Skip to main content
Join Now

Micah Parsons responds to Matt Eberflus claiming defense changed when Cowboys traded All-Pro pass rusher

Meby: Nick Geddes01/01/26NickGeddesNews

Statistically, the Dallas Cowboys have one of the worst defenses in the NFL. Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus has shouldered much of the blame from the fanbase, though the loss of All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons has certainly impacted things.

The Cowboys traded Parsons to the Green Bay Packers ahead of the start of the season. Obviously, that wasn’t Eberflus’ call. Thursday, Eberflus cited the trading away of Parsons as the biggest reason the defense hasn’t been effective for much of the 2025 season. Once Parsons got eyes on Eberflus’ quote through social media, he responded.

When the Cowboys look back on this season, they’ll certainly wonder “what if.” Dallas has the No. 1 offense in football, but the league’s No. 30 ranked defense. At 7-8-1, they won’t be playing football in the postseason.

Parsons was a game wrecker for the Cowboys, the type of player opposing offenses had to gameplan around. He tallied 52.5 sacks in four seasons in Dallas.

Parsons, before tearing his ACL last month, made a similar impact to the Packers. In 14 games, he picked up 12.5 sacks and 26 quarterback hits. Meanwhile, the Cowboys’ leading sack getters with 5.5 are James Houston and Jadeveon Clowney.

Cowboys traded Micah Parsons and got worse on defense

Ultimately, whether or not Parsons is the singular reason for their struggles on defense, Eberflus might end up out of a job after Sunday’s season finale against the New York Giants. That’s for team owner/general manager Jerry Jones to decide.

“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. I say that because therein lies what you have to sit down and figure out, what, if anything, you want to change. We’ll get to that pronto. Everybody involved in this thing, I’m sure, has been thinking ahead about how to adjust out of our results this year.

“The main thing in football is that it is rare when you have one coach or one player that is the cause or the solution to the problem. That’s the main thing I’d like to emphasize to anybody listening. We’re trying to solve the problem and try to get better where we are. One guy is not going to do that.”