FRISCO, Texas — Christian Parker walked into Brian Schottenheimer’s locker room Sunday night at MetLife Stadium and the two talked at length about what the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator had just seen. Schottenheimer recounted that conversation Monday, along with a staff meeting that followed the next morning, after a 28-20 loss to the New York Giants in which New York converted 9 of 11 third downs.
Parker was hired Jan. 22 from the Philadelphia Eagles, where he served as passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach under Vic Fangio. Sunday was his first game calling an NFL defense.
“Yeah, he’s been great,” Schottenheimer said. “He came into my locker room last night. He and I talked at length last night in my locker room and just talked about his exposures and some of the things that he learned and some of the things that we wanted to do differently looking back.”
Parker and the defensive staff met again Monday morning.
“And again, very methodical, as you would imagine, just like what we’ve seen with every experience and exposure to him, very methodical, very convicted, didn’t make excuses, need to better, will better, starting with X, Y, Z,” Schottenheimer said. “And he and I were on the same page with that, which is a good thing. And then this morning he was amazing with the staff and having hard conversations and real conversations. And this is not just the players. This is us as a staff. And that’s a leader of men.”
Brian Schottenheimer Backed Christian Parker Without Qualification
The Cowboys are on their fourth defensive coordinator in four seasons. Schottenheimer was asked how Parker had earned his trust in handling adversity, and he answered by pointing at the parts of the job reporters do not see.
“I’m around him every day. There’s adversity all the time in what we do,” Schottenheimer said. “You guys don’t hear about all of it. You guys don’t see all of it. You don’t deal with all of it. But whether it’s the things we deal with off the field, whether it’s the things we deal with in coaching meetings and discussions that we have from a strategy standpoint, from a personnel standpoint, and until you go through all those things, you don’t really know. But I have no question Christian Parker is the right guy for this job. He’s an outstanding coach.”
Schottenheimer said Dallas will keep playing its young defenders against the Washington Commanders.
“He will learn from this just like our young players are going to learn from this,” Schottenheimer said. “We’re going to play our young players this weekend too, and they’re going to play better and Christian’s going to call a better game this week and feel better about it. So experience is gained by making mistakes and unfortunately we made too many mistakes last night and that’s why we came up on the short end of the stick.”
Schottenheimer Told A Story About His Own First Weeks As A Coordinator
Asked whether expectations for the defense had been unrealistic, Schottenheimer reached back to his own early days running an offense with the New York Jets and a halftime adjustment that did not survive contact with Bill Belichick.
“I remember my first game or second game actually as a coordinator. It’s kind of an interesting story, but were playing New England. I was with the Jets and Bill Belichick, defense, 3-4, they were kicking our butts in the first half,” Schottenheimer said. “And I went in halftime, I made some of the greatest changes you’ve ever seen. I really did. I mean, I had all the 3-4 runs, I was ready to go. And sure enough, what did Bill Belichick do? He played 4-3.”
Clarence Hill asked whether the expectations placed on the defense had been unrealistic given the new coordinator and the new personnel.
“Our standard and our expectations are high. You stand up here, and you talk about winning Super Bowls, and it doesn’t change because we lost the game,” he said. “I’m also not ready to say the expectations for where we think we’re going to get to as a defense and as a football team are not accurate.”
Dallas allowed a franchise-record point total in 2025 under Matt Eberflus, who was fired after one season. Kickoff against Washington is 3:25 p.m. CT Sunday on FOX.
