{"id":464602,"date":"2026-10-13T09:10:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T09:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/464602\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T09:10:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T09:10:25","slug":"dallas-cowboys-hire-christian-parkers-former-boss-to-help-the-nfls-worst-defense-and-the-familiarity-runs-even-deeper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/464602\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Cowboys hire Christian Parker’s former boss to help the NFL’s worst defense, and the familiarity runs even deeper"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\tHome<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNFL<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDallas Cowboys<\/a><\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys made a coaching move ahead of Week 6 that traces back years. What does it mean for a defense sitting at the bottom of nearly every metric?<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Jan
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJan 5, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Minnesota Vikings Assistant Head Coach \/ Outside Linebackers Mike Pettine talks to players on the bench during the first half of the game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDavid Reginek-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys are adding a veteran coach to their defensive staff ahead of Week 6 of the 2026 NFL season. Dallas is hiring Mike Pettine as a senior defensive assistant. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer announced Monday.<\/p>\n

The defense ranks 32nd in the NFL in EPA per play and sits at the bottom of the league in several other stats.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys may feel like they\u2019re missing experience with Christian Parker, a first-year defensive coordinator and first-year play caller. If so, they\u2019re getting a ton of it in Pettine. And his history with the Cowboys coaching staff goes back further than you might think.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n

Who is Mike Pettine?<\/p>\n

You might know the name, because Pettine has been around the NFL for a long, long time. The 60-year-old broke into the league in 2002 as a coaching assistant for the Baltimore Ravens. Since then, he has worked as an assistant defensive line coach and an outside linebackers coach. He has also served as defensive coordinator for the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, and Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n

He was even the head coach of the Cleveland Browns for two years, a stint that didn\u2019t go great but then again few things do over there.<\/p>\n

Pettine spent 2016 away from the NFL and returned as a consultant in 2017. He then took over as the Packers defensive coordinator in 2018, and that\u2019s where the Parker connection begins. Pettine gave Parker his first NFL job as a defensive quality control coach in 2019. That means Parker was on his staff for two of his three seasons in Green Bay.<\/p>\n

Pettine\u2019s connection to Parker is no small thing. The two having a good relationship will make Pettine\u2019s job of giving Parker feedback will be much easier. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we first decided that Christian was the leading candidate for what we wanted to do, you talk about staffing,\u201d Schottenheimer said. \u201cOne of the things that he and I both agreed upon was, man, it\u2019d be nice to have someone in here like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the person matters. When you bring someone into this role, you want it to be someone that the coordinator, the coach, the head coach trusts, because otherwise I could put two people in a room and say, \u2018Okay, well, he\u2019s in charge, but I want you to give him feedback.\u2019 And if they don\u2019t have any relationship, then how are they going to ever get anything done? That doesn\u2019t help anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pettine\u2019s role with the Cowboys<\/p>\n

Pettine has play-calling experience, but that\u2019s likely not what the Cowboys expect from him in this new phase. Instead, he can be a more experienced voice in Parker\u2019s ear. The young coordinator is in a tough spot, learning on the job for a team trying to win now.<\/p>\n

Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer laid out the plan for his new assistant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s gonna be here in a role to support everything that (Parker) is leading and guiding,\u201d Schottenheimer said. \u201cReally, really excited. They work together in Green Bay, and this is actually something that CP and I talked about when we first hired him.\u201d<\/p>\n

That support will take form in many different ways. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re not coaching a position, it frees you up to do a lot of other things,\u201d Schottenheimer said. \u201cYou\u2019re very holistic in your approach. When you\u2019re not coaching a position, you\u2019re able to really study the league and the trends, and how we want to adjust versus this and how we want to handle that. So, again, I think it worked out beautifully for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parker cited Pettine\u2019s familiarity with a 3-4 scheme as part of the reason he\u2019s a natural fit. He also pointed to key players like Kenny Clark and Rashan Gary, whom Pettine coached in Green Bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In other words, this move had wheels earlier in the year. Now it\u2019s coming to fruition, and the Cowboys are adding experience where they need it most.<\/p>\n

The familiarity doesn\u2019t stop with Parker, either. Pettine was the Jets defensive coordinator from 2009 to 2012, which overlapped with Schottenheimer\u2019s run as New York\u2019s offensive coordinator from 2006 to 2011. The two spent three seasons together there, from 2009 through 2011.<\/p>\n

So Pettine will walk into the building knowing both the defensive play caller and the offensive play caller.<\/p>\n

The spotlight remains on Christian Parker<\/p>\n

Pettine has plenty of work ahead. If I had to sum up the Cowboys\u2019 defensive issues in a few stats, here\u2019s where I\u2019d start:<\/p>\n

No team has surrendered more EPA per play or more total EPA. No team is allowing a higher success rate. Dallas ranks 32nd in pass defense and 23rd in run defense per EPA. The Cowboys have generated two turnovers, tied with the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans for the fewest in the NFL. They\u2019re bad in the red zone and on third downs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The unit is struggling in every phase.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t get it twisted. This is still on Parker to fix, not Pettine. He\u2019s the defensive coordinator, and he\u2019s the play caller.<\/p>\n

He also had a say in personnel choices. Earlier in the year, reports emerged that the Cowboys didn\u2019t see several players as scheme fits, including defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa and Jadeveon Clowney, who are both doing good jobs with their new teams.<\/p>\n

Adding Pettine doesn\u2019t take the spotlight off Parker. He remains under close evaluation, and we\u2019ll see whether a familiar voice in his ear makes a difference on the field. But he\u2019s sure getting a lot of experience on his side.<\/p>\n

\"Play<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Sep\t\t<\/p>\n

Dallas Cowboys News<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDallas Cowboys get important Micah Parsons injury update before trip to Green Bay to face the Packers\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys head to Lambeau Field for Sunday Night Football looking to clean up their pass protection. A fresh update on their former All-Pro pass rusher changes the outlook.<\/p>\n

Christian Parker<\/a> Dallas Cowboys<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home \/ NFL \/ Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys made a coaching move ahead of Week 6 that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[57210,102,113,104,103],"class_list":["post-464602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-christian-parker","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464602","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=464602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}