A Brief History Of Matt LaFleur Absolutely Owning Dallas Defensive Coordinator Matt Eberflus

It has been pretty stunning to witness the Dallas Cowboys defense on full display this year. The biggest challenge for defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus is that there isn't just one glaring weakness on this defense; it’s a multifaceted catastrophe.

After the Cleveland Browns bruised and battered the Green Bay Packers in Week 3, Dallas' defense offers a perfect get-right opportunity for Green Bay’s offense.

Through three weeks, the Cowboys' defense has allowed 13 pass plays of 25 yards or more. Of those 13 allowed, five have gone for touchdowns. Jordan Love enjoys letting the deep ball rip. He finished tied for second with Joe Burrow in 2024 with 12 passes of 40 or more yards completed.

Dallas' secondary has been so bad that, in just three games this year, we've already seen career performances from two opposing quarterbacks.

Russell Wilson has been around the block a few times, and all available evidence suggests he’s well past his prime. But in Week 2 against Dallas, he put up one of the most impressive starts of his career at age 36.

Wilson went 30 for 41 for 450 yards and three touchdowns. To better put that in perspective, in Week 1, Wilson was 17 for 37 for 168 yards and no touchdowns. This past Sunday, Wilson was 18 for 32 for 160 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions.

Sandwiched between those two disasters was his masterpiece against Dallas' defense. The Giants just benched Wilson on Tuesday for rookie Jaxson Dart, two weeks after torching the Cowboys’ secondary. It highlights how little the Giants’ organization thinks of this Dallas defense.

Elsewhere, Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams just had arguably the best start of his short career to date. Williams was 19 for 28 for 298 yards and four touchdowns on Sunday against Dallas.

Meanwhile, Williams was 21 for 35 for 210 yards and one touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 1. In Week 2, he went 19 for 30 for 207 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. But Williams looked like an MVP frontrunner against the Cowboys.

A lot of ire has been directed toward the Cowboys’ secondary, but it’s well worth noting that the defense also failed to sack Williams even once. It was the first time in his 20-game career that he went without being sacked at least once.

Last year, he was the most-sacked quarterback in the NFL.

Dallas is No. 28 in sacks per game at 1.3 so far this year. So the Cowboys have a secondary that's given up big plays and regularly gets torched by opposing quarterbacks, paired with a defensive front that doesn't blitz much under Eberflus to begin with and isn't getting to the quarterback when they do.

It's one big domino effect of ugly football on defense.

To make matters worse, in three games, they have forced a whopping one (1) turnover. Their offense gave the ball away four times in the Bears game alone.

This is a recipe for disaster, and there’s no indication that it will improve any time soon. Eberflus likes to orchestrate a bend-but-don't-break defense by design. Well, it's broke. And it provides a perfect opportunity for the Packers to reorient themselves after being embarrassed by Cleveland's defense.

Eberflus and Packers head coach Matt LaFleur are very familiar with one another. LaFleur has dominated the matchup throughout the years. As a head coach, LaFleur first encountered Eberflus when Eberflus was the defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts in 2020. The Packers scored 31 points.

In matchups where Eberflus was the head coach in Chicago, the Packers had point totals of 27, 28, 38, 17, and 20. LaFleur’s Packers won every single one of those games. (Why are there five games and not six? Remember, Eberflus was already long gone by Week 18 of last season.)

Let’s look closer at one of those games in particular, the Week 1 showdown in 2023 when the Packers put 38 points on the board. This was Love’s first game as the full-time starter. He had one start before that in his years as a backup, in 2021 against the Kansas City Chiefs, when Aaron Rodgers missed a game with COVID.

In his first start as the newly minted franchise quarterback, Love racked up 245 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions thrown against Eberflus' defense. The 38 points scored by the Packers in the Week 1 win would turn out to be their highest total in the entire regular season.

No doubt about it, LaFleur has owned this matchup.

Dallas is currently 31st in the NFL in EPA/play on defense and 28th in success rate. It routinely gives up chunk plays in the passing game. It doesn't force an offense into turnovers, and it can't create pressure on the opposing quarterback.

Eberflus, who admittedly prefers running zone-coverage schemes, did just that in the first two weeks. In the last few years, regardless of the coordinator, Dallas has run a lot more man coverage. Perhaps feeling some pressure, Eberflus dialed up more man looks against the Bears. It still didn't work.

Now Green Bay is on deck.

A date with Dallas is the perfect medicine after facing Cleveland’s fierce defensive front. Just ask Russell Wilson or Caleb Williams. It could be the ideal spot for the Packers to get some juju back on offense heading into the bye week.