Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley

On what Kenny Clark meant:

I’m forever grateful for Kenny. Coming from being a college head coach to back to the NFL to being a coordinator again, you never quite know what you’re going to get. And he was the vet, and just having him around, being able to lean on him, being such an unbelievable pro, an unbelievable person and the buy-in, I just, I’ll forever be grateful for that. He made it a very easy situation, and there’s just not many guys out there like him. So I just appreciate everything that he did for me.

On Rashan Gary‘s strong start:

I think you’ve got to give credit to Rashan. I said it during training camp, I saw it during OTAs. I saw the way he worked in the offseason. He came back in great shape. Worked on his get off, worked on his pass rush. It’s what he does every day. That’s what we’re hoping we’re going to see, and we have. He’s finishing on the quarterback. I think he’s playing really good in the run game. He’s playing more snaps because he’s in better shape. He knows the defense. He has a better understanding of it. We just need to continue, because it’s just a start, right?

On preparing for the Cowboys without CeeDee Lamb:

They’ve got other really good players. I mean, Pickens is a really good wide out. Their tight end has got a ton of catches. Their back is electric and they’ve got other really good receivers. Slot can roll. I mean, he is dynamic, and how fast he can run and Dak’s throwing up the ball to a bunch of guys. So they have other weapons. Obviously, (Lamb) is a really good football player, and you watch him on film, and he definitely jumps out. But people don’t just stay the same. They have new adjustments. They have new plays. They have new formations and personnel groupings, just like we do. And it’s how fast you see it and how fast can you react. But you can’t chase ghosts.

On the lack of turnovers:

My belief is that they’re coming. I mean, we’re swinging at the ball more than we did last year. Honestly, that’s the truth, because we’re even charting that. I mean, we’re to the point where we’re charting how many opportunities did we have to go after the football. For every play we feel we had an opportunity, and how many we didn’t take, and guys are taking them, and they’re going to come. It’s like you just keep sharpening and sharpening and sharpening and swinging at that tree, and eventually it’s going to fall down, and eventually we’re going to get the takeaways.

On Micah Parsons and the attention he draws:

If he’s going to get double-teamed and triple-teamed, we’re going to have a lot of guys with a lot of sacks and a lot of pressures, and we’re going to start drawing up some fun stuff that’s going to force them either not to double him, or we’re going to have someone free, like we did a couple times in that game. So him getting doubled helps us out an unbelievable amount. Now when you watch him get doubled, he still gets close to the quarterback, I mean, which is incredible. The motor that he has, how hard he plays, how low he gets. But there’s some other guys out there now, you start paying too much attention to him, you got the other guy leading the NFL in sacks right now in Rashan Gary, and you have Lukas Van Ness, his pressures are going up. You have Devonte Wyatt inside, and his pressures are going up, right? And you got all those other guys who you’re going to have to worry about. And then you have Edgerrin Cooper, who might be popping out and wrapping this way, and Quay Walker, who might be coming off the edge this way. So go double him. He might still get you. And then the other guys are going to get you too.