It hasn't been a good year for Matt Eberflus and his defense, but surely that means the coach would have done some things differently?
We bet Matt Eberflus likely has one game left as the Dallas Cowboys' defensive coordinator before he's fired after a year in which his unit has been curb-stomped nearly every week.
Yes, there was a three-game stretch where Dallas looked like it had a competent defense, but that was just a sugar hit.
Constant miscommunication and regularly giving up explosive plays have been a horrific experience for Cowboys Nation to go through.
But given that the Cowboys have been so bad on defense this season, surely Eberflus, if he had his time over again, would do some things differently, right?
Well, at The Star on Thursday, Eberflus delivered a rather stunning comment on that.
“I don’t really think about it that way,” Eberflus said. “I think about being in the moment and just keep adjusting and learning and growing and getting better. I don’t think I’d do anything differently. I think I would just work to adjust when you get different players in and those things. I think that’s what you do as a coach.”
Hmm. OK.
"I don't think I'd do anything differently''?!
One would think that after having one of the worst defenses in football through Week 17 would lend itself to doing things differently, but Eberflus clearly thinks otherwise.
Granted, losing Micah Parsons on the eve of the season starting (via the controversial trade to the Packers) was a hammer blow. Likely to have been Eberlfus' defensive centerpiece, he was ripped out of the game plan, and you could make the case that Dallas struggled to keep its head afloat after the trade.
And Eberflus mentioned the changes necessary in the wake of the deal, essentially praising Parsons.
Would Micah have made that much of a difference? In some instances, for sure.
But given how the defense has performed overall, the Cowboys' defense would likely still have struggled.
Not doing anything differently is certainly a headline-grabber, but make no mistake, the 7-8-1 Cowboys will almost certainly be doing something different at defensive coordinator this offseason.