Garrett Watch Thread...

[deadrise]

Jerry Jones: "To some degree we have invested a lot of money in the evolving of Jason as a head coach …"

Sunk cost fallacy: Individuals commit the sunk cost fallacy when they continue a behavior or endeavor as a result of previously invested resources (time, money or effort). This fallacy, which is related to loss aversion and status quo bias, can also be viewed as bias resulting from an ongoing commitment.

For example, individuals sometimes order too much food and then over-eat just to “get their money’s worth”. Similarly, a person may have a $20 ticket to a concert and then drive for hours through a blizzard, just because she feels that she has to attend due to having made the initial investment. If the costs outweigh the benefits, the extra costs incurred (inconvenience, time or even money) are held in a different mental account than the one associated with the ticket transaction.

 

[Cotton]

So how good is Lincoln Riley?

That damn good.

 

[Cotton]

 

[Cotton]

What they’re saying about Jason Garrett: If Jerry Jones has so much confidence in Cowboys’ HC, where’s his extension?

Here’s what the Cowboys, SportsDay’s experts and some national media are saying about Jason Garrett.

Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett looks to the scoreboard during the second half against the Washington Redskins at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, January 3, 2016. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)(The Dallas Morning News)
By SportsDay Staff

9:11 PM on Oct 16, 2019
Perhaps True Detective’s Rust Cohle, was right about time being a flat circle.

The Cowboys are 3-3 following a loss to the previously winless Jets, and a large, very vocal chunk of Cowboys Nation is calling for Jason Garrett to be fired. “How many times have we had this conversation, detectives?”

Here’s what the Cowboys, SportsDay’s experts and some national media are saying about Garrett. We’ll continue to update this post throughout the season.

What SportsDay’s experts are saying

Cowboys insider David Moore: "For all of the talk about the impulsive ways of the Cowboys owner, he’s fired only one head coach during the season. That was Wade Phillips in 2010. There are several factors that make a sequel with Garrett unlikely.

Remember, Garrett was hired as the team’s offensive coordinator before Phillips signed on as head coach. Garrett was the heir apparent. He was being groomed for the position.

Who takes over this team if Garrett is dismissed before the season is done?"

"...The Cowboys aren’t playing good football at the moment. But this team hasn’t quit on Garrett.”

SportsDay columnist Tim Cowlishaw: "It’s way too early to engage in talk of Garrett following Washington’s Jay Gruden out the door, but keep in mind what Cowboys owner Jerry Jones offered on the “hot seat” front Sunday night: “I’m not even coming close to those future type considerations.”

Is that the same as “don’t bet on it, you’ll lose your money,” or is that inching slightly the other direction? Jones might be the one hedging his bets. He made the remark about losing your money last week because, in part, he never saw his team losing to the previously 0-4 Jets.

I wouldn’t say all bets are off now, but it’s something to watch if this thing edges closer to the cliff. It’s a popular topic but one that disregards the players and their personal failings. I’ve never fully understood the whole “coach didn’t have his team ready” argument in a once-a-week league. The beloved Landry thought motivation belonged to the players’ locker room, not his.

Garrett isn’t Landry and never will be. He’s still 20 years short of matching Landry’s tenure here, and unless he finds a way to turn a 3-3 team into at the very least a 10-6 club, someone else gets his turn on the Cowboys coaching carousel in the next few months."

Sportsday columnist Kevin Sherrington: "Maybe it’s time to give Richard the keys to the young defense and let Marinelli concentrate on the defensive line.

Frankly, it’s a more practical remedy than firing the head coach. Might be enough to pump some life into an offense that’s looked tired for three games and a defense that can’t find its mojo.

And if none of the above happens and the season ends without an NFC title run, then we can talk about Lincoln Riley. Tom Herman seconds that."

SportsDay contributor Jean-Jaques Taylor: "Now, Garrett’s job depends on figuring out how to win in less-than-ideal circumstances like other coaches.

Garrett struggles in those situations because he’s a planner. His strength is long-term decision making. When he has to work through short-term problems, his flaws show.

If he can’t fix that flaw, then he won’t be here next year because Cowboys won’t win enough games."

What the Cowboys are saying

The man himself, Cowboys owner and general manager, Jerry Jones: "I have felt that we’ve got a lot invested in Jason Garrett. He has a lot of years that he’s been a part of the Cowboys, and he’s evolved into what I think is a top coach. He would be a very sought-after coach if he were (out there) on the open market, so there’s a lot of pluses there. He brings a lot to the table. I can genuinely say that that is not a thought that I’m having, so it would be unfair to our fans for me to have any indication about what I may think the future is as far as the head coach.

“Everybody’s aware that we’re on the last year of his agreement. But really, that just means that we can all sit down and take a look at things at the end of the year. That was the case when he had won the first three ballgames and still the case today after losing the past three.”

Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, on whether Garrett is on the hot seat: “Absolutely not. We’re ready to go. This team needs to get a win under its belt and I still think we can have a great year and feel good about it. (I) feel great about Jason and his staff, and we’ll go to work this week and move forward.”

What the national media is saying

Former Cowboys QB and TV analyst Troy Aikman: “I don’t think there’s any part of Jerry, whether it is last year or as we speak right now — you know, I’ve heard some people say that there is no way he’s not thinking at least a little bit about making a change. I don’t think there’s any way. I think it is the last thing that Jerry wants do at this stage of his life and where he is with this team, and also what he thinks of Jason.”

“...Now you find yourself at 3-3 and this season is far from over. I wouldn’t panic at all, if I was the Cowboys. It becomes an interesting dynamic, I guess,at the end of the year if this team doesn’t live up to what the expectations were coming into the season. Does that in fact mean that Jerry makes a move, when I think it is the last thing he wants to do?”

NBC Sports’ Mike Florio: "Twice this year, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has insisted that coach Jason Garrett would be in high demand, if he were on the open market. Meanwhile, Garrett is 10 regular-season games away from getting to the open market.

So the obvious question becomes why haven’t the Cowboys extended Garrett’s contract? That’s the best way to keep Garrett from leaving, if/when other teams are inclined to pursue him in January 2020."

“...And if Jones truly fears a land rush for Garrett’s services, there’s one way to avoid that outcome: Sign him to a new contract now. The fact that the Cowboys haven’t secured their future with Garrett shows that they have no fear that he’ll leave — and that they quite possibly may want him to.”

 

[Cotton]

 

[Cotton]

Cowboys' Jason Garrett deep in survival mode -- once again

• 
  
  Todd Archer ESPN Staff Writer

FRISCO, Texas -- Six games into the 2019 NFL season, Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett is on the hot seat. Again.

It might not be a hot seat to owner and general manager Jerry Jones, who has the only opinion that matters, but it is to just about every follower of the Cowboys, tired of the sameness of the past eight-plus seasons as the team prepares for an NFC East showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC).

Is this the sixth time Garrett has been on the hot seat? Seventh? Eighth? Here we are again with Garrett's future becoming an even bigger story because of the Cowboys' three-game losing streak entering Sunday's first-place divisional meeting.

Was Garrett on the hot seat entering 2012 after the Cowboys lost four of their final five games in his first full season as head coach in 2011? Was it when they lost their final two games in 2012 to miss the playoffs? Or, a year later when they started 2-3? How about later in 2013 when they lost three of their last four to miss the playoffs?

After three straight 8-8 finishes (2011-13), Garrett was on the hot seat to start the 2014 season and it got warmer after a Week 1 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, but the Cowboys finished 12-4, won a playoff game and were eliminated from the postseason on the Dez Bryant catch/non-catch controversy.

Garrett received a five-year extension after that season, but it did not quell the unrest when the Cowboys went 4-12 in 2015 mostly because quarterback Tony Romo started and finished two games.

In 2016, without Romo again, the Cowboys finished 13-3 with rookie quarterback Dak Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott leading the way, but they could not sustain the success in 2017 (finishing 9-7) mostly because of Elliott's six-game suspension and injuries to tackle Tyron Smith and linebacker Sean Lee. Jason Garrett has led Dallas to the playoffs in three of the past five seasons but has yet to reach an NFC title game. Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
With a 3-5 start to last season, Garrett was certainly on the hot seat, but the Cowboys rallied to win the NFC East and a playoff game. Still, Jones opted not to extend Garrett's contract in the offseason, making him earn a deal with a successful 2019 season.

"Well, first of all, he's got a lot of great coaching qualities, but nobody has them all," Jones told ESPN from the fall league meetings in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "To some degree we have invested a lot of money in the evolving of Jason as a head coach ... There's a lot of things that make him A-plus across the board. You've got to look at the entire picture, and now he's evolved into maybe winning us a lot of Super Bowls."

How close does Jones believe the Cowboys are to winning a Super Bowl with Garrett?

"Well, I don't know," he said. "I certainly wouldn't have him as our coach this year if I didn't think he was capable of winning a Super Bowl."

In making Garrett earn a third contract, Jones was hoping the response would be like it was in 2014. After that loss to San Francisco, the Cowboys won six straight games. Romo had his best season (34 touchdown passes, nine interceptions) and DeMarco Murray led the NFL in rushing with a franchise-record 1,845 yards.

'Direct reflection on the coaches'

By getting off to a 3-0 start this season with decisive wins against the New York Giants, Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins, everything was trending in the right direction for Garrett. Then came the 12-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints in which the offense was stunted. That was followed by a 34-24 loss to the Packers that saw the offense turn the ball over three times.

Losing to the Saints and Packers is one thing. Losing to the winless New York Jets in Week 6 is quite another -- even if quarterback Sam Darnold was back in the lineup. The Cowboys trailed 21-6 at halftime only because Brett Maher made a 62-yard field goal in the final seconds of the second quarter.

In their past three games, opponents have outscored the Cowboys 47-9 in the first half.
"How the players execute is a direct reflection on the coaches, and you have to just make sure, as a position group, coordinator, head coach, everybody who's involved in it, you have to make sure you're creating the right environment for them to take that work they do in practice to the game and execute it," Garrett said.

The three-game losing streak has exacerbated things, but Jones has consistently backed Garrett in his weekly radio appearances and after the past two games. He said on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas on Tuesday that Garrett would be "very sought after" by other teams if available. Of course, Jones backed coach Wade Phillips in 2010 right up until it became obvious players had quit on their coach in listless efforts against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Packers.

Back then, it was always clear that Garrett, who was hired before Phillips, was the heir apparent. By getting the interim job, Garrett had an eight-game audition for the full-time job. On the current staff, there is not a head-coach-in-waiting candidate. Passing game coordinator Kris Richard might be the closest, but the defense has underperformed. Kellen Moore has been the offensive coordinator for six games, so would he really be ready to run the entire operation?

It seems every time Garrett is asked about job security, either this year or in the past, he gives roughly the same answer.

"I don't really think much about that," Garrett said. "What we try to do is focus on us and what we need to do today to be our best players and coaches on a football team. That's really where my attention is."

'He's consistent. Guys know.'

Message consistency is a Garrett hallmark. Not only does every news conference start with him asking, "How we doin', guys?" -- so does every team and staff meeting.

If folks were expecting an aggressive response by Garrett to the comments of Eagles coach Doug Pederson in a radio interview -- "We're going down to Dallas, and our guys are gonna be ready to play. And we're gonna win that football game and when we do we're in first place in the NFC East" -- they have not paid close enough attention.

Pederson later attempted to clarify his comments, but it was more a parsing of words because he never used "guarantee" on the radio.

"I promise you Jason Garrett's going to say the same thing with his team, that they're going to win the football game as well," Pederson said. "I'm not going to stand up here and go on record and say, 'We're going to go down there and try to win a game,' or, 'Hopefully we can win this one.' That just doesn't show confidence, and I want to show confidence in our players."

When presented with Pederson's comments, Garrett demurred.

"My response is we're excited about the challenge," Garrett said. "Obviously, they're a great football team and we're going to focus on ourselves and what we need to do to prepare to play our best football on Sunday night."

Garrett doesn't waver. He doesn't get caught up in antics. He stays above the fray. Privately, he is different at times with his players, although Pederson's comments were not brought up in the Monday meeting with the players.

In Amazon's "All or Nothing" documentary series, which chronicled the Cowboys' 2017 season, Garrett showed a different side, complete with salty language. But if he displays publicly something different from what he has been, it can be viewed as contrived.

"It's good [Garrett remains consistent] because you know what to expect and there's no guessing on how we're going to do things, when we're going to do things," right guard Zack Martin said. "It's, 'This is how we're going to do it no matter what happens.' It keeps guys focusing on the same page. He's consistent. Guys know."

During the three-game losing streak, Garrett says practices have been good. Players say there is no eroding of the belief in what the coaches are teaching and the plans they are putting together.

It is 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 all over again.

Garrett has survived the hot seat each time. And everybody is about to find out if he can survive again.

 

[yimyammer]

That damn good.

I'm not buying it, the NFL is different game & OU gets the best talent in the country year in & out, that ain't happening with the Cowboys plus whatever he does bring to the table will be hamstrung by jeri & spawn (true for any new coach)

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Yeah, I find it funny that no one ever asks if Riley would even want this job. He's a college coach and he's happy with one of the best jobs in the country. Unlike some college coaches, he loves recruiting. He basically gets to run everything there, which would never happen here. Switzer will tell him, just like he used to tell Stoops, that a top college job like Oklahoma is better than a pro job.

I just don't see it until and unless he fails to win a NC the next few years and fans there get spoiled and want a change.

 

[Rev]

I'm not buying it, the NFL is different game & OU gets the best talent in the country year in & out, that ain't happening with the Cowboys plus whatever he does bring to the table will be hamstrung by jeri & spawn (true for any new coach)

They just showed on ESPN that at least one play that he runs is already being used in the pros.

 

[Sheik]

Still waiting to hear about the “Players only meeting”. That usually spells the end for a head coach.

 

[Rev]

Yeah, I find it funny that no one ever asks if Riley would even want this job. He's a college coach and he's happy with one of the best jobs in the country. Unlike some college coaches, he loves recruiting. He basically gets to run everything there, which would never happen here. Switzer will tell him, just like he used to tell Stoops, that a top college job like Oklahoma is better than a pro job.

I just don't see it until and unless he fails to win a NC the next few years and fans there get spoiled and want a change.

I think there have been several articles that have asked him about going to the pro level. Maybe not this job specifically but I seem to recall him being asked quite a bit.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

I think there have been several articles that have asked him about going to the pro level. Maybe not this job specifically but I seem to recall him being asked quite a bit.

Yes he has, several times, and he's always said he's happy there and wants to win a NC there.

Of course that's what anyone would say, but he seems to mean it.

I can see him trying the NFL at some point, but I don't think the time is right. And I'm still not sure even if he went to the pros that this is the pro job he'd want. There are franchises that would be desperate enough to give him near-full control, which won't happen here.

 

[Rev]

Yes he has, several times, and he's always said he's happy there and wants to win a NC there.

Of course that's what anyone would say, but he seems to

I can see him trying the NFL at some point, but I don't think the time is right. And I'm still not sure even if he went to the pros that this is the pro job he'd want. There are franchises that would be desperate enough to give him near-full control, which won't happen here.

We see that Jerry is stubborn and if he sees something he wants then he will go all out. I will wait and see on it but Im not counting it out.

 

[yimyammer]

They just showed on ESPN that at least one play that he runs is already being used in the pros.

well, that settles it, that should be good for 2 or 3 Super Bowls, what's jeri waiting for, get him now with 10 games left in the season

 

[Rev]

well, that settles it, that should be good for 2 or 3 Super Bowls, what's jeri waiting for, get him now with 10 games left in the season

 

[2233boys]

I almost hope Dallas loses 48-0 so Garrett is fired Monday, plus I can go to bed early.

 

[mcnuttz]

I almost hope Dallas loses 48-0 so Garrett is fired Monday, plus I can go to bed early.

It's a shame that you never got to take the bag off your head between Wade and Jason.

 

[deadrise]

Yeah, I find it funny that no one ever asks if Riley would even want this job. He's a college coach and he's happy with one of the best jobs in the country. Unlike some college coaches, he loves recruiting. He basically gets to run everything there, which would never happen here. Switzer will tell him, just like he used to tell Stoops, that a top college job like Oklahoma is better than a pro job.

I just don't see it until and unless he fails to win a NC the next few years and fans there get spoiled and want a change.

Riley is the latest example of the Cowboy fan messiah complex. If fans just close their eyes and wish real hard, Riley, the messiah, will magically appear somehow and leads this shitful organization off into the promised land.

 

[Rev]

Riley is the latest example of the Cowboy fan messiah complex. If fans just close their eyes and wish real hard, Riley, the messiah, will magically appear somehow and leads this shitful organization off into the promised land.

Once again.... Jerry is not going to sell the team so what else are fans suppose to do? We all might as well stop visiting message boards.

 

[deadrise]

Once again.... Jerry is not going to sell the team so what else are fans suppose to do? We all might as well stop visiting message boards.

What's the alternative? Just take another hit on the hash pipe and operate in some kind of never-never land? I mean, fantasizing about some college coach who, as you said, has no connection or no apparent interest in coaching the Cowboys?

Is the message board worth that level of delusion -- or desperation?