Inside Cowboys 'Desperate' Hire: Mike Pettine's X's & O's; A Warning For Christian Parker

Jaishawn Barham had Bucky Irving in the backfield. For a moment, the Dallas Cowboys' defense looked exactly how Christian Parker would've drawn it up.

Seventy-two yards later, that didn't matter much.

Barham missed the tackle, other defenders collided trying to clean it up, and Irving turned Tampa Bay's opening possession of the second half into another Dallas defensive lowlight.

The Cowboys are allowing an NFL-worst 168.4 rushing yards per game. Opposing quarterbacks have a 120.5 passer rating, also the league's worst. They've surrendered 37 explosive plays, missed 32 tackles against the run and failed to record an interception through five games.

That's quite a list for a defense that spent the offseason promising to be more versatile.

Now Mike Pettine is coming out of retirement to help Parker sort through things for a desperate Cowboys club.

Rob Ryan ran Dallas' 3-4 in 2011 and 2012 before Monte Kiffin brought in a 4-3 in 2013. The Cowboys leaned on four-man fronts for much of the following decade, although Mike Nolan and Dan Quinn both mixed 3-4 principles into their defenses.

Parker has made the 3-4 foundation central again. And Pettine spent seven seasons working with Rob's twin brother Rex Ryan in Baltimore before following him to the Jets.

Both brothers learned from their father, Buddy Ryan, whose famous 46 Defense grew out of a 4-3. Buddy crowded the line, complicated blocking assignments and made offenses account for pressure before the snap.

Rob also left Dallas with a warning worth remembering.

He admitted in 2012 that he'd installed too much too quickly, leaving his players confused.

"I probably put a little too much in too early," he said.

Parker described his own defense in February as "a 3-4 by nature," with 4-3 spacing and nickel looks mixed in. The Cowboys already have different ways to line up.

They don't need another dozen calls if the players are still sorting out the ones they have.

READ MORE: Cowboys Reveal Truths In Players-Only Meeting As Defense In Crisis Mode

Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark give Dallas strength inside. Rashan Gary, Donovan Ezeiruaku and Malachi Lawrence offer different options off the edge.

Pettine coached Gary and Clark in Green Bay, where he hired Parker in 2019.

There's room for creativity. Dallas could put Williams and Clark over the interior, stand Gary and Lawrence on the edges and walk Barham toward an A-gap. The offense would have to determine which four are rushing — and whether Barham is one of them.

But Dallas has struggled to contain quarterbacks outside the pocket. A disguised blitz isn't much use if an edge defender abandons contain or a linebacker leaves an escape lane open.

The same goes for coverage. Against Tampa Bay, DaRon Bland lost his footing on third-and-21, allowing little-known QB Jalon Daniels to find Emeka Egbuka for 21 yards. The play wasn't doomed because Dallas chose a 3-4 or a 4-3.

Pettine once described his priorities in Green Bay as "the two T's – tackling and takeaways."

Dallas has missed 32 tackles on running plays. It hasn't intercepted a pass.

His best contribution might be deciding which wrinkles are worth keeping and which assignments need to be made easier. A defense that disguises everything before the snap still has to know what it's doing afterward.

READ MORE: Cowboys Roster Shake-Up: 3 Players Who Could Benefit From Schottenheimer's 'Notable' Changes

Pettine arrives as a senior defensive assistant, with Parker moving to the coaches' booth on gameday.

Brian Schottenheimer said he and Parker discussed bringing Pettine aboard in the spring, but the veteran coach, age 60, initially stayed retired. So in a way, the plan predates Tampa Bay. (And, we bet, is costing owner Jerry Jones more in salary, too.)

The timing is uncomfortable anyway. Dallas is 2-3 and is bringing in another coach to address the same fundamentals Parker identified as priorities in February.

Thirteen years after moving on from Rob Ryan, the Cowboys have brought in a coach from The Ryan Tree to help make their 3-4 work.

Pettine could give Parker better ways to pressure a quarterback. He might be even more useful keeping Dallas from overwhelming its own defenders. And on gameday, starting Sunday night in Green Bay, maybe "Pett'' can keep a former protege in Parker from getting overwhelmed, too.

But the biggest improvement would be much simpler.

The next time Barham meets a running back in the backfield, the play needs to end there.