Despite the struggles for the Dallas Cowboys defense so far this season, Jerry Jones remains confident in defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.
During his Tuesday appearance on 105.3 The Fan (h/t Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News), Jones said Eberflus is someone “I want in the foxhole with me.”
Jones also explained that he “jumped” at the opportunity to hire Eberflus during the offseason and his stance hasn’t changed through the first six games.
The comments from Jones come as the Cowboys have allowed at least 300 yards in every game so far this season, including at least 375 yards in five straight games.
All six teams the Cowboys have faced so far put up at least 22 points. Four of those six teams have all had their highest single-game scoring performance of the season against Dallas.
By virtually every standard and advanced metric, the Cowboys are at or near the bottom of the NFL in defense.
If one were to defend Eberflus, he was hired by the Cowboys in January presumably expecting to work with Micah Parsons. There was evidence from Parsons’ four years in Dallas that the drop off in defensive performance was steep when he wasn’t on the field.
This isn’t to totally let Eberflus off the hook for his shortcomings, including a zone-heavy scheme that is getting gashed, but Jones as the general manager may have overestimated the defensive talent on this team prior to trading Parsons.
Adding to the frustration of Eberflus and the struggles on defense is the Cowboys could be wasting a fantastic season from Dak Prescott. He leads all quarterbacks in total EPA and has thrown for 1,617 yards with 13 touchdowns in six starts.
The recent woes by the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders have allowed the Cowboys to stick around in the NFC East. They are only one game behind both teams in the loss column going into a Week 7 matchup with Washington.
Prescott and the offense are good enough to keep the Cowboys in the playoff mix for the entire season, but the ceiling for this team will be determined by whether or not Eberflus can figure out a way to get the defense playing closer to a league-average unit instead of the worst in the NFL.
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