2015 SCHEDULE

MATT EBERFLUS
Linebackers
MATT
EBERFLUS
Toledo
NFL: 7th Year • Cowboys: 5th Year
Matt Eberflus joined the Dallas Cowboys on
January 26, 2011 as the club’s linebackers coach.
Eberflus, who enters his seventh season coaching in
the NFL, returns for his fifth season with Dallas after
spending two seasons as the Cleveland Browns linebackers
coach. He spent 17 years prior to that
coaching in the collegiate ranks.
He faced arguably his greatest challenge as a
coach with Dallas in 2014, having to immediately
replace the production of one of the club’s top tacklers
and team leaders in Sean Lee, who was lost for
the entire year after suffering a torn ACL during the
spring. To fill the role left by Lee, the club made a
trade with Baltimore for the rights to Rolando
McClain, who retired before the beginning of the
2013 season, but returned to NFL action in 2014 to
pay immediate dividends for the Cowboys. McClain
won the starting middle linebacker position out of
training camp and went on to tally a career-best 108
stops - second on the squad - along with a team-leading
nine tackles for loss and a career-high two interceptions,
tying for third, while starting 12-of-13
games played. Veteran linebacker Justin Durant
began the year as the starting weakside linebacker
and posted 59 tackles, but an elbow injury prematurely
ended his season after the eighth game of the
year. Eberflus was also credited with molding rookie
linebacker Anthony Hitchens into a pro, as the young
linebacker stepped in to start 11-of-16 games while
seeing action at every linebacker position at some
point during the season filling in for other injured
players. Hitchens logged 100 tackles in his first year
- third on the team; fifth-highest by a rookie in team
history - to become the first rookie defender to
record 100 tackles in a season since Roy Williams
(127 - 2002). Eberflus also received production from
Bruce Carter who led the team with a career-high five
interceptions to tie for fourth in a single season by a
linebacker in team history, while he also posted 75
tackles to place fifth on the team.
Eberflus worked with a young and talented group
as the defense transitioned to a 4-3 scheme in 2013.
At the heart of the linebacking corps was Lee, who
registered 123 tackles and a team-high four interceptions
despite missing five games due to injury. Carter
also put together a strong season from the weakside
linebacker position, posting 122 tackles and recording
his first two career sacks to go along with four
tackles for loss and three pass breakups. Reserve
linebackers Ernie Sims, DeVonte Holloman and Kyle
Wilber put up solid numbers filling in for Durant on the
strong side after Durant was injured.
Under Eberflus’ guidance in 2012, the outside
linebackers continued to excel, as both DeMarcus
Ware and Anthony Spencer earned Pro Bowl berths.
The duo became the fifth in club history to each
reach double-digit sacks, Ware with a team-best
11.5 and Spencer with a career-high 11.0. Spencer
led the team with a career-best 106 tackles, while
Ware finished with 72 tackles, a team-best 33 pressures
and five forced fumbles. The inside linebackers
were shuffled throughout the year with both Lee
27
and Bruce Carter suffering season-ending injuries.
Lee managed 77 tackles, good for fourth on the
team, and prior to his injury, he posted a career-high
21 tackles that tied Lee Roy Jordan (9/26/71) for
the most tackles in a game in franchise history.
Carter finished with 80 tackles, third on the team,
and led the squad with nine tackles for loss.
The 2011 season marked Eberflus’ first year
overseeing the Cowboys linebackers, inheriting a
unit led by All-Pro Ware, who once again terrorized
NFL quarterbacks with 19.5 sacks - good for second
in the NFC and the NFL and tops amongst all linebackers
in the league - en route to his sixth consecutive
selection as a Pro Bowl starter. Eberflus also
helped oversee the emergence of second-year linebacker
Lee, who led the team with a career-best 131
tackles and tied for the team-lead with four interceptions,
which were the most by an NFL linebacker in
2011. The overall production of the linebacker unit
was seen on the final stats sheet, with five of Dallas’
top-10 tacklers and three of the top-five -- coming
from the position: Lee (first - 131), Spencer (fourth -
74), Keith Brooking (fifth - 72), Ware (sixth - 67) and
Bradie James (ninth - 53).
In 2010 Eberflus led the charges of the Browns
linebacking corps that had four of its starters (Eric
Barton, 12 starts; Scott Fujita, nine starts; Chris
Gocong, 16 starts; Matt Roth, 16 starts) finish in the
top-10 in tackles. Additionally, linebacker David
Bowens became the second player in Browns history
to return two interceptions for touchdowns in a
single game (at New Orleans, 10/24).
In his first season with the Browns, Eberflus guided
a unit through a solid season despite the loss of
both starting inside linebackers due to injury by the
season’s midpoint. Under Eberflus’ guidance, linebacker
Bowens made a successful transition from an
outside spot to the inside, finishing with a careerbest
71 tackles, with 5.5 sacks - the third-highest
sack figure of his career. With the injuries to his
inside starters, Eberflus worked third-year backer
Jason Trusnik into a starting role. Trusnik, acquired
five weeks into the season, went on to make the first
10 starts of his career and tallied 54 tackles and 2.5
sacks.
Prior to entering the pro ranks, Eberflus
coached at the University of Missouri (2001-08). He
came to Missouri as the defensive
coordinator/defensive backs coach in 2001 and
became the associate head coach/defensive coordinator/safeties
coach in 2006. While with Missouri,
Eberflus guided the Tigers defense to the Big 12
North Division title in 2007 and 2008, compiling a
22-6 record over that span. Not being limited to his
role with the defense, Eberflus helped recruit All-
American quarterback Brad Smith and wide receiver
Sean Coffey while also landing defensive back
William Moore and linebacker Sean Weatherspoon.
Before arriving in Missouri, Eberflus spent nine
years (1992-2000) at his alma mater, the University
of Toledo. He served as a student assistant coach in
1992, then as a graduate assistant in 1993 before
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