There probably isn’t a football mind anywhere that believes moving on from Micah Parsons was the right call. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones signed off on it. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer didn’t push back publicly. But judging by how things are going on defense, it’s hard to imagine he’s thrilled. Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, meanwhile, didn’t bother hiding where he stands.

After Jones said the decision to trade Parsons was unanimous inside the building, Eberflus made it clear that wasn’t exactly how he saw it.

“Obviously, you had an All-Pro pass rusher that wins really quick,” Eberflus said. “That is going to help any defense. If it’s Micah or if it’s Myles Garrett. That impact player is always going to help. You can’t look back. It is what it is.”

Eberflus hasn’t covered himself in glory this season, but on that point, it’s hard to argue. Dallas has 30 sacks as a team, which puts them 23rd in the league. Those are the kinds of situations where Parsons used to tilt the field without much help. A year ago, the Cowboys finished with 53 sacks, third-most in the NFL, and Parsons accounted for 12 of them despite playing just 13 games.

Interestingly, Parsons noticed his former OC’s comment. He reposted the clip from Eberflus’ press conference on X with a string of laughing emojis. About an hour later, he explained exactly why he felt comfortable taking the shot.

“Y’all want me to feel bad?” Parsons wrote on Thursday. “Jerry Jones slandered my name to Cowboys media and national media for months. So I do think I can react to comment if I want to! #respectfully.”

There’s no doubt he’s enjoying the mess unfolding back in Dallas. As for Eberflus, it’s hard not to wonder what this means for him. Publicly pushing back on Jerry Jones rarely ends well. It almost never does. Add in the defensive struggles, and the picture only gets darker. But at least he took accountability for the defensive woes.

Matt Eberflus points the finger at himself

No team in the league has given up more passing yards per game than Dallas at 253.6. They’ve allowed 33 passing touchdowns, tied for the most in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals. Dig a little deeper, and it gets worse: last in pass defense, 31st in red-zone defense, and 30th in third-down defense, takeaways, and total yards allowed.

And Eberflus believes he’s entirely at fault.

“Ownership and accountability is right with me,” he said. “I’m the defensive coordinator. It’s always that. So, if there’s things that need to be improved, it falls on the coach, and it falls on the assistant coaches and working with the players, making sure we’re doing the best we can to put them in position. I take full accountability for that.”

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That’s the right tone. But it’s also complicated by what came next. Despite a defense sitting bottom-three of nearly every meaningful category, Eberflus said he didn’t think he would “do anything differently” if he could rewind to the start of the season.

To be fair, it hasn’t been a smooth ride. Injuries hit Dallas hard in the secondary. DaRon Bland dealt with a foot issue. Former Cowboy Trevon Diggs battled knee and concussion problems. Shavon Revel and Caelen Carson both missed time with knee and hamstring injuries. That’s a lot to overcome. Still, every team loses players. The expectation is that you adjust.

Dallas hasn’t, at least not consistently. There was a brief stretch where things steadied after the trades for Logan Wilson and Quinnen Williams, but it didn’t last. The defense has given up more than 30 points in each of its last four games, sliding right back into familiar territory.

Which brings it back to the top. After recent comments from Jerry Jones, it’s hard to picture Eberflus being back next season.

“Ultimately, you point your finger right back at you on who hired Matt Eberflus,” Jones said. “It’s easy to say you could have done things differently, but that goes with the territory. Any time you make the ultimate decision, then you’ve got to look at that and weigh it.”

That doesn’t sound like a vote of confidence. And depending on how things unfold against the New York Giants this week, the answer on Eberflus’ future might come sooner rather than later.