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Sunday may be Matt Eberflus' last game as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator and his press conference on Thursday focused on what went wrong on that side of the ball this season.
Eberflus said that "ownership and accountability is right with me" for a season that's seen the Cowboys allow the most points in the league while ranking near the bottom of the league in most key defensive metrics. The group Eberflus had to work with was shaken up shortly before the season when Micah Parsons was traded to the Packers and Eberflus was asked how much that changed things for the team.
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"I don't know if it changed that much," Eberflus said. "Obviously you have an All-Pro pass rusher that wins really quick, that's certainly going to help any defense if it's Micah or if it's Myles [Garrett] or whoever it might be. That impact player is always going to help to a certain degree on pass downs and other downs. Again, you can't look back. It is what it is and you just focus on where you are."
A tweet featuring those comments caught Parsons’ eye on Thursday and it's hard to argue that the move impacted the way the defense performed over the course of the season. It's also hard to argue that looking back on what could have been is of little value to Eberflus or the Cowboys based on how things have actually played out.
Next year's defensive coordinator won't have the Parsons issue hanging over their head and they'll need to do a better job with any pieces on hand in order for the Cowboys to make it back to the postseason.
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