Any good grace that Matt Eberflus found with Dallas Cowboys fans vanished with the team's soul-crushing loss to the Detroit Lions on Thursday night.
While the offense deserves to face the music for another slow start, and the special teams were a disaster outside of Brandon Aubrey, the defense reverted to the group from earlier in the season that couldn't buy a stop if it started them right in the face.
Ultimately, 30 points should be enough to win a football game. Not only did the Cowboys lose, but they lost by two touchdowns. They got blown out. That is the message former Dallas head coach Wade Phillips preached on X (formerly Twitter) after the game.
417 yards and 30
— Wade Phillips (@sonofbum) December 5, 2025
points and
LOST
Ex-Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips is tired of watching Matt Eberflus' defense
The Cowboys spent most of the game playing catch-up, but they pulled within a touchdown with just under four minutes left in regulation. It's not like Dallas' 417 yards of offense were buoyed by garbage time. And yet, it wasn't close to enough.
Granted, the Lions' offense presents a matchup problem for most defenses. But they looked like the "Greatest Show on Turf" on Thursday night. If you exclude the final kneel-down possession and the missed field goal, Detroit scored on eight of 10 possessions. Eberflus' group didn't muster a single stop in the second half when the offense needed it most.
The Cowboys were able to pressure Jared Goff on four of his first six dropbacks. That included blitzing three times. They tallied just four pressures on his next 29 dropbacks. That stretch included just five blitzes, per Bobby Belt of 105.3 The Fan. What happened?
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It's one thing not to adjust when an offense is moving the ball at will against you, but to completely abandon a strategy that was working is DC malpractice.
The Lions' passing game is littered with long-developing routes. If Goff has time to step into those throws, it's game over. No quarterback in the NFL is more Jekyll and Hyde against pressure than Goff. You saw him dirt multiple throws in the first half when the pocket collapsed.
The Cowboys have now allowed 40 or more points three different times this season. Eberflus is likely going to keep his job, but fans of America's Team will take just about anybody running the defense over him, including Wade Phillips, if he were to ever throw his hat into the ring.