It took them seven weeks, but the Dallas Cowboys finally had a good defensive performance over the weekend. And even though it came against a decimated Washington Commanders team, you can only beat whoever is in front of you, leaving time to tell if America's Team can replicate that success.
The Cowboys dominated their divisional rivals and didn't give the Commanders much room to breathe. Of Washington's 22 points, two came from a safety, and its final touchdown came when the game was already out of reach. It was an all-around great performance from the Cowboys' once-struggling defense.
However, Sunday's win seems like it wasn't enough to change owner/general managerJerry Jones' perception of defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. Following the game, Jones creditted head coach Brian Schottenheimer for the defensive turnaround, according to Jon Machota of The Athletic.
Jerry Jones Won't Give DC Matt Eberflus Any Credit
“To some degree, we didn’t have no way to go but up on defense. But I didn’t expect this kind of performance from our defense. So, kudos to (DC Matt Eberflus) and certainly Brian Schottenheimer. He had a lot of fingerprints on this (Sunday)," Jones said, per Machota. "He’s the head coach, obviously he calls the (offensive) plays, and there he is spending a lot of (last) week working with the defensive coordinator. That’s a coach. That is a coach right there."
Essentially, Jones praised Schottenheimer for making sure that Eberflus made adjustments and got to work, which is notable since the Cowboys HC doesn't have a defensive background. The 83-year-old billionaire went on to praise the first-year head coach for the hours he put in during the week and, again, failed to acknowledge the defensive coordinator:
"This was a big day for Brian. A lot of people would say there’s not enough minutes to go around to cover all that ground. He’s so engaged and he’s so appreciative of his chance to be doing this that I believe he would spend 36 hours a day if he needed to, do a little work back in the equipment room (if needed). Give him a lot of credit here"Jerry Jones, Cowboys owner/GM
Schottenheimer deserves plenty of credit for identifying a problem and making sure it got solved. Still, the fact that Jones seemingly ignored Eberflus in his post-game speech speaks volumes about the way he truly feels about him, and, clearly, he's still far from impressed.
Time will tell if Eberflus can do anything to win Jones over, or if the Cowboys will be forced to find a new DC for the third straight offseason.