I think the window is closed. I think Romo lasting an entire season is slim to none and we go as he goes.
I also don't think Jason will ever get fired as long as Jerry is alive. He and his family are too entrenched within this organization. So it'll be Romo gets injured again, season goes down in flames again, and Jerry preaches about how Jason being a former quarterback in this league is the right guy to find the next QB... even though Jason can't even identify an adequate back up, let alone starter.
Basically this team is screwed.
Entrenched is right. It's basically when a liar who has a fairly efficient memory gets so deep into the web that he loses track of the original issue. In this case, Jason is a terrible coach, but the offense, defense and special teams could, and have, won games without any sign of his input or his influence. Romo is the passing game but the real travesty is that Jason will not allow his system to be replaced. He will not admit that it was not good enough. The entrenched part of that is that if another part of the offense were to dominate or if Jerry forced change (kind of like the indicting 2014) then the accusation would all fall on Jason.
The fact is that Weedon and Cassel were both brought in, not because of ability, but because of "knowledge of the system". Despite Weeden being a failed attempt at talent before the coming to the Cowboys and despite the fact that Jason has failure at developing QBs, the wasting of a draft pick on Cassel was Jason's insistence that he has a "system" QB. Jason wasted much needed drat picks on a RB and a WR because he did not plan that something other than his "system" would be needed. The system sorely lacked speed and suddenly there was a trade for Brice Butler who had very little anything except some preseason stats. Again if TWilly is upgraded or Streets or someone comes in and basically exposes Jason as being incompetent and stupid with personnel, his system and his management, it will show that Dallas and Romo had a chance for several years now and was wasted by Jason.
What this year basically boils down to is this: the zone-blocking success (which by the way is not the intended scheme for Coryell, linear-man power man-blocking is so that the play action is set up: that is Callahans fingerprint) and the "now corrected" zone blocking runner in Elliot (DMC is essentially being blamed for not having the right running style) will help the defense that is now theoretically upgraded to make greater stops and plays in the ball.
Both the running game and the defense were not responsible for the predictable pass plays that were intercepted and defended even with Romo playing and then those pass plays, that neither the running game nor the defense had anything to do with, were the setting that led to Romo getting hurt.
Linehan and Callahan's hands are and were cuffed in Jason's system and no matter what the running game does during the game, the personnel groupings that Jason sends out as a part of his philosophy, could eliminate any success the team has. I heard Romo talk about how "all schemes are basically the same". I would guess that Jason taught him that phrase, because it came on the heels of the Patriot pick plays and the Dallas media asking why Dallas doesn't have those "pick-type" routes. The fact is that the current scheme is very flawed and weak but Jason is desperately trying to hold on and keep the blame from going back to him. He just puts a great deal more energy into explaining and rationalizing his passing scheme than he does correcting it. Linehan, for all of his experience and creatively, said he doesn't call specific pass plays (last year was his first creating and calling running plays), he just makes "suggestions" to Romo.
Entrenched is right.
