Now that the entire Dallas Cowboys coaching staff for the 2025 season is finally in place, some are finally able to have a few words with the reporters.
New defensive coordinator, Matt Eberflus broke the mold and finally talked about what his philosophy will be this year since taking over for Mike Zimmer.
This is the Dallas Cowboys third new defensive coordinator in three years. With Dan Quinn taking the head coaching spot in Washington, Mike Zimmer replaced him last season for one year, and is now finally retiring.
What Was Said?
On Tuesday he was officially introduced in Dallas and he spoke about what his defensive philosophy is and what he wants to see from his defense.
His message was a simple one: “We take the ball away. That’s what we do. We stop the run. We want to make exciting plays for our football team. That’s really what we do.”
Eberflus before becoming the defensive coordinator for the Colts and the head coach of the Chicago Bears, he had some luck the first time coaching in Dallas.
He was able to coach the likes of DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer when he was a coach in Dallas from 2011 to ’17.
Yet, here I am wondering how much I really believe that he will be able to stop the run.
As a fan who blogs, I have written about this so many times, I have heard all this talk before! We have to be honest with ourselves at some point and ask, do the Cowboys even have the personnel to stop the run effectively?
I don’t think they do. Look how many pending free agents this roster has, two of which are coming on the defensive line.
Biggest Difference?
If some of you don’t know yet, you may be asking yourself, you know what is the biggest difference between an Eberflus and a Mike Zimmer defense?
Traditionally, Eberflus plays more of a zone defense on the back end, and he can do that better if he’s getting pressure up front. When he went to the Colts, they had a Top 10 defense his first year and then went 11th the next year.
Chicago led the league in interceptions in 2022 with 22.
So the plan is going to let the rushers rush at a high level and force the quarterback into mistakes where the safeties and corners can go make plays.
That is the problem that we are going to see. Trust the backend of this defense to make players rather than hoping playing coverage for long enough will work, because this defense got beat up most of the year in 2024.
You still need the personnel, though. This team has Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence, Osa Odighizuwa and Chauncey Golston could all be on new teams in 2025.
That does not leave this team with anyone at all. Are we really going to depend on Marshawn Kneeland, the second year guy?
Just look at the depth chart, they also lack defensive tackles.
Mazi Smith after an awful rookie season, did not do much better last season. He finished as the 207th out of 219 eligible defensive tackles according to Pro Football Focus.
Smith has spent most of his time at the 1-technique for Quinn and Zimmer’s defense and will likely do the same for new defensive coordinator Eberflus.
All I want to say is I will believe all of these words when I see it happen on the field. I am so tired of all of this talk by every Cowboys coach/owner, whomever.
Just go do it on the field for once and prove something.