The Dallas Cowboys entered Week 3 with concerns about their defense after Russell Wilson torched the secondary during Week 2. Unfortunately, after Caleb Williams' performance over the weekend, those concerns have now escalated into a full-blown panic following the Chicago Bears' 31-14 victory on Sunday.
Cowboys fans rightfully criticized defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus for the play of his unit against the Giants. Now, the failures of the defense for the second straight week have left head coach Brian Schottenheimer with doubts about the scheme the former head coach has installed in his first season in Dallas.
Schottenheimer Already Has Doubts About Eberflus' Defensive Scheme
During his time with the media following the Cowboys' latest loss, Schottenheimer addressed the performance of the defense as a whole and was left with one takeaway. Eberflus is trying to do too much rather than focusing on the basics that would provide the Cowboys with a more effective defensive unit than the one fans have seen the past two weeks.
"That starts with us, and we got to do a better job, simplify some things maybe," Schottenheimer replied when addressing the communication on defense, via Lawrence Dow of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "And the one thing we knew going into this game is they would challenge us with some of their motions and shifts, and they did that. I thought [Bears quarterback] Caleb [Williams] played very, very well. Threw the ball really well, made some plays off point. But, again, got to tighten the coverage down for sure. We’ll take a hard look at it and maybe to simplify things, and we’re going to do what we do well. I can promise you that.”
For a head coach to come out and publicly say this about one of his assistants after just three weeks of play proves just how bad things currently are on that side of the ball in Dallas. Doubling down on the need to simplify things on defense, though, would not be a bad idea for the Cowboys after what fans have seen thus far.
Through three games, Dallas has surrendered 864 yards through the air and allowed seven touchdowns to just one interception. Opposing quarterbacks are converting on over 73% of their pass attempts against this defense for an average of 9.8 total yards per attempt. No matter how you try to spin it, those are atrocious numbers to call your own after three games of play.
The scheme that Eberflus is attempting to employ is not working. The numbers back that statement up. Continuing to allow the defense to put the offense at a disadvantage by being overwhelmed by the pass game is not a recipe for success, and Schottenheimer knows it. The sooner a change is made, the better off the Cowboys will be.