Lost in all of the bombast surrounding the Dallas Cowboys’ 40-40 tie with the Green Bay Packers in Micah Parsons’ return to the state of Texas was the fact that Dallas let a perfectly winnable game slip through their fingers thanks to yet another horror show performance from defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.
Through four games, of which Dallas has just one win thanks to some incredible fortune against the New York Giants, the Cowboys rank as the best offense in the league in terms of yards per game while also having the worst defense in that same category. Eberflus’ game plan against Packers quarterback Jordan Love was pathetic.
Love was a perfect 28-28 passing on throws under 10 yards in the air in this game, which set a record in the Next Gen Stats era for the most such throws without an incompletion. Eberflus never adjusted and let Love nickel-and-dime him to death down the field.
Cowboys’ Matt Eberflus let Jordan Love complete 28 short passes in Week 4 tie
As if the first few weeks weren’t enough of a sign that Eberflus’ style is going to bend anytime soon, Love’s performance will turn up the heat even more on a coordinator who might not make it to the end of the season unless he makes some wholesale changes to his approach.
As will always be the case among Eberflus defenders this season, he is not exactly playing with an All-Pro secondary. Trevon Diggs looks nothing like what he once was, Kaiir Elam has been downright terrible, and Malik Hooker is now dealing with a toe injury. That doesn’t explain, or excuse, 28-28 on short throws.
Eberflus’ biggest problem is his inflexibility. Dating back to his days with the Colts and Bears, Eberflus’ defenses have run almost exclusively zone coverage and are always in the bottom 10 in the league in terms of blitzing. In fact, Dallas ranked 31st in the league in that category heading into Sunday.
The combination of a lack of talent and a static scheme makes things too easy for a brilliant offensive mind like Matt LaFleur and a capable quarterback like Love. LaFleur had Eberflus in a proverbial headlock for essentially the entire game.
Unless Eberflus makes some wholesale philosophical changes to how the defense operates this season, expect every team that squares off against Dallas to come into the game with the expectation that they will light the Cowboys up through the air.
