January, 25, 2013
By Calvin Watkins | ESPNDallas.com
We left for the Senior Bowl on Monday looking for answers.
All we got from Dallas Cowboys' officials was confusion.
What we do know is Jason Garrett won't call plays in 2013. Jerry Jones didn't say who would call plays, but all indications are offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Bill Callahan will do so.
The confusing thing about this is Jones sounded like a man trying to protect Garrett from a demotion. Now Garrett is still the head coach, but losing the playcalling duties to become a walk-around head coach, is a drastic change in thinking from Jones. It was just a few months ago where Jones was telling a story of how Joe Gibbs, the former Washington Redskins coach, said it was best for a head coach to call either the offense or defense plays. If you have a coach do it this way, Gibbs said, it gives the appearance the coach had a hand in a victory or a defeat.
Jones hired coaches such as Chan Gailey, Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett under this thinking. Now it seems Jones is changing things. He points out that Garrett will still have a hand in the day-to-day operations of the football team. Well, that's fine and good, because he's always had that.
Garrett has two years remaining on his contract and if this whole thing doesn't work out with him in 2013, it's clear he won't get another year to fix it. It seems Jones it taking more power away from Garrett by the day.
The only power we've seen Garrett have is interviewing offensive coaches. The Cowboys need a running backs and tight ends coach and most likely a wide receivers coach.
Garrett conducted interviews at the Senior Bowl with various coaches, ducking out after watching a few moments of practices to greet coaches. It sounded like Garrett was interviewing people for White House cabinet seats.
There was another confusion message sent out by the Cowboys from the Senior Bowl. It appears in one report, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, that Garrett blamed the release of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan on a lack of turnovers.
The Dallas Morning News countered that Garrett's comments about Ryan were taken out of context.
A few weeks ago, Jones said on KRLD-FM that part of the reason he let Ryan go was because of two losses, at Seattle and Chicago, games he felt the defense should have took more control of.
Wait, there's more.
Wide receivers coach Jimmy Robinson wasn't with the team in Mobile. Jones said Robinson is still on staff but something might change with his status. What could that be? It might be a personal issue that allows Robinson to leave the day-to-day operations of working with Garrett. But for now, we believe he's still on the staff, but not really.
The topper of the time in Mobile was Jay Ratliff's arrest for being charged with allegedly driving while intoxicated in Grapevine, Texas. The incident occurred early Tuesday morning, at 12:36 a.m. Jones talked with reporters around noon and was asked about a tiff he had with Ratliff and if that would have any baring on his status with the team.
Jones indicated it didn't and compared it to father and son having a typical argument. Did Jones know about Ratliff's arrest when speaking with reporters in Mobile?
We don't know. By saying he forgave Ratliff for a heated argument the two had during the season is one thing. Can Jones forgive Ratliff for getting arrested, too?
It's all confusion right now at Valley Ranch. Hopefully in the next few days we can get some answers that continue to go unanswered.
By Calvin Watkins | ESPNDallas.com
We left for the Senior Bowl on Monday looking for answers.
All we got from Dallas Cowboys' officials was confusion.
What we do know is Jason Garrett won't call plays in 2013. Jerry Jones didn't say who would call plays, but all indications are offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Bill Callahan will do so.
The confusing thing about this is Jones sounded like a man trying to protect Garrett from a demotion. Now Garrett is still the head coach, but losing the playcalling duties to become a walk-around head coach, is a drastic change in thinking from Jones. It was just a few months ago where Jones was telling a story of how Joe Gibbs, the former Washington Redskins coach, said it was best for a head coach to call either the offense or defense plays. If you have a coach do it this way, Gibbs said, it gives the appearance the coach had a hand in a victory or a defeat.
Jones hired coaches such as Chan Gailey, Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett under this thinking. Now it seems Jones is changing things. He points out that Garrett will still have a hand in the day-to-day operations of the football team. Well, that's fine and good, because he's always had that.
Garrett has two years remaining on his contract and if this whole thing doesn't work out with him in 2013, it's clear he won't get another year to fix it. It seems Jones it taking more power away from Garrett by the day.
The only power we've seen Garrett have is interviewing offensive coaches. The Cowboys need a running backs and tight ends coach and most likely a wide receivers coach.
Garrett conducted interviews at the Senior Bowl with various coaches, ducking out after watching a few moments of practices to greet coaches. It sounded like Garrett was interviewing people for White House cabinet seats.
There was another confusion message sent out by the Cowboys from the Senior Bowl. It appears in one report, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, that Garrett blamed the release of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan on a lack of turnovers.
The Dallas Morning News countered that Garrett's comments about Ryan were taken out of context.
A few weeks ago, Jones said on KRLD-FM that part of the reason he let Ryan go was because of two losses, at Seattle and Chicago, games he felt the defense should have took more control of.
Wait, there's more.
Wide receivers coach Jimmy Robinson wasn't with the team in Mobile. Jones said Robinson is still on staff but something might change with his status. What could that be? It might be a personal issue that allows Robinson to leave the day-to-day operations of working with Garrett. But for now, we believe he's still on the staff, but not really.
The topper of the time in Mobile was Jay Ratliff's arrest for being charged with allegedly driving while intoxicated in Grapevine, Texas. The incident occurred early Tuesday morning, at 12:36 a.m. Jones talked with reporters around noon and was asked about a tiff he had with Ratliff and if that would have any baring on his status with the team.
Jones indicated it didn't and compared it to father and son having a typical argument. Did Jones know about Ratliff's arrest when speaking with reporters in Mobile?
We don't know. By saying he forgave Ratliff for a heated argument the two had during the season is one thing. Can Jones forgive Ratliff for getting arrested, too?
It's all confusion right now at Valley Ranch. Hopefully in the next few days we can get some answers that continue to go unanswered.
