If you're a Dallas Cowboys fan, you can never forget the worst defense in team history. 511 points were given up, and fans were not on board with Matt Eberflus as the defensive coordinator. One major gaffe was already corrected, and it's because of the new defensive coordinator, Christian Parker.
Cowboys had 19 missed tackles in last year's preseason opener.
— Bobby Belt (@BobbyBeltTX) August 16, 2026
Next Gen Stats charted the Cowboys with 0 missed tackles tonight. https://t.co/WdSfFzCvzV
To go from 19 missed tackles to none is pretty insane, but it's a testament to what Parker is building in Dallas.
Even Todd Archer's point of misalignment and little mistakes weren't a thing. It's a major correction to something that was a nightmare last season, and fans have every right to be pumped.
Cowboys have zero missed tackles versus the Seahawks
Curtis Robinson led the way with eight total tackles, and Julian Wood with five. This was a great showing all around from Joe Milton, Sam Howell, Camden Brown and the defense. But the stat here is missed tackles.
One major debacle from last season was Kenneth Murray, who would take the wrong gaps against running backs, and opposing rushers used to have field days against the defense. The pass coverage wasn't good either, but in reality, nothing was.
None of the cornerbacks could cover or tackle in the open field. It became a regular scene under Eberflus.
Some were hoping Flus would be fired in the middle of the season, but Jerry Jones has since regretted firing coaches in-season and wanted to give him a chance.
DeMarvion Overshown and Dee Winters will be leading the pack at linebacker, and UDFA Justin Barron came out of nowhere with a three-interception day in joint practice against the Rams. The LB room is coming together, but this shows once again why Dallas made a home-run hire.
They also needed a long-term plan at DC. This is now the fourth different DC in as many seasons, and that's not a good reputation to have. Coaching matters in this case, and that stat above shows this wouldn't have happened under Eberflus. Now, he was going in with the expectation that Micah Parsons was going to be his plane ticket, but he ended up getting traded.
Missing tackles is also an innocent mistake, but not having any with the twos and threes is a heck of an accomplishment for the first preseason game. There's still a long way to go, but Parker has his boys right where he wants.
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