Why Is Cowboys' Pass Defense So Bad? Video tells the story

Why is the Cowboys' pass defense giving up everything to opponents? (1:18)

The 2025 Cowboys defense has allowed the NFL’s third-most yards per game and the second-most yards per play behind only the Chicago Bears, the team that had Eberflus as its head coach from 2022-2024. The Cowboys and Bears are tied for the most total touchdowns allowed with 11, only the Miami Dolphins have allowed a higher EPA per play than the Cowboys’ +0.19, and no defense has allowed a higher yards per pass (9.0) than the Cowboys have. 

Eberflus’ defense is particularly wretched against deep passes – they’ve been targeted 15 times on passes of 20 or more air yards, and they’ve given up 27.7 yards per play and five touchdowns on those throws. No other NFL defense has allowed more than two touchdowns on deep passes. 

This really came home to roost in Dallas’ 31-14 Sunday loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Bears second-year quarterback Caleb Williams was a dynamo on deep passes, completing three of four vertical shots for 129 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and a near-perfect passer rating of 156.3. In Weeks 1 and 2, Williams completed four of 10 deep attempts for 111 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 81.7.

Caleb Williams looked like a Hall of Famer against the Cowboys' wretched defense (0:39)

This is where the Cowboys’ defense is right now – we don’t actually know if Caleb Williams has taken a major step forward in this important element, or if he just beat up on a defense with no juice to stop him from doing whatever he wanted.

“Yeah, it wasn't, and that's coaching," head coach Brian Schottenheimer said after the loss, when asked why the defensive issues aren't corrected at this point. "That starts with us, and we've got to do a better job, simplify some things maybe. And the one thing we knew going into this game is they would challenge us with some of their motions and shifts and they did that. I thought Caleb played very, very well. Threw the ball really well, made some plays off point. But, again, [we 've] got to tighten the coverage down for sure. We'll take a hard look at it, and maybe simplify things, and we're going to do what we do well. I can promise you that.” 

Two questions come right out of that paragraph: What do the Cowboys do well in pass defense, and how can you simplify concepts that are already out of date for the most part?

The Cowboys' pass defense is out of date. (1:37)

One issue with Eberflus’ defense is that while most of the NFL has put spot-drop coverage into the trash where it belongs in favor of true match coverage, where every defensive back has a clear opponent responsibility no matter what the coverage is, Eberflus seems content to drop his guys into coverage areas — partying like it’s 1999.

On Williams’ 35-yard touchdown pass to Rome Odunze with 10:40 left in the first quarter, Odunze was the backside outside receiver in a 1-by-3 set. Cornerback Trevon Diggs slipping off the snap certainly helped Odunze get open, but it’s also true that Diggs had no help in the Cowboys’ Cover-1 — man coverage with a deep safety. It was deep safety Donovan Wilson’s job to roam for deep help with his eyes, but the delay on moving to Odunze meant that Wilson was effectively out of the play. 

“I ended up [with a] five-step drop on that," Williams said of the play. "Eyes are down the middle for a little bit. When I peeked over after my first couple steps, I ended up seeing No. 7 slipping. And Rome threw his hand up, did a great job with that. We were on the same page. Just get him the ball, and let him go score.”

Well, at least one team was on the same page.

Williams’ 31-yard completion to rookie tight end Colston Loveland earlier in the first quarter was even more problematic. Here, the Cowboys were in Cover-3 – zone coverage with a single deep safety – and cornerback Kaiir Elam was responsible for receiver Luther Burden III on the deep front-side go route. Linebacker Marist Liufau did a nice job of bumping Loveland off his out route off the line of scrimmage, but after that, Liufau and fellow linebacker Jack Sanborn basically let Loveland go free to catch the ball – even though Sanborn did drop with a hook/curl coverage responsibility.

Opponents and analysts are taking shots at the Cowboys' defense (0:18)

Opponents aren’t the only ones taking their shots at this Cowboys defense, and for good reason. If Eberflus doesn’t modernize his defense, putting his players in the best positions to succeed, the Cowboys are in for yet another disappointing season, and with these coverage busts, that would be true even if Micah Parsons still had a star on his helmet.