Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker is heading back to familiar territory Monday night, but he’s not treating it like a reunion.
When the Cowboys face the Philadelphia Eagles, Parker will be back at Lincoln Financial Field for the first time since leaving a staff he once knew well. Still, he isn’t dressing it up as anything bigger than one more game on the schedule.
“It’s just another division game,” Parker stated, per Patrik Walker of DallasCowboys.com. “It’s another divisional opponent and another task for us as a team.”
That’s been Parker’s message throughout the week, even with the circumstances around this matchup. Before arriving in Dallas, he served as Philadelphia’s passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach under Vic Fangio. He also worked with Fangio in 2021, when Fangio was head coach of the Denver Broncos and Parker coached the defensive backs there.
Fangio was asked if he had been in touch with Parker recently, and he said their contact has been limited.
“No. We talked right before training camp started, had a text exchange either after the first or second game, but that's been the extent of it. Makes it a little different being in the same division," he said, per Jon Machota of The Athletic.
The bigger issue for Dallas is not Parker’s return to Philadelphia. It’s the state of the defense he’s trying to fix.
Through six games, the Cowboys have been one of the NFL’s weakest units on that side of the ball. Dallas ranks 30th in total yards allowed per game, 23rd against the pass, 32nd against the run and 25th in points allowed. That kind of start has put Parker under a spotlight in his first season calling plays, and the pressure has already led the team to bring in veteran defensive coach Mike Pettine as a consultant.
Even with the struggles, Jerry Jones and others have continued to back Parker.
Parker had made it clear back in May that he did not want Dallas’ scheme to be viewed as a copy of Fangio’s system.
“This is our defense. I don't want it to be called the Eagles defense or Vic (Fangio's) defense.
This is going to be ours. We've been real intentional about going about that process from the language that we use, the work flow that we have and everything else.
It's been real fun,” Parker said.
But as the season has played out, the similarities to Fangio’s style have been hard to miss, and the results have not followed. Dallas enters Monday at 2-4, and with the Eagles suddenly dealing with Jalen Hurts missing the rest of the season with blood clots in his lungs, the Cowboys are in a spot where dropping this game would be a major setback. Given how Dallas has defended so far, that possibility is very much on the table.
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