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By Michael Lombardi Nov 25, 2019
Reality might have finally hit Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones right in the mouth. After Sunday’s 13-9 loss to the Patriots in cold, windy, rainy Foxboro, the Cowboys owner finally admitted that he has grave concerns about the coaching staff, which is helmed by head coach Jason Garrett. “With the makeup of this team, I shouldn’t be this frustrated,” Jones told reporters after the game.
You know what? He is right. His team is too talented and has too many top-level players to be sitting only slightly above the .500 mark — even though they are in first place in the NFC East. But why is Jerry blaming the coaching when he needs to blame himself?
Jerry’s frustration with the coaching is a reflection of him — in part because he wants a coach who will do what he wants, what he says, and who will always comply with his organizational structure. Jones was probably sitting in his owner’s box yesterday saying to himself “if Bill Belichick was coaching my team, we might be undefeated, and if Garrett was coaching the Patriots, they might be 4-7.” You had to think that thought crossed his mind because the entire Cowboy nation of fans was thinking the same thing. That thought is one thousand percent wrong. Anyone who believes that does not understand what occurs below the surface when Belichick is preparing his team for a game or the season. The attention to detail, the hard practices, the demanding coaching are all part of the Patriots’ culture—which requires Belichick to control the roster, the coaches, the narrative about the team, and most of all, the team’s environment.
Belichick wins in large part due to the culture he has established; meanwhile, Jerry could care less about culture. How could he? He learned how to run the team from Al Davis, the former owner of the Raiders, who, like Jerry, believed great talent will always prevail. Talent alone worked for Al in the 1960s and ’70s, but as football strategy moved from checkers to chess, with some coaches like Bill Parcells, Joe Gibbs and Bill Walsh being grandmaster chess players, talent alone could never prevail. A coach has to make the talent better; a coach has to demonstrate value. If coaching salaries continue to rise, the value of the coach becomes paramount. Davis was not a fan of paying big money for coaches; he wanted to groom young coaches, teach them his way, then reward them for their work. Jerry is different than Davis in that he will pay top dollar for his coach. Being the smart, successful businessman that Jones has always been, he must be asking himself, ‘what benefits do I receive from paying top dollar to Garrett?’
Two years ago, I nicknamed Garrett “The Clapper” because it was apparent to me that all he does is clap. His impact on the team is non-existent; in a sense, he does not impact the offense, defense, or the kicking game. The television cameras are always showing him, yet he never looks at the Microsoft Surface to examine what happened in the game; we never really see him looking at the play clips, huddling with the players during a break in the action, or scanning a call sheet, and we never even really see him needing to cover his mouth because he rarely speaks. The television people don’t have to look for him as he is always in the same spot. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever heard any player say, “Garrett made me better, he showed me how to play the game.” Nor do I notice any variances in his schemes from game to game, which would demonstrate Garrett’s involvement.
The Cowboys are the same each week, they rely on talent to win, they rely on players to play well. But they don’t do the little things to help make a player better. A recent example is how they didn’t help wide receiver Amari Cooper get away from Patriots corner Stephon Gilmore on Sunday. Garrett had to know that Belichick’s number one objective each week is to take away his opponent’s number one receiver. He was not going to allow Cooper to have a big day. If receiver Randall Cobb or tight end Jason Witten played well and caused the Patriots to lose, then Belichick would accept the consequences. But if Cooper had a big day and was the reason why the Patriots lost, Belichick would not be able to live with himself. Garrett has to know this! I mean, come on … even if he didn’t read my book Gridiron Genius — which details how Belichick draws up his game plan every week — Garrett had to know Belichick’s gameplan. It’s common knowledge. So if Garrett knew beforehand, why didn’t he find creative ways to allow Cooper to escape Gilmore? Why didn’t he do something to help his receiver? Do you think the Patriots or 49ers would let the opponent take away the best player without knowing the adjustments beforehand?
And why did quarterback Dak Prescott have to put on a glove in the second quarter because of the steady rain affecting the footballs? Do you think the Cowboys practiced with frozen footballs drenched in water? Of course not … but the Patriots did. The answers to both questions are Garrett never prepares for the situation; he only can react.
Football is a game of the tiniest details that require constant attention. A head coach cannot start screaming about the value of special teams the week they are playing the Patriots. Placing importance on the kicking game must hold institutional importance every single day. Yes, the ‘Boys have a great kicker in Brett Maher, but they rank last in the NFL in kickoff returns and are 24th in covering kicks, 27th in punting and 29th in punt returns.
Jones said after the game, “Special teams is a total reflection of coaching.” That statement is not entirely accurate. Special teams is a total reflection of the time devoted to it, the importance placed on it by the head coach. If the head coach believes the kicking game matters, then the team will create an advantage in the kicking game. Special teams are not sexy, yet in a game affected by weather, having excellent field position matters, which is why Belichick stresses the importance of special teams each week, starting in the off-season workdays. You cannot blame the special teams coordinator Keith O’Quinn for all the problems with ball handling, coverage and knowing where to align your returners when the wind is blowing at their backs. Why didn’t Garrett notice his returners were too far back when the Patriots kicked off into the wind? Why didn’t he react? Sure, you can blame O’Quinn, but the deeper blame lies with the man who does not handle any details — the head coach.
Jones has had two great coaches to observe during his time as owner — Jimmy Johnson, who in my opinion should be a Hall of Fame coach, and Bill Parcells, who is one. Both are nothing like Garrett, both are demanding, both value the kicking game and both coached hard on Sunday. Both men made the players better, they adjusted their game plans each week and knew that winning games at the highest level requires attention to the smallest details. Jones had a challenging relationship with both men because both men wanted to coach the team a certain way, in their own style.
After Sunday’s loss, Jones said that this was “a bigger game for us than it was for the Patriots on the win column. We had a chance to really establish something and there’s no gratification here of sitting here and being down to the last drive to determining maybe the outcome of the game that’s not the point. You can’t be satisfied with how we got out there…I don’t care if it is New England this year with their record and their coach and all of that. You can’t be satisfied just because you got to within the last drive to maybe go ahead.”
Jones cannot be satisfied either. He needs to decide: does he want to win his way or is he willing to hire a coach who coaches the whole team, and who can lead the organization? Cowboy fans can blame The Clapper, but the one who deserves the most blame is their owner — because unless Jones changes, he will always have a talented team, but not a championship team.
Reality might have finally hit Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones right in the mouth. After Sunday’s 13-9 loss to the Patriots in cold, windy, rainy Foxboro, the Cowboys owner finally admitted that he has grave concerns about the coaching staff, which is helmed by head coach Jason Garrett. “With the makeup of this team, I shouldn’t be this frustrated,” Jones told reporters after the game.
You know what? He is right. His team is too talented and has too many top-level players to be sitting only slightly above the .500 mark — even though they are in first place in the NFC East. But why is Jerry blaming the coaching when he needs to blame himself?
Jerry’s frustration with the coaching is a reflection of him — in part because he wants a coach who will do what he wants, what he says, and who will always comply with his organizational structure. Jones was probably sitting in his owner’s box yesterday saying to himself “if Bill Belichick was coaching my team, we might be undefeated, and if Garrett was coaching the Patriots, they might be 4-7.” You had to think that thought crossed his mind because the entire Cowboy nation of fans was thinking the same thing. That thought is one thousand percent wrong. Anyone who believes that does not understand what occurs below the surface when Belichick is preparing his team for a game or the season. The attention to detail, the hard practices, the demanding coaching are all part of the Patriots’ culture—which requires Belichick to control the roster, the coaches, the narrative about the team, and most of all, the team’s environment.
Belichick wins in large part due to the culture he has established; meanwhile, Jerry could care less about culture. How could he? He learned how to run the team from Al Davis, the former owner of the Raiders, who, like Jerry, believed great talent will always prevail. Talent alone worked for Al in the 1960s and ’70s, but as football strategy moved from checkers to chess, with some coaches like Bill Parcells, Joe Gibbs and Bill Walsh being grandmaster chess players, talent alone could never prevail. A coach has to make the talent better; a coach has to demonstrate value. If coaching salaries continue to rise, the value of the coach becomes paramount. Davis was not a fan of paying big money for coaches; he wanted to groom young coaches, teach them his way, then reward them for their work. Jerry is different than Davis in that he will pay top dollar for his coach. Being the smart, successful businessman that Jones has always been, he must be asking himself, ‘what benefits do I receive from paying top dollar to Garrett?’
Two years ago, I nicknamed Garrett “The Clapper” because it was apparent to me that all he does is clap. His impact on the team is non-existent; in a sense, he does not impact the offense, defense, or the kicking game. The television cameras are always showing him, yet he never looks at the Microsoft Surface to examine what happened in the game; we never really see him looking at the play clips, huddling with the players during a break in the action, or scanning a call sheet, and we never even really see him needing to cover his mouth because he rarely speaks. The television people don’t have to look for him as he is always in the same spot. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever heard any player say, “Garrett made me better, he showed me how to play the game.” Nor do I notice any variances in his schemes from game to game, which would demonstrate Garrett’s involvement.
The Cowboys are the same each week, they rely on talent to win, they rely on players to play well. But they don’t do the little things to help make a player better. A recent example is how they didn’t help wide receiver Amari Cooper get away from Patriots corner Stephon Gilmore on Sunday. Garrett had to know that Belichick’s number one objective each week is to take away his opponent’s number one receiver. He was not going to allow Cooper to have a big day. If receiver Randall Cobb or tight end Jason Witten played well and caused the Patriots to lose, then Belichick would accept the consequences. But if Cooper had a big day and was the reason why the Patriots lost, Belichick would not be able to live with himself. Garrett has to know this! I mean, come on … even if he didn’t read my book Gridiron Genius — which details how Belichick draws up his game plan every week — Garrett had to know Belichick’s gameplan. It’s common knowledge. So if Garrett knew beforehand, why didn’t he find creative ways to allow Cooper to escape Gilmore? Why didn’t he do something to help his receiver? Do you think the Patriots or 49ers would let the opponent take away the best player without knowing the adjustments beforehand?
And why did quarterback Dak Prescott have to put on a glove in the second quarter because of the steady rain affecting the footballs? Do you think the Cowboys practiced with frozen footballs drenched in water? Of course not … but the Patriots did. The answers to both questions are Garrett never prepares for the situation; he only can react.
Football is a game of the tiniest details that require constant attention. A head coach cannot start screaming about the value of special teams the week they are playing the Patriots. Placing importance on the kicking game must hold institutional importance every single day. Yes, the ‘Boys have a great kicker in Brett Maher, but they rank last in the NFL in kickoff returns and are 24th in covering kicks, 27th in punting and 29th in punt returns.
Jones said after the game, “Special teams is a total reflection of coaching.” That statement is not entirely accurate. Special teams is a total reflection of the time devoted to it, the importance placed on it by the head coach. If the head coach believes the kicking game matters, then the team will create an advantage in the kicking game. Special teams are not sexy, yet in a game affected by weather, having excellent field position matters, which is why Belichick stresses the importance of special teams each week, starting in the off-season workdays. You cannot blame the special teams coordinator Keith O’Quinn for all the problems with ball handling, coverage and knowing where to align your returners when the wind is blowing at their backs. Why didn’t Garrett notice his returners were too far back when the Patriots kicked off into the wind? Why didn’t he react? Sure, you can blame O’Quinn, but the deeper blame lies with the man who does not handle any details — the head coach.
Jones has had two great coaches to observe during his time as owner — Jimmy Johnson, who in my opinion should be a Hall of Fame coach, and Bill Parcells, who is one. Both are nothing like Garrett, both are demanding, both value the kicking game and both coached hard on Sunday. Both men made the players better, they adjusted their game plans each week and knew that winning games at the highest level requires attention to the smallest details. Jones had a challenging relationship with both men because both men wanted to coach the team a certain way, in their own style.
After Sunday’s loss, Jones said that this was “a bigger game for us than it was for the Patriots on the win column. We had a chance to really establish something and there’s no gratification here of sitting here and being down to the last drive to determining maybe the outcome of the game that’s not the point. You can’t be satisfied with how we got out there…I don’t care if it is New England this year with their record and their coach and all of that. You can’t be satisfied just because you got to within the last drive to maybe go ahead.”
Jones cannot be satisfied either. He needs to decide: does he want to win his way or is he willing to hire a coach who coaches the whole team, and who can lead the organization? Cowboy fans can blame The Clapper, but the one who deserves the most blame is their owner — because unless Jones changes, he will always have a talented team, but not a championship team.
