- Messages
- 3,665
- Reaction score
- 22
Blame the head coach for Cowboys' loss, too
Link
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 adverse 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.
Link
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 adverse 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.
