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By Calvin Watkins Jan 15, 2019
Jason Garrett is a consistent man. He approaches each day the same way, hoping it will be better than the last. He can’t look too far ahead in his football world because it doesn’t benefit him.
Garrett’s views on projecting the future are left for others in his mind.
When he prepared for the NFC divisional round last week, Garrett believed his team would win. He didn’t contemplate a Super Bowl appearance in Atlanta. Garrett’s thoughts were on Los Angeles. There’s an argument to be made for that philosophy.
Most of us know what happened last weekend, but in case anyone just woke up from a three-day nap: The Cowboys were beaten down in Southern California. Dallas is not part of the Final Four.
Again.
There are numerous reasons why the Cowboys did not advance. During the loss to the Rams, the run defense was a bloody mess and the offense failed to run the ball effectively.
The health of key contributors was questionable with Cole Beasley (ankle/foot), Tyron Smith (elbow), DeMarcus Lawrence, (shoulder) Zack Martin, (knee) and Byron Jones (shoulder) playing at less than 100 percent.
There’s a chance Smith, Martin, Lawrence and Jones could undergo surgeries in the offseason.
Another major reason they’ll watch the rest of the playoffs resides with Garrett. In his eight seasons as coach, Garrett has three playoff victories and has failed to advance his team to an NFC title game. Garrett has also yet to lead his team to consecutive playoff appearances; the Cowboys have not made consecutive postseason appearances since the 2006 and 2007 seasons. If you want to go there, and we know you do, the Cowboys haven’t reached the NFC title game since the 1995 season, which is also the last season they won a Super Bowl.
Expectations for this franchise are always high. Division titles are not celebrated at The Star. If you don’t believe it, just take a walk inside the complex in Frisco. Step through the glass doors with the outdoor practice fields facing you, and off to the right sit five Super Bowl trophies. Opposite them are the Super Bowl rings in a glass case. Security guards tell the rotating tours of fans not to touch the trophies, allowing only pictures. But nobody takes pictures of NFC banners. In fact, walk through the complex and you won’t find any mention of division titles. They are not celebrated around here.
The Cowboys win games; there’s no question about that. Garrett took over as head coach halfway through the 2010 season. Since that year began, the Cowboys are tied for the 10th-most victories in NFL with 78. Of those ten teams, New England, Green Bay, Seattle, Baltimore, Denver and Philadelphia have won Super Bowls. The Patriots have won two.
Rewind to the last season the Cowboys won a championship, 1995, and they have the eighth-most wins in the NFL (206). The teams with more victories than the Cowboys have all won at least one Super Bowl title. The Patriots have won five titles. Green Bay has two titles with two different quarterbacks. Denver has three Super Bowls with two different quarterbacks and Pittsburgh picked up two crowns. Peyton Manning won titles with two different teams. Seattle won a championship and squandered another — and yes — the Eagles won last season’s trophy.
Should the Cowboys’ expectations be lowered? No, if you ask team owner Jerry Jones because titles are what matters. But what he tolerates and what he says are two different things.
Garrett most likely will get a contract extension because he pulled the Cowboys from the valley of death, 3-5, and into a postseason berth. He did so with one of the youngest teams in the league and should be applauded for this accomplishment. Yet, his body of work suggests he can’t elevate this franchise to greater heights.
Is it hard to believe in Garrett when he can’t even get his team to reach the postseason in consecutive seasons?
“As much as anything else, it’s the kind of team that we’re building,” Garrett said. “We believe we have a good nucleus of players, even though we have a young team, I think we have good, strong leadership on our team. Really good players who go about it the right way and that’s really important. Some cornerstone-type players who are going to be here a long time.”
Garrett is the one constant in the Cowboys’ recent struggles. During his tenure, the starting quarterback changed from Tony Romo to Dak Prescott. Running backs changed: Marion Barber to DeMarco Murray to Ezekiel Elliott. Star receivers played musical chairs: Miles Austin, Terrell Owens and Dez Bryant to Amari Cooper. Even elite pass rushers come and go under Garrett: DeMarcus Ware to DeMarcus Lawrence. Such is the way of the NFL. But through it all, Garrett remains.
It doesn’t appear as if Jerry Jones is going to let Garrett go anywhere. Maybe that’s why his agent, David Dunn, was smiling under the tunnels of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday night. He knows. The Cowboys haven’t met with Garrett to discuss an extension, but Jerry Jones said that’s going to happen at some point. Jones trusts Garrett. He believes in what he’s selling.
Jones may be validated at some point. But it’s easy to question his judgment, because Garrett hasn’t gotten the Cowboys any closer to their ultimate goal.
Look at Green Bay. Mike McCarthy spent 13 seasons as the Packers’ head coach, winning a Super Bowl and making nine postseason appearances. After that Super Bowl title, the Packers made the postseason in six consecutive seasons with two losses in the conference championship game.
This year, McCarthy was being tuned out by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and the time came for a change.
It happens all the time in sports, especially in the NHL, where four head coaches were fired in just the first quarter of the 2018-19 season.
Garrett, like most head coaches, are in survival mode where changes occur to staffs and personnel.
Garrett is an average coach, someone who was out coached by Sean McVay Saturday night, but only five head coaches have held their current positions longer than he has. All five won Super Bowl titles.
But in survival mode, Garrett must change. He provided conflicting views on offensive coordinator Scott Linehan’s job status. On Monday morning, Garrett said he anticipated Linehan’s return, but Stephen Jones said that afternoon the team was still evaluating its coaches. When Garrett met with reporters Monday afternoon in his end-of-season press conference, he repeated Jones’ stance. When confronted with his answer that morning, Garrett said he didn’t remember what he had said, and remained strong in his view that no final decisions had been made.
The problem with replacing Linehan is Garrett must find someone to run his timing-based offense that sprinkles zone-read plays to take advantage of Prescott’s ability as a runner.
Garrett could return as the play caller, but Jerry Jones has said in the past he wants his head coach to be a “CEO.” As Garrett tries to survive, he could elevate tight end coach Doug Nussmeier to the offensive coordinator role.
Nussmeier was Alabama’s offensive coordinator when the Crimson Tide won BCS National Titles in 2012 and 2013. He’s also been the OC with Florida, Michigan, Washington and Fresno State.
Nussmeier might not be the sexy name everyone is looking for, but if Garrett moves on from Linehan, the replacement may be internal.
“Nuss did a great job, he really did,” Garrett said. “He’s had a lot of different coaching experiences. He’s coached at different levels, coached different positions. Just a really good football guy. He played in the NFL, so he has a good understanding, connects well with the players, and I just thought he brought a lot to that room.”
Nothing is finalized but it was pretty telling Linehan didn’t speak with reporters after the Rams game on Saturday night.
The two main defensive coaches that did speak, Rod Marinelli (defensive coordinator) and Kris Richard (defensive back coach/passing game coordinator) most likely will return. Monday afternoon, Garrett, while also praising Linehan, spoke glowingly about his defensive coaches as well.
Garrett loves his coaching staff but doesn’t have total control over it. As Garrett himself indicated, discussions are collaborative, but Jerry Jones makes the final decisions here.
If change doesn’t happen, reaching the divisional round of the postseason will become the new standard. And for that reason, it may be time to part with Garrett.
