The Dallas Cowboys entered the 2026 season full of hope for a new era of defense. After firing defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, Dallas hired 34-year-old, longtime Vic Fangio staffer Christian Parker, and also revamped its roster. Nearly half, 46.2%, per the Dallas Morning News, of the snaps taken on Dallas' defense in 2025 are no longer on the team.
However, the on-field performance was more of the same in a 28-20 road loss to the New York Giants. New York converted 82% of its third downs, with one of those stops being the game-ending knee down. That figure was New York's best third-down conversion rate in a single game since 1978.
Based on defensive expected points added (EPA)/ per drive in TruMedia, the Cowboys delivered the worst effort by any team in Week 1, and it was worse than all of their defensive games last year. Of the 576 defensive performances since the start of the 2025 season, it ranked 574th. Their seven defensive possessions yielded four touchdowns, one takeaway via fumble recovery, a punt and the game ending.
So how did the Cowboys' latest stinker happen after all that change? "To lose contain on a guy like Jaxson (Dart) that is that athletic, and it was multiple guys at multiple times. ... We have Jayden [Daniels and the Washington Commanders] this week, and then you guys have maybe heard of Lamar Jackson [and the Baltimore Ravens] coming in a couple weeks.
So we certainly have to get better with our discipline," coach Brian Schottenheimer said. "The other thing that I will say, looking at the game, that we need to be better in is our communication on defense. ... Communication is two parts.
It's the person that gives [the call], and the person that receives it has to acknowledge it. Some of the things that we did in the red zone late where we didn't have anybody accounting for [running back Devin] Singletary, who is a pretty dynamic player. Those were communication issues.
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