Matt Eberflus: Focus on the Plan | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Matt Eberflus: Focus on the Plan | Dallas Cowboys 2025

Uh just start off with uh some opening comments. Uh you know, congratulations to Don, you know, in his contract. Much deserved. You after going through adversity last year, uh super excited for him. Uh we named captains, you know, on defense. So OSA and Donno are our captains. Uh those guys are hardworking group uh pair and I really think that those guys are, you know, leading in the right way. We have a lot of other leaders on on defense, but excited about for uh for OSA and Donno. Uh Kenny Clark, you know, adding him in the trade. Uh super excited about that. Um you know, he’s a real stout in the run game and obviously uh you know, really good pass rusher as well inside. Gives you some pushing there uh to solidify our inside there. Uh I really don’t have a comment about uh Diggs right now in terms of his play time and all that. We’re still working through all those things. um you know with him, but he’s looked good so far. We’ll see where that is. Um and then you know, congratulations also to Micah. You know, he he had the trade and he’s now um on a different squad and and we wish him the best. Um you know, so that’s where it is. And uh excited about the week for Philly. Uh know these guys uh really well. Work with the offensive coordinator uh Kevin Patulo. Um very good football mind and uh and obviously Nick Nickeriani. your coordinators together there in Indianapolis. But, uh, good guys, really good coaches, and excited to go against them. So, with that, we’re up to questions. Calvin Watkins, Dallas Morning News. How do you replace, uh, Parson’s production? Yeah, you know, it’s, uh, we’re going to focus on us and focus on how we, you know, how we do that. Obviously, a really good player and, uh, you know, we have a lot of good rushers, you know, in that room in in the Dline room and, uh, certainly we’ll generate it with that and and other things, too. does Clark bring to your team? You know, first of all, he’s a true pro. Um, you know, he’s a worker and, uh, he’s been a leader. You know, he’s been a leader over there in Green Bay, and he’s, uh, going to be a leader here, too, and you can see that right away. Um, knows ball, uh, really intelligent and excited to work with him. He works great on the practice field, and he’s a he’s a tremendous guy. Matt Todd Archer with ESPN. with Micah because he wasn’t on the practice field and and doing stuff. Did that allow you to obviously get more reps with the guys that that you have had and is there anything that you had in the system with for Micah that you now can push on to other guys? Um yeah, of course we’re going to try to scheme that, but we never really had a chance to um during the camp. Uh but uh again, we’re going to work with the guys, you know, that we have. Um, you know, to answer your other question, you know, we didn’t have time on task, you know, and and that was uh a good thing for the other guys. You know, they got a chance to work and uh work their fourman rush and then work our our blitz package and and so the guys are doing a nice job. Uh John Mur, the athletic, uh your time in Chicago, obviously going against a guy like Kenny Clark, what what stood out to you then? Yeah, just the energy and passion that he plays with. Um, you know, we got a chance to watch a lot of crossover games, so I got a chance to evaluate uh their personnel as I was doing that and uh just what I said before, you know, just uh a true pro. Joe White, Dallas Morning News. Obviously, you know, you want to get home with four if possible, but you’re trying to figure out it, do I have to send more than that? In terms of trying to figure that out going into week one, how much do you kind of project that and how much is that reading on the fly once you get into actual gameplay? Yeah, I think it depends on the scheme you’re playing. You know, it really does. you know, with if it’s, you know, a certain scheme that you can predict certain things, you want to be able to uh send certain players, you know, to get home and, uh, that’s every week, you know, so that’s where we are. And then Ready Stewart’s a guy that obviously you brought in, you had familiarity with, you’ve been trying to figure out, you know, the nickel all offseason long. It’s been kind of a thing. How does he kind of play into it and how much does his familiarity with you kind of play into giving him a earlier run, I guess? Yeah, that’s, you know, that’s why we wanted to get him. Um, first of all, because he knows the scheme and uh he’s a kind of plugand play right away, you know, as a as a backup or or rotational player, we’re still figuring that out, but uh we understand that uh he knows the scheme and he knows how we play and uh he plays with great passion, energy, and uh he has a really good knack for taking the ball away. Babe, uh Babe Lmer, 1053, the fan, Cowboys Network. Hey babe, how you doing? I’m good. Great. Good. Um, as this whole Micah saga was unfolding, at what point did you have to say, you know, okay, we may not have him. Let’s figure out what we’re going to do cuz he’s many times obviously, you know, guy gets hurt, you just plug in the next guy. He’s so unique that and and what other teams and how they were going to approach him that it’s not the same. So, at what point did you flip? I’m not going to get into timelines with that, but really it was forced upon us, you know, because of the whole talks back and forth with the contract. He was unavailable, you know, you know, and and all those things. So, it’s important that, you know, we went forward with the guys that we had, you know, with with Taye and, you know, and Sam and all the guys that we have in there. And they did a great job. They worked their butts off in uh in training camp. And obviously guys get hurt, you lose a guy, you go on and you’re in Chicago obviously with a situation where I don’t know if he was your best defensive player. I’ll let you talk about that. But Roon Smith gets traded during the season and all of a sudden. Yeah, I mean that those are the situations that the the clubs make, you know, for the best interest of that club and and that’s the same situation here and then you just really uh have to focus on who you’re coaching on the field. Patrick, hey coach. Patrick Walker, Dallas.com. Certainly back to Ken Clark. Um he’s been practicing with Green Bay prior to the trade. He’s fully healthy and in his words, he could play 20, 30, 50 plays for you guys on Thursday if need be. Um what’s the expectation as far as managing his ramp up and could he be fully unleashed against the Eagles on Thursday? Yeah, you know, he first of all, he’s very smart, you know, as for you know, for him to pick up scheme, you know, our scheme, very similar schemes and uh I don’t think it’ll be a problem. you know, we’re gonna evaluate that as we go through the week um with each guy um in terms of rep count and all those things and we’ll decide that on, you know, Friday. Follow the uh what we call Friday. Yeah. Fair. Uh quick followup for that. What is the addition of Kenny Clark do for a guy like Mazy Smith who’s still kind of working his way through the weeds? Yeah, I I think it’s good for the whole room, you know, cuz we got we added a veteran presence in there. We already had a big veteran presence in there. uh with Sally and and those types of guys and Tay and I think it’s it’s important that uh OSA it’s important that those he just adds to that uh he really does cowboys.com Matt how do Osa and Kenny compliment each other I know you’re still kind of in the early process of them being together but what do you feel like they can do when they’re on the field next to each other yeah I’m excited about it I really am you know because they both can play on first you know and second down but also play on the rush downs you know so you really get a good push in the middle there and uh it’s going to be exciting to watch those guys go. Kelly, um how do you tell your guys, your pass rushers, don’t try to do too much because we don’t have Micah and just do what you normally do, you know, don’t overthink it. Yeah, I would say that just, you know, focus on your technique and focus on the plan and that’s what the guys are doing. You know, we’re putting our third down uh game plan in right now and the guys will focus on that. Again, focusing on first and second down as well. And uh we got to put uh be where our feet are and uh that’s what those guys are gonna do. Don, um run defense obviously has been a big question around here for a while, but do you wish the first game wasn’t against Saquon? Yeah, what a what a what an outstanding player, you know, and uh you know, the explosive runs, you know, historic, you know, last year with him and it’s going to be important that everybody plays well uh in the run game, not just the front seven. the secondary has to do a great job of keeping the cup and uh he’s an explosive athlete and a generational guy and that background you mentioned with the OC and with Seriani. Do you go back and think of your time together like you know okay when he was doing this we were doing that in practice that do you play those games or can you is that so long ago it doesn’t factor in anymore? Yeah, I would say the latter. Um it’s so long ago that the schemes have changed. Uh we’ve adjusted, they’ve adjusted, and uh you got to go with what you see on tape and what you think their next move is going to be. Uh back to Kenny and OSA, that combination from a coaching standpoint, how beneficial is it knowing that, you know, obviously Kenny’s being dropped in less than a week before um week one, but he has a long-standing personal relationship with OSA, UCLA days, having played with his brother. How how beneficial is that as far as chemistry wrapping up quickly? Yeah, the chemistry is there. You know, like I said, he’s a he’s a great person and uh a great pro and the guys respect him just from his play alone and then when they get to meet him respect him even more. Um and you guys see that too. Clarence, just from a scheme standpoint, I’m sorry, but uh uh Kenny, I know he’ll be better later than he will be one just from comfortability scheme, but just talk about how comfortable he can be in his team in less than a week. Um, you know, I referred to it earlier. I would say just because of the scheme is very similar, you know, from what he’s coming from. I think it won’t be an issue at all. Brad, Brad Sham, Cowboys Radio 1053, the fan up. Way back in the back, Brad. Way back to back so I can monitor you on my magic recording device. Um, should Diggs not be ready to play? Do you a do you have a decision to make between uh Stuart and Childris for this game? And if you do, one of them has not been around here but knows your system, one of them doesn’t as well but has been around these guys. How do you weigh those factors? Yeah, you’re not going to like the answer. Uh because uh you know, we’re just working through that right now. You know, we really are. So, we’re going to figure that out and we’ll decide on uh here in the next couple days. Babe, uh, Babe Lmer, you’re not going to like this question. I can answer all I want. Yeah, you you look at the Super Bowl, Kansas City shut down Saquon, did the best job on him all year. They gave up obviously big plays in the passing game. Yeah. So, when you have a team, you know, the tight end is obviously a factor as well in this deal as as a coordinator and and game planning against a team that can throw it outside, throw to the tight end, obviously run it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean when you’re playing a good offense, you know, they can stress you, you know, in the run game horizontally and vertically in the pass game, you know, so we got to do a great job of, you know, 11 guys being on the same page, 11 guys doing their job and and playing with the right tempo and the right attitude and uh that’s what we’re focused on. I know coaches always talk about making a team onedimensional. Which dimension do you want to take away? Yeah, I mean I think you you know, you pick your moments. You pick your moments and you do a good job with your scheme and and uh and it’s really comes down to execution. Scott, one more. Yep. Sorry. Uh you were obviously in another division, so these guys were seeing the tush push twice a year. So how much can you prepare for that? Do how do you think about those, you know, how do you defend that in a sense? Yeah, I mean you can see various teams do different things to it and uh some teams were successful and uh you know it’s all about you know it’s an attitude type of thing and and you got to do a great job of executing the way we want to execute on that play and uh you know we’ll see if we got a good plan. Is it hard to replicate that in practice? Uh yeah I mean it’s uh it’s certainly not something you’re going to see or have the guys do a bunch you know full speed but uh you know we definitely will rep it and work it and uh be ready for it. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. All right. You guys have a good day. You do.

Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus speaks with the media as the Cowboys prepare for their Week 1 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles and shares his thoughts about DaRon Bland, Kenny Clark, Trevon Diggs, and more.

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