Matt Eberflus’ future with the Dallas Cowboys is suddenly under a spotlight, and the reason is staring everyone in the face.QQ
Cowboys DC Matt Eberflus needs to adapt to whoever is on the roster.
For a brief moment in time, we thought the Dallas Cowboys had pulled it off. Following a couple of trades, players returning from injury, and a couple of tweaks to the defensive scheme, it appeared defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus now had a viable defense.
And then, the Cowboys allowed 44 points from the Detroit Lions in Week 13 in a game in which they showed no resistance whatsoever. The Lions ran the ball efficiently, Jared Goff looked comfortable in the pocket, and pass catchers found it easy to gain yards after the catch. It was an objectively terrible showing of football.
The Cowboys could not control the special teams game…The Cowboys could not control the special teams game…
And just like that, we remembered. All the discussions we had about this defense being far from “one move away” back at the trade deadline came back to us. And in the center of it all is Eberflus, who despite not being the sole responsible for the defensive woes in Dallas, should be on the hot seat.
And it starts with a simple reason that the Cowboys need to figure out: He isn’t a good fit with the team’s roster, and it doesn’t seem like he’s willing to change up his scheme and philosophy.
Eberflus’ scheme fails to highlight what Cowboys players do best
Before his injury, All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs was having an underwhelming year. And while there were many reasons for it, one of them was all about the Cowboys playing much more zone. Diggs has been a better man-to-man corner his entire career, and at one time he admitted he talked to Eberflus about playing more man.
Based on multiple comments made to the media, it didn’t seem like Eberflus was a fan of Diggs’ request. Now, with third-round rookie Shavon Revel Jr. on the field—who came out of college known as a press man-to-man coverage specialist—the Cowboys are still playing a very high amount of zone.
Even DaRon Bland, who was just signed to a multi-year contract extension in the offseason, is more of a man player than a zone one. Even if Eberflus wants his scheme to be zone-intensive, the Cowboys could be getting into more “press” looks, where their long, physical corners could disrupt receivers’ routes at the line of scrimmage. Yet, we see little of it through 13 weeks of football.
The lack of “adapting to your players” we see in Dallas extends beyond coverage, too. Eberflus continues to be hesitant to blitz despite the team’s pass rush being unreliable when it rushes four, with the latest example coming on the Cowboys’ Thursday Night Football loss to the Lions.
We entered that game knowing two things: That the Lions OL was banged up (leaving it vulnerable against the blitz), and that Goff tends to struggle against pressure. Yet, they refused to blitz even though they were getting pressure early in the game, as Bobby Belt points out in the X post below.
One of the biggest question marks surrounding Eberflus’ use of his talent is the fact that he isn’t blitzing LB DeMarvion Overshown. In 2024, the Cowboys used Overshown’s speed rushing the passer and had a ton of success doing so. In 2025, Overshown has rushed the passer five times in four games.
And here’s the thing, if Eberflus is unwilling to play a different brand of football to better suit his players even in desperate times like these, what tells the Cowboys he will down the road? It seems like there will continue to be a disconnect between the talent on the roster and what Eberflus wants to play. After all, Overshown, Revel Jr., Bland, and others are still going to be around in 2026.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said earlier in the year that he wished for more continuity at DC, a comment that came off as a good sign for Eberflus. But he needs to ask himself if he wants continuity of whatever this is.
