zone scheme.

Both Quinn/Zimmer realized that they are a better press coverage team. Eberflus actually started to play more man at Chicago

 

[blueblood70]

Eberflus is overrated and over his head with this D.

Ohh shocker, Joe has a negative comment nothing uplifting all negative too bad that other name wasn't taken on here because you should have picked a different name than Joe King...

Matt Eberflues has never been over his head with a defense, you know just because he wasn't great at being a head coach slash DC, like a lot of these other DCS when they go back to their comfort zone, they're pretty damn good at their job. Hey why don't you go show us how it's done from your computer screen I mean I bet your butts itching to stand up and go teach professional football players how to play the best defense they can play I mean they need that wealth and knowledge from you you know you have Google and YouTube I bet you'd be an outstanding coach the DIY people always think that the service industry they don't want to pay they're smart because they can click and find information....

 

[blueblood70]

Both Quinn/Zimmer realized that they are a better press coverage team. Eberflus actually started to play more man at Chicago

You're supposed to play whatever fits your team that you have assembled at the time ,you have to fit your scheme to the players, not the other way around.

that's been a mistake around here more often than not, I mean Dan Quinn did good things here but he also did bad things here I mean did you see that Washington NFC championship game yeah that's what Dan Quinn bad Dan Quinn brings he tries to force players like undersized safeties and linebackers to play parts that they're not used to, Simply drafting players that have long arms I mean come on he made some bad pics because he fell in love with some long dude he would love rebel but for the most part he he like a lot of coaches made mistakes looking at measurables, and sometimes , it can get you in trouble against the better teams or in the bigger moments..​

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you can get away with it but you gotta stop that... I think any defensive coordinator can create a defense to fit his players versus trying to make them play his style defense from day 1..​

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now if you're here two to three seasons and you have more off-seasons, you can do that but right now, he has to take a big assessment what he has what he brought over so far in the Aussies in the try to design the best possible defense week to week for the opponent that doesn't need to be man it doesn't need to be pressed it doesn't need to be zone you could do whatever you need to do to get it done..​

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but you do realize Mike Zimmer and I hate to keep saying this it was not fairy i'd won offseason but then his side of the ball was decimated by injuries they had nobody to play with most of weeks they were using literally 3rd and 4th stringers mostly practice squad guys at a lot of positions... It's not a fair assessment at all..IMHO.​

 

[fivetwos]

Very possibly his schemes and styles will get more out of the players than the previous coaches did.
Zimmer was here for one year, and he pretty much knew that. So with him trying to undo what Quinn did was not going to be great.

The FO has tried to address DT, just not to the fans liking. Yes they could have done better. But it is what they have.
As Bob said in his OP, Eberflus turned around the Colts with not much to work with.

Sure, but to whose liking HAVE they addressed DT to if not the fans?

Obviously their own, and it’s clearly not enough. Normally I’d like to defer to the team knowing more than I do, but how many times are we going to see the same approach result in the same failure, then watch top DT play dominate late postseason play for other teams before the light goes on?

Hey maybe they get a big effort out of an unexpected there, but it also it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s more of the same.

Yes, they’ve tried everything except spending legit money on a legit DT and they still feel as though leaving a gaping hole is better than giving out a bad contract to a stranger. Maybe it’s time to reconsider? Nah they got this.

 

[fivetwos]

The plan works if you have horses all along the DL. But what happens if Micah misses 2-3 games.

I’ve always preferred blitzing DCs ever since Jim Johnson wrecked havoc on the Cowboys in the early 2000s with his 4-3 blitz scheme.

Spags his longtime disciple did the same with the Giants and now with the Chiefs.

Bend and don’t break is awful. Every team can find a soft spot in a zone. Death by 1,000 paper cuts

Yeah I always called it the ‘bend, THEN break.’

 

[KJJ]

As an HC his defenses choked big time in a few games. Choking has been a problem for our defense.

 

[Bobhaze]

My biggest concern is that we have been drafting corners who can play man-to-man for years now to fit Quinn's defense. Are they going to be able to adjust to playing zone? I would love for someone to tell me Diggs and Bland will flourish in a zone scheme.

They will play man some too. It’s not an all or nothing thing. My take is ME’s defenses will play more zone than we’ve played last few years. But that doesn’t mean exclusively zone.

 

[TheCritic]

Excited to see if Matt Eberflus can do a similar turnaround in Big D as he had in Indy his first year.

LOL I can see it now - the Bears having a winning season and the masses saying crap like "see they just needed a real HC" when in fact Eberflus did help to improve the talent base of that team. But to be fair maybe he is one of many coaches being better off as a DC.

 

[Bobhaze]

As an HC his defenses choked big time in a few games. Choking has been a problem for our defense.

And our offense too.

 

[Rockport]

It’s hard to believe but the Cowboys will be experiencing their third defensive coordinator in three seasons. From Dan Quinn in ‘23 to Mike Zimmer in ‘24 and now Eberflus in ‘25. Eberflus will be the 9th Cowboys DC since 2000. Stability has been hard to find.

Honestly though, I think based on his past performance, Eberflus could be an improvement. Look at his prior performance as DC in Indianapolis:

• As the colts DC from 2018-2021, ME turned Indy’s defensive ranking from a lowly 30th in 2017 to a top 10 defense in 2018. And didn’t have a ton of talent to work with.
• Eberflus improved the Colts rushing defense from 26th in 2017 to 8th in 2018, allowing just 3.6 ypc, and did not allow a single 100-yard rusher all season.
• In 2019, the colts again ranked 11th in total defense and ranked 7th in rushing yards given up, and gave up only 8 rushing TDs all season.
• In his first year as HC in Chicago, the bears led the league in INTs.

Eberflus wants to use pressure to force TOs and utilizes more zone coverages in the secondary than we’ve seen last few years. His defenses have historically been good to excellent against the run. Lord knows we haven’t seen that around here in a loooong time.

None of us know yet of course what Matt Eberflus will be able to do with this defense. We still need some help at DT and maybe LB. But it’s hard to overlook the fact that Eberflus had instant positive impact with the colts.

Excited to see if Matt Eberflus can do a similar turnaround in Big D as he had in Indy his first year.

Great research Bob. I’m excited about the new coaching staff. It’s kinda like they’re going back to basics. Run the ball, stop the run. I love it.