Watkins- right call to keep Garrett

[dbair1967]

Final exam: Right call to keep Jason Garrett

January, 4, 2014

By Calvin Watkins | ESPNDallas.com

Team owner Jerry Jones said keeping Jason Garrett as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys for another season wasn't a hard decision. Jones, if anything, believes in the program Garrett has put in place at Valley Ranch and expects things to get better.

Jones has praised Garrett for his handling of the roster and maybe in some ways how the head coach has handled the owner. It's not easy coaching for the Cowboys, especially in the post-Jimmy Johnson years.

Jones is the general manager and some of his trades, Roy Williams, Joey Galloway, draft picks, Quincy Carter, Bobby Carpenter, Felix Jones, and free-agent signings and contract extensions, have been questionable.

In some ways, Jones holds a coach back with some of his personnel moves.

Garrett moves forward and picks and chooses when he needs to stand up and when he needs to chill and let the owner/general manager do his job. Garrett is 24-24 in three seasons as head coach, and lost lots of power in 2013.

Jones fired defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and hired Monte Kiffin. Jones also told Garrett to let go of the offensive play-calling duties so Bill Callahan could take over.

The Kiffin hire was a failure and while everybody believes he's a great football mind, it's clear the game is moving on without him. Callahan is also an excellent coach and should be given credit for improving the offensive line. But there were too many times in 2013 when the play calling was in question. The lack of a running game early in the season and the inability to get Dez Bryant the ball in key moments is something that needs fixing moving forward.

With the issues with the coordinators, Garrett may have seized some of his power back. Jones could say to Garrett, "Alright, this is the final year of your contract. You got control of things again."

If that's the case, then having Garrett return is a positive step. Jones doesn't believe in lame duck statuses for people because you can lose your job regardless of the contract.

Well, Garrett is back in 2014 and he's got the power now to fix the Cowboys.

 

[cmd34]

With the issues with the coordinators, Garrett may have seized some of his power back. Jones could say to Garrett, "Alright, this is the final year of your contract. You got control of things again."

That's crazy because we were all told that Garrett is completely in charge.

 

[ThoughtExperiment]

Does Garrett blow all these media guys after the PCs or what?

 

[UVAwahoos]

I'm so tired of trying to figure out ways for this clown to get fired. Between Kitna somehow rallying and then the rest of the division absolutely sucking over the last couple seasons, I've never seen someone get so lucky over and over again. He's done absolutely nothing except ruin careers. This is a Norv in SD situation where the coach lingers like a stale fart for way too long.

 

[yimyammer]

I can't believe you guys still believe things are gonna get any better with yet another coach castrated by the owner. This team is on the verge of dropping off the ledge when they lose Tony and given the salary cap mess and aging players, its gonna be hard for anyone to win here for a long time. I just hope that some of the current young guys that got to play this year can improve significantly next year because they don't have much room to sign free agents and Jerry seems to have a hard time letting go of his players when he should have cut bait years ago, so I bet we'll stay tied to Ware longer than we should (if they haven't already).

Five terrible decisions I believe are hurting this franchise to this day and for the next year or two are:

1. Trading three draft picks for Roy Williams vs solidifying the lines that could have produced a player that was ready to replace Ware, Spencer or Rat or produced a lineman that could have allowed us to avoid signing the aging vet Brian Waters.

2. Tearing up Ratliffs contract and redoing it when they finally had a tradable commodity or at least leverage over that player.

3. Trying to win while Jason was interim coach. I believe they should have made a statement and cut guys like Barber on the spot, played rookies and young players to get experience, racked up more losses and improved their draft pick in the process. Who knows what fruit an improved draft position could have reaped.

4. Signing Miles Austin vs trading him for a 2nd round pick to New York. This would have saved them a fortune in salary cap room in addition to not having to pay the 10 million fine they got nailed with.

5. By not developing a replacement for spencer they were backed into a corner and forced to franchise Spencer this year and got ZERO production from him.

Had they simply avoided extending Ratliff, not given Austin a new contract and not franchised Spencer, they would have had an extra 30,000,000 (approximately) in cap space this year plus the 2nd round pick they could have used to draft Austins replacement, plus they would have had much more flexibility in both cap space and player maneuverability and who knows who's progressed was stopped by having these roster spots filled by players that gave us nothing this year.

This doesn't even account for the horrendous draft of 2012 or other mistakes made by the front office.

The problem is the front office and GM and until that improves dramatically (if possible), changing coaches is tantamount to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

 

[Midswat]

Didn't read but I can only assume its a dumbshit article.

 

[diehard2294]

So now Watkins is guessing Garrett will have more power....he is clueless!

 

[Omegasupreme]

Callahan is also an excellent coach and should be given credit for improving the offensive line. But there were too many times in 2013 when the play calling was in question. The lack of a running game early in the season and the inability to get Dez Bryant the ball in key moments is something that needs fixing moving forward.

Zone blocking vastly improved. Running game vastly improved and borderline dominant. Callahan has a history of successful running games. Jason does not. But if the system menu automatically reduces the probability of running plays in favor of multiple options of passing plays, it's improbable that the running game will have a chance for anyone calling the plays. One of the ways Jason has an excuse and perhaps has Jerry snowed is that he can always point to the execution of the system.

 

[UVAwahoos]

I can't believe you guys still believe things are gonna get any better with yet another coach castrated by the owner. This team is on the verge of dropping off the ledge when they lose Tony and given the salary cap mess and aging players, its gonna be hard for anyone to win here for a long time. I just hope that some of the current young guys that got to play this year can improve significantly next year because they don't have much room to sign free agents and Jerry seems to have a hard time letting go of his players when he should have cut bait years ago, so I bet we'll stay tied to Ware longer than we should (if they haven't already).

Five terrible decisions I believe are hurting this franchise to this day and for the next year or two are:

1. Trading three draft picks for Roy Williams vs solidifying the lines that could have produced a player that was ready to replace Ware, Spencer or Rat or produced a lineman that could have allowed us to avoid signing the aging vet Brian Waters.

2. Tearing up Ratliffs contract and redoing it when they finally had a tradable commodity or at least leverage over that player.

3. Trying to win while Jason was interim coach. I believe they should have made a statement and cut guys like Barber on the spot, played rookies and young players to get experience, racked up more losses and improved their draft pick in the process. Who knows what fruit an improved draft position could have reaped.

4. Signing Miles Austin vs trading him for a 2nd round pick to New York. This would have saved them a fortune in salary cap room in addition to not having to pay the 10 million fine they got nailed with.

5. By not developing a replacement for spencer they were backed into a corner and forced to franchise Spencer this year and got ZERO production from him.

Had they simply avoided extending Ratliff, not given Austin a new contract and not franchised Spencer, they would have had an extra 30,000,000 (approximately) in cap space this year plus the 2nd round pick they could have used to draft Austins replacement, plus they would have had much more flexibility in both cap space and player maneuverability and who knows who's progressed was stopped by having these roster spots filled by players that gave us nothing this year.

This doesn't even account for the horrendous draft of 2012 or other mistakes made by the front office.

The problem is the front office and GM and until that improves dramatically (if possible), changing coaches is tantamount to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

All of this is good and dandy except that we have a coach directly responsible for costing us at least 2 games each season over the last two years. During that time, he's also failed to develop or acquire effective young players and coaches. He's bleeding the talent pool dry and doing nothing to help replenish it. There have been franchises like KC and SF in equally (or more) dire straights and you see what guys like Reid and Harbaugh were able to do in just one offseason.

When you have a coach costing you games, playoff appearances, and the ability to develop and learn through those appearances, it certainly doesn't make any sense to keep him around, particularly when you've seen firsthand what competent coaches can do.

 

[yimyammer]

All of this is good and dandy except that we have a coach directly responsible for costing us at least 2 games each season over the last two years. During that time, he's also failed to develop or acquire effective young players and coaches. He's bleeding the talent pool dry and doing nothing to help replenish it. There have been franchises like KC and SF in equally (or more) dire straights and you see what guys like Reid and Harbaugh were able to do in just one offseason.

When you have a coach costing you games, playoff appearances, and the ability to develop and learn through those appearances, it certainly doesn't make any sense to keep him around, particularly when you've seen firsthand what competent coaches can do.

Garrett has many faults and things I'm not wild about but I don't believe any coach can overcome a poor front office and I don't think there is a coach available or that would come here that would be given any significant power by Jones so we we'll either get a coach that is willing to endure that or a likely refusal from someone who isn't.

A new coach may be better at game management (an area that shouldn't be that difficult to improve upon where he is weak) but I doubt things would be that much different because we've added another coaching staff, just more upheaval and someone new to blame where the blame doesn't primarily lie.

Given the conditions that exist with this franchise, I think the best chances are hoping that Garrett can improve where is lacking and benefit from continuity at head coach & staff as well as some things I do think Garrett brings to the table.

I'm tired of the endless parade of coaches and think changing yet again won't accomplish anything. Having said this, I don't think the future looks good regardless of who is coach since Romo is in the downward slope of his career, the salary cap is going to be a problem next year and there are probably too many holes to patch in enough time to still have Romo leading the helm at a high level.

Jerry ain't changing so bringing in a new coach will just have fans frustrated as usual but perhaps for a different set of reasons than they have with Garrett.

I said it at the start of last season and I still believe it today, the Cowboys are 7 years (now 5) away from having a team that can compete at a high level and that is IF they are able to find a another franchise QB, if they can't, we might be looking at another 10 years of futility.

Harbaugh and Reid didn't have to deal with the same dysfunctional front office plus both teams had loaded up their teams with high draft picks for several years prior to their arrival. If we had a team full of young, talented draft picks, salary cap flexibility and a front office that was better than what we have, I would have hope that bringing in a good coach could make a difference.

I just don't see any Jimmy's or Parcells coming here again so we may as well hope they can find success with what Garrett brings to the table and benefit from continuity in the coaching staff. Somehow Garrett gets his teams to play hard virtually every game and I love the way he churns the roster. I hate the blown leads but with the shitty defense we have and opposing defenses stacking the box to prevent the run, you would think Romo and company could exploit the hell out of the secondary but they don't. Maybe that's Garretts fault, maybe its Romos, I don't know but it sucks, so I sympathize with everyone's outrage.

I understand your frustrations, I have them too, I just don't think changing the coaches again will accomplish anything. If we didn't have Jerry running the show, I'd love to see a great, strong willed, aggressive coach take charge, but do you really think that's an option?

As I type this, I see the vaunted Andy Reid screwed up time management and has just let his team blow a 28 point lead. I think Belechik was on to something years ago when he never let up on the gas, no lead seems safe anymore and the NFL feels a lot like the NBA where leads can evaporate we never thought possible.

Is there a savior out there anywhere?

You can't play defense anymore, you can't outspend other owners, the game is a damn crapshoot!

 

[cmd34]

You can't play defense anymore, you can't outspend other owners, the game is a damn crapshoot!

Yet we have been crapping out for 17 years. Right about the time Jimmy's influence on the roster faded out.

As for your argument, this is the N F L. We should not have a head coach, learning on the job, and literally costing us victories each year. "Because Jerry is a horrible Owner/GM" should not be a reason to keep Garrett.

 

[ThoughtExperiment]

Yimyam is just a closet Garrett fan.

It's okay man, just admit it.

 

[yimyammer]

Yet we have been crapping out for 17 years. Right about the time Jimmy's influence on the roster faded out.

As for your argument, this is the N F L. We should not have a head coach, learning on the job, and literally costing us victories each year. "Because Jerry is a horrible Owner/GM" should not be a reason to keep Garrett.

Its not the sole reason but its one of my reasons right or wrong. I think philosophically Garrett is on track, I like the way the players compete that I haven't seen in years, I like the churning of the roster, I like that they played hard ball with Free, its boring but I agree with one play at a time, etc. Whoever is responsible for the above, I'd like to keep around. Maybe its not Garrett, it sure doesn't sound like Jerry, so who is pushing the team in this direction? The negatives have been discussed ad nauseum and I agree with some of them as well, its a damn frustrating situation

As far as being a closet fan of Garrett, I'm ambivalent and pretty much hopeless about the entire organization, if I was a roaring fan of Garrett I'd say so without hesitation, I do believe that given the GM we have, my best hope is that Garrett can break through to Jerry and improve where he is weak and potentially reap some benefits from continuity.

I just don't see a solution out there.

What makes you guys think a new coach will make anything better? They probably need to completely rebuild but who thinks Jerry will do that?

I'll bet whenever the next coach is hired, we will be having this conversation about him after three years. Its been that way ever since Jimmy left aside from the brief and fleeting hope that Parcells brought.

And I am an unabashed huge fan of Parcells, he's the best thing they've had since Jimmy but unfortunately he made Jerry uncomfortable

 

[cmd34]

The things Garrett says make him sound okay.


The things Garrett does make him an incapable dolt. The game is simply too big for him. He talks about accountability but never takes responsibility for his own miscues. He's a car salesman. He's a fraud.

 

[dbair1967]

There's only so long you can say " well they play hard every week" At some point you have to win, especially in this quick fix state of time the league is in now.

As for Parcells, he was washed up as a HC the day we signed him. Good for the personnel upgrades, but lousy at the coaching part.

 

[cmd34]

His documented game mismanagements and his record against winning teams would be enough to get any coach fired. Jerry just so desperately wants to be right about Garrett being this brilliant, successful coach. Meanwhile, good players' careers are going by.

 

[dbair1967]

His documented game mismanagements and his record against winning teams would be enough to get any coach fired. Jerry just so desperately wants to be right about Garrett being this brilliant, successful coach. Meanwhile, good players' careers are going by.

We don't have championship talent, and there will be more good players.

The bigger concern should be holding the GM and HC for repeated failing.

 

[yimyammer]

His documented game mismanagements and his record against winning teams would be enough to get any coach fired. Jerry just so desperately wants to be right about Garrett being this brilliant, successful coach. Meanwhile, good players' careers are going by.

fair snuff, what's your solution amigo? What would give you hope? Why do you think yet another coach will make a difference?

I'd love to find some reasons to have hope

 

[junk]

There's only so long you can say " well they play hard every week" At some point you have to win, especially in this quick fix state of time the league is in now.

As for Parcells, he was washed up as a HC the day we signed him. Good for the personnel upgrades, but lousy at the coaching part.

10-6 with Quincy and Hambrick on offense. Should have been coach of the year that year.

 

[junk]

fair snuff, what's your solution amigo? What would give you hope? Why do you think yet another coach will make a difference?

I'd love to find some reasons to have hope

Nothing is going to change until things hit rock bottom and it starts impacting Jerry's bottom line. What incentive does he have to change? He's making money, he isn't walking on eggshells and he is having fun running the show and shoving his mouth into any microphone pointed his way.