Matt Eberflus enjoyed quite the resurgence after the bye week when the Dallas Cowboys rattled off three straight wins to vault back into playoff contention. It's easy to say in retrospect, but it's possible Cowboys fans may have put too much stock into those games.
The Dallas defense should have an easier time this week against the Vikings and struggling quarterback J.J. McCarthy, but the offense might find life difficult against Minnesota's defense. Brian Flores, one of the best defensive coordinators in the business, had Jayden Daniels fighting demons in Week 14 before he departed with an elbow injury.
Brian Schottenheimer knows Flores poses problems, and he heaped big praise on him before the teams meet on Sunday Night Football.
"They can be multiple," Schottenheimer said of the Vikings' defense. "They can make adjustments. They do as good a job as anybody. What I love about Brian is that he has an affinity for veteran players in a good way. They know football, they're smart."
Brian Flores is everything Cowboys fans want in a defensive coordinator
A defensive coordinator who can make adjustments? Must be nice.
Schottenheimer would never admit it publicly, but it sure sounds like he wishes he had a defensive coordinator like Flores. The Cowboys' head coach can only hope the Joneses send Eberflus packing after the season so he can finally hire his own guy. Flores’ willingness to scrap a game plan and adjust on the fly is everything Eberflus isn’t as a defensive play-caller.
The Vikings have gotten the worst quarterback play in the NFL this season. That would hinder even the elite defenses, but Minnesota still ranks eighth in EPA per play, ninth in total EPA, fifth in average depth of target, and fourth in sack rate, per Sūmer Sports.
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To our earlier point about putting too much stock into the three-game win streak, the Raiders are the worst team in football. Meanwhile, the Chiefs' and Eagles' respective offenses might be broken beyond repair.
Over the last five weeks, the Eagles rank 25th in EPA per play on offense, 28th in offensive success rate, and 26th in dropback success rate, per RBSDM.com. There's something to be said that Dallas didn't allow a point from the second quarter on, but that wasn't the victory lap it seemed at the time.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, are 14th in EPA per play and 19th in success rate in that span. Patrick Mahomes played out of his mind against the Cowboys, but this version of Kansas City's offense is a shell of the juggernaut from a few years ago. They are a painful watch. It wasn't some Herculean effort that Dallas managed to keep them in check for two quarters.
The Lions, though, were Eberflus' biggest test in the three-game gauntlet, and he failed spectacularly. It served as a reminder of why Cowboys fans wanted him fired before the bye week.
The Cowboys allowed 40 points for the third time this season. Once Dan Campbell realized that Dallas could stop the run, he decided to attack the middle of the field through the air with Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Jameson Williams. Eberflus didn't have a rebuttal.
Schottenheimer certainly didn't mean to embarrass Eberflus by giving Flores his flowers. But his words paint a grim picture of Eberflus' most damning limitations.