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Posted Sunday, Jul. 25, 2010
By Jennifer Floyd Engel
jenfloyd@ star-telegram.com
SAN ANTONIO -- The shelf life on up-and-coming is not what it used to be, say a decade or so ago when reputations were not so fluid.
It used to be a couple of really terrifically bad seasons were required for "can't coach" rules to apply, and even "cc" coaches usually were recycled in the NFL.
Not nowadays, not for play callers, certainly not for Cowboy play callers.
Jason Garrett was the iPhone4 of NFL assistant coaches two off-seasons ago, a must have. Everybody wanted to hire him. Two teams tried. He stayed, and things have steadily gone downhill since.
If you define downhill as building and sustaining a period of the most prolific offensive production in Cowboys history, which apparently many do. His detractors have somehow convinced a growing faction that Garrett either has gotten progressively worse; or was not very good to begin with; or is in need of being fired immediately.
I define downhill differently, the Coslet year, if an example is needed.
And that is why I giggle at this idea that Garrett became an idiot overnight somehow and has to prove himself this season. He is a good OC, a damn good OC, actually. And if left alone, he will one day be a very good head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
"It doesn't surprise me," longtime and since retired Cowboy scouting director Larry Lacewell said Sunday from Cowboys training camp. "But I have watched too many of them, the rise and fall, the fall and rise, and it is always the same. We live in a world of expectation. He did good in Year 1, and people want better the next year. They certainly do not want it any less, and that is not the NFL."
Contrary to popular opinion, I do admit when I am wrong.
I am just not wrong about The RHG; that is The Redheaded Genius, Garrett for those uninitiated to the lingo of this space. Neither is Lacewell.
The very reasons he became The RHG during his first year -- and monikers like Red Jesus flying around suggest I was hardly alone in this love -- still apply. The guy is smart, scary smart. And what smart people do is always improve.
The RHG did not spend his off-season celebrating stats, however warranted guys like Miles Austin and Tony Romo believe such a celebration to be. He solicited opinions from people in the league, not simply about his offense but himself. He read and studied and then there was the film, a lot of film.
"We watched games over and over and over again and in a lot of ways over and over and over again," Garrett said. "We watched them by play, by situation, in regular sequence.... This was good. This wasn't so good. We shouldn't have called that then. We shouldn't have put him in that position, all kinds of stuff.
"Now there is some good stuff in there, too, and you have to recognize that and keep building on the good stuff and address the things that weren't quite as good."
So what did he determine he personally had to work on?
"Everything," he said.
Trust me when I say, this is the answer you want to hear if you are a fan of the Cowboys. You do not want the guy who says nothing, or suggests only minor tweaks are needed. That is the guy the league jumps up and bites in the butt, the guy who is looking at his pretty stats and wondering why he has nothing to show for it.
The beauty of The RHG is not that he is without flaws, because there was plenty to criticize from a year ago, starting with a few of his goal-line calls. The beauty is he sought out the criticism, heaped a fair amount on himself and has been working diligently on solutions.
"He evaluates not only the team but himself," Romo said. "He consistently is adding things, throwing things out but sticking with his core beliefs."
There is always scrutiny. There will be a lot this season, everybody wanting to see if and how he will keep all of his many weapons happy and involved.
"They understand everybody is going to feel like there is more meat on the bone, if you just had thrown me the ball, if you had just handed me the ball, if you had just done this," Garrett said. "But they understand that if we win there are spoils for everyone."
Included in this almost certainly would be Garrett's return to the ranks of up-and-coming, and subsequent job offers.
It would have been silly to ask Garrett if he'd go this time or if he regrets not going last time. He is guarded on far less inflammatory topics and not at all likely to talk about what he might do. I got the feeling, though, that this is the job he wants.
And it should be his job at some point.
Because while the shelf life on up-and-coming is not what it used to be, the shelf life on regret -- if you are, say, the teams who prematurely bailed on Sean Payton -- has stayed pretty much the same.
Long, and painful.
Jennifer Floyd Engel
817-390-7697
By Jennifer Floyd Engel
jenfloyd@ star-telegram.com
SAN ANTONIO -- The shelf life on up-and-coming is not what it used to be, say a decade or so ago when reputations were not so fluid.
It used to be a couple of really terrifically bad seasons were required for "can't coach" rules to apply, and even "cc" coaches usually were recycled in the NFL.
Not nowadays, not for play callers, certainly not for Cowboy play callers.
Jason Garrett was the iPhone4 of NFL assistant coaches two off-seasons ago, a must have. Everybody wanted to hire him. Two teams tried. He stayed, and things have steadily gone downhill since.
If you define downhill as building and sustaining a period of the most prolific offensive production in Cowboys history, which apparently many do. His detractors have somehow convinced a growing faction that Garrett either has gotten progressively worse; or was not very good to begin with; or is in need of being fired immediately.
I define downhill differently, the Coslet year, if an example is needed.
And that is why I giggle at this idea that Garrett became an idiot overnight somehow and has to prove himself this season. He is a good OC, a damn good OC, actually. And if left alone, he will one day be a very good head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
"It doesn't surprise me," longtime and since retired Cowboy scouting director Larry Lacewell said Sunday from Cowboys training camp. "But I have watched too many of them, the rise and fall, the fall and rise, and it is always the same. We live in a world of expectation. He did good in Year 1, and people want better the next year. They certainly do not want it any less, and that is not the NFL."
Contrary to popular opinion, I do admit when I am wrong.
I am just not wrong about The RHG; that is The Redheaded Genius, Garrett for those uninitiated to the lingo of this space. Neither is Lacewell.
The very reasons he became The RHG during his first year -- and monikers like Red Jesus flying around suggest I was hardly alone in this love -- still apply. The guy is smart, scary smart. And what smart people do is always improve.
The RHG did not spend his off-season celebrating stats, however warranted guys like Miles Austin and Tony Romo believe such a celebration to be. He solicited opinions from people in the league, not simply about his offense but himself. He read and studied and then there was the film, a lot of film.
"We watched games over and over and over again and in a lot of ways over and over and over again," Garrett said. "We watched them by play, by situation, in regular sequence.... This was good. This wasn't so good. We shouldn't have called that then. We shouldn't have put him in that position, all kinds of stuff.
"Now there is some good stuff in there, too, and you have to recognize that and keep building on the good stuff and address the things that weren't quite as good."
So what did he determine he personally had to work on?
"Everything," he said.
Trust me when I say, this is the answer you want to hear if you are a fan of the Cowboys. You do not want the guy who says nothing, or suggests only minor tweaks are needed. That is the guy the league jumps up and bites in the butt, the guy who is looking at his pretty stats and wondering why he has nothing to show for it.
The beauty of The RHG is not that he is without flaws, because there was plenty to criticize from a year ago, starting with a few of his goal-line calls. The beauty is he sought out the criticism, heaped a fair amount on himself and has been working diligently on solutions.
"He evaluates not only the team but himself," Romo said. "He consistently is adding things, throwing things out but sticking with his core beliefs."
There is always scrutiny. There will be a lot this season, everybody wanting to see if and how he will keep all of his many weapons happy and involved.
"They understand everybody is going to feel like there is more meat on the bone, if you just had thrown me the ball, if you had just handed me the ball, if you had just done this," Garrett said. "But they understand that if we win there are spoils for everyone."
Included in this almost certainly would be Garrett's return to the ranks of up-and-coming, and subsequent job offers.
It would have been silly to ask Garrett if he'd go this time or if he regrets not going last time. He is guarded on far less inflammatory topics and not at all likely to talk about what he might do. I got the feeling, though, that this is the job he wants.
And it should be his job at some point.
Because while the shelf life on up-and-coming is not what it used to be, the shelf life on regret -- if you are, say, the teams who prematurely bailed on Sean Payton -- has stayed pretty much the same.
Long, and painful.
Jennifer Floyd Engel
817-390-7697