[h=1]Jason Garrett Is Jerry Jones' Tom Landry[/h]
ARI TEMKIN
NOVEMBER 15, 2019 - 9:40 AM
© Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Jerry Jones always thought of Jason Garrett as his Tom Landry.
The Dallas Cowboys had just three head coaches in the first four decades of the franchise, but after Barry Switzer, Jerry hired five different coaches between 1998 and 2010. Everyone preached continuity for a trigger happy owner.
Continuity is what they got.
“He’s got outstanding background in our game. He’s gained a Harvard degree in the NFL through being your head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and I want to put all of that together and use it.” That’s what Jerry Jones said last season during one of his weekly visits on
GBAG on 105.3 The Fan.
This is a similar trope Jerry has used over the years to justify Jason’s decade long employment. Jerry needs to sell the idea that Jason is learning through his mistakes, just as Landry did. Jerry believes if they fire Jason now they won’t reap the same benefits of the early Cowboys, who didn’t fire Landry, despite early mistakes.
Al Michaels recently said on the Dallas Cowboys Pregame Show that Jason Garrett has changed the least of any coach that has been around as long as he has. Jason Garrett believes deviation is a flaw.
In the modern era of sports, the most reactive coaches rule the day. A team that sticks to its plan, even in the face of overwhelming adversity, is a team doomed to fail.
Evolve or die.
As a billionaire businessman, Jerry Jones knows this better than anyone. This season, Jerry told The K+C Masterpiece on 105.3 The Fan that in business, when you acquire an asset you have to figure out a different usage, otherwise you'll lose money on the investment: "Anything I've ever acquired, I changed the use of it after I got it and tried to make it more viable."
Now the Cowboys sit at 5-4 and we’re left wondering why we ever believed this year could be different. Why on earth would we believe that Jason Garrett, staring directly at his own coaching mortality, would finally become something he’s never been?
Maybe Jason Garrett is just smarter than all of us...or maybe we wanted to believe that Scott Linehan was the problem, much in the same way that we believed Bill Callahan and Rob Ryan and Wade Phillips were the problem.
Jason Garrett dismissed his own brothers, was stripped of play calling duties and has fired every position coach and coordinator he’s worked with multiple times over. Jerry Jones has removed all of the blood from the body of the Dallas Cowboys and yet he still can’t find the infection.
There was so much excitement and optimism surrounding the potential with this team because of its talent, and because of Kellen Moore. If only Jason Garrett could finally become something he’s never been, the Cowboys might actually recognize their potential and return to glory.
That’s what made the Vikings loss last week so maddening. It wasn’t the loss per se, as much as it was an indication of the big picture...the ceiling on this season.
Dak Prescott played spectacularly, maybe better than any other game he’s played before, but he couldn’t overcome the deficiencies of the coaching staff. He was consistently asked to complete 3rd—and—long situations because of a flawed game plan. Even worse, the coaching staff showed a complete unwillingness to deviate from said flawed gameplan. Sound familiar?
Dak is No. 1 in the NFL in Total QBR at 78.8, ahead of Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson. Look at any of the other QB metrics and you will find Dak at or near the top. He’s having a career year in his most important season and yet he’s not in the MVP discussion because the Cowboys are 5-4.
“He’s [Garrett] well thought out. When you are sitting down and going over ‘What about this way or how about doing it that way?’ You’ll have a nice, good, logical reason for it not having gone that way. Every time.” That’s Jerry from the same interview last season with GBAG.
In a few short breathes, Jerry Jones told you everything you need to know about his relationship with Jason Garrett. Hope.
Jason Garrett has coached 145 games for the Dallas Cowboys. He’s one of five coaches in NFL history to coach at least 145 games with the same team and not play for a conference title. Of those five only Marvin Lewis has a worse winning percentage (52%) than Garrett (56%).
Actually, I lied.
There are six.
The sixth is Tom Landry. Landry coached 152 games in Dallas before playing for a conference title. Landry’s Cowboys won just 32% of their games in his first six seasons. In the next six, they won 77% of their games, six straight division titles, the NFC championship in 1970 and the franchise’s first Super Bowl in 1971.
Jason Garrett went 41-31 (57%) in his first five seasons and in the last five Garrett is 41-32.
Garrett is more Marvin Lewis than Tom Landry.
The Cowboys are in first place in the NFC East with the NFL’s top offense. Maybe they’ll win the division too. In that case, you’ll have to excuse my incredulity, but I’ve already seen how this movie ends.
