When the Dallas Cowboys traded Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers, everyone lost it. Owner and general manager Jerry Jones shipped out a 5x Pro Bowler, then grabbed Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets at the deadline. Critics called both moves a disaster, and the media tormented them for weeks. But as it turns out, the numbers paint a wildly different picture.

Williams isn’t just holding down the fort in Dallas; he’s been crucial. Pro Football Focus has Parsons at a 92.0 overall grade in Green Bay (92.9 pass rush, but only 70.2 run defense). Williams, on the other hand, is sitting at 90.6 overall with an 82.7 pass-rush grade and a massive 85.7 run-defense mark. The talent gap everyone screamed about? It’s basically nonexistent. Williams brings the balance Parsons never could, minus the headlines. He dominates both sides of the line. And the Cowboys Nation is noticing.

“I think if you just look at it from a high-level perspective… comparing two defensive linemen on the same grading scale, they’re very close to the same player,” noted host Nick Rudman in the SMI Cowboys Show’s latest edition. “Williams is more balanced. Parsons is a much better pass rusher, you know, and they grade out pretty close to the same. So, based on this, you would consider trading Micah Parsons and essentially a second-round pick for Kenny Clark, a solid starting defensive tackle, Quinnen Williams, a player that’s just about as good as Micah Parsons, and a first-round pick. You would call that a win, no matter how you slice it.”

Here’s the thing nobody wants to admit. Williams may not rack up flashy sack numbers, but his interior pressure collapses pockets consistently. If you remember how the offenses adjusted around Parsons, you can also see how they are doing the same for Williams now. His run-stuffing anchors the entire defense. The Cowboys needed a two-way force that could terrorize quarterbacks, and they got exactly that.

So why is the defense still a complete dumpster fire? Dallas ranks 31st in points allowed (29.8 per game) and dead last in passing defense (253.6 yards allowed per game, 33 touchdowns allowed so far). The only upside is their rushing defense (20th in the league, with 123.3 yards allowed per game). But Williams can’t fix schematic chaos and terrible coaching alone. And that, inadvertently, brings us straight to defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus and the real problem dragging this team down.

The Matt Eberflus problem for Dallas

Jerry Jones stood by Eberflus through brutal losses and historic defensive meltdowns. Aside from the Quinnen Williams trade, Jones tried to throw another lifeline at the trade deadline. Logan Wilson, a $36 million linebacker from the Cincinnati Bengals with proven instincts. The ownership wanted Wilson on the field immediately. But Eberflus had completely different plans.

Christmas Day against the Washington Commanders? Wilson played zero snaps. Jones went on 105.3 The Fan and didn’t hide his confusion. “I don’t have an explanation for you for why Wilson wasn’t in there. We planned to have him in there. He needs to be in there,” Jones said.

The frustration was absolutely palpable. Across seven weeks, Wilson played just around 39.5% of snaps. The most work he got was in Week 11 against the Las Vegas Raiders at 57%. Since then, that number has kept going up and down till it hit zero in Week 17. That’s insane for a trade acquisition.

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Who’s getting those reps instead? Kenneth Murray. He owns a brutal 40.1 PFF grade (82nd among 86 linebackers). His defense grade is dead last at 32.9. What’s more, he’s allowed 35 catches for 339 yards, with just 4.1 yards of separation as the nearest defender. And this is the same player who got 100% of the snaps in Week 17. Eberflus has been in his corner every single week without fail, and without any success either.

No surprise here, Jerry Jones torched the defense publicly. After the Week 17 win, he was asked if he was pleased with the coaching. His answer didn’t leave any doubts about where he stands.

“No. No. Not at all,” Jones said. “We have a lot of work to do over there.”

That sure feels like an owner burying his coordinator on the radio. Matt Eberflus already got moved from the sideline to the booth in Week 16 in the hopes of a change. The Los Angeles Chargers still hung 34 points on them anyway.

Dallas ranks fifth in scoring on offense and first in passing. But the defense drags them underwater every single week. Jerry Jones hasn’t had a winning coordinator since Dan Quinn left for the Commanders. He tried to give Mike Zimmer another shot, but that didn’t work out. And now it seems Jones has run out of excuses for Matt Eberflus. The Williams trade was absolutely brilliant. The Wilson benching, meanwhile, just felt like sabotage. What happens next for Eberflus in Dallas? We may not have to wait too long to find out.