Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones admitted he wants to be in the “foxhole” with beleaguered defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus after the team’s latest loss to the Carolina Panthers
The 2025 Dallas Cowboys, who may be most remembered for owner Jerrry Jones’s middle-finger incident, have exceeded expectations on the offensive side of the football despite missing star wideout CeeDee Lamb for most of the season.
However, the team’s 2-3-1 record is down to an absolutely porous defense led by first-year coordinator Matt Eberflus. After the team’s 30-27 loss to the Carolina Panthers last Sunday — a game where old friend RB Rico Dowdle gashed the Dallas defense for over 200 yards — Jones admitted on local radio that he’s still in the “foxhole” with his defensive coordinator.
Admittedly, Eberflus was dealt a bad hand: Dallas traded star edge-rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers just weeks before the start of the 2025 season. Jones lauded his DC’s “experience” on his Wednesday spot on 105.3 The Fan.
READ MORE: Dawn Staley makes feelings clear on Napheesa Collier’s Cathy Engelbert statementREAD MORE: Rory McIlroy says Ryder Cup fan abuse left him fearing for golf traditions
“He’s had tremendous experience. He’s dealt with adversity with a long record of, not only with us, but his tenure in Chicago and Indianapolis, and he’s had some great successes,” Jones said.
“But he’s had his tail kicked. That’s who I want in the foxhole with me, because there’s no such thing as having all the answers. I jumped at it when I saw we had a chance to get him. I still feel as strongly as I did the day we brought him in here.”
Eberflus, 45, served as Dallas’s linebackers coach from 2011-2017 before taking the vacant Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator job in 2018.
He immediately transformed a moribund Colts defense into one of the league’s best. In 2022, he was named head coach of the Chicago Bears. Eberflus was fired midway through the 2024 season, leaving the team with a 14-32 record.
On the season, Dallas is allowing a league-leading 411.7 yards per game, including 410 against Bryce Young and the Panthers a week ago.
Eberflus’s secondary has particularly struggled. Trevon Diggs (58.7 PFF score), Kaiir Elam (58.6), and DaRon Bland (55.5) all rank 94th or worse amongst all-ranked cornerbacks by PFF.
READ MORE: Aaron Glenn has eight-word response to claims Jets may trade star playerREAD MORE: NFL players take action after Aaron Rodgers makes ‘unplayable’ complaint
His pass rush is led by 2022 second-round pick Sam Williams, 2024 second-round pick Marshawn Kneeland, free agent signing Dante Fowler, and midseason pickup Jadaveon Clowney.
“These things that we’re dealing with here are not one, two major things,” Jones continued, perhaps hinting at the roster’s shortcomings.
Head coach Brian Schottenheimer also defended his beleaguered DC. “I’ve been Matt. I’ve been a coordinator. And I’ve been where people are calling you out and saying you don’t know how to coach,” he said on Monday. “Matt Eberflus is a damn good football coach. We have to perform better.”
