Matt Eberflus has a history of quick defensive turnarounds

[quickccc]

Considering what Zimmer was dealt with all the injuries, he had our defense competing hard. We were just out manned. Zim did a miraculous job looking back. But I think he needed to ride off into the sunset . It felt right. Change is sometimes good. We needed a younger DC to mesh with the influx of new guys. I like the new staff alot.

- i didn't like Zimm's direction in non-development of Juanyeh Thomas and i thought Markis Bell also should've had more development since we were on we were
on the losing part of the season. Thomas can take on slot roles, showed range and has ball skills knack.

- i tend to believe there could've been indifferences between Zimm s Al Harris per zone vs man ..and was it Zimm that insisted on not only keeping dreadful CB Andrew Booth on the roster,
but also as a starter early on in the season ? Benched and then returned for playing time ?

- Zimm isn't my type of preference as a DC as the season went on, but i agree he was short-handed by injuries, and at least he exploited Overshown's ability as a blitzer.

- Frankly i'm not sold on the outdated Tampa 2 type scheme that Eberflus is said to prefer, as it's been said to be ' predictable" by respective players that have been in that scheme.
But is there an upgrade and change up in how Eberflus schemes it ? Can he finally be the " Physical " DC enforcer we have really been needing here ?

I for one am so tired of the " Fast & Furious " term for our defense, when we constantly see teams just overpowering & running thru our defense at will .. we really need to change how we take on opposing teams who manage to Out -Physical us vs run ...

 

[Rayman70]

- i didn't like Zimm's direction in non-development of Juanyeh Thomas and i thought Markis Bell also should've had more development since we were on we were
on the losing part of the season. Thomas can take on slot roles, showed range and has ball skills knack.

- i tend to believe there could've been indifferences between Zimm s Al Harris per zone vs man ..and was it Zimm that insisted on not only keeping dreadful CB Andrew Booth on the roster,
but also as a starter early on in the season ? Benched and then returned for playing time ?

- Zimm isn't my type of preference as a DC as the season went on, but i agree he was short-handed by injuries, and at least he exploited Overshown's ability as a blitzer.

- Frankly i'm not sold on the outdated Tampa 2 type scheme that Eberflus is said to prefer, as it's been said to be ' predictable" by respective players that have been in that scheme.
But is there an upgrade and change up in how Eberflus schemes it ? Can he finally be the " Physical " DC enforcer we have really been needing here ?

I for one am so tired of the " Fast & Furious " term for our defense, when we constantly see teams just overpowering & running thru our defense at will .. we really need to change how we take on opposing teams who manage to Out -Physical us vs run ...

I agree. Winning is a great cure all. Just win.

 

[Rayman70]

- i didn't like Zimm's direction in non-development of Juanyeh Thomas and i thought Markis Bell also should've had more development since we were on we were
on the losing part of the season. Thomas can take on slot roles, showed range and has ball skills knack.

- i tend to believe there could've been indifferences between Zimm s Al Harris per zone vs man ..and was it Zimm that insisted on not only keeping dreadful CB Andrew Booth on the roster,
but also as a starter early on in the season ? Benched and then returned for playing time ?

- Zimm isn't my type of preference as a DC as the season went on, but i agree he was short-handed by injuries, and at least he exploited Overshown's ability as a blitzer.

- Frankly i'm not sold on the outdated Tampa 2 type scheme that Eberflus is said to prefer, as it's been said to be ' predictable" by respective players that have been in that scheme.
But is there an upgrade and change up in how Eberflus schemes it ? Can he finally be the " Physical " DC enforcer we have really been needing here ?

I for one am so tired of the " Fast & Furious " term for our defense, when we constantly see teams just overpowering & running thru our defense at will .. we really need to change how we take on opposing teams who manage to Out -Physical us vs run ...

To be clear, I never wanted Zimmer. It was a weird hire. A dreaded one year deal. Felt off to me. Like Zimmer did Jerry a solid as a friend. I think Jerry was never going to help MM after the GB debacle. He undermined him. Zimmer helped Jerry do this by being placeholder DC for a year. He was never going to stick around. Yes, Jerry would do this.

 

[quickccc]

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.

Every DC wants sacks & pressure - that seems to be a cliche saying for every DC, ..every DC would like to have turnovers.. i didn't get Zimm who seem to place more emphasis on
keeping plays in front and just make the tackle after the catch ..whereas A DC Quinn emphasized jumping the pass lanes and making plays on the ball for INTs.

We'll see how the Zone scheme plays out in bringing out the best in our ball hawk DBs, how he place players in the roles/positions where their skills can best be exploited.
(that can be considered cliche' as well, but some DCs are either conservative or non-disciplined)

Personnel wise, i'm not convince Eber has the cats he needs in the interior with the disappointing Mazi Smith, and what about the guys behind him ?
Jay Toia ? .... Tommy Akinbesote ? ..... Justin Rogers ? we still have 1 techs that are unproven and have to prove they can play immediately ..or we will
once again be street hunting for cheap street vet FAs at that role during the season , or hoping lighting strikes twice with a Jon Hankins type late round trade

- If Diggs knee issues resolves, and we come in with a healthy Bland, and the coach scheme is ideal for their INT skills, we should be formidable at the starting CBs.
let rookie CB Revel get his ACL legs back as the season goes on.

- The club seems to trying to prepare the LB unit without Overshown - by adding Murray, James, Seborn to add with Marist Purify (i'm counting the non-instinctive Damone Clark out)

- DL unit will still need to prove we can handle the physical onslaught. - and we'll have some unprovens at the DE roles in Williams, Breeland (dunno much about this Turner)
and Fowler & rookie Donovan Ez are pass rush situation guys than full time starters. It'll be a wait and see, imo.

 

[Bobhaze]

To be clear, I never wanted Zimmer. It was a weird hire. A dreaded one year deal. Felt off to me. Like Zimmer did Jerry a solid as a friend. I think Jerry was never going to help MM after the GB debacle. He undermined him. Zimmer helped Jerry do this by being placeholder DC for a year. He was never going to stick around. Yes, Jerry would do this.

You are right that Jerry torpedoed McCarthy with that horrendous off-season last year.

Of course JJ has always undermined all his HCs. But the job he did last off-season by handing Big Mac a horrible poker hand while simultaneously expecting Mac to take a low ball offer to stay on as HC. Just pure insanity.

But is there a GM in professional sports who has the luxury (lack of accountability) to just completely throw away an entire season like a two year old throwing a tantrum? I have never seen a professional front office just “play” on the job.

But hey, it’s a “family business”,

 

[Pass2Run]

Man, Colts fans hated him tho there at the end.

Bears fans really hated him.

I hope he doesn't suck here.

 

[Pass2Run]

To be clear, I never wanted Zimmer. It was a weird hire. A dreaded one year deal. Felt off to me. Like Zimmer did Jerry a solid as a friend. I think Jerry was never going to help MM after the GB debacle. He undermined him. Zimmer helped Jerry do this by being placeholder DC for a year. He was never going to stick around. Yes, Jerry would do this.

You could be right.

 

[DuncanIso]

What I have read about Eberflus' defenses is that he is not a big blitz guy. He wants a front four that can generate pressure and fast LB's that can cover.

To that end, now we know why re-signing Osa was such a priority; as well as bringing back Dante Fowler and drafting Donovan Ezeiruaku and Shamar James.

Sounds like Marinelli….

 

[DuncanIso]

Man, Colts fans hated him tho there at the end.

Bears fans really hated him.

I hope he doesn't suck here.

Yup.

He’s a Marinelli disciple….

We’ve seen this scheme.

 

[Rayman70]

You are right that Jerry torpedoed McCarthy with that horrendous off-season last year.

Of course JJ has always undermined all his HCs. But the job he did last off-season by handing Big Mac a horrible poker hand while simultaneously expecting Mac to take a low ball offer to stay on as HC. Just pure insanity.

But is there a GM in professional sports who has the luxury (lack of accountability) to just completely throw away an entire season like a two year old throwing a tantrum? I have never seen a professional front office just “play” on the job.

But hey, it’s a “family business”,

Well said. Yip

 

[blueblood70]

Zimmer is a great defensive coach. You can plug and play him anywhere as DC, and he's going to be better than average, especially as a guy who can get things rolling fast. Like you said, injuries didn't help.

I didn't say anything otherwise ,

but I'm saying I think we're going to get a lot of the same things out of Eberfleus but he's not going to have to worry about his job next year unless he sucks so he has the advantage of knowing he got this process started he can continue into next year and maybe the year after and actually build a really good defense like Dan Quinn had time to do. Although that wasn't without its flaws which we still saw in the NFC Championship game that's Dan Quinns defenses feast or famine...

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Obviously, any type of defense can work with good enough players and coaching, but I hate his style of defense. It would be the last type of defense I would choose. And I'm afraid Eberflus was hired mostly because "he knows how things work around here" and Jerry and Stephen were comfortable with him from his previous time here. But I'll hope for the best.

 

[BoyzBlaster]

Fingers crossed but DT concerns me. We basically need one of the blobs they drafted in the late rounds to pan out

 

[gimmesix]

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.

Cover 3, which is what Eberflus prefers, uses a lot of press man principles for the outside corners. The outside corners are responsible for covering the vertical routes and out-breaking routes and funneling the in-breaking routes to the safeties. It's actually a lot easier on the corners because they don't have to worry as much about receivers crossing the field if the safeties and linebackers are doing their job. Of course, the challenge with the scheme is the receivers settling into the zones between the corner and the inside coverage. But the scheme really helps the outside corners to limit their focus.

 

[gimmesix]

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.

My concern is the same as with Quinn, that this front office hasn't provided Eberflus with what he needs to succeed. It's like if I told you I want you to throw a massive birthday party but I only give you $10 to get it done.You might be great at throwing parties, but you are not going to get much done for $10.

I've stopped blaming the coaches and players for the failures of this front office.

 

[blueblood70]

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.

LFG!!