Cowboys' Caleb Downs explains why historically bad Week 1 defense is 'very fixable'
Following the dismissal of defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, the Dallas Cowboys sought a fresh start in 2026 under new 34-year-old coordinator Christian Parker. Despite overhauling the unit to the point where 46.2% of defensive snaps from 2025 were no longer with the franchise, the group floundered in an opening 28-20 defeat against the New York Giants.
New York succeeded on 82% of its third downs—its top single-game conversion rate since 1978, with the final stop coming on a game-sealing kneel-down. Across seven defensive series, Dallas surrendered four touchdowns while producing just one fumble recovery and forcing a single punt.
According to TruMedia's expected points added per drive metric, this outing graded as the worst across the entire NFL in Week 1, poorer than every game Dallas played the previous year, and ranked 574th out of 576 defensive showings recorded since the start of 2025.
First-round rookie Caleb Downs views the glaring miscues as entirely solvable, even as head coach Brian Schottenheimer highlighted severe breakdowns following the loss. Schottenheimer pointed to repeated failures by defenders to maintain edge containment against mobile quarterback Jaxson Dart, along with late red-zone miscommunications that left running back Devin Singletary completely uncovered.
The head coach emphasized an urgent need for sharper discipline and two-way play-calling execution, noting upcoming matchups against dual-threat passers Jayden Daniels and Lamar Jackson.