McMahon: If Cowboys improve, Jerry might admit mistake

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July, 27, 2013

By Tim MacMahon | ESPNDallas.com



OXNARD, Calif. -- Jerry Jones isn't quite ready to admit he made a mistake by insisting that Jason Garrett called plays the last two seasons.

But the Cowboys’ owner/general manager hopes the error of his ways will be clear after this year, now that Garrett has given up play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Callahan.

“The answer is, if it works and we break out of this 8-8 cycle on a positive basis, then I will wish that we’d have done it a couple of years earlier,” Jones said.

Jones realized after consecutive 8-8 seasons in Garrett’s first two full years as a head coach that his long-held belief that a head coach should have play-calling duties needed to be reconsidered. Suddenly, Jones decided that employing a “walkaround” head coach wasn’t such a bad idea.

Jimmy Johnson, the most successful Cowboys head coach in Jones’ tenure, tried convincing Jones and Garrett into delegating play-calling duties after Garrett’s promotion. However, Jones valued former Redskins coach Joe Gibbs’ opinion over Johnson’s.

“I felt that when he did become the head coach, the head coach being the coordinator on one side of the ball or the other [was best for the team],” Jones said. “And I’ve said that, and I got that really as much as anybody from Joe Gibbs. But we’ve got a game today that has expanded the scope of things to concentrate on. It’s just more than it was in years past, and we’ll benefit from that [change].”

So, in hindsight, was Jones wrong?

“Not really, because he knew that part of it,” Jones said. “That’s the most comfortable he was in his shoes. I could see where that would be the most comfortable he was, is having and being with the team in an offensive [role], using his knowledge and his background on offense.

“He still uses it, though. He still is obviously in real command of what we’re doing, so we benefit from that. Usually, a head coach has expertise on one side or the other and to some degree is a little bit reliant on the side of the ball that he didn’t spend his position coaching career. He’s usually, I’m not going to say hostage, but he’s counting on that other side of the ball to be pretty much delegated.

“To the extent that Jason with his skills can have better knowledge over on the other side of the ball, we’ll benefit from. And I see that. That’s what I see as our benefit, is that he’ll have and is and will have more attention to the whole picture, and certainly I think that’ll pay off for us in game-planning, game management, all of those areas.”

If it works this season, it’s fair to wonder whether the Cowboys could have made the playoffs the last two years if the owner/general manager – and head coach, for that matter – wasn’t so stubborn on the issue.
 

Jon88

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Jimmy knows more about Garrett than Joe Gibbs.

It doesn't surprise me he took Gibbs advice.
 

Hoofbite

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Jerry's been talking about Joe Gibbs advice for so long I'm starting to think he's trying to convince people he made the right move by tuggin on Joe's dick......because Gibbs would never make a mistake or some shit like that.

Jerry's so full of shit, "the game has changed since 2 years ago"........whatever.

Go fuck yourself, Jerry.

Broaddus tweeted the other day that he's noticing some different things in the Redzone.

Said that TE's and occupying the middle of the field more and that the backs are being swung out into the flats. Pretty basic stuff but apparently shit that wasn't happening with Garrett.

I'm calling it right now. If the Redzone production increases, the company line (and homer claim) will be that it was a "collective effort". This will allow them to both acknowledge that what they were doing before wasn't working while at the same time avoiding making Jason look incompetent.
 
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I have been saying this all along. What happens when a legitimate and experienced offensive coordinator with full understanding of attacking a defense, sustaining drives and scoring points as a result of those drives, comes in (maybe Callahan) and manufactures yards and points using basically the same players that Jason had?

I don't remember who said it but one of you referred to Miles as "Romo made". Any success that this offense has had in yards could only come from a QB with Romo-type skills. One of the reasons that Cutler and Rivers were failing, getting sacked, and throwing basically into coverage on every play is that they do not have the mobile or fluid athleticism that Romo has - I used those two as an example because they were using the same scheme as Romo but having much less completion and yards gained. After Cam Cameron was fired from the Ravens for basically not running enough (in the same scheme that Dallas runs), Caldwell modified the play calling to a very simplified form, and let Flacco make plays.

Another interesting scenario is if Romo's input into the offense directly results in Dallas running the ball a great deal more than any time since 2007, using trick plays, and reducing both Romo's sacks and interception possibilities (meaning: passes into coverage because players are not open), does that mean that Jason as OC has been counterproductive to the offense and detrimental to Romo?

I wonder if Romo requested more input to communicate to Jerry that the current plays are not working. Matt Mosely or Todd Archer said that Romo had some plays that he designed and wanted to run but Jason would not call them until the Bengal, Raven and Browns games of last year. I wonder if Romo complained.
 
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When Garret was an interim head coach after the Son of Bum was canned, I don't think it was so obvious that the HD OC combo was too much for Garrett.

But Jerry should have known after Garrett's first full season as head coach -- it was obvious at that time that both roles were too much. Last year was just more of the same.

It is one thing to initially trust what Joe Gibbs tells you. It is another thing to ignore the obvious. Jerry ignored the obvious for at least a year in this case.
 
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I think one of the problems with having the HC also the OC is the team feels divided. The defense is over there and offense over here type deal. Now Garrett can spend more time with the defense which will result in him getting some credit for their success and failures.
 

Jon88

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Jerry is learning on the job and he's a slow learner. There's no question any one of us could be a better GM.
 

ThoughtExperiment

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Oh God. So MacMahon is now buying into the idea that it was Jerry forcing Garrett to do something he didn't want to do?

Red wanted to call plays from the start and he never wanted to give it up. That is obvious from his reactions when his playcalling was questioned and then taken away.
 

JBond

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Jones realized after consecutive 8-8 seasons in Garrett’s first two full years as a head coach that his long-held belief that a head coach should have play-calling duties needed to be reconsidered. Suddenly, Jones decided that employing a “walkaround” head coach wasn’t such a bad idea.

So JJ made it mandatory for Big Red to call plays? WTF? Does James Carville work for the Cowboys? So much freaking spin comes out of that place.
 
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Oh God. So MacMahon is now buying into the idea that it was Jerry forcing Garrett to do something he didn't want to do?

Red wanted to call plays from the start and he never wanted to give it up. That is obvious from his reactions when his playcalling was questioned and then taken away.

I think that Jerry and Garrett both wanted Garrett to handle the play calling.

I remember how Jerry made such a big deal about hiring Wade as Head Coach and DC because Jerry thought it was so important that a Head Coach also be a coordinator. Jerry said this multiple times and appeared to believe it at the time (which struck me as curious given that Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer ... those would be the two coaches with whom Jerry won championships ... were head coaches but not OC or DC.).
 

ThoughtExperiment

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I think that was just spin from Jerry. Remember, Wade did have a DC at first. So did Campo with Zimmer. Jerry never brought out that Gibbs advice until Brian Stewart was fired. In fact, I think Gailey was the only other coach who was his own coordinator at first.

Anyway, I agree with you that both guys wanted Garrett to call plays. I just don't buy this spin Garrett secretly wanted to hand playcalling to someone else but Jerry made him do it. I don't see how anybody who pays attention can honestly claim that.
 
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Jason was lauded by Jerry, Aikman, the Dolphin coaches, Norv Turner, etc as a bright offensive mind. In a Sporting News article, Aikman siad that Garrett could be president of the US someday, and his evidence for how bright Jason came from a time on the 90s team where Garrett was drawing up plays "Hey 8-Ball, look at this play".

So Jason's entire coaching value, experience and expertise came from his offensive reputation (for himself and peers). This is really the only thing he really knows well. There would be a certain insulting irony to give Jason a HC position, based on his offensive brilliance but then to bring an OC that does not reflect Jason's views on offense. Judging from what Todd Archer said about Jason not even allowing Romo's plays in his offense, Jason is a stubborn defender of his "system". But I think he stubbornly defends because he really has nothing else to contribute to the team.

Think about how even when he was an OC, the offense did no quicksnaps, hard counts, playaction disappeared over the years, trickplays, hail marys, unique formations, etc that Belichick, Landry, Tomlin, Payton, McCarthy, Gilbride, etc all used at least situationally and as needed. Jason was and is ill-prepared to make decisions that manufacture success in the moment and against the opponent's weakness.
 

Hoofbite

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Jason was lauded by Jerry, Aikman, the Dolphin coaches, Norv Turner, etc as a bright offensive mind. In a Sporting News article, Aikman siad that Garrett could be president of the US someday, and his evidence for how bright Jason came from a time on the 90s team where Garrett was drawing up plays "Hey 8-Ball, look at this play".

So Jason's entire coaching value, experience and expertise came from his offensive reputation (for himself and peers). This is really the only thing he really knows well. There would be a certain insulting irony to give Jason a HC position, based on his offensive brilliance but then to bring an OC that does not reflect Jason's views on offense. Judging from what Todd Archer said about Jason not even allowing Romo's plays in his offense, Jason is a stubborn defender of his "system". But I think he stubbornly defends because he really has nothing else to contribute to the team.

Think about how even when he was an OC, the offense did no quicksnaps, hard counts, playaction disappeared over the years, trickplays, hail marys, unique formations, etc that Belichick, Landry, Tomlin, Payton, McCarthy, Gilbride, etc all used at least situationally and as needed. Jason was and is ill-prepared to make decisions that manufacture success in the moment and against the opponent's weakness.

For a guy who really wasn't talented enough to get on the field he sure hangs onto the idea that you can simply "out-execute" your opponent. "Line up and beat your man" bullshit that completely fails to ignore the fact that the defense probably has the same mentality, or that they might actually take a little fucking time to devise some schematic things that give them a chance to force the offense into a mistake.

From a guy who didn't have the talent to succeed on execution alone, he's sure awfully faithful to the idea that execution is all it takes.
 
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Yeah, TE, no way Garrett wanted to relinquish the play calling. And I doubt he'd have fired his own bother, either.
 

Cowboysrule122

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Jerruh should of listened to Jimmy in the first place. I mean he did win those super bowls didn't he?

It just goes to show how "football stupid" Jerry really is.
 
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