

In the latest rendition of the Dallas Cowboys version of where’s waldo, defensive coordinator Christian Parker says he will likely continue coaching and calling plays from the sideline in Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.
Where Parker will be situation became a talking point after the team hired veteran coach Mike Pettine as a senior defensive assistant in an attempt to help Parker improve performance of an abject unit. Owner Jerry Jones then announced on Tuesday that part of that process included Parker moving from the sidelines to the coaching booth.
On Wednesday, head coach Brian Schottenheimer said no final decision had been made on Parker’s game-day status and they were still working through it all.
Parker co-signed Schottenheimer on Thursday, saying no final decision had been made. But he said he planned to remain on the sideline.
“Still working through some of that but most likely gonna be down still,” Parker said.
“There is advantages to both but I’ve always been a guy who’s been down on the field.”
There is a chance that Pettine will be up in the booth and serve as his eyes in the sky.
Parker said Pettine, who gave him his first job in the NFL when he was the defensive coordinator with the Green Bay Packers, will serve as a sounding board.
He said he tried get him on staff back in February but Pettine wanted to remain retired. He talked to last week before the Tampa Bay game about coming aboard in a formal role and they finally made it happen.
“When I got the job, that was one of the first calls I had,” Parker said. “I talked to him often throughout the interview process, to try to get him down here.”
Young coordinators generally have an older guy on staff to bounce things off and that’s what Parker wanted. Pettine was ideal because he’s a front-seven expert and Parker is a back end guy.
“You want a front end guy to kind of balance that out,” Parker said. “Petting coached 30 something straight years, and so it’s kind of more of a family obligation for him to kind of take some time, but he had the itch to kind of get back into it. We had talked actually last week when he got back from vacation, you know, he took a trip for his 60th birthday. I was gonna try to get him down here in some capacity, and, we were able to get it done.”
