ARLINGTON, Texas — Christian Parker got his first win as an NFL defensive coordinator Sunday, a week after his debut ended in a 28-20 loss to the Giants. The Dallas Cowboys beat the Washington Commanders 37-20 at AT&T Stadium, forced the only turnover of the game, and held Washington to 1 touchdown in 3 trips inside the 20.
Parker is 34. His defense still allowed 389 yards, 182 of them on the ground, and Washington converted 8 of 14 third downs. Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said he would not grade the unit until he watched the film, but he had already seen enough of Parker’s week.
“Until I watch the film, I won’t really comment on that. Again, we don’t feel like we have a finished product. I think there’s a lot of things to clean up. Like I said, the third down, we’ve got to get people off the field on third down. But the red zone was an improvement. We won the turnover margin, which is good. That gives you a chance to win,” Schottenheimer said. “But, like I said, the one thing I’ll say about the defense and CP this week was they were like this, man. They didn’t blink. I’ve been in a tough situation like that before as a young coordinator and not sure, and you’re taking a lot of bullets. He didn’t blink, and that’s a sign of a competitor that has a very bright future.”
Dallas Cowboys Defense Celebrates Christian Parker
After Dak Prescott addressed the team with his record ball, the defense started a celebration of its own, and Prescott guessed from across the room that it was for Parker. He had watched the unit prepare all week after the opener.
“Yeah, absolutely I noticed the difference, and it was in the way that we approached it, as those guys mentioned, in the way that we approached the process and how we attacked the week. We didn’t change anything up. We doubled down,” Prescott said. “And I think it was a question Ed asked me on Thursday of like, why do we have a good record in being able to bounce back? And it’s because if you believe in your process in the way that you do, you just do everything just a little bit more and a little bit extra. And I know that’s what they did on defense. And we just did as a team.”
“And I know that they were upset with themselves after last week because it was lack of communication. They gave up some big plays. They gave up some scores. And it was all things that were controllable, and they can control,” Prescott continued. “And so I think they went into this week preparing to do exactly that, communicate, as we said. There’s two ends of communication, the guy giving and the guy receiving the information, and making sure both parts are clear. I think they did a much better job at that tonight. But it’s week two, and I’m sure there’s times that we’ve got to clean up. I know there is on offense, and I’m sure there is on their side.”
“But it’s just great to get this win at home. And what I was saying earlier, just the confidence builder. And so I know it’s huge for them,” Prescott continued. “Just even after we broke it down, said my little speech or whatever to the team and broke it down, just to watch them celebrate for CP. And I’m guessing it was CP. It was water bottles thrown everywhere and somebody was in the middle. So I’m guessing it was CP, first win as a DC. And so just to see that spirit, that energy, confidence can grow from that.”
Von Miller is in his 16th season and thinks Parker’s defense is ahead of schedule, even with corrections left over from both games.
“It was great. I mean, it’s a great opportunity for us to be in, too. We got a really good offense. Dak went crazy. CeeDee went crazy. Christian Parker, our defensive coordinator, is jelling in. It’s his first win. Congratulations to him,” Miller said. “It was, it’s just a great day. It’s a great day all over. These are the games that you work hard for. I still want to tighten up a few things. That’s always going to be there, but we get back in the lab tomorrow and adjust and finish out this game and get ready for a good Ravens team.”
Communication Still The Focus For Christian Parker’s Defense
Quinnen Williams is one of the defensive leaders Parker went to after the opener, and he had 4 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 quarterback hit Sunday. He said Parker’s message after the loss centered on communication.
“Just with the message to the whole entire unit, the message that we need. We need to communicate. We need to execute. Today, even today, we got some communication things we need to fix, and we need to execute a little bit more, but we got the win,” Williams said. “And definitely every single game, win or loss, you got to learn from it. So I think that’s the main message for this week. Continue to learn, continue to grow, and let’s get better.”
Dallas did not record a sack. Washington tried a double pass in the third quarter, a receiver’s deep throw to Terry McLaurin that fell incomplete, and Jayden Daniels ran for 69 yards on scrambles before an elbow injury ended his day at halftime.
“Yeah, I think it was. I mean, they got us on a double pass that fortunately they couldn’t connect on,” Schottenheimer explained. “But overall, I thought the communication was better. There’s certainly things to clean up. We certainly did a poor job of containing Jayden, but he can do that. He does that to a lot of people. That’s really where the rush yards got away. And then we got some things to improve on third down. I thought we really rushed the passer well. I don’t know what the pressure numbers were. You guys will have to give me those. I know we didn’t get any sacks, but he and Marcus were both moved off the spot quite a bit. I felt good about that, but there’s always things to clean up. We certainly have not arrived. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Kenny Clark had 3 tackles and 1 quarterback hit. Marcus Mariota ran for a first down on a third-quarter scramble after replacing Daniels, and Washington’s quarterbacks finished with 72 rushing yards.
“I mean, Mariota, he’s a runner, and we didn’t do a good job at containing neither quarterback. But, I mean, same thing. We got to stop him from running,” Clark said. “I think it all starts with setting edges and stopping the run, inside and outside, forcing them to pass. Definitely think we got to do a better job in our rush lanes, communication on that part, and whether it’s getting the quarterback down or pressuring them and keeping them in the funnel. But other than that, I feel like we played a pretty solid game.”
Parker’s defense faces the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 27 in Rio de Janeiro. Kickoff is set for 3:25 p.m. CT on CBS.
