FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker said Thursday that the response to one poor performance is getting back to work, and that the film review started on the flight home from New Jersey. Dallas hosts the Washington Commanders on Sunday at 3:25 p.m. CT on FOX.
Parker was asked how he has handled his own first game, framed against the old Bill Parcells line about not knowing anything about a quarterback until he throws three picks and everybody in the building looks at him.
“I think getting back to work. It’s one poor performance. It’s one loss that does not equal two,” Parker said. “So, at the end of the day, our thing was when we got back here and it started on the plane, it was watching the tape, being critical of the mistakes, finding substance in the failure.”
Excuses were not on the table, Parker said.
“We’re not trying to make excuses for anything. We’re not trying to act like it didn’t happen. We got to look in the mirror. We got to be accountable for what we did wrong and what we did right,” Parker explained. “Correct it and then move on to the next opponent, because it can’t be a hangover and it can’t linger.”
Christian Parker On What This Week Actually Looked Like
The week ran the way it was going to run either way, Parker said.
“It’s been business as usual. I mean, we’ve made some adjustments, and that would have been win or loss from the first week of the game week schedule. So there were notes that were taken,” Parker said. “Every day we kind of finish our meeting flow, how we’re doing things as staff, how we’re doing things with the players. Do we like this? How’s it flowing? I think every year I’ve coached, you end up changing something after week one in terms of how you like the flow. So that’s been the main thing.”
Coach Brian Schottenheimer was a first-time coordinator in this league himself, and Parker said their conversations since Sunday have run through the same report the staff files after every practice and every game.
“I think the main thing is what went right, what went wrong, just kind of an after-action report,” Parker said. “Okay, what did the film say? And then what could we have done differently in the past? And what can we do different moving forward?”
The Positives, And What Parker Will Not Credit
Dallas forced four fumbles and recovered one, with two sacks and six quarterback hits in the 28-20 loss at the New York Giants. Parker said the attempts on the ball were the top of his list, and that effort alone earns nothing.
“I think the attempts on the ball were probably number one. I would say there was an effort to execute. I think that guys were trying to communicate,” Parker said. “There wasn’t a lot of, there was frustration, but nobody was quitting. I think that’s step one. That’s non-negotiable, right? We’re not congratulating fish for swimming for that.”
The takeaways have to come out of the assignment, Parker said, not instead of it.
“When you do your job at a high level, then you give yourself opportunities to impact the football. We punch out four, we get one. That’s just the way the game goes,” Parker said. “There’s going to be a game we punch out four and we get four. But we got to be opportunistic, and that starts with us chasing our assignment, because we’re not going to be an undisciplined unit that’s just trying to chase takeaways.”
Dallas allowed 511 points in 2025, the most in franchise history and last in the NFL. Parker was hired Jan. 22 at 34, the youngest defensive coordinator the franchise has had.
