Communication is critical for coordinator Christian Parker to turn around Cowboys' defense

OXNARD, Calif. (AP) — To hear Dallas Cowboys coaches and players tell it, anyone within earshot of a defensive meeting knows something is happening.

“If you step in our meeting room, you hear how loud it is, you might think something wrong is going on,” defensive coordinator Christian Parker said. “And that’s a good thing. Guys are understanding what needs to be said.”

For Parker, the 34-year-old newcomer tasked with improving what was one of the NFL’s worst defenses last season, everything starts with the communication inside those walls.

“We still have more to go, but there’s a lot of encouraging things that are happening from a vocal standpoint,” he said.

Parker, who spent the past five seasons as a defensive backs coach for the Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles before joining the Cowboys in January , has players going through the multiple layers of verbal and non-verbal give and take required.

“For example, if you’re a linebacker on the field, you’re making the front adjustment,” he said, going through what reviewing one play from a training camp practice entails. “If you’re an outside linebacker and you see that the Y is off, you’re saying something to your partner. If I’m a DB, I’m calling out the coverage communication. Motion happens, we’re alerting this, we’re passing off this. Once the play starts, what is the communication?”

The goal is to create conditions as close to a game as possible in order to develop the necessary muscle memory and awareness to succeed when things get real, starting with their season opener at the New York Giants on Sept. 13.

“You know, your brain doesn’t know that you’re not taking a physical rep. It just knows that your brain is strained,” Parker said. “So, as many reps that we can get on task as that as possible, we want to try to take advantage of those in that space.”

Early returns have been promising, with the secondary showing far fewer breakdowns than it did a year ago, but the first major test of Parker’s influence will come when the Cowboys visit the Los Angeles Rams for a joint practice on Tuesday.

Safety Malik Hooker remembers how the poorly the pass defense performed in a 2025 workout with the Rams, an early indication the Cowboys would go on to allow the most yards through the air in the league.

“I feel like last year we had a lot of big plays given up off communication errors,” Hooker said. “Not only that, I feel like our physicality didn’t really show as much that day.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl