- Little pressure without Micah Parsons: The Cowboys sit only 28th in pressure rate on non-blitz plays and 28th in sack rate.
- A zone-heavy approach: Dallas has deployed zone at the league's highest rate, but it's backfired through three games.
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Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
Following the blockbuster trade of Micah Parsons almost one month ago, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones partly justified the move as an act of shoring up his run defense in the form of Kenny Clark. With just three weeks of football in the books, the early results in Dallas suggest a league-average run defense and the worst passing defense in the NFL by yards allowed.
After a strong defensive showing in the second half against the Eagles in the season opener (which itself wasn’t enough after conceding 21 points in the first half), the Cowboys would go on to make the Giants and Bears’ offenses look like championship contenders over the past two weeks.
What has gone so badly wrong in Dallas? Why does Russell Wilson look like the 2019 version of himself when he lines up across from this Cowboys defense? How is Caleb Williams capable of producing the highest passer rating of his career in a game where he still missed some open receivers and left some meat on the bone?
Let’s start with defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus’ scheme, as it’s a fairly unique one. The Cowboys’ defense has played just nine snaps of man coverage so far this season — 4.8% of their total defensive snaps, the lowest man coverage rate in the NFL. As the most zone-heavy defense in the league, the Cowboys rank third in Cover 3 usage (46.3%) and also third in Cover 2 rate (23.9%).
Unlike teams like the Vikings, who play lots of Cover 3 and pair them with fire-zone blitz packages to get pressure on the quarterback, the Cowboys have the second-lowest blitz rate in the NFL (19.8%). Despite this remarkably conservative approach designed to keep everything in front of the defense, the Cowboys have faced the second-highest percentage of deep pass attempts (20-plus yards) through three weeks.
The Cowboys’ coverage problems largely stem from their inability to get pressure with their four-man rush. They rank seventh in the NFL in pressure percentage on blitzes, but 28th on non-blitz plays. Overall, their 3.6% sack rate (28th in NFL) showcases a unit that hasn’t been winning the way it once could with Parsons on hand.
However, Eberflus’ issues extend well beyond just losing Parsons. Eberflus had a full preseason to prepare for life after Parsons, as the perennial All-Pro sat out for the entirety of training camp.
The Cowboys’ secondary has majorly struggled over the first three weeks. Starting outside cornerbacks Trevon Diggs and Kaiir Elam have allowed passer ratings of 153.3 and 137.5 in coverage, respectively. Nickel corner Reddy Steward has been one of the lone relative bright spots in the secondary with his 72.1 PFF coverage grade. The Cowboys’ safety duo has been just as ineffective as their outside cornerbacks, with a 49.7 PFF coverage grade for Malik Hooker and 51.5 for Donovan Wilson.
While the returning DaRon Bland is sure to help somewhere in this passing defense, Dallas’ lack of pressure up front is leaving every defensive back exposed. Zone-heavy systems can only function if quarterbacks are forced to speed up their reads. As it stands, opposing quarterbacks are sitting comfortably in the pocket, scanning the field and targeting soft spots — both underneath and downfield. That’s a death sentence for any secondary, let alone one already underperforming.
Lowest Team PFF Coverage Grades in 2025
It raises the bigger question: what is Eberflus’ adjustment? So far, his stubbornness has stood out. Sticking with a static four-man rush despite ranking near the bottom of the league in sack rate would be asking for more of the same. If you aren’t going to blitz, then you need dominant edge rushers who win quickly — and Dallas no longer has that luxury without Parsons. If you aren’t going to play man coverage, then you need zone defenders who can anticipate and close passing windows. The Cowboys don’t have that either right now.
This defense feels caught in the middle: It doesn’t pressure the quarterback, it doesn’t disguise looks and it doesn’t force turnovers. What’s left is a vanilla structure that is easy to gameplan against, especially for a pair like Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love this Sunday — who are very eager to push the ball downfield.
This scheme is only exacerbating the existing personnel problems Dallas has. The hope for Dallas would be that Eberflus leans into more simulated pressures while mixing in man coverage and post-snap safety rotations to give quarterbacks more to think about. While Eberflus has shown little appetite for this so far, he combined all of these elements into his defenses in Chicago.
The Cowboys look like a defense playing not to lose, which in the NFL, usually means you lose. If Dallas can’t find answers soon, this could be a long season for Cowboys fans. The Parsons trade was sold as a way to balance the defense. Instead, it has left the Cowboys without a star who could mask many of their ongoing flaws. Right now, those concerns are glaring.
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