Jerry Jones promises defensive fix, but his words hint at Cowboys changes beyond Eberflus

Jerry Jones didn’t wait until the offseason to address what everyone already knows. The Dallas Cowboys’ defense has been historically bad, and Jones made that clear during his final Tuesday morning radio appearance of the season on 105.3 The Fan.

“We’ve got to have a more solid defense,” Jones said. “That’s disappointing this year. We will get better on defense. I promise you that.”

Right, well...getting worse would certainly be impressive, so let’s hope so.

Through 17 weeks, the Cowboys are allowing nearly 30 points per game, the most in the NFL. Only two teams have surrendered more total yardage, and no defense has been more generous to opposing quarterbacks, with Dallas making even the most subpar QBs look like MVP candidates. They rank dead last in passer rating allowed, passing touchdowns surrendered, and passing yards allowed.

Those numbers represent one of the worst defensive seasons in franchise history.

Not just an Eberflus problem, according to Jerry

The most obvious target has been defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, whose return to Dallas was supposed to stabilize a unit that has cycled coordinators for years. Instead, the Cowboys appear headed for a fourth defensive coordinator in four seasons. But Jones was deliberate in how he framed the failure.

“Make no mistake about it, everybody had their finger in what we did out there defensively,” Jones said. “Everybody. It’s not just a one-man blame at all.”

Clearly, Jones isn’t defending Eberflus. But he is pointing to a bigger problem. He repeatedly emphasized that the defensive collapse was a teamwide breakdown, not something that can be solved by firing one coach and moving on.

“One guy is not going to do that,” Jones said. “We’re trying to solve the problem and try to get better where we are.”

For a moment, it looked like Dallas might have figured something out. The midseason acquisition of All-Pro defensive tackle Quinnen Williams sparked a brief turnaround, with improved play over a three-game stretch. But that optimism faded quickly. Over the final month of the season, the defense reverted to its early-season form - porous, disorganized, and unable to stop the pass.

Jones admitted one of his biggest disappointments came from the secondary, a unit that has been repeatedly exposed despite veteran additions and schematic changes.

What Jones didn’t explicitly mention, but everyone understands, is that he bears responsibility too. The decision to trade away All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons just before the season dramatically altered the identity of the defense. Depth issues, missed evaluations, and roster imbalance all played a role in Dallas’ collapse.

But as Jones has shown time and again, accountability doesn’t often flow upward.

What’s next for the Cowboys defense?

On the same day as his radio appearance, the Cowboys made a clear statement by releasing cornerback Trevon Diggs, a former All-Pro whose 2021 season once symbolized the defense’s upside. The move did demonstrate what Jones was saying about the issues in Dallas running deeper than scheme alone, and that no position group, especially in the secondary, is immune from change.

As the next step, Eberflus is widely expected to be cut loose after Sunday’s finale against the Giants, even if the decision isn’t immediate. He may be the first domino to fall in the offseason, but Jerry’s words suggest he won’t be the last.

Personnel decisions are coming, and once again, Dallas faces the familiar cycle of tearing down and rebuilding a defense that never quite finds stability.

“We’ll get to that pronto,” Jones said.

For the Cowboys fans, that promise is all too familiar: hopeful, yet vague and full of uncertainty about whether or not it will actually lead to real progress.

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