Watkins: Cowboys' decisions continue dysfunction

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
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Cowboys' decisions continue dysfunction

January, 29, 2014


By Calvin Watkins | ESPNDallas.com



The dysfunction only seen with the Dallas Cowboys continued during Super Bowl week.

The franchise released a statement on Tuesday evening announcing a hire and what essentially amount to two demotions.

Scott Linehan was hired as passing game coordinator/play caller. Bill Callahan lost the play calling duties but maintained the title of offensive coordinator/offensive line coach.

Rod Marinelli gained the title of defensive coordinator. Kiffin is now the assistant head coach/defense.

Coach Jason Garrett, while not saying it, demoted Callahan and gave the play calling duties to an old friend in Linehan.

It’s clear Garrett wasn’t pleased with Callahan’s job performance in 2013. While he couldn’t regain the job again, compromised with Jerry Jones and hired someone he trusts.

Callahan isn’t happy with the move and wants out, but Jones won’t let him interview elsewhere.

As for Kiffin, Jones should have fired him when the season ended and used that opportunity to hire someone to run a version of the 4-3 Tampa 2 scheme. Leslie Frazier and Jim Schwartz were available.

Jones and Garrett, to a certain degree, tip-toed around the decisions at the Senior Bowl by saying coaches were under contract and that they were evaluating the coaching staff.

There’s nothing to evaluate when you allow a franchise record 6,645 yards. Jones elected to move Kiffin to an ‘assistant head coach’ position rather than fire him.

So, is Kiffin going to help Garrett manage the game better? We know he won't be weighing in on the offense. The absolute best they can hope for is that he'll be a sounding board for Garrett and Marinelli.

The Cowboys don’t appear to be a franchise with much direction.

Jones decided not to fire Garrett or give him a contract extension, instead, he’s allowing him to enter the last year of his contract to fight for his job rather than having the security of one or two extra years that coaches need to govern.

Jones doesn’t believe in ‘lame duck’ status and that’s fine, but it’s the reality of Garrett’s situation. If he doesn’t make the playoffs in 2014, he’s gone, no questions asked.

If he makes the postseason, ending a four-year drought for the franchise, what should Jones do? Give him a new three-year contract? Unless the team advances deep into the playoffs, the dysfunction is sure to follow.
 

Cotton

One-armed Knife Sharpener
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Not a big fan of Watkins, but he is spot on here.
 

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
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Kavner: Lack Of Clarity Sounds Like Inevitable Clutter

Posted 4 hours ago



Rowan Kavner

DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer


IRVING, Texas – The coaching additions aren’t nearly as surprising as the coaching constants.

So, the Cowboys replaced the two coordinators many thought would go after the season ended, given the continual defensive struggles and the criticism of the play-calling and lack of clarity on that whole process.

That makes sense, but this isn’t typically a business where coaches get demoted and have to stay on board. It’s peculiar to see a team make changes for results they weren’t satisfied with, then keep on the coaches who they deemed responsible for those results in different roles.

That’s what’s taking place in Dallas, as Bill Callahan stays on as the offensive coordinator/offensive line coach while Scott Linehan takes his job as the play-caller and also becomes the “passing game coordinator.” Meanwhile, Monte Kiffin stays on as the “assistant head coach/defense,” while Rod Marinelli takes his job as defensive coordinator.

Now, everybody get along and find a way to make this process smoother and get back on the right side of the 8-8 rut.

"Our responsibility is to bring quality people into our organization and find the best fit for them,” said head coach Jason Garrett in a statement. “That applies to players, and it applies to coaches.”

It’s an ideal thought, but it sounds more like a setting for awkwardness and uncomfortable relationships as the coaches’ box gets filled to the brim with people whose responsibilities just got diminished.

The decision to make Marinelli the defensive coordinator is logical and well-reasoned, given his past success and familiarity with the scheme. Even the choice to keep Kiffin – who sounds like he’ll serve more in a mentoring role and likely wouldn’t have had many more opportunities after this stop – is much less befuddling than the decision to keep Callahan in a lesser role, particularly after reports that other teams wanted the chance to interview him for the job he had here last season.

It’s hard to surmise reasons why the Cowboys would make Callahan stay even if he was under contract:

1) They now have a new play-caller.

2) They have an offensive-minded coach in Garrett who used to call the plays and whose system has and will likely continue to stay in place.

3) They brought in an assistant offensive line coach last year who taught many of the same principles. Callahan admitted even before the season began that his increased role in the offense meant Frank Pollack would have a more immediate impact on teaching the offensive line, which became one of the strengths of the team as the season progressed.

“You kind of blend in Frank Pollack, who really is handling the majority of the offensive line coaching in the room and on the field, and I’m basically becoming more like his assistant just helping him,” Callahan said in September, before the season began. “We’ve kind of reversed roles in some sense.”

I have no reason to believe Callahan wouldn’t handle his new role professionally and perform it to the best of his ability, helping construct the offensive plan during the week, but the scenario he’s been put in could feasibly lead to discourse and clutter.

People like to use the phrase “too many cooks in the kitchen” to describe what’s going on with the offensive staff. You could make the case that was even occurring last year, as questions abounded after last-minute losses whether play-calling decisions were made by Garrett, Callahan or Tony Romo. Now another person is added to the mix.

This isn’t a slight at Callahan, who clearly was still valued in the minds of other teams who reportedly wanted to interview him. It’s just confusing trying to determine the point in keeping some of these coaches on board after decisions were made to go a different direction.

The Dallas coaches’ nebulous titles and the refusal to paint clear, succinct pictures of their exact roles the last few years lead me to believe the answers to these questions will be just as ambiguous.
 
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