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It’s Time for a Cowboys Reality Check
BY ROB PHILLIPS on JANUARY 4, 2014
Monday, after holding the final team meeting of 2013 and watching his players empty their locker contents into trash bags, Jason Garrett was asked by a reporter if he felt fortunate not to be among the five NFL head coaches who got fired hours earlier.
“Absolutely,” Garrett said. “Absolutely.”Jerry_Jason
He seemed sincere, and he should be. Coaches have been canned for a lot less than 30-28 in 3 ½ seasons with zero playoff appearances. Hell, the Browns didn’t even let Rob Chudzinski finish moving into his office. They shoved a pink slip under the poor guy’s door after 11 months.
Cowboys fans want rolling heads, too. Incomprehensible blown leads against Detroit and Green Bay cost Dallas two games in a playoff race that required only one more victory for qualification, and the partial reason for those two meltdowns was all too familiar: game management. The ‘walk-around’ coach will be walking on thin ice in the final year of his contract next season.
I get the frustration, I really do. The fans lead the league in indigestion and general Greek tragedy disgust, and Garrett is the highest fireable name on the organizational flow chart (i.e. last name other than “Jones”). You deserve more. You’ve waited long enough for another Lombardi Trophy, or even a legitimate shot at one.
But, like Jerry, I’m not calling for a coaching change, either.
I mean, how can I? In September I picked Dallas to win a crappy NFC East at 9-7. Last week, there they were: 8-7 with a third straight winner-take-all game at home. If a healthy Tony Romo gets the help Kyle Orton got from their Division 1 defense, maybe the Cowboys take out Philly like they did in 2009.
So, if you want to fire Jason Garrett for failing to overachieve with an unprecedented number of injuries, fine. But you can’t fire him for underachieving. The franchise has been 8-8-ish for almost 20 years. (Cue Dennis Green in the beer commercial.)
It’s time for a reality check. Why didn’t I pick the Cowboys at 10-6 or 11-5? Why didn’t most of you?
Not because of coaching, even though Garrett’s decision-making has factored into some heartbreaking duds since 2010.
Nope. This is about talent.
To borrow a phrase from a coach who enjoyed a decent amount of personnel clout at Valley Ranch, Garrett ain’t picking all the groceries. (Some, but not all.) And the Cowboys haven’t built a championship roster yet.
Let’s say it together, with feeling: the Cowboys don’t have a championship roster.
When healthy, they’re pretty good. And you know what? I thought they were a much more competitive team this year than last year despite having the same 8-8 record. But pretty good doesn’t get you very close to Super Bowls in the deepest, strongest NFC we’ve seen since the mid-90s. Even at full strength, I barely put the Cowboys in next year’s top six on paper behind Seattle, San Francisco, New Orleans, Green Bay and Carolina. The Eagles are right there, too. If Matt Stafford and the Lions can get their act together, look out. Same with Jay Cutler and the Bears.
Can better coaching add a couple wins per year? Absolutely. Can a team catch lightning in a bottle in January? Well, Eli Manning does have two Super Bowl MVPs. But the odds aren’t great without more than a small handful of true playmakers.
As much as “Super Bowl” gets kicked around these parts every summer, the truth is the Cowboys have been the quietest rebuilding team in the league under Garrett. Some call it “retooling” around Romo, Jason Witten and DeMarcus Ware, but consider this:
The roster Garrett fielded in 2011 as the full-time coach looked nothing like the one he inherited as the interim coach in the middle of 2010. Fifteen of 22 regular starters were gone, and eight of those 15 were out of football entirely at one point this past summer.
It got stripped down back then, and today it’s still flawed. Here’s why:
*Bad contracts have hurt the team’s salary cap flexibility. Roy Williams, Jay Ratliff, Marion Barber, Ken Hamlin … and on and on.
*The drafts have gotten better but the damage from 2009’s dozen busts still stings. Do you realize that since the Cowboys’ famous 2005 draft – the one that produced DeMarcus Ware, Jay Ratliff, Chris Canty, Marion Barber and Marcus Spears – only 11 of their last 63 picks have become legitimate starters – meaning at least two straight years in the lineup? The list: Jason Hatcher, Deon Anderson, Doug Free, Anthony Spencer, Mike Jenkins, Dez Bryant, Sean Lee, Tyron Smith, Bruce Carter, DeMarco Murray and Travis Frederick (in 2014). Terrance Williams, DeVonte Holloman and J.J. Wilcox seem to have a chance to join them, but 11 is a startling low number.
*Changing schemes and philosophy has prevented the team from finding a defensive identity and subsequently finding the right players to fit that identity. Jerry thought they were too aggressive last year; now he thinks they got too conservative. Which is it? A huge investment in Mo Claiborne two years ago is starting to look like a borderline bust in part because he wasn’t drafted to be a zone corner for Monte Kiffin.
All that said, ESPN Dallas’ Todd Archer makes a salient point: while Garrett preaches patient program-building, first-year coaches Chip Kelly (Eagles) and Mike McCoy (Chargers) are already in the playoffs this weekend. That’s why Garrett is only getting one final chance to prove he’s mastered this six-year head coaching apprenticeship.
Jerry hired Garrett as a first-time offensive coordinator in 2007 with eyes on moving him to the big office. He promoted Garrett to first-time head coach in 2011. Last week, he made the odd comment that firing Garrett wouldn’t “get payback for all the miscues and losses and criticism of sideline management. We don’t get a chance to benefit from the one way you learn, and that is the mistakes you make. So I want to have him around to learn.”
Forget the annual preseason hype. My interpretation: deep down, Jerry admits to himself that the Cowboys aren’t close yet. Why else do you hire a head coach to learn on the job? If you’re really in the fight, aren’t you coaxing a Hall of Famer out of retirement to run the sideline?
If you signed the man to a four-year contract with the expectation that he would grow into an excellent head coach, then you should give him four years. Don’t change course now.
In any case, Garrett will be back. He needs a new defensive coordinator and he needs to sort out whatever that three-headed play-calling mess was involving himself, Bill Callahan and Romo. By most accounts, the front office made both those calls last year.
Next year, the head coach and his staff must be better. But recycling them every three or four seasons won’t fix the real question in Dallas:
Is the team good enough?
BY ROB PHILLIPS on JANUARY 4, 2014
Monday, after holding the final team meeting of 2013 and watching his players empty their locker contents into trash bags, Jason Garrett was asked by a reporter if he felt fortunate not to be among the five NFL head coaches who got fired hours earlier.
“Absolutely,” Garrett said. “Absolutely.”Jerry_Jason
He seemed sincere, and he should be. Coaches have been canned for a lot less than 30-28 in 3 ½ seasons with zero playoff appearances. Hell, the Browns didn’t even let Rob Chudzinski finish moving into his office. They shoved a pink slip under the poor guy’s door after 11 months.
Cowboys fans want rolling heads, too. Incomprehensible blown leads against Detroit and Green Bay cost Dallas two games in a playoff race that required only one more victory for qualification, and the partial reason for those two meltdowns was all too familiar: game management. The ‘walk-around’ coach will be walking on thin ice in the final year of his contract next season.
I get the frustration, I really do. The fans lead the league in indigestion and general Greek tragedy disgust, and Garrett is the highest fireable name on the organizational flow chart (i.e. last name other than “Jones”). You deserve more. You’ve waited long enough for another Lombardi Trophy, or even a legitimate shot at one.
But, like Jerry, I’m not calling for a coaching change, either.
I mean, how can I? In September I picked Dallas to win a crappy NFC East at 9-7. Last week, there they were: 8-7 with a third straight winner-take-all game at home. If a healthy Tony Romo gets the help Kyle Orton got from their Division 1 defense, maybe the Cowboys take out Philly like they did in 2009.
So, if you want to fire Jason Garrett for failing to overachieve with an unprecedented number of injuries, fine. But you can’t fire him for underachieving. The franchise has been 8-8-ish for almost 20 years. (Cue Dennis Green in the beer commercial.)
It’s time for a reality check. Why didn’t I pick the Cowboys at 10-6 or 11-5? Why didn’t most of you?
Not because of coaching, even though Garrett’s decision-making has factored into some heartbreaking duds since 2010.
Nope. This is about talent.
To borrow a phrase from a coach who enjoyed a decent amount of personnel clout at Valley Ranch, Garrett ain’t picking all the groceries. (Some, but not all.) And the Cowboys haven’t built a championship roster yet.
Let’s say it together, with feeling: the Cowboys don’t have a championship roster.
When healthy, they’re pretty good. And you know what? I thought they were a much more competitive team this year than last year despite having the same 8-8 record. But pretty good doesn’t get you very close to Super Bowls in the deepest, strongest NFC we’ve seen since the mid-90s. Even at full strength, I barely put the Cowboys in next year’s top six on paper behind Seattle, San Francisco, New Orleans, Green Bay and Carolina. The Eagles are right there, too. If Matt Stafford and the Lions can get their act together, look out. Same with Jay Cutler and the Bears.
Can better coaching add a couple wins per year? Absolutely. Can a team catch lightning in a bottle in January? Well, Eli Manning does have two Super Bowl MVPs. But the odds aren’t great without more than a small handful of true playmakers.
As much as “Super Bowl” gets kicked around these parts every summer, the truth is the Cowboys have been the quietest rebuilding team in the league under Garrett. Some call it “retooling” around Romo, Jason Witten and DeMarcus Ware, but consider this:
The roster Garrett fielded in 2011 as the full-time coach looked nothing like the one he inherited as the interim coach in the middle of 2010. Fifteen of 22 regular starters were gone, and eight of those 15 were out of football entirely at one point this past summer.
It got stripped down back then, and today it’s still flawed. Here’s why:
*Bad contracts have hurt the team’s salary cap flexibility. Roy Williams, Jay Ratliff, Marion Barber, Ken Hamlin … and on and on.
*The drafts have gotten better but the damage from 2009’s dozen busts still stings. Do you realize that since the Cowboys’ famous 2005 draft – the one that produced DeMarcus Ware, Jay Ratliff, Chris Canty, Marion Barber and Marcus Spears – only 11 of their last 63 picks have become legitimate starters – meaning at least two straight years in the lineup? The list: Jason Hatcher, Deon Anderson, Doug Free, Anthony Spencer, Mike Jenkins, Dez Bryant, Sean Lee, Tyron Smith, Bruce Carter, DeMarco Murray and Travis Frederick (in 2014). Terrance Williams, DeVonte Holloman and J.J. Wilcox seem to have a chance to join them, but 11 is a startling low number.
*Changing schemes and philosophy has prevented the team from finding a defensive identity and subsequently finding the right players to fit that identity. Jerry thought they were too aggressive last year; now he thinks they got too conservative. Which is it? A huge investment in Mo Claiborne two years ago is starting to look like a borderline bust in part because he wasn’t drafted to be a zone corner for Monte Kiffin.
All that said, ESPN Dallas’ Todd Archer makes a salient point: while Garrett preaches patient program-building, first-year coaches Chip Kelly (Eagles) and Mike McCoy (Chargers) are already in the playoffs this weekend. That’s why Garrett is only getting one final chance to prove he’s mastered this six-year head coaching apprenticeship.
Jerry hired Garrett as a first-time offensive coordinator in 2007 with eyes on moving him to the big office. He promoted Garrett to first-time head coach in 2011. Last week, he made the odd comment that firing Garrett wouldn’t “get payback for all the miscues and losses and criticism of sideline management. We don’t get a chance to benefit from the one way you learn, and that is the mistakes you make. So I want to have him around to learn.”
Forget the annual preseason hype. My interpretation: deep down, Jerry admits to himself that the Cowboys aren’t close yet. Why else do you hire a head coach to learn on the job? If you’re really in the fight, aren’t you coaxing a Hall of Famer out of retirement to run the sideline?
If you signed the man to a four-year contract with the expectation that he would grow into an excellent head coach, then you should give him four years. Don’t change course now.
In any case, Garrett will be back. He needs a new defensive coordinator and he needs to sort out whatever that three-headed play-calling mess was involving himself, Bill Callahan and Romo. By most accounts, the front office made both those calls last year.
Next year, the head coach and his staff must be better. But recycling them every three or four seasons won’t fix the real question in Dallas:
Is the team good enough?
