![\"Christian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2295145995_3461a8-e1791562435483.jpg\")
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EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – SEPTEMBER 13: Defensive coordinator Christian Parker of the Dallas Cowboys looks on during the fourth quarter against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on September 13, 2026 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Dallas Cowboys<\/a> have gone through the wringer defensively over the last five games.<\/p>\n Over the last five games, the Cowboys\u2019 defense has allowed at least 375 yards in each. That is tied for the eighth-longest streak in NFL history<\/a> and the longest in franchise history.<\/p>\n All the blame for the recent defensive struggles has been on Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker, who is in his first season with the team. Parker can\u2019t take all the blame.<\/p>\n Former NFL HC Shares Insights on Dallas Cowboys DC Christian Parker\u2019s Struggles<\/p>\n \n Ex-NFL head coach Marvin Lewis appeared on the Inside Football Show with Trey Wingo. They discussed Parker\u2019s struggles over five games. Lewis said part of it is the inexperience of the coaching staff.<\/p>\n \u201cI think you have to make sure the assistant coaches are carrying it out and making sure it gets done right. How they, and it\u2019s up to Christian Parker, the structure of how they install, how they go out, and they walk through and go through the plan. And make sure every all the things are fitting together. You play defense with 11 guys working together, and that\u2019s so important that if you don\u2019t, and that\u2019s the thing is, yeah, he\u2019s gonna be in the spotlight, but again these other guys really have to do a make sure they\u2019re doing a good job because he has a very young defensive coaching staff. If you look at their experience in the National Football League, there\u2019s not a lot of experience. And to me, that makes a big difference as well. You know, when you look at who\u2019s there, at least when I started, I had some guys who had some experience. And, you know, they knew how to carry out the mission. You know, even if your players play down to their knees when you run out of talent.\u201d<\/p>\n Is Christian Parker in over his head in Dallas? Marvin Lewis on a first-year coordinator, a young staff, and who has to get this fixed\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f <\/p>\n The Cowboys are ranked dead last in run defense (168.4 yards per game)<\/a> and 31st in total defense (395.4 yards per game). They are also ranked 20th in pass defense (227 yards per game) and 26th in total defense (27.2 points per game).<\/p>\n Cowboys Riding the Wave of Young Defensive Coaching Staff<\/p>\n \n The Cowboys have plenty of issues on defense, and the coaching staff is part of the problem. Parker is still learning how to be a defensive play caller. He was a defensive backs coach with the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> over the last two years, so the transition is tough.<\/p>\n Their defense also has a lot of new pieces. More than half the starting lineup is different from Week 1 of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n Dallas has 10 days to get things figured out, and it sounds like changes are coming. Parker needs to be ready in Week 6 against the Green Bay Packers<\/a> to get this unit right.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAnthony Miller<\/a> Anthony Miller is a veteran reporter covering the WNBA and College Football for Heavy.com. He has been with Heavy since 2026, as he has covered multiple professional leagues like the NFL, WNBA, UFL, XFL, USFL, PLL, MLS, and more since 2019. Currently, he covers the UFL as a reporter for UFL News Hub and FanSided as a site expert and contributor covering the Philadelphia Eagles, Chicago Bears, and Minnesota Vikings. More about Anthony Miller<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – SEPTEMBER 13: Defensive coordinator Christian Parker of the Dallas Cowboys looks on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-462199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Christian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2295145995_a93eb0-e1789674236232.jpg\")
GettyEAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY \u2013 SEPTEMBER 13: Defensive coordinator Christian Parker of the Dallas Cowboys looks on during the fourth quarter against the New York Giants<\/a> at MetLife Stadium on September 13, 2026 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa\/Getty Images)\n<\/p>\n![\"Washington](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/washington-commanders-v-dallas-cowboys-arlington-texas-september-20-head-coach.jpg\")
GettyARLINGTON, TEXAS \u2013 SEPTEMBER 20: Head coach Brian Schottenheimer of the Dallas Cowboys looks at his play sheet in the fourth quarter of a game against the Washington Commanders<\/a> at AT&T Stadium on September 20, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Stacy Revere\/Getty Images)\n<\/p>\n