The Dallas Cowboys embarrassed themselves on defense in the 2025 season. That’s not up for debate.
The promise of a new defensive coordinator, Christian Parker, 6 new defensive starters, and 2 1st-round picks used on defensive players convinced almost everyone that 2026 would be different.
It took just 1 game — a 28-20 loss to the lowly New York Giants in the season opener — to erase an entire offseason’s worth of positive thinking.
The Cowboys still suck on defense. The football-loving world unloaded on them in kind after the loss. For ineptness, lack of preparation, unoriginality and, ultimately, for Parker being completely out of his depth.
Parker, the youngest defensive coordinator in franchise history at 34, came to the Cowboys after spending 2 seasons as the defensive pass game coordinator and defensive backs coach for the Philadelphia Eagles.
“It looks like a former secondary coach trying to be a defensive coordinator,” former NFL head coach and ESPN analyst Rex Ryan said on “Get Up” on Monday morning. “Everything from the top down. It’s hilarious … somebody got outcoached.”
“One of the weirdest games you will ever see in your life,” NFL reporter John Frascella wrote on his official X account on Sunday night. “Giants keep running same play, same play, same play … Left flat, catch and run … and it keeps working over and over and over … Christian Parker and Cowboys D totally embarrassing themselves.”
“The Giants just kept running the same play over and over again” comedian and Cowboys fan Sal “Cousin Sal” Iacono said on The Bill Simmons Podcast on Sunday night. “By the way, (Parker) could be an Eagles spy. We got him from Philadelphia, so he could be a double agent.”
Social Media Continues Piling on Parker, Cowboys
Iacono and Ryan weren’t the only ones lining up to pour cold water on Parker’s debut as an NFL defensive coordinator.
“Since Week 1 of the 2024 season, the Cowboys have given up 28.8 PPGs,” Locked on Cowboys co-host Marcus Mosher wrote on his official X account. “And that is with three different defensive coordinators (Mike Zimmer, Matt Eberflus, Christian Parker). Maybe it’s as much a front-office problem as a DC problem.”
“Based on EPA/drive, the Cowboys had the worst defensive performance by any team in Week 1,” The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia wrote on X. “It was worse than all but one of their defensive games last year. Among 574 games since the start of last season, it ranked 571st. 7 possessions: 4 TDs, 1 punt, 1 fumble, ran clock out.”
“A deeply troubling outcome for Christian Parker after his first game as a DC,” NFL reporter Ed Werder wrote on his official X account.
Splashy Hire for Cowboys to Fix Defense
The Cowboys made a big move to fix their ailing defense by hiring Parker away from the Eagles.
“The Cowboys are working to hire Eagles secondary coach and (defensive) passing game coordinator Christian Parker as their new defensive coordinator,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport wrote on January 22. “The deal is not done, but hope is it will be. A rising young coach, he lands in a big spot with a rival.”
Parker took over after Matt Eberflus was fired following one season as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator, in which the team looked as bad on that side of the ball as anyone in the NFL.
Giants Offense Praised for ‘Embarrassing’ Cowboys in Week 1