Moore (DMN): Blame the head coach for Cowboys' loss, too

1bigfan13

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By David Moore , Staff Writer

ARLINGTON -- Blame Terrance Williams if you must.

Find fault with Ezekiel Elliott's debut and a Cowboys run defense that went soft in the final minutes when it needed to stand strong.
But as you're pointing fingers at players who didn't rise to the occasion in Sunday's regular season opener be sure to keep one reserved for the head coach.

Jason Garrett is conservative by nature. Conservative is not a dirty word. It's not a bad approach or fatal flaw for a coach if applied correctly.
Conservative makes sense on offense in today's NFL if you have a superlative kicker and a dominant defense. The Cowboys have that kicker in Dan Bailey.

Now, about that defense...

The Cowboys 20-19 loss to the New York Giants was a tired repeat of a script that was followed all too often during last season's 4-12 downfall. Rather than looking for spots to be aggressive on offense late in a close game, Garrett was cautious. He put the outcome in the hands of a defense that has shown no ability to generate pressure on the quarterback or come up with enough big plays to make a difference.

"That looked like last year,'' owner Jerry Jones conceded after watching his team lose a six-point lead in the final 10 minutes. "Play for the defense to stop them, don't stop them and get beat.

"But we're in better shape to not play that way or have that happen to us because we're better offensively.''
That's debatable.

For a coach that preaches the importance of living in the moment, Garrett too often approaches games as if these are the Cowboys on their Super Bowl run during the 1990s. Line up and overpower the opponent on both sides of the ball. Keep it simple and let superior talent win.

The problem: this is not a dominant defense. It can't hold up its end of the bargain to open this season. Yet Garrett insists on coaching as if it can.
"It's trite to say that, but we know we can't play to that,'' Jones said. "We've got to be aggressive.

It's important to be clear here. Jones doesn't believe Garrett was too conservative in Sunday's opener. He believes the two holding penalties on guard La'el Collins and a false start on guard Zack Martin in those final three possessions put the Cowboys in an untenable position.

Still, on their first offensive possession with a 19-13 lead in the fourth, the Cowboys threw two short passes and plunged Elliott up the middle. On third-and-18 rookie Dak Prescott threw a screen to Jason Witten, a Pro Bowl tight end but not the most elusive of runners.
It picked up three yards.

The Cowboys were faced with a third-and-20 on their next possession. Prescott again threw to Witten, this time for seven yards.

"I really thought that the only time I saw us do anything conservative was when we got those penalties and got into third-and-long,'' Jones said. "I saw us make a decision you could make with any quarterback and that is let's not try to get it all back here and let them make the mistake.

"If we had not gotten into those third-and-longs, I don't think you would have seen us be limited with Dak. I don't.''

Prescott was efficient. He didn't throw an interception. But it's a stretch to say the Cowboys weren't conservative or cautious in what they gave him to do.

The Giants loaded the box to take away the run. The rookie quarterback took a few shots downfield, but very few. He threw 45 passes, and 26 of them were underneath to Witten or slot receiver Cole Beasley. His longest completion of the afternoon was a 21-yard route to the sideline to tight end Geoff Swaim.

Prescott ran only twice. Did you see many zone read plays? Did you see any misdirection plays? If you're going to throw the ball underneath, why wasn't Lance Dunbar, who caught a short pass and took it for 16 yards on the team's final possession, a bigger part of the game plan?

"Cautious is not a word that we use,'' Garrett said. "I thought Dak did a really good job running the offense. He was very effective running off the bulk of our drop back offense, the movement offense was outstanding.

"That's not a (phrase) we use with our quarterbacks, being cautious with the ball. You want to be a good decision-maker. He was a good decision-maker throughout this ballgame.''

Prescott did a good job of making the decisions he was allowed to make. The question is whether his hands were tied by a head coach who is risk averse to the point of taking away a young quarterback's ability to make plays.

"I was mad enough walking in here to second-guess it all, but now I'm not,'' Jones said. "Everybody gets mad.''

And everybody gets tired of watching the same scenario play out time and time again.

It's up to Jason Garrett to make it change.
 

1bigfan13

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The Giants loaded the box to take away the run. The rookie quarterback took a few shots downfield, but very few. He threw 45 passes, and 26 of them were underneath to Witten or slot receiver Cole Beasley. His longest completion of the afternoon was a 21-yard route to the sideline to tight end Geoff Swaim.
You're not beating anyone with that approach. Cowboy opponents will take that all day every day.

The focus going forward should be getting the ball into the hands of the faster athletic receivers.....Dez, Butler, and Williams. But of course that won't happen.
 

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"That looked like last year,'' owner Jerry Jones conceded after watching his team lose a six-point lead in the final 10 minutes. "Play for the defense to stop them, don't stop them and get beat.

"But we're in better shape to not play that way or have that happen to us because we're better offensively.''
It's stuff like this that really upsets me when it comes to this moron.

The losses don't bother me anymore and they haven't for a few years now, but yet this guy still gets under my skin and I don't know why.

He's right in that it did look like last year. But if you see the same problem and the same flaws and you even went on record last year suggesting that the coaching wasn't up to par, why do you keep doing absolutely nothing about it?

Oh, that's right.....because you'd absolutely hate to let someone else run the team and steal your spotlight. Unless he's prepared to take action, this idiot shouldn't complain one bit about the coaching because the staff is there by his choice.

He says we're in better shape this year, which we're not, but I bet he still lets Garrett slide as he puts up another losing record without Romo.

Idiot.
 

VA Cowboy

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Same problems because we stick with the same mediocre HC and do the same things. Players come and go but we keep having the same issues. But Jerry is comfortable and not walking on egg shells so it's all good.
 

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Same problems because we stick with the same mediocre HC and do the same things. Players come and go but we keep having the same issues. But Jerry is comfortable and not walking on egg shells so it's all good.
Hence this quote:
Prescott did a good job of making the decisions he was allowed to make. The question is whether his hands were tied by a head coach who is risk averse to the point of taking away a young quarterback's ability to make plays.

"I was mad enough walking in here to second-guess it all, but now I'm not,'' Jones said. "Everybody gets mad.''
Yea, that anger subsides when he thinks about the alternative.

Get mad and hold the coach accountable, or just deal with it and keep running the team the way I want to?

The latter wins every time.
 

VA Cowboy

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Hence this quote:


Yea, that anger subsides when he thinks about the alternative.

Get mad and hold the coach accountable, or just deal with it and keep running the team the way I want to?

The latter wins every time.
The last 20 years shows nothing will change even if we making a coaching change. Switzer, Gailey, Campo, Wade, Garrett. None of them should've been hired. BP was the only decent hire Jerry made since Jimmy and we all know that was to try and get a quick fix and support for the new stadium. After that it was back to business as usual.

He went outside of the family for Gailey and when that didn't work he went straight for in-house yes man Campo. Wade was hired to be a 3-4 DC with Garrett as HC in waiting. Now Garrett has the reins and Jerry's comfortable. Even if a change were to be made Jerry would either hire from within or find another yes man no one else would consider hiring.
 

1bigfan13

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The last 20 years shows nothing will change even if we making a coaching change. Switzer, Gailey, Campo, Wade, Garrett. None of them should've been hired. BP was the only decent hire Jerry made since Jimmy and we all know that was to try and get a quick fix and support for the new stadium. After that it was back to business as usual.

He went outside of the family for Gailey and when that didn't work he went straight for in-house yes man Campo. Wade was hired to be a 3-4 DC with Garrett as HC in waiting. Now Garrett has the reins and Jerry's comfortable. Even if a change were to be made Jerry would either hire from within or find another yes man no one else would consider hiring.
Coming into this year I made a vow to myself to give it another 5 years to see how things look. At that point if it's still business as usual regarding the rampant nepotism and incompetence of the franchise then I'm officially throwing in the towel and switching allegiances.

I'm a firm believer in Einstein's definition of insanity.
 

Genghis Khan

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The article brings it up, and it was a huge play in the game, but the third and 20 late in the game throw to Witten was absolutely retarded. They wasted at least 30 seconds by not getting out of bounds or otherwise stopping the clock, and that alone may have given them enough time to score at the end.

It's stuff like that sometimes that gets you beat, and we've long been terrible at those types of decisions.

Hell we'd have been better off punting on third down if that's what we were going to do.
 

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Coming into this year I made a vow to myself to give it another 5 years to see how things look. At that point if it's still business as usual regarding the rampant nepotism and incompetence of the franchise then I'm officially throwing in the towel and switching allegiances.

I'm a firm believer in Einstein's definition of insanity.
I understand how and why you feel that way, but I just can't do that after 30+ years of watching the team. I tried the silly boycott approach, and still don't buy anything team related. So, I am doing my part that way. That's all I can do, and now just sit back and hope he stumbles onto a nut eventually.
 

Cotton

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The article brings it up, and it was a huge play in the game, but the third and 20 late in the game throw to Witten was absolutely retarded. They wasted at least 30 seconds by not getting out of bounds or otherwise stopping the clock, and that alone may have given them enough time to score at the end.

It's stuff like that sometimes that gets you beat, and we've long been terrible at those types of decisions.

Hell we'd have been better off punting on third down if that's what we were going to do.
I couldn't believe that play. I know 3rd and 20 is pretty daunting, but at the very least, get it into the hands of someone that has a fucking chance.
 

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He says we're in better shape this year, which we're not, but I bet he still lets Garrett slide as he puts up another losing record without Romo.

Idiot.
We are in much better shape this year in terms of talent. There is no excuse to tuck tail with a 6 point lead and start throwing TE screens with no prayer of success.

This is Garrett's MO, get a lead and then be scared to do anything. Let the other team get the lead back and hope Romo bails you out. Last night Dak fell just short of that bail out.
 

1bigfan13

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I understand how and why you feel that way, but I just can't do that after 30+ years of watching the team. I tried the silly boycott approach, and still don't buy anything team related. So, I am doing my part that way. That's all I can do, and now just sit back and hope he stumbles onto a nut eventually.
Like a battered woman, sometimes you just have to pack your bags.....walk out the door and don't look back.

Sounds like you're still in the "it's my fault. he's just stressed" phase.

:art
 

Cotton

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We are in much better shape this year in terms of talent. There is no excuse to tuck tail with a 6 point lead and start throwing TE screens with no prayer of success.

This is Garrett's MO, get a lead and then be scared to do anything. Let the other team get the lead back and hope Romo bails you out. Last night Dak fell just short of that bail out.
Garrett doesn't even know what the phrase "step on their throat" means.
 

Genghis Khan

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I couldn't believe that play. I know 3rd and 20 is pretty daunting, but at the very least, get it into the hands of someone that has a fucking chance.
I wanted a Quincy esque "punt". Who knows maybe dez makes a play or you draw a flag. The absolute worst thing they could've done other than a fumble or short interception was what they did. 8 yard catch and stay in bounds so that you're almost certain to lose about 30 seconds of clock.
 

Cotton

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Like a battered woman, sometimes you just have to pack your bags.....walk out the door and don't look back.

Sounds like you're still in the "it's my fault. he's just stressed phased".

:art
:lol

May be, but I just can't imagine cheering for another team. Worst case for me would be just to walk off from the NFL entirely.
 

Cotton

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I wanted a Quincy esque "punt". Who knows maybe dez makes a play or you draw a flag. The absolute worst thing they could've done other than a fumble or short interception was what they did. 8 yard catch and stay in bounds so that you're almost certain to lose about 30 seconds of clock.
You could line up 40 plays and put it next to the one we ran, and I run all 40 of those other plays in 15 straight scenarios before I go to that stupid ass screen play to our bumbling stumbling TE.
 

data

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You could line up 40 plays and put it next to the one we ran, and I run all 40 of those other plays in 15 straight scenarios before I go to that stupid ass screen play to our bumbling stumbling TE.
If fuckin Jerruh owned a NASCAR racing team, he'd trot out the Ford Pinto with rationale he'd be outsmarting the field since they'd anticipate him bringing a stock car.

You have Lance Dunbar. You have Lucky Whitehead. Shit. Throw an alley-oop to Gavin Escobar.
 

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Coming into this year I made a vow to myself to give it another 5 years to see how things look. At that point if it's still business as usual regarding the rampant nepotism and incompetence of the franchise then I'm officially throwing in the towel and switching allegiances.

I'm a firm believer in Einstein's definition of insanity.
I'm waiting til Jerry's gone. If nothing changes then we really are doomed. I'm holding out hope Stephen doesn't have as big of an ego and won't be so adverse to hiring a real HC.
 

VA Cowboy

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We are in much better shape this year in terms of talent. There is no excuse to tuck tail with a 6 point lead and start throwing TE screens with no prayer of success.

This is Garrett's MO, get a lead and then be scared to do anything. Let the other team get the lead back and hope Romo bails you out. Last night Dak fell just short of that bail out.
I had hope in '14 when Garrett was replaced as OC and we became more balanced on offense behind our new talented OL and with Marinelli make chicken salad out of chickenshat. Thought we turned the corner and with some additional talent on defense we might actually contend.

I know Romo has been injured but the play calling has gone downhill and the defense has regressed. I thought we could at least have a solid running game but as Troy mentioned yesterday, our OL is obviously much better pass protectors than run blockers. And with our conservative approach and a porous defense we don't have much chance.

Some have said the defense played well enough only giving up 20 points, but I have no doubt if they needed more they would've scored more.
 

VA Cowboy

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If fuckin Jerruh owned a NASCAR racing team, he'd trot out the Ford Pinto with rationale he'd be outsmarting the field since they'd anticipate him bringing a stock car.
Jerry could never be involved in NASCAR. He doesn't understand drafting.
 
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