It was fair to wonder how long it would take for a Dallas Cowboys defender to speak out against Matt Eberflus and the poor performance that unit has put on over the last four weeks. That has been answered following The Athletic's Jon Machota's reporting on the comments from star CB Trevon Diggs on Thursday. While the veteran took responsibility for his role in the issues facing the defense, he also made it clear that the power to improve has been taken out of his hands. An interesting comment that can easily be considered as a shot at the failing Matt Eberflus.
""At the end of the day, it’s not about what I want. It’s not about the other people. It’s about what the whole defense wants, what coach wants, what coach thinks is best for us to win. And if he feels like this gives us our best chance to win, we gotta play it and just play it to the best of our ability. It’s not to point fingers at nobody. It ain’t nobody’s fault. We just gotta execute.""Trevon Diggs
The part of the quote that should stand out to fans is that Diggs just became the first Cowboys defender to place blame on Eberflus and his scheme. It is the defensive coordinator who decides how much man-to-man vs. zone is played and what schemes Dallas is running. The fact that Diggs is stressing this so heavily can easily be taken as a shot at the DC who has given up 108 points in the last three games.
Cowboys Star Trevon Diggs Appears to Question the Results of DC Matt Eberflus
Diggs has had his own struggles this season and is obviously treading very carefully in the discussion. However, no matter how you interpret the comments from the corner, it is obvious that there is a level of blame being placed at the feet of the scheme of Eberflus. Based on how the opening weeks of the season have gone, this is hardly a hot take.
The defensive coordinator is failing in every aspect of his job; there is no sugarcoating it when you look at the numbers themselves. This makes it surprising that the comments from Diggs are the first real quotes from a Dallas defender questioning the coaching. Eberflus simply isn't making the necessary adjustments and is consistently pushing all of the wrong buttons. The issues are deeper than losing Micah Parsons and taking time to adjust to a new scheme.
Dallas has enough talent to play at a much higher level than what they have displayed so far. While it was never going to be among the league's best defensive units, there is no excuse for this group to be at the bottom of the league when it comes to scoring.
Much of the blame belongs on the shoulders of Eberflus and the coordinator's inability to make simple adjustments. With this in mind, Diggs' comments are notable and should catch the attention of those around the league. If the results don't drastically improve, head coach Brian Schottenheimer must be willing to make a change. One that Diggs is already hinting at the Cowboys' defense needing heading into Week 5.