Scruggs: Mike Lombardi Rips Jason Garrett's Coaching Ability

1bigfan13

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Yeah I don't want to be a Garrett apologist. I don't like him enough for that. But I do feel like 2 of the last 3 years this team has really started to get onto a formula for winning lots of games. And I don't want to mess with that right now. If we have an 8-8 season next year, I'll be fully on board with dumping Garrett after that season. Right now just isn't the right time.
Jerry won't do it but this year should be a NFCC game or bust. I think Garrett's taken this team as far as he can take them.

I'm all for bringing in a new voice to see if that person can get the franchise over the hump. At some point you have to stop allowing this guy to waste championship opportunities.
 

townsend

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Jerry won't do it but this year should be a NFCC game or bust. I think Garrett's taken this team as far as he can take them.

I'm all for bringing in a new voice to see if that person can get the franchise over the hump. At some point you have to stop allowing this guy to waste championship opportunities.
I'd be hesitant to say NFCC or bust, but another one and done in the playoffs or a missed playoff and I would say Garrett's job should be in danger. If we have another season like 2014 I wouldn't be as messed up about it.
 

townsend

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But Garrett has had it better than most. He had a serviceable to top QB his entire tenure, which many didn't and he still has been a .500 coach save two outlier seasons.
Same could be said for Pete Carroll. He had a Parcells team fresh off a SB appearance, went 10-6,9-7,8-8.
 

bbgun

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Garrett defenders be like "If you take 17 paces, stand on a stool with one leg, turn your head 30 degrees to the left and squint real hard, he doesn't look half bad."

Have we gotten to his shitty use of replay challenges yet?
 

boozeman

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Garrett defenders be like "If you take 17 paces, stand on a stool with one leg, turn your head 30 degrees to the left and squint real hard, he doesn't look half bad."

Have we gotten to his shitty use of replay challenges yet?
I would like it, just once in a big game, to say, wow...he had his team prepared and he was ready.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I would like it, just once in a big game, to say, wow...he had his team prepared and he was ready.
If you mean playoff game I agree. We have had big regular season games where we came out prepared, ready and took care of business.

The biggest complaint with Garrett is the same one we all had with Romo. He hasn't won in the playoffs and may just not know how to do it at that level.
 

bbgun

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I would like it, just once in a big game, to say, wow...he had his team prepared and he was ready.
Christ, even his sole playoff win vs Detroit (another game @ home where we were trailing big in the blink of an eye) was dubious. You rarely see faceguarding calls like that reversed.
 

boozeman

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If you mean playoff game I agree. We have had big regular season games where we came out prepared, ready and took care of business.

The biggest complaint with Garrett is the same one we all had with Romo. He hasn't won in the playoffs and may just not know how to do it at that level.
I thought the idea was obvious.

But I also count the what, three win and in games in the 8-8 seasons where we laid a turd.

I guess that is just too unfair for Garrett.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I thought the idea was obvious.

But I also count the what, three win and in games in the 8-8 seasons where we laid a turd.

I guess that is just too unfair for Garrett.
No, but is it Romo, Garrett or both. Romo was choking before Garrett was ever his coach. And last year Garrett choked with a different QB. So maybe it's both.
 

boozeman

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No, but is it Romo, Garrett or both. Romo was choking before Garrett was ever his coach. And last year Garrett choked with a different QB. So maybe it's both.
No. It is Garrett.

You'll see.
 

ravidubey

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Christ, even his sole playoff win vs Detroit (another game @ home where we were trailing big in the blink of an eye) was dubious. You rarely see faceguarding calls like that reversed.
Faceguarding is legal.

They reverse angle shows the receiver pulled Hitchens's jersey, but Fox never showed it. It was the deep ref with the right viewing angle who had the flag picked up.

Detroit at least had a real defense. Suh was on fire that game and the Detroit front gave the Cowboys OL all they could handle.

Dallas should have fricking buried Green Bay, but we let their damned average defense stop us too many times on key 3rd downs.
 

Smitty

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Those guys were just more luckier than Garrett. And stuff. Poor clapping ginger has been hampered by personnel issues that those guys never have.
I already explained why I listed those guys: they were the coaches hired after the 2015 season concluded, which was our last opportunity to dump Garrett reasonably, since coaches don't get fired coming off 12-4 or 13-3 seasons generally. Even so... Quinn, Rivera and Arians, wow, those are great odds over 7 years.
 

Smitty

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Odd how you chose those guys to compare Garrett too, but ignored guys like Dan Quinn, Bruce Arians, and Ron Rivera. All guys hired after Garrett, and who have proven to be better head coaches.

Also, some of those guys you listed have only been a coach for a single season.

My point is... Garrett has been here as head coach since 2010.

Here's the list of head coaches who are more tenured:

Bill Belichick (2000) - 5 Super Bowl wins, 7 AFC Championships
Marvin Lewis (2003) - Its the Bengals FFS
Sean Payton (2006) - 1 Super Bowl win, 1 additional NFC Title games
Mike McCarthy (2006) - 1 Super Bowl win, 1 NFC Championship
Mike Tomlin (2007) - 1 Super Bowl win, 2 AFC Championships
John Harbaugh (2008) - 1 Super Bowl win, 1 AFC Championship
Pete Carrol (2010) - 1 Super Bowl win, 2 NFC Championships



So here's the deal... guys like Belichick are one in a million. You're likely not going to find the next Lombardi or Belichick or Jimmy Johnson. But you ought to be able to find a guy who can come in and make an immediate impact and coach these guys over the top. Garrett is unjustifiably so the 7th most tenured head coach in the league. Everyone more senior, save Marvin Lewis, has won a championship. Meanwhile we've seen relative new hire coaches come in and get their teams to Super Bowls. Yet our guy has been here 7 years, and despite getting MVP type performances from both the QB and RB in two separate years, can't advance past the divisional round. Despite having franchise QB's for six of his seven years (injury year discounted), and playing in a relatively weak division - only has two playoff appearances and one playoff win.

And people are supposed to be okay with that because.... well... we might not find the next Belichick?

If only Arthur Blank had stuck with Mike Smith (who got them to a NFC Championship, btw) because they couldn't find the next Belichick. :picard
People should be ok with it because the arrow is pointed up. Here's the deal... you actually don't know at all if we will ever win a Super Bowl with Garrett at head coach.... chances aren't great maybe, but he actually does have this team extraordinarily competitive right now. So yeah.... I'm ok with it as long as he keeps turning in playoff seasons, which he's 2 for the last 3 and would be 3 for 3 if not for Romo's injury last year.

I'm not especially concerned with three consecutive 8-8 seasons when he had a sub par (in some years, worst in football) OL and a below average defense. The Cowboys were in no position to compete then, so I don't really care if a better coach might have won a game or two more.... thats water under the bridge now.

I care about going forward and without having a better option in sight, it makes no sense to fire a guy who has us seemingly on the cusp of a nice run of playoff years.
 

Smitty

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But Garrett has had it better than most. He had a serviceable to top QB his entire tenure, which many didn't and he still has been a .500 coach save two outlier seasons.
Garrett has had six full seasons.

When two of them were stellar record wise, and another involved a season ending injury to your QB, it's not really honest to call them outliers. Give him Romo in 2015 and he's probably got just as many 11-5+ seasons as 8-8 seasons... oh, and no losing seasons.
 

Simpleton

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I agree that wanting to fire Garrett is premature given the current circumstances. The roster is trending up right now and stability on the coaching staff is one of the most important factors to player development, so you don't want to mess with that right now.

If we go like 8-8 this year I'd definitely think hard about firing Garrett but unless someone like Payton was available I'd probably give him another year, and then it'd take at least one playoff win to save his job in 2018.

One thing that is a huge concern though is that in Garrett's two playoff games at home the team has come out and laid an egg early on. Obviously Green Bay last year and then Detroit was up 14-0 after just two drives in 2014. Of course both times they mounted a furious comeback, which speaks to the resolve Garrett has instilled in the team, but no great coach would allow that shit to happen twice in a row just two years apart.
 

Smitty

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I agree that wanting to fire Garrett is premature given the current circumstances. The roster is trending up right now and stability on the coaching staff is one of the most important factors to player development, so you don't want to mess with that right now.

If we go like 8-8 this year I'd definitely think hard about firing Garrett but unless someone like Payton was available I'd probably give him another year, and then it'd take at least one playoff win to save his job in 2018.

One thing that is a huge concern though is that in Garrett's two playoff games at home the team has come out and laid an egg early on. Obviously Green Bay last year and then Detroit was up 14-0 after just two drives in 2014. Of course both times they mounted a furious comeback, which speaks to the resolve Garrett has instilled in the team, but no great coach would allow that shit to happen twice in a row just two years apart.
Probably sums up about how I feel about what he needs to do. It would take a pretty catastrophic injury-free season to cost him his job. If he goes 6-10 without any major injuries, he will and should be fired. But I could see a scenario where Dak takes a step back due to the sophomore slump, Zeke misses games to suspension, Dez has nagging injuries, and the rookies on D are too green. Combined with a tougher schedule, going 8-8 and barely missing the playoffs could earn him another shot.

But if we doesn't win a playoff game this year, then 2018 is "win one -- maybe two --or else the arrow is no longer pointed up and we do need to change for change's sake."

Conversely, if he gets a bye again this year, and then wins even a single game to get to the NFCC, he's stamped his ticket for a good couple more seasons.
 

boozeman

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Garrett has had six full seasons.

When two of them were stellar record wise, and another involved a season ending injury to your QB, it's not really honest to call them outliers. Give him Romo in 2015 and he's probably got just as many 11-5+ seasons as 8-8 seasons... oh, and no losing seasons.
So hey, uh, why would he have needed 2015 Romo when he squandered the years prior to that trying to make him carry the offense?
 
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