Durrett: Jason Garrett gives clarity to situation

[Cotton]

Jason Garrett gives clarity to situation

June, 11, 2013

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By Richard Durrett | ESPNDallas.com


Good for Jason Garrett. The Dallas Cowboys head coach needed to come out and clarify the play-calling situation.

Garrett went to the podium Tuesday afternoon, was asked by ESPNDallas.com’s Todd Archer to explain what was happening the play calling – something Jerry Jones had already let slip last week – and he launched into a play-by-play of what happened.

You can decide how much of Garrett’s explanation you believe. But I’m buying most of it.

Garrett needed to take the leadership position and explain the situation. No, I don’t mean that he “owed” that explanation to the media or fans. What matters most is what the players in that locker room think.

And that’s why I think Garrett needed to do this on Tuesday. That entire room knows Bill Callahan is calling plays. They’ve probably known it for months. Why risk players wondering what in the world their head coach is thinking by not confirming what everyone – players, fans and media – now know thanks to Jones and Callahan last week?

Garrett said it was a “collective decision” back in January, which coincides with Jones bringing up the idea of changing playcallers when he talked to some media folks at the Senior Bowl. Does “collective decision” mean Jerry forced Garrett to make changes? Possibly. We can debate whether that was the truth.

But Garrett needed to step up, say it was a decision made by the organization for the best of the organization and move forward. Garrett did that on Tuesday. He didn’t hedge anything in regards to what Callahan was doing, either, saying he has “full” responsibility for playcalling. They’ll talk as a staff during the week, but on game day, Callahan (with some major help from Tony Romo now) will make the calls.

This should make Garrett a better head coach. He can spend time worrying about clock management and can spend practice time taking everything in, rather than focusing solely on what’s happening with his offensive unit.

Jones screwed all of this up by saying what he did last week. Garrett was able to take part of that message back and focus on moving forward by explaining how things will work. He even took responsibility for the communication breakdown, a smart move because that’s one part of the conference that no one will buy. He can fall on the sword and not hurt himself at all.

Garrett should have grabbed this message months ago. But at least he grabbed it now. He said what he needed to say. Good for him.

 

[Cotton]

Change part of Jason Garrett's evolution

June, 11, 2013

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com


IRVING, Texas -- One of the promises Jerry Jones made to then-Miami owner Wayne Huizenga in 2007 was that Jason Garrett would be calling the plays if he did not become the head coach, because the Dolphins were under no obligation to let Garrett out of his contract.

Since then Garrett has called every Cowboys play, albeit with heavy input from assistants throughout the years.

Now, he is no longer handling that role.

“I think you have to understand the progression you go through in your career,” Garrett said. “I used to play football. And then you be a coach, a position coach, then might be a coordinator. These things happen. You can’t have all of the responsibilities you had when you’re a coach. Staffs are big, responsibilities are big. It’s important to delegate the right way. We just felt it was the right time to do this. We felt like the right people in place to do it.

"We’re not interested in making change for change sake. That’s not what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to make positive change.”

Garrett may be out of the play-caller business, but he will remain in the game-planning business. He will also have veto power of sorts.

“I don’t like to use the word veto, but you always have that as a head coach,” Garrett said. “You’re in constant communication with the guys on defense and the kicking game and certainly with the guys on offense as to what we want to do. That happens in the offseason. That happens in training camp. That happens during the week of a game. That happens during a game. It’s just important that you have a healthy respect for each other and a trust in each other and the communication is always really healthy and those lines are always open going back and forth.”

 

[Cotton]

Garrett: Bill Callahan to call plays

Updated: June 11, 2013, 5:23 PM ET
By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

IRVING, Texas -- One week after declining to do so, Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett acknowledged Tuesday that Bill Callahan will call plays for the offense in 2013.

On June 4, owner and general manager Jerry Jones strongly hinted that Callahan would call plays, which was followed by Callahan confirming he would handle the role. Garrett, however, was unwilling to say he would be handing over the play-calling duties he had held since 2007.

Garrett said the miscommunication was his fault and the plan has actually been in place since late January.

"Mr. Jones, Stephen [Jones] and I, we're all on the same page and have been on the same page for months and been acting that way around this building," Garrett said. "We just hadn't said it out loud."

In the rookie minicamp and organized team activities earlier in the offseason, Callahan had been calling the plays. He continued to call them on Tuesday in the first practice of the Cowboys' three-day minicamp.

"This is something we talked about literally on the Monday before the New York Football Giant game in 2010 when I was first named interim coach: How do we want to do the play calling?" Garrett said.

"And we talked about it a lot about different ways since I was named head coach at that time. We talked about it during that season. We talked about it after that season. We talked about it the next season. It just finally got to the point this year since Bill Callahan has been here for a year. He was our run-game coordinator last year and getting more and more comfortable with our entire offense over the last couple of years. He's someone we believe is capable of doing it and doing a really good job for us."

Garrett said Callahan will most likely work up in the coaches' booth during games and not on the sidelines.

Garrett said the move will free him up for game-management decisions as well as help his ability to oversee the entire team.

"Probably 27 or 28 teams in the league do it that way; that's the way we're doing to," Garrett said. "We were a little bit unique. There are a handful of teams that have had the head coach be the acting offensive coordinator and calling plays. They happened to be some of the best offenses, so there was always that argument that we made, 'Some of the best guys do it this way,' and so we had that tug and really have had that tug for the last couple of years. We finally decided this was the best way to do it."

Callahan has not called plays in an NFL game since 2003 or since he was head coach at Nebraska in 2007. Before joining the New York Jets in 2008, he worked mostly in a West Coast offense but has said the scheme Garrett uses is similar to what the Jets ran.

 

[Cotton]

Jason Garrett clears the air, confirms Bill Callahan will call the plays this season

The Cowboys made the collective decision in January to hand over the play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Callahan. Head coach Jason Garrett said he is on board with it but will remain involved in the game-planning.

Are we call clear?

"We’ve been working really since the end of January with that in mind, and what that in mind is Bill Callahan has been the acting offensive coordinator, and he’s going to take on the full responsibilities of calling the plays," Garrett said Tuesday, the first day of the team's minicamp. "We made that decision months ago. Where we did have a little bit of a miscommunication was when we were going to present that publicly. It’s something you’ve asked me about a number of different times, and I told you, 'Well, we’re still working on that,’ and we were. We were working through the mechanics. A lot of the situational work we did today in practice is to help Bill, help Wade (Wilson), help all of our guys communicate things, just like we’re trying to help Monte (Kiffin) on the defensive side and Rich Bisaccia on the special teams. So you’re working on all the different communications, the mechanics of the game as we say. We’ve been going that over the last four or five months. The area where we didn’t do a very good job – and I take full responsibility – is just being on the same page with the communication of that publicly. It came out last week and just to clarify it, those are the roles we are going to have."
Owner Jerry Jones hinted last week that Callahan had taken over the role Garrett has had since 2007 when Garrett arrived as offensive coordinator. Callahan confirmed the move, but Garrett wouldn't discuss it last week. Garrett wanted to clarify Tuesday.

"Mr. Jones, Stephen (Jones) and I, we’re all on the same page and have been on the same page for months and been acting that way around this building," Garrett said. "We just hadn’t said it out loud."

Callahan is expected to sit in the coaches' booth this season. He has not called plays in an NFL game since 2003.

Dallas finished sixth in total offense last season. It has never finished lower than 13th since Garrett took over as offensive coordinator, and the Cowboys have ranked as high as second (in 2009) with Garrett as the play-caller.

"We’re not interested in making change for change sake," Garrett said. "That’s not what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to make positive change. I talked about how our roster has turned over. We’ve rebuilt this roster in two years. Those are all changes we think are positive changes for our team, not change for change sake. We think it’s a positive change and have all embraced it."

Though Garrett will be a walk-around head coach, his fingerprints still will be all over the offense. Asked if he had veto power, Garrett said, "I don’t like to use the word veto, but you always have that as a head coach. You’re in constant communication with the guys on defense and the kicking game and certainly with the guys on offense as to what we want to do. That happens in the offseason. That happens in training camp. That happens during the week of a game. That happens during a game. It’s just important that you have a healthy respect for each other and a trust in each other and the communication is always really healthy, and those lines are always open going back and forth."

-- Charean Williams

 

[Texas Ace]

The area where we didn’t do a very good job – and I take full responsibility – is just being on the same page with the communication of that publicly.

You take full responsibility for not making sure the owner shut the F up? How do you take full responsibility for that?

Man, this poor guy has no balls.

 

[Genghis Khan]

You take full responsibility for not making sure the owner shut the F up? How do you take full responsibility for that?

Man, this poor guy has no balls.

I think it's a positive, actually. It's a sign of a leader.

 

[skidadl]

Yeah, I have no problem with this. It is a positive.

At my tiny little school I wish I had listened more to my coaches during a few games. This year they will have more input during game days.