You may have noticed that former Philadelphia Eagles passing game coordinator/defensive backs coach Christian Parker is off to a rough start as the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator.
Here’s how the Cowboys’ defense ranks in a number of metrics exiting Week 5:
31st in yards allowed per game (395.4)
26th in offensive points allowed per game (27.2)
32nd in EPA per play
32nd in success rate
Yikes.
NFC East Mixtape Vol. 197: The NFC Least is back!
It only took five weeks into this NFL season, but the NFC Least is officially BACK!
Despite two of the teams playing one another, not a single NFC East team won in Week 5.
What's more is that there were some particularly embarrassing moments...
The Dallas Cowboys got destroyed by a winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers team while the Philadelphia Eagles blew a lead with 8 seconds in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The New York Giants might feel okay to have salvaged a tie, but they owe Jayden Daniels and Dan Quinn a huge thanks as that duo really let down the Washington Commanders.
RJ Ochoa and Brandon Lee Gowton discuss it all! They'll be live on YouTube at 12 p.m. ET today!
You can see that we have a BRAND NEW NFC East Mixtape YouTube channel, so make sure to subscribe as the show will live here exclusively in video format. AND you can also listen to the show! On Blogging The Boys and/or Bleeding Green Nation podcast feeds as well as the SB Nation NFL Show feed!
Given these struggles, the Cowboys are reportedly hiring a more experienced assistant to pair with Parker as a first-time play-caller: Mike Pettine.
And not only are they bringing the Bucks County, Pennsylvania native into the fold. But the Cowboys are also moving Parker from his normal role on the sideline to the booth.
It’s hard to look at this setup and not think back to when the Eagles bizarrely decided to put Matt Patricia in charge of their defense mid-stream during the 2023 season, effectively demoting Sean Desai in the process without actually formally doing so.
That setup ended up being an abject disaster for the Eagles, who historically collapsed at the end of that season.
Maybe this approach will go better for the Cowboys given that Parker and Pettine actually have experience working together. Ed Werder offered some more insight on this move:
The Cowboys are carefully representing the hiring of Pettine as someone who is here to support Christian Parker and offer advice based on his experience. But NFL coaches I’ve spoken to who know Pettine and the dynamics of the situation with the Cowboys believe the more influence and responsibility Pettine has, the better for the team.
One HC who had Pettine on his staff: “They finally hired a real coach. Pettine is legit. Dallas will walk away with that division now.”
But maybe not and we can all laugh at the Cowboys for being such a mess.
If Parker does eventually end up getting canned by the Cowboys, which is the fate that Desai met after the 2023 season, it’ll be interesting to see what’s next for him. He had a lot of success in Philly as an assistant coach, which is what landed him his current job. There was some thought the Eagles viewed him as a potential Vic Fangio successor. But that may no longer be the case.
Something to monitor!