Former Michigan, Ravens, and Giants coordinator says Cowboys defense being "outclassed," tells Jerry Jones to call him

After a number of coordinator stops and most recently serving as the defensive coordinator at Michigan, Wink Martindale doesn't have a job this fall. He does, however, have a strong opinion about how the Dallas Cowboys defense is being coached.

He also says he's available to help fix it.

On "Talkin' Ball with Pat Leonard," the former Ravens and Giants defensive coordinator took aim at first-year Dallas coordinator Christian Parker

"I don't want to be an asshole, but he's just being outclassed right now," Martindale said. "So Jerry can call me and I'll go help him. But, you know, I'm talking about helping the coordinator."

Martindale's comments came days after Dallas lost 34-31 to Baltimore in Rio de Janeiro, the NFL's first regular season game in Brazil. The Cowboys had first-and-goal from the 2 in the final seconds, couldn't punch it in, and settled for a 23-yard Brandon Aubrey field goal to tie it at 31. Baltimore answered with a 27-yard completion to Zay Flowers with seven seconds left, and Tyler Loop hit a 56-yarder as time expired.

Martindale criticized Parker's coverage call on that final snap. Brian Schottenheimer stood by the call after the game, but not by how it was executed.

"The bottom line is you've got to make the ball go to the first one, not the layer that they hit to Zay Flowers," Schottenheimer said.

Dallas is 1-2 heading into their Week 4 matchup with Houston. Through three games, the Cowboys rank 30th in total defense, 21st against the run and 25th in points allowed.

The Cowboys hired Parker on January 22 after two seasons as passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach in Philadelphia under Vic Fangio. He was on the staff that won Super Bowl LIX, and he coached Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean to first-team All-Pro honors in 2025. Before Philly, Parker spent three seasons as the Broncos DBs coach (2021-23) and two as a defensive quality control coach in Green Bay (2019-20). Before that he was an analyst at Texas A&M and Notre Dame and coached DBs at Norfolk State and Virginia State. Dallas is his first coordinator job at any level.

Martindale has called defenses in the NFL for seven seasons, with Denver (2010), Baltimore (2018-21) and the Giants (2022-23). His first three Ravens defenses finished 2nd, 3rd and 2nd in scoring defense. He spent the last two seasons as Michigan's defensive coordinator under Sherrone Moore and was not retained when Moore was fired in December and Kyle Whittingham brought his own guys to Ann Arbor.

He also spent 10 seasons on the Ravens staff climbing the ranks, so he knows the team that just beat Dallas as well as anyone.

There's an unwritten rule in this profession about publicly critiquing a guy who's still coaching. Martindale knows it, which is why he opened with the disclaimer. His offer also had a clear limit: he wants to help the 34-year old coordinator, not replace him.

Whether Jerry Jones picks up the phone is another story. With Houston up next, Parker gets another chance to answer the critics himself.

Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.