Watkins: Final Exam - The hiring of Monte Kiffin failed

Cotton

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Final Exam: The hiring of Monte Kiffin failed
January, 6, 2014

By Calvin Watkins | ESPNDallas.com

After two seasons, the Cowboys fired, well Jerry Jones fired Rob Ryan as the defensive coordinator following the 2012 season.

One of the things Jones cited in his move was a Week 2 loss at Seattle. The Cowboys were not totally healthy in that game, but Jones thought the defense, could at least hold off then-rookie quarterback Russell Wilson and running back Marshawn Lynch.

Jones should have looked at an offense that was shutout in the second half of that game and the turnovers placing the Cowboys in a 10-0 hole at the start.

We now move to the Cowboys current defensive coordinator, Monte Kiffin, who was hired to change the scheme, 3-4 to a 4-3 and whose experience, over 30 years was expected to make things better.

Things weren't better.

Kiffin dealt with injuries to key players such as DeMarcus Ware, Sean Lee, Morris Claiborne, Justin Durant and Jason Hatcher. Kiffin didn't have two projected starters along his line in Anthony Spencer and Jay Ratliff due to injuries.

Ineffective play by Bruce Carter and late season slumps by Brandon Carr and Ware also hurt Kiffin.

The Cowboys were just historically bad.

This defense allowed 432 points, the second-highest total in franchise history, and 6,645 yards, a franchise high and third-most in league history.

Four quarterbacks threw for at least 400 yards against the defense, that's never happened in league history.

Should Kiffin be given another chance?

Probably not. And while it took nearly two weeks to fire Ryan after the season, Kiffin's fate shouldn't take that long.

It seemed the game has passed him by, he was like this old quarterback trying to play on bad knees for one final time. Kiffin lost his fastball, not because he's 73-years old, but just because he can't handle things well.

The secondary was in shambles, the defensive line rotation was a mess and the pass rush wasn't there. The Cowboys started 2013 well by forcing six turnovers in the season-opening victory against the New York Giants. It was something the Tampa 2 defense is designed to do. But the Cowboys defense were unable to get six turnovers a game, nobody could, there was one thing that was expected from this defense and it's game-clinching plays at the end of games. This defense didn't get enough of those.

Kiffin is a smart man. Knows more football than anybody on the coaching staff at Valley Ranch.

It's just time to find somebody else to lead this defense because after a historically bad season, there's no coming back from that.
 

Clay_Allison

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Kiffin should never have been more than a "consultant". There were a lot more Tampa 2 coaches available and IMO, keeping Henderson was also a mistake. You can't install a whole new way to think about coverage with a coach who doesn't get how the defense works.
 

Cotton

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Final Exam: Hiring Kiffin never made sense
January, 6, 2014

By Tim MacMahon | ESPNDallas.com

Rob Ryan didn’t deserve to be fired by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, but it’s the best thing that could have happened to him.

Monte Kiffin didn’t deserve to be hired by Jones, and it’s the worst thing that could have happened to him.

Jones needed a scapegoat after the Cowboys went 8-8 for the second consecutive season last year. Ryan made for a fine candidate because his big mouth made him high profile and the injury-riddled Dallas defense struggled down the stretch.

Folks laughed at Ryan’s famous reaction to be fired while vacationing in the Turks and Caicos Islands. (“I’ll be out of work for like five minutes,” he told ESPNDallas.com.) He ended up unemployed a lot longer than that, but his credibility has been completely restored after eventually landing with the New Orleans Saints.

The Saints, who set the NFL record for yards allowed in 2012, ranked fourth in total defense and scoring defense despite several significant injuries this season. Ryan, who has maintained a much lower profile at New Orleans at head coach Sean Payton’s insistence, is a major reason the Saints’ season is still going.

Kiffin, on the other hand, was hired in Dallas due to ancient history.

Kiffin used to be an elite NFL defensive coordinator. Those days are long gone, and that should have been clear by Kiffin’s struggles in the college game the previous four seasons.

But Jones listened to old pal Larry Lacewell and eagerly hired a man older than him to fix the Cowboys’ defense. The 73-year-old Kiffin, whose 4-3 scheme seemed to be a particularly poor fit for DeMarcus Ware, simply made it worse.

Injuries obviously had a significant impact -- although that wasn’t a good enough excuse to save Ryan’s job -- but the Dallas defense was historically horrible this season. They finished last in the league in total defense, allowing the most yards in franchise history and the third most in NFL history during Kiffin’s season in charge.

It will be only one season, right? Coach Jason Garrett, who will have more authority in coaching changes this offseason, has to be able to clearly see that Kiffin isn’t the solution, although he can’t be considered the problem either.

It’s a shame that Kiffin’s reputation ended up being tarnished during his season at Valley Ranch. He never should have been hired in the first place.
 

ravidubey

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Kiffen's defense was built to stop the West Coast Offense, and it did so brilliantly in the early 2000's playoffs vs. the Eagles and Raiders.

But the NFL has apparently moved way beyond that to where every system now borrows a little of everything. Now when Kiffen shows a look, there's adjustments that blow it up and Kiffen has been unable to compensate. The same shit happened with Landry and Stautner when they put in the 4-0 defense in the mid-80's to take advantage of their awesome DL and big safeties. It worked for a while, but then the great OL's found ways to get to the second level and crush the safeties.

Same kind of thing going on now, and it's made much worse in Dallas without stout athletic pieces in the middle of the defense. We are as old, inexperienced, small, untalented, and brittle there as can be (Hayden, Hatcher, Lee, Wilcox, Church). The defense also lacks makeup speed and physical corners required to run the system in the first place.

Basically not addressing the interior DL, LB depth, and gambling once more on safety was stupid.
 

GShock

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BTW, kudos to the brave columnists for discovering now that Kiffin should not have been hired. Real profiles in courage.
 

Cotton

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BTW, kudos to the brave columnists for discovering now that Kiffin should not have been hired. Real profiles in courage.
:lol

No doubt.
 
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