FRISCO — With Cowboys star cornerback Trevon Diggs seeking to play more man-to-man defense, the man in charge of implementing that, defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, was polite when addressing it with reporters on Thursday.
But it didn’t seem as if Eberflus was going to increase man-to-man coverage for Sunday’s game against the Jets.
“I evaluate everybody’s opinion and that’s important that you do that as a coach,” Eberflus said Thursday. “You listen and that’s important as you do that too. But we’re growing as a group. There’s an improvement in the play and we just gotta keep growing as a group.”
According to Next Gen Stats, the Cowboys play zone coverage 91.4% of the time, highest in the league. Some of that is matchup zone coverage allowing a player to stick with a receiver in some situations. In the first four weeks of the season, DaRon Bland, Trevon Diggs and Kaiir Elam, the main outside corners, have no interceptions or pass breakups.
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Bland and Diggs earned huge contracts from the Cowboys for their work in man coverage but injuries have hampered their play the last two seasons, particularly Diggs, who has undergone knee surgeries the last two seasons.
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Bland has missed games with foot injuries as well during that time span.
Eberflus acknowledged a coach can change his scheme based on the personnel. But with the Cowboys struggling to get pressure on the quarterback, it seems playing heavy zone coverage is here to stay.
“It’s been in and out consistency-wise with players,” Eberflus said of changing some parts of the scheme due to personnel. “The guys have been hurt and guys were down, and guys were coming back (from) injury and all those things. It’s no one’s fault but that’s what it’s been. It’s been some inconsistencies there in terms of having guys available and you got to move your scheme based on what you have.
“I think it’s important for any coach to do that and certainly we got to do a better job in the pass game. But that’s the reason for it.”
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