You can't blame Eberflus

[88sAndHeartbreak]

The Cowboys have been soft on defense for over a decade. The rest of the league has simply figured it out.
Even back to the Jason Garrett years it showed. The Arizona Cardinals beat up the Cowboys in the desert and manhandled them, and the secret was out. Stephen Jones said he couldn't see paying big money to an interior lineman, he wouldn't pay big money for defense at all. The Cowboys plan all along was to use draft rules that allowed them to get young players on salaries limited by the NFL's draft rules so they could spend big money on offense.
Fast forward to this season, and Micah Parsons is let go right before the season begins.
How was Eberflus supposed to field a good defense that had no inside push and no pass rush?
Way back to "Camp Cupcake" under Wade Phillips, it was becoming clear that the Cowboys could be pushed around.
Jerry staked his business model on having the most prolific receivers he could find and providing excitement for the fans.
But there was no accountability for these offensive teams. And Jerry's poor decisions led to what you see on the field now.
Romo self destructed when given too much control. Dak Prescott choked every time the game got too big and the Cowboys needed him to lead.
Jerry’s high flying circus act had its flaws, and now it has come crashing down around him.
And the Cowboys are now America's joke.

Eberfluss is the DC, Dak isnt on defense.

 

[kskboys]

Has nothing to do w/ being soft, it has everything to do w/ lacking talent.

 

[stilltheguru]

I disagree.
Take Micah out of the equation right before the season begins and it took away the star player in a defense that couldn't defend the run before that.
The Cowboys lost their only true playmaker on defense, and they weren't that good to begin with.
The run defense has been pathetic for years, but putting g pressure on opposing quarterbacks helped them hold the line.
Imagine, if you will, a defense with Quinnen Williams, a healthy Trevon Diggs, and Micah Parsons at the same time.
Eberflus never had that.

Dodging like I predicted. Keep making excuses

 

[DuncanIso]

 

[links18]

There is plenty of blame to go around.....

 

[Relayer]

Well who hired Eberflus? Who doesn’t let his coach pick his staff? We keep putting the blame on coordinators and head coaches here. It all comes back to Jerry.

If you're the coordinator and the defense sucks it's your fault. I'm not saying Jerry didn't screw up but that doesn't mean Eberflus is a victim of Jerry now.

 

[Relayer]

Has nothing to do w/ being soft, it has everything to do w/ lacking talent.

And lacking leadership. I'm not blaming the entire defensive roster. Especially the difference when we went from Nolan to Quinn. Or the Patriots went from Mayo to Vrabel. Half the time those guys don't even know their assignment.

 

[JonesBoys]

If you're the coordinator and the defense sucks it's your fault. I'm not saying Jerry didn't screw up but that doesn't mean Eberflus is a victim of Jerry now.

Yes but you have to start with the guy who keeps hiring incompetent coaches. Yes Eberflus sucks, but once gone who’s the next incompetent one Jerry hires because he wants to be comfortable? We are the victim of Jerry.

 

[Cmac]

The Cowboys have been soft on defense for over a decade. The rest of the league has simply figured it out.
Even back to the Jason Garrett years it showed. The Arizona Cardinals beat up the Cowboys in the desert and manhandled them, and the secret was out. Stephen Jones said he couldn't see paying big money to an interior lineman, he wouldn't pay big money for defense at all. The Cowboys plan all along was to use draft rules that allowed them to get young players on salaries limited by the NFL's draft rules so they could spend big money on offense.
Fast forward to this season, and Micah Parsons is let go right before the season begins.
How was Eberflus supposed to field a good defense that had no inside push and no pass rush?
Way back to "Camp Cupcake" under Wade Phillips, it was becoming clear that the Cowboys could be pushed around.
Jerry staked his business model on having the most prolific receivers he could find and providing excitement for the fans.
But there was no accountability for these offensive teams. And Jerry's poor decisions led to what you see on the field now.
Romo self destructed when given too much control. Dak Prescott choked every time the game got too big and the Cowboys needed him to lead.
Jerry’s high flying circus act had its flaws, and now it has come crashing down around him.
And the Cowboys are now America's joke.

Don't do it. I tried a few weeks ago to provide sympathy & similar considerations on behalf of Eberflus.......it doesn't work. Trust me. We had guys out there acting like they were visually impaired or running with eyes closed, JJ McCarthy never got "tested". I'm sorry.......Eberflus should be gone.......yesterday.

 

[kskboys]

If you're the coordinator and the defense sucks it's your fault. I'm not saying Jerry didn't screw up but that doesn't mean Eberflus is a victim of Jerry now.

Yeah, it really does.

 

[Relayer]

Yes but you have to start with the guy who keeps hiring incompetent coaches. Yes Eberflus sucks, but once gone who’s the next incompetent one Jerry hires because he wants to be comfortable? We are the victim of Jerry.

You can't just make that the catch all and hold nobody accountable for their part.

 

[Kwyn]

Jerry telling Schottenheimer that he shouldn’t bother looking for a DC on his new staff

 

[xwalker]

The Cowboys have been soft on defense for over a decade. The rest of the league has simply figured it out.
Even back to the Jason Garrett years it showed. The Arizona Cardinals beat up the Cowboys in the desert and manhandled them, and the secret was out. Stephen Jones said he couldn't see paying big money to an interior lineman, he wouldn't pay big money for defense at all. The Cowboys plan all along was to use draft rules that allowed them to get young players on salaries limited by the NFL's draft rules so they could spend big money on offense.
Fast forward to this season, and Micah Parsons is let go right before the season begins.
How was Eberflus supposed to field a good defense that had no inside push and no pass rush?
Way back to "Camp Cupcake" under Wade Phillips, it was becoming clear that the Cowboys could be pushed around.
Jerry staked his business model on having the most prolific receivers he could find and providing excitement for the fans.
But there was no accountability for these offensive teams. And Jerry's poor decisions led to what you see on the field now.
Romo self destructed when given too much control. Dak Prescott choked every time the game got too big and the Cowboys needed him to lead.
Jerry’s high flying circus act had its flaws, and now it has come crashing down around him.
And the Cowboys are now America's joke.

YES WE CAN!!

 

[AshyLarry06]

Regardless of any of that...there is no excusing his lazy, vanilla scheme. There is no complexity to this defense. It's 90% rush four and play zone. That MAY have worked better with Parsons being able to generate fast pressure on the QB consistently, but to continue, week in and week out trotting out the same bland, lazy bs scheme regardless of past failure was/is absolute negligence on his part.
He needs to go..6 weeks ago, and actually, never should have been hired. He was a lazy, comfort hire, just like BS.

Flus probably would have left Micah at MLB if he was DC when Micah was drafted. Guy has no ability to adapt or be creative.

 

[kramskoi]

The Cowboys have been soft on defense for over a decade. The rest of the league has simply figured it out.
Even back to the Jason Garrett years it showed. The Arizona Cardinals beat up the Cowboys in the desert and manhandled them, and the secret was out. Stephen Jones said he couldn't see paying big money to an interior lineman, he wouldn't pay big money for defense at all. The Cowboys plan all along was to use draft rules that allowed them to get young players on salaries limited by the NFL's draft rules so they could spend big money on offense.
Fast forward to this season, and Micah Parsons is let go right before the season begins.
How was Eberflus supposed to field a good defense that had no inside push and no pass rush?
Way back to "Camp Cupcake" under Wade Phillips, it was becoming clear that the Cowboys could be pushed around.
Jerry staked his business model on having the most prolific receivers he could find and providing excitement for the fans.
But there was no accountability for these offensive teams. And Jerry's poor decisions led to what you see on the field now.
Romo self destructed when given too much control. Dak Prescott choked every time the game got too big and the Cowboys needed him to lead.
Jerry’s high flying circus act had its flaws, and now it has come crashing down around him.
And the Cowboys are now America's joke.

Wade Phillips had one of the better defenses. Good enough to beat the then undefeated Saints on the road in late in 2009. You know...the year they won the Superbowl with Sean Payton.

This is a twisted observation. Micah Parsons couldn't save this defense or its coordinator.

On second thought...I'm just going to assume this is idle, vacuous and deliberate trolling. I'll also assume the age of the purveyor.

 

[kramskoi]

Yes and to make matters worse we watched them bring the house repeatedly against a much more dangerous offense.

J.J. Mc HoFer faced just a 22% pressure rate...one of the lowest of the season. Prescott? 51.2%. Most since the 2022 season.

To defend Eberflus at this point is dubious and laughable.

 

[kramskoi]

Yep we can and should put a ton of blame on him, he was ran out of Chicago for making some of the all time dumbest coaching decisions and then came here and the defense hasn’t looked like it practiced at all most of the season. Players are out of position, looking clueless half the time, and the scheme is head scratching many times like when DBs are lined up 9 yards off the ball on 3rd and 5 situations.
And remember, Quinn had largely this same defense racking up turnovers and sacks. The weakness in the middle was hidden until it wasn’t. With ‘flu, every team walks up and down the field without any resistance. When your offense is averaging 30 per game, you should win at least 80% of your games period. I’m fully convinced that even an average DC could’ve had this defense in the 18-25 range which would’ve = to several more wins and staring at playoffs.
So yes we can and should blame ‘flu. No defense has all stars at 11 positions, but 30 defenses are significantly better and giving up fewer points and yards. In fact, Dallas has four players on d who have been selected to a probowl, only three other teams have that many or more.

In 2021, (under Quinn) the Cowboys had a defensive passer rating of 76.2 (2nd in the league). Today? It's 32nd at 109.1 (117 over the last three games). And some of the players still in this defense were on that 21' unit.

 

[kramskoi]

the defense has been bad in the recent past because of the DC's they hired.
Kiffin,Marinelli (who was worse than eber at HC) Nolan now eber.
back then we usually had a few good players on defense which made it not so bad, but now once they traded parsons it was all on the DC, so it just became glaring early on, but jerry wouldnt do anything as it would cost him extra $ to fire eber.
Jerry is a billionaire, but acts and thinks like he only makes 10-20 mil a year.

I'm sorry. You simply can't blame this level of failure on the absence of ONE player. And even WITH Parsons on deck there were a lot of games where the Cowboys defense got hosed. Arizona and Buffalo in 2023 were two examples. The Cowboys really never won anything of note with Parsons. And that's not saying he isn't a "generational talent". It's simply acknowledging that one player can't turn a bad defense into a good one. He is but one of eleven.

 

[kramskoi]

The defensive roster is horrible. It is riddled with flaws. I'm no Eberflus fan, but there's not a DC in football that can transform this hot stinking pile of a roster.

You better hope there's one. Or next season might be worse than this one...if it's even possible. The defense is dead last in defensive passer rating. So it's no wonder that JJ McCarthy looked like 80s Montana in the playoffs.

 

[kramskoi]

Eberflus cannot be blamed based on the defensive unit he inherited and the ones the GM picked .
Dallas ranks 16th in number of sacks , and 18 th in run defense.
That usually gives you the 8-9 or 9-8 record , which the cowboys are destined to be.

The bottom line, you need a defense that can rush the QB and stop the run to have any chance to win. I don't see the talent on the line even with Micash to make any real push. Heck , micah failed to do that effectively at GB as well. The talent is not there to have a dominant DL and LB units.

The issue is in the GM Dept. This is why real coaches like Sean Payton and elite coaches won't coach for Jerry , unless they don't have better offers and are sitting on the couch like McCarthey was or like Jason who no one wanted , and now Schotty who is chasing his father's ghost after 28 years in the NFL.
The cycle continues , but you would think jerry would get lucky one year and bust through LOL . Even us casual fans can manage 30 years without a CCG or Super bowl appearance. Heck , an AI program can do a better job these days.

No. Problem is...Jerry refuses to really rebuild. He seems perfectly content with a perennial "contender" that can generate hype and headlines. That means the team never gets to draft in the top 10 long enough to rebuild with the highest level talent. It's a big reason why a guy like Quinnen Williams ends up with the Jets. No. They end up in the bottom part of the first round over and over and over again. And when you don't play in FA that means the picks have to produce or else. And when they don't? See Mazi Smith.

The front seven is a solid unit apart from a player or two. It's the secondary that's in shambles. The majority of the damage has come from the opposing team's passing unit. Eberflus owns this in no small part.