Will Allen says Cowboys atmosphere keeps Dallas from reaching potential

[boozeman]

Will Allen says Cowboys atmosphere keeps Dallas from reaching potential

Posted by Curtis Crabtree on November 20, 2013, 2:39 AM EST


The Dallas Cowboys always have lofty expectations placed on their shoulders every September when the NFL season begins.

The Cowboys franchise is one of the most prominent in the league and Jerry Jones is the league’s most visible and vocal owner. Championships are the expectation. Anything else is usually met with disappointment.

As such, the Cowboys have been incredibly disappointing for most of the last two decades. Dallas has just two playoff victories since winning Super Bowl XXX in January, 1996.

Safety Will Allen signed with the Cowboys this offseason and played the first five games of the season for Dallas before being released in October. The 10-year veteran of the Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Pittsburgh Steelers joined Alex Marvez and Bill Polian on Sirius XM NFL radio Tuesday and said he believes the atmosphere around the Cowboys makes winning incredibly difficult.

“It was a very micro-managed atmosphere. Everything was heightened. Everything was very hyped. I didn’t feel the relationship and the bonding between players and coaches,” Allen said. “…I think that’s the rift that you get and everybody wonders why Dallas can’t win; why Dallas isn’t completing everything it needs to. The players are great. The players are tremendous. The coaches are some of the best in the business. You just need a cohesion there that allows players and coaches to really execute and do their jobs and it’s not something hanging over their heads.”

Allen said he felt like there was a constant weight on all the players and coaches in Dallas that making a mistake would get you benched or cut. He feels that pressure can have a negative impact on the team

“That’s not fun for anybody,” Allen said. “…We understand that it’s a business but football is a business. Winning is our business. But if we’re not a team, if we’re not together in it all, then we have nothing.”

Allen said the environment is different in Pittsburgh and he believes their approach is better suited to getting the most of their players. Allen re-signed with the Steelers after being released by Dallas and has 11 tackles, an interception and a forced fumble in six games for Pittsburgh.

 

[Carp]

People will get benched or cut because of poor play? There is dysfunction, but that seems more about him.

 

[Lotuseater]

People will get benched or cut because of poor play? There is dysfunction, but that seems more about him.

Yeah really, since when? Our biggest problem is we DONT cut people who have already cut themselves 47 times.

 

[boozeman]

People will get benched or cut because of poor play? There is dysfunction, but that seems more about him.

It should because he answered a direct question regarding him first getting benched then cut.

I won't dismiss everything he said otherwise. There is a problem with the players and the coaches. They know they are not in charge. They also know when they get the Golden Ticket from Jerry in the form of a contract, their accountability is diminished. You can outright suck and cost the team points or the game, but if you are one of the guys with a fat cap-crippling contract, you can do whatever you want. The coach can't touch you.

 

[boozeman]

Yeah really, since when? Our biggest problem is we DONT cut people who have already cut themselves 47 times.

Depends on the cap impact.

 

[Smitty]

It should because he answered a direct question regarding him first getting benched then cut.

I won't dismiss everything he said otherwise. There is a problem with the players and the coaches. They know they are not in charge. They also know when they get the Golden Ticket from Jerry in the form of a contract, their accountability is diminished. You can outright suck and cost the team points or the game, but if you are one of the guys with a fat cap-crippling contract, you can do whatever you want. The coach can't touch you.

Yeah, the first thing he touched on was the dysfunction and how you can feel it in the air. Not surprising from a guy who spent a lot of time in Pittsburgh.

 

[skidadl]

Ah, Will is just projecting his own experience onto the entire situation. He was cut so it is no suprise that he feels this way.

Like booze said, I won't discount everything he said but still...

 

[Cotton]

 

[Cotton]

'Not fun for anybody' or country club?

November, 20, 2013

By Tim MacMahon | ESPNDallas.com


If Will Allen is right, that means Jimmy Johnson was wrong.

Allen’s description of the problems that plague the Dallas Cowboys completely contradict Johnson’s criticism of a country club atmosphere at Valley Ranch. Heck, Johnson might consider Allen’s issues with the Cowboys to be a sign of progress.

During a Tuesday appearance on Sirius XM NFL Radio, Allen used phrases such as “very micromanaged atmosphere” and “very tight” and cited a lack of “the relationship and the bonding between players and coaches” for creating a vibe at Valley Ranch that’s “not fun for anybody.” He was talking about the 2013 Cowboys, the team that employed him for the first four weeks of the season, but all those phrases would have fit Jimmy’s 1991 team, too.

Johnson, who ripped the Cowboys in recent years for coddling players, would probably be proud to hear Jason Garrett described as a hard-ass. Maybe the former third-string quarterback wasn’t just taking notes for no reason while picking Jimmy’s brain when all the two-time Super Bowl championship coach really wanted to do was drink beer and catch a few fish during those recent visits in Florida.

Garrett needs results to justify keeping his job, but he at least deserves credit for creating a culture of accountability at Valley Ranch, which requires a head coach who is willing to make difficult decisions. Allen was a victim of that, getting cut because he was viewed as a progress stopper for young safeties J.J. Wilcox and Jeff Heath.

It’s fair to question whether the Cowboys would have been better off keeping Allen after watching Heath, an undrafted rookie, end up on the highlight reels of Calvin Johnson,Adrian Peterson and Drew Brees when filling in for an injured Wilcox the past few games. Maybe the 10-year veteran’s calming presence in the locker room could have had some value as the defense faced adversity, which is a polite way of saying “stunk up the joint.”

But it’s misguided to point the lack of warm fuzzies from the coaching staff as the reason for the Cowboys’ extended run of mediocrity. What about Wade Phillips’ back-patting tenure?

Johnson’s comparison to a country club aimed higher than the coaching staff. That was an indirect shot at Jerry Jones, the Cowboys’ owner/general manager/enabler. Garrett would never put it this way, but he’s gone to great lengths to change a dysfunctional culture created in large part by Jerry.

Really, though, the Cowboys’ biggest problems aren’t about the coaches’ micromanaging or coddling players. This team simply isn’t as talented as the stars as the top of the roster -- and those on the iconic helmets -- tend to make people believe.

That’s an issue that falls at the feet of the general manager with the most job security in the NFL, the man who couldn't co-exist with a coach coming off back-to-back Super Bowl championships. You can't credibly discuss why there hasn't been a lot of fun at Valley Ranch for quite some time without blaming the boss.

 

[Genghis Khan]

If this is true, then good. Score one for Garrett.

 

[Smitty]

That's not true.

 

[ravidubey]

Allen didn't say the micro-managing came from Garrett.