It's safe to say that Christian Parker's play-calling debut didn't exactly go according to plan. The Dallas Cowboys lost their season opener to the New York Giants by a score of 28-20 and the defense was woefully inefficient in almost every advanced statistic, but this also was his first game as a defensive coordinator.
The good news is that Parker has 16 more opportunities to prove himself and like Ted Lasso says, "Be a goldfish." We can now focus on the Washington Commanders, whose Jayden Daniels-Terry McLaurin connection could give this secondary problems if communication doesn't improve.
However, the blueprint to slowing down McLaurin is painfully obvious. In Week 1, the Philadelphia Eagles held him to just two receptions for 14 yards on four targets. If Parker wants to slow him down, he should take a look at what his mentor, Vic Fangio, did to neutralize him.
The Dallas Cowboys need to play cloud coverage on Terry McLaurin
In their 24-22 win, the Eagles managed to keep McLaurin in check by playing cloud coverage. For those who are unaware of what that is, it's when a defense is disguised as Cover 2 pre-snap before rotating into a look where the strong-side corner steps up to jam the receiver at the line of scrimmage while the safety on that same side takes away the deep ball.
Essentially, Philly had a safety deep on McLaurin to prevent the big play, and Quinyon Mitchell and Tariq Woolen were asked to jam him up at the line, which clearly worked. And as long as you have the personnel to do this, it could work, so it'll be a test of where this secondary stands.
DaRon Bland would likely get the most face time with Terry McLaurin in this matchup, but Cobie Durant or Shavon Revel Jr. could mix in as well. So between Bland and either Jalen Thompson or Caleb Downs, the Cowboys should be able to emulate this by using Bland to jam him up and Thompson to cover the deep outside third.
The Eagles took McLaurin out of the equation entirely, which forced Washington to rely on Stefon Diggs and rookie Antonio Williams in the passing game. That's the risk Dallas has to take here. Force them to beat you with your complementary weapons rather than the Daniels-to-Terry connection.
Before getting the Cowboys' defensive coordinator job, Christian Parker was a successful DBs coach in Denver and Philadelphia, so if there's one thing he should know how to do, it should be to employ the resources at his disposal to lock down a top receiver, and this weekend, the task at hand involves Terry McLaurin.
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