So far, Christian Parker hasn't been the up-and-coming defensive mind Dallas Cowboys fans have expected.
The first-time defensive coordinator has the Cowboys last in the NFL in both EPA per play and success rate through five weeks, as it seems like everyone is losing faith in a defensive turnaround. In fact, things feel almost as bad as they did with Matt Eberflus, and this unit is more talented.
Desperate for some improvement, Jerry Jones has managed to make things 10 times worse, which is incredibly on brand.
Earlier this week, Jones said that Parker, who spent the first five weeks calling plays from the sideline, was going to move to the booth. However, Brian Schottenheimer contradicted that on Wednesday and said no decision was final, before Parker confirmed on Thursday he is "most likely" staying on the sidelines for Week 6 against the Packers.
We've seen Jerry Jones say and do his fair share of confusing things over the years, but this one has to be near the top of that. My best guess? Jones went public before it was ever really decided. There was absolutely no need for him to go rogue when he's not involved in the decision-making process.
The Cowboys' defense is bad enough. It doesn't need Jerry Jones inviting more scrutiny
Ultimately, where Christian Parker will call the game from isn't up to the front office. That's a coaching staff decision, which means it's on Schottenheimer and Parker to agree on something, and Jerry jumping the shark makes it clear that there is some sort of disconnect going on here.
Something isn't adding up.
From where I'm sitting, it seems like there are a lot of clashing visions in Dallas right now, and that's the last thing you want to have happen. Ownership, the front office, and the coaching staff should be on the same page, but it doesn't seem like this is the case for the Cowboys.
Maybe Jerry went full Jerry. Maybe there really is no disagreement over where Parker should be calling the defense. But the 84-year-old did his team no favors by spilling the beans to 105.3 The Fan.
Moving Parker to the booth is a significant decision, especially five games into his tenure. Whether the news comes from the owner, general manager, a scout, or the head coach himself, the first version that reaches the public has to be the right one. Anything less creates unnecessary confusion around a defense that already has more than enough of it.
This doesn't necessarily mean Brian Schottenheimer and Jerry Jones are at odds over Parker. The simpler explanation is that Jerry did what Jerry does: He went public before a final decision had been made.
Jerry Jones making his coaching staff look bad is so on brand
It brings to mind The Office when Michael and Jim were briefly co-managers of Dunder Mifflin. In theory, there was a division of responsibilities. In practice, their wildly different leadership styles meant one could get out ahead of the other and create confusion about who was actually calling the shots.
That's essentially what Jones did here.
Schottenheimer is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the team, including decisions about his coaching staff. Jerry is still Jerry, though, and he publicly revealed a potentially significant change before his head coach had actually signed off on it. Even if they ultimately land on the same decision, that's an unnecessary mess.
It sounds like Parker and Schottenheimer were exploring a move to the booth; Jerry caught wind of those conversations and got ahead of himself before anything was finalized. Now that Parker is staying on the sideline, everyone involved is left looking foolish.
This has been the issue that has plagued the Dallas Cowboys for years. Jerry Jones loves to meddle in game-day affairs, and he refuses to let the coaches do their jobs. If he said nothing, this wouldn't be a huge deal, but he made the drama over Christian Parker look much worse than it needed to.
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