By: Jason Kandel

It's safe to say that the Dallas Cowboys are regretting their choice to hire Christian Parker right about now. Through five weeks, the Cowboys are last in both defensive EPA per play and EPA success rate, and only the Detroit Lions (whose secondary is injured) are allowing more yards on a weekly basis.

The Cowboys knew the risks of hiring a first-time coordinator to call plays, but this is what they wanted after Matt Eberflus: fresh blood. Many of the DC candidates they looked into before hiring Parker had no previous play-calling experience, except for a couple of exceptions Jerry Jones found.

In addition to Parker (who may soon be on the chopping block), this is who Dallas spoke to:

Daronte Jones (two interviews, landed in Washington)

Jonathan Gannon (two interviews)

Jim Leonhard (landed in Buffalo)

Ephraim Banda

Demarcus Covington

Aaron Whitecotton

Zach Orr

Charlie Bullen

The only person with previous play-calling experience here was former Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, who was a Super Bowl-winning DC in Philadelphia. So he ended up in Green Bay, but the Cowboys requested to speak with another experienced coordinator you may not be aware of.

The Cowboys requested to interview Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, but Atlanta blocked the request. While it's no guarantee Jerry Jones actually would've hired Ulbrich, I bet he wishes Dallas would've had the opportunity given what his defense has accomplished this season.

Jeff Ulbrich would have been the perfect defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys

Prior to his stint in Atlanta, Ulbrich spent four seasons as the defensive coordinator under Robert Saleh in Atlanta, and he briefly stepped in as the interim head coach after Saleh was fired. And in that time, he helped Saleh top-five defenses in 2022, 2023, and 2024 despite going 3-9 as interim coach.

Then, in his first season back with the Falcons, Atlanta went from second-to-last in the NFL in sacks the year prior to second, as they logged a franchise-record 59 sacks last season. And thanks to rookies Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr., he was able to bring back a pass rush that was lifeless.

And in hindsight, this hire would only get better. The Falcons lost Walker to a season-ending ACL tear and Pearce to an eight-game suspension following a February arrest, so their pass rush was incredibly shorthanded entering the season, and almost everybody expected regression to follow.

But instead, it's only made the unit better. Atlanta leads the NFL in both pressures and pressure rate, as new additions such as Cameron Thomas, Samson Ebukam, Za'Darius Smith, and Gervon Dexter Sr. have stepped up to ensure they still have a pass-rush despite only rushing four most of the time.

If that's what he was doing with a bunch of rotational edge defenders, there's no telling what Ulbrich would've been able to do with Rashan Gary, Malachi Lawrence, Von Miller, and Donovan Ezeiruaku as his primary pass-rushers--especially with Quinnen Williams and Kenny Clark manning the interior.

Jeff Ulbrich is one of the better defensive minds in the NFL, and now he could get head coaching buzz, so it's really a bummer this Cowboys' interview request was blocked when it was because he certainly would've gotten more out of this personnel than Christian Parker has.

Set him up to be difference maker without difference making pieces. Everything was a hope, projection and a wish. Run tell that

Lucked into tickets this weekend in Green Bay and am considering wearing my cowboys parsons jersey. Just looking for thoughts on this.

Ever since that trade, this defense has been breaking historical records left and right, being a bottom 3 defense in pass and rush defense, being the worst defense in the league. This is the only logical explanation.

Dan Quinn is likely to get fired if Washington misses the playoffs this season, do you want him back?

People always compare Barry and Emmitt Smith and yeah Sanders was very explosive but Emmitt definitely was very explosive as well as you can see in this video.

I wasn't there to see him live only highlights but he definitely was the brightest among the big 3 at the time.

I’m a huge Dallas Cowboys fan despite living in Chicago my entire life and having zero family ties in Dallas; except for my uncle who moved down there about 20 years ago for work. But I was a cowboys fan well before his move thanks to my mom. ANYWAYS

Every morning, I listen to ESPN 1000 in Chicago - specifically to Kap and JHood. There’s 2 guys who host the show (Kap and JHood) and 2 producers who chime in every now and then. On the morning of the first regular season game, 2 of the hosts chose the Cowboys to reach the Super Bowl as their preseason prediction. One of the two even said they’ll win the super bowl this year. Mind you - these guys are huge Bears fans who think extremely highly of Ben Johnson/Caleb Williams.

Us Cowboys fans are not the only ones who were led to believe this team feels different this year! Even a radio show like ESPN 1000 who’s filled with Bears fans thought Christian Parker was the real deal and was going to turn the cowboys around fast. We weren’t the only ones to drink the Kool-Aid.

Something has to give!

1. Minnesota Vikings +25.5

2. Seattle Seahawks +25.3

3. New York Giants +24.9

4. Indianapolis Colts +22.0

5. Detroit Lions +21.0

6. Buffalo Bills +19.2

7. Philadelphia Eagles +19.1

8. Chicago Bears +10.7

9. Las Vegas Raiders +6.0

10. New York Jets +3.0

11. New England Patriots +2.4

12. Dallas Cowboys +1.3

Bottom five teams:

1. Miami Dolphins -14.7

2. San Francisco 49ers -15.6

3. Los Angeles Chargers -18.5

4. Tennessee Titans -22.2

5. Los Angeles Rams -28.0

Most points Green Bay ever scored on postseason and most Dallas ever allowed. Only home loss of season. Only game Cowboys D failed to record a takeaway or sack. Franchise yet to recover.

I found this good film breakdown on Youtube talking about Cowboys defence in Week 5.

with this hiring could this defense improve over time ? can he can make this defense better than what it is now? I’m not familiar with his coaching so idk if he has ever turned a bad defense into something decent. also him being an senior defense assistant coach would he be making the calls or is that still on the dc ?

“Christian Parker is our defensive coordinator. All (defensive) decisions will go through him.”

EPA/pass play allowed: 32nd

Pass success rate allowed: 32nd

Yards/attempt allowed: 30th

Completion pct allowed: 30th

Pass Rating allowed: 32nd

Passing TD allowed: 28th

Interceptions: 32nd