I know it's difficult for you to acknowledge this but Garrett bears the brunt of the blame for the Cowboys shortcomings.
The post you just quoted me, I said, "I'm saying that's just as much on Garrett. Either he can't mold these guys into a Greatest Show on Turf like we perceive the Rams, or, conversely, he isn't able to help acquire enough talent to get us to that level."
I've been saying for days that it's a legit concern that this might indeed be as far as he can get us. Not that there is some sort of glass ceiling he literally cannot crack (it's conceivable with some good fortunate or lucky breaks or some other team having a bad day, you could advance further), but in general, a Dallas Cowboys team under Garrett may be usually about as good as a divisional round team.
Like I said, even our 13-3 year with rookie Prescott.... I mean, the guy passed for 230 ypg. We did not have a top offense or a top defense. That 13-3 wasn't a Rams or Chiefs 13-3 where they look unbeatable most weeks. It's not a shock that an elite QB took us out in the divisional round. We just weren't that good. We rode a wave and got as much out of it as we could, but it ended.
Same as this year. I give Garrett credit for taking a flawed roster about as far as I could see it going without having a coach like McVay or Reid on the cutting edge of things.
Were there question marks about this team coming into the season? Absolutely. But the same can be said for the other 31 NFL teams. Every team has it's warts. That's why having a bright coach is so important. Bright coaches know how to coach around those deficiencies and get the most out of their teams. Garrett on the other hand, struggles to do that on a consistent basis.
We were widely regarded as having the worst receiving corps in the league entering the year, along with a bottom half of the league QB. Not every team has warts to that level -- the Rams, Chiefs and Saints don't, for sure. It's just not accurate to look at our roster and say it's pound for pound on par with the Rams. They have an equal RB, a much better QB, better receiving corps, a better DL, and probably an equal secondary. I'm not sure our OL was better either with Frederick missing.
It shouldn't take a near perfect roster and elite coordinators just to get to a conf. championship. But that's what we need in Dallas with Garrett running things. Which begs the question, if conditions have to be near perfect just for this team to advance past round 2 of the playoffs, what's that say about Garrett's worth as a head coach?
It doesn't say what many imply, which is that he sucks or is a bottom tier coach. A lot of coaches are gonna max out at this level.
But I do agree that this may be the furthest that his approach can take us -- his try hard, focus on what's in front of you message has value, but it only takes you so far, when you either need players to be playing at elite levels, or you need to have serious innovation. I agree -- he doesn't offer the innovation, and he doesn't have the elite talent to line up and say "You can't stop us."
Like the Buccaneers under Dungy, sometimes a franchise isn't able to take the next step and you need a guy who is able to do that.