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Wrong about Cowboys changes, but not about Jerry the GM
Wrong about Cowboys changes, but not about Jerry the GM
Posted Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013 16 Comments Print Reprints
By Randy Galloway
rgalloway@star-telegram.com
He said he was angry. Said it was going to get uncomfortable at his place. Said changes were coming.
I said he was a football poof. Said his words were football fluff. Said he was talking crap.
So, a week later, and now we know. We even know about Monte Kiffin.
I was wrong about Jerry Jones.
Do not, however, mistake that in any way for an apology.
It's both "no" and "never" on an apology, not until the day when Jerry makes the one change at Valley Ranch that will bring the most needed change.
That's the day when he will eighty-six himself as the Dallas Cowboys' general manager, a day we know will never come.
Admittedly, however, it's been a dramatic Jerry sweep since the season ended in Washington two weeks ago, and I didn't properly read at the time the level of disgust and embarrassment from Jerry.
But what we have witnessed here, with the coaching staff changes, is a total Jerry muscle play and also a return to the old-school way of Jerry doing business.
His head coach, who is keeping his job, appears to have been gelded, with Jerry making the staff calls, meaning he is once again the "football guy" he loves to be. But more on that for another day.
Meanwhile, there has been a coaching wipeout on the defensive side of the ball, and what we think is coming is the same kind of wipeout on the offensive side.
To me, and as stated in this space previously, the No. 1 priority of the off-season was to bring in an offensive coordinator/play-caller/new Romo voice that forced, or allowed, Jason Garrett to be a full-time head coach.
This appears to be next on the Jones agenda, although it's best to wait. Assume nothing, simply because such a change would force a one-eighty out of Jerry, who has been adamant the last few years that his head coach had to also be a coordinator.
This kind of move, if you ask me, would not necessarily be about Jason, the play-caller. It's totally about a different voice, and a tougher voice, being in the ear of Tony Romo.
Again, it appears Jones is moving in this direction, but assume nothing.
Meanwhile, the immediate coaching staff overhaul started with the firing last week of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, with his entire staff put on notice that their jobs are in jeopardy.
Then came the rather curious news that soon-to-be 73-year-old Monte Kiffin was the leading candidate to become defensive coordinator, and that was made official on Friday. Once a legendary DC in the NFL, and the father of the Tampa 2 scheme, Kiffin has been flying under the college-game radar the last four years.
Is this hire a wise move?
Yeah. Maybe. I don't know.
It's strange, I'll say that. But before he decided to team up with his son, Lane, in the college game, Kiffin was a real respected cat. Then he became a college failure at USC.
But now Monte is here, and he certainly doesn't seem that old, well, at least to some of us.
In a flashback, however, to last week, it's rather worrisome when you consider how Jones said he came to the decision to fire Ryan, a firing that I had no problem with at all.
There were too many disorganized moments on defense the last two seasons, and Ryan's scheme in the Redskins game two weeks ago, when RG3 was obviously playing on one leg, was ridiculous.
How did the 'Skins' rookie running back go for 200 yards when his quarterback was that limited? Anyway, see the Seattle game plan against Washington a week later.
OK, fire Rob.
But the way Jerry explained his problem with the defense in an in-house TV interview should rattle the windows of every fandom household.
Over the course of last season, he picked out a couple of early losses when the defense was still healthy, and nitpicked the defense about the Seattle L on the road and the Bears L here.
That is so wrong, it's stunning. Stunningly inept.
The loss in Seattle was at the time viewed as a surprise for the Cowboys, but now we know the Seahawks also won seven more home games after that contest. They were unbeaten at home.
Plus, the Cowboys' demise that day centered on two awful special teams gaffes, an offense that was totally snuffed and, yes, the defense being ground under in the second half. But the game was only close at halftime because the defense performed so well while under field-position duress.
Seattle was not a bad day for Ryan.
And the Bears game? Good gawd, Jerry.
Romo threw five picks, two returned for TDs, in that loss.
No, it wasn't a good night for the defense, but for Jones to verbally hang that contest on his defense, he's just talking out his ying-yang, void of common sense.
It makes you wonder if Jerry even watched the Seattle game or the Bears game.
Jerry is the owner, and he's the football guy again, but he can't even give us valid reasons, when valid reasons are plentiful, for firing Rob Ryan.
I was wrong about "changes," and wrong about "uncomfortable."
But for nearly two decades now, none of us has ever been wrong about Jerry the GM.
Wrong about Cowboys changes, but not about Jerry the GM
Posted Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013 16 Comments Print Reprints
By Randy Galloway
rgalloway@star-telegram.com
He said he was angry. Said it was going to get uncomfortable at his place. Said changes were coming.
I said he was a football poof. Said his words were football fluff. Said he was talking crap.
So, a week later, and now we know. We even know about Monte Kiffin.
I was wrong about Jerry Jones.
Do not, however, mistake that in any way for an apology.
It's both "no" and "never" on an apology, not until the day when Jerry makes the one change at Valley Ranch that will bring the most needed change.
That's the day when he will eighty-six himself as the Dallas Cowboys' general manager, a day we know will never come.
Admittedly, however, it's been a dramatic Jerry sweep since the season ended in Washington two weeks ago, and I didn't properly read at the time the level of disgust and embarrassment from Jerry.
But what we have witnessed here, with the coaching staff changes, is a total Jerry muscle play and also a return to the old-school way of Jerry doing business.
His head coach, who is keeping his job, appears to have been gelded, with Jerry making the staff calls, meaning he is once again the "football guy" he loves to be. But more on that for another day.
Meanwhile, there has been a coaching wipeout on the defensive side of the ball, and what we think is coming is the same kind of wipeout on the offensive side.
To me, and as stated in this space previously, the No. 1 priority of the off-season was to bring in an offensive coordinator/play-caller/new Romo voice that forced, or allowed, Jason Garrett to be a full-time head coach.
This appears to be next on the Jones agenda, although it's best to wait. Assume nothing, simply because such a change would force a one-eighty out of Jerry, who has been adamant the last few years that his head coach had to also be a coordinator.
This kind of move, if you ask me, would not necessarily be about Jason, the play-caller. It's totally about a different voice, and a tougher voice, being in the ear of Tony Romo.
Again, it appears Jones is moving in this direction, but assume nothing.
Meanwhile, the immediate coaching staff overhaul started with the firing last week of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, with his entire staff put on notice that their jobs are in jeopardy.
Then came the rather curious news that soon-to-be 73-year-old Monte Kiffin was the leading candidate to become defensive coordinator, and that was made official on Friday. Once a legendary DC in the NFL, and the father of the Tampa 2 scheme, Kiffin has been flying under the college-game radar the last four years.
Is this hire a wise move?
Yeah. Maybe. I don't know.
It's strange, I'll say that. But before he decided to team up with his son, Lane, in the college game, Kiffin was a real respected cat. Then he became a college failure at USC.
But now Monte is here, and he certainly doesn't seem that old, well, at least to some of us.
In a flashback, however, to last week, it's rather worrisome when you consider how Jones said he came to the decision to fire Ryan, a firing that I had no problem with at all.
There were too many disorganized moments on defense the last two seasons, and Ryan's scheme in the Redskins game two weeks ago, when RG3 was obviously playing on one leg, was ridiculous.
How did the 'Skins' rookie running back go for 200 yards when his quarterback was that limited? Anyway, see the Seattle game plan against Washington a week later.
OK, fire Rob.
But the way Jerry explained his problem with the defense in an in-house TV interview should rattle the windows of every fandom household.
Over the course of last season, he picked out a couple of early losses when the defense was still healthy, and nitpicked the defense about the Seattle L on the road and the Bears L here.
That is so wrong, it's stunning. Stunningly inept.
The loss in Seattle was at the time viewed as a surprise for the Cowboys, but now we know the Seahawks also won seven more home games after that contest. They were unbeaten at home.
Plus, the Cowboys' demise that day centered on two awful special teams gaffes, an offense that was totally snuffed and, yes, the defense being ground under in the second half. But the game was only close at halftime because the defense performed so well while under field-position duress.
Seattle was not a bad day for Ryan.
And the Bears game? Good gawd, Jerry.
Romo threw five picks, two returned for TDs, in that loss.
No, it wasn't a good night for the defense, but for Jones to verbally hang that contest on his defense, he's just talking out his ying-yang, void of common sense.
It makes you wonder if Jerry even watched the Seattle game or the Bears game.
Jerry is the owner, and he's the football guy again, but he can't even give us valid reasons, when valid reasons are plentiful, for firing Rob Ryan.
I was wrong about "changes," and wrong about "uncomfortable."
But for nearly two decades now, none of us has ever been wrong about Jerry the GM.
