Recommended A good man in charge

[Blast From The Past]

I thought you'd posted an article the first several paragraphs in here. Nicely done.

Yea, I did too; Wow a really nice and positive article that you've written for us erod. Thanks.

 

[KJJ]

Garrett does the same thing. Just not on camera. He gets on guys, but he keeps it in house.

If he doesn't do it on camera how do you know he does the same thing? Have you been to practice and seen him tear into a player for repeatedly screwing up?

 

[Idgit]

If he doesn't do it on camera how do you know he does the same thing? Have you been to practice and seen him tear into a player for repeatedly screwing up?

I've heard players say that he gets on them quite a bit more behind the scenes. Also that his language gets saltier.

Romo, too, supposedly saves a lot of his criticism for the film room. Where it's more productive and there's film evidence that he's right; instead of popping off in the middle of games. Tony was criticized for not being more aggressive with his teammates on game day for years, too.

I think both guys are right to reserve this sort of public temper. Especially in Dallas. If the point gets made, it can get made without anyone blowing their top. And players can be made to feel uncomfortable without getting yelled at if snaps and extensions are at stake for people who don't tow the line. The team's been aggressive about getting rid of malcontents and replacing them with smart team players the last 3 years.

 

[KJJ]

And Landry never did anything more than glare at a player. Ask Waters if they were afraid of him. Brown was fairly stoic. Most aren't but you can't say someone is a good or bad coach based on their overall demeanor. I can tell you from leading men it's much harder to keep calm rather than raise heck. And when things got bad medically I was at my calmest even when no one else was. You can be emotional later. Just FYI.

I did mention Landry had that look and according to the players who got that look it sent chills through them but even with Landry it took time for his players to buy into what he was doing. Before Landry won his first SB he made some bad decisions like having Morton and Staubach rotating at QB every other play. It was a crazy thing to do and the team didn't like it. They told Landry to settle on one QB and fortunately he settled on the right one. In the beginning when the Cowboys had just entered the league some players wondered if Landry knew what the hell he was doing. According to Bob Lilly everything changed for the Cowboys when Landry broke down in front of the team. They saw a side of him they never saw before and it got the players attention. Maybe Garrett should cry in front of his players and see if that will light a fire under them. LOL Landry had complete control of his team it all started and ended with Tom Landry. With the current Cowboys everything starts and ends with Jerry at least that's the perception everyone has.

For players to respond to a HC they have to respect them and know that everything starts and ends with their HC. No one can get into the heads of the players to know how they really feel about Garrett. That can only be determined by their play on the field. No player is going to say they don't respect their HC or they're not buying into their approach or they'll be looking for another team. With Garrett being stripped of his play calling duties it does make you wonder what's going through the minds of the players seeing that. What goes on between a HC and their players behind closed doors and on the practice field can be seen on game day. Garrett may not be my type of HC but I've said all along I'm pulling for him because the Cowboys have gone through 5 HC's since Switzer and it's only resulted in one playoff win.

 

[Eskimo]

KJJ, part of the problem is you are making all sorts of assumptions about what is happening at practices that you don't attend and in meetings that no one outside of the team gets to attend.

I think based on the past couple of years it is pretty obvious that Garrett gets his guys to play hard. There is no quit in this team at all. That is in stark contrast to Parcells' and Wade's teams which would often wilt once they fell behind or once an injury hit. We had a resilience that I had not seen in quite awhile. The problem was the talent was too young and too hurt to really do much damage last year late in the season.

If you want to see evidence that the team responds to him and his coaching then look no further than the Cincinnati game.

The players care a great deal about the team now, natural leaders are being nurtured and finally stepping up and I believe they all believe in coach Garrett and his vision of the team. He has assembled a great group of coaches and even the younger hires (Gary Brown, Pollack, Wes Phillips, Dooley) appear to be doing good work with their units.

I know you don't believe and that is fine. I think you are just making a bunch of assumptions based on the front that Garrett presents to the media and on the sideline during games. I really don't think he lacks fire, passion or emotion at all. He is just focused, calm and wants to project his confidence in the team even when things aren't going well. I think the players get the coaching they need without being embarassed and degraded in front of a national audience during a game. We need that players head in the game and shouting at them right after a mistake may feel good to you as the fan but it may be detrimental to that player's performance through the rest of the game.

So again, Garrett will be judged on the results he achieves in the end but I think he has been doing a very good job turning this team around. We had big problems when he took over that 1-7 team that was the 2nd oldest in the league with a bunch of bad contracts and a bunch of dead money to eat. He has gotten us younger and better and cheaper all while remaining competitive and playing for the division championship in the last week of the season the last two years. Not many teams can do that when rebuilding on that scale in a strong division.

 

[KJJ]

I've heard players say that he gets on them quite a bit more behind the scenes. Also that his language gets saltier.

Romo, too, supposedly saves a lot of his criticism for the film room. Where it's more productive and there's film evidence that he's right; instead of popping off in the middle of games. Tony was criticized for not being more aggressive with his teammates on game day for years, too.

I think both guys are right to reserve this sort of public temper. Especially in Dallas. If the point gets made, it can get made without anyone blowing their top. And players can be made to feel uncomfortable without getting yelled at if snaps and extensions are at stake for people who don't tow the line. The team's been aggressive about getting rid of malcontents and replacing them with smart team players the last 3 years.

Landry never chastised a player in front of the team or during games he did it in private. A lot of players respect a HC who takes that approach. I'm just one of those fans who likes to see a HC tear into a player for making a bone headed mistake. It all comes down to whether a player is getting the message and not repeating the same mistake over an over. Some players don't respond well to being embarrassed on the sidelines during a game or in front of their team mates during a practice. I saw an interview with Bart Starr and he said Lombardi tore into him one day during a practice.

Starr said he felt so humiliated that he stormed into Lombardi's office immediately after the practice and told him to never do that to him again in front of the team and he said Lombardi never did. I believe LT told Parcell's the same thing after Parcell's ripped him during a practice. He told Bill to get off his back and he said he did. I've heard HC's who've said you have to handle certain players differently. I think it was Joe Gibbs who said that some players don't respond to being yelled at. A HC has to be themselves and Garrett is doing what he believes in.

 

[Hoofbite]

I want a confident coach, not a leader that loses his head when the first thing goes wrong. And yeah he is a robot, but Belichick has done the robot thing his entire career and look where it's gotten him.

There you have it.

Just act the part and the rest will take care of itself, or so we hope.

 

[KJJ]

KJJ, part of the problem is you are making all sorts of assumptions about what is happening at practices that you don't attend and in meetings that no one outside of the team gets to attend.

Some of my comments were based on what those who have attended practices in the past have said. Some in the media have attended practices and to my knowledge haven't reported seeing a different side of Garrett than what we see on game day. If what goes on in practices and during meetings is getting across to the players it would show up consistently on Sunday because that's when it counts. Everything that goes on in practices and behind closed doors during team meetings is to prepare for a game. It's on the field on Sunday where you find out if what's going on behind the scenes is getting across to the players. A lot can be assumed by what you see on the field on Sunday.

If you want to see evidence that the team responds to him and his coaching then look no further than the Cincinnati game.

You certainly can't base if a team is responding to their HC off of one game or coaches would never get fired. You have to base that off the final record every year and see where that record leaves you. It's not about one game it's about consistency. The Cincinnati game was in response to a teammate who was tragically killed. The team stepped up and dedicated that game to Jerry Brown. We'll found out this season if the players are going to respond to Garrett who many think is on the hot-seat. It's when a HC is on the hot-seat that you find out a lot about how a team feels about their HC. The players control the fate of their HC. Hopefully the players will go out this season and fight for Garrett and show they're buying into him.

 

[TNCowboy]

Nice job E. Well said.

I'm glad I'm not the only one noticing that these aren't the same old Cowboys. It is clear to me that Garrett is in a long-term build here, and he is no doubt doing it the right way.

The drafts are light years better, the practices are better and the decisions are way better. I am thrilled with the direction of the franchise and it has been a long time since I could say that.

Go back one year, 2 years, 3 years, and find almost the exact same posts as you just made. Wouldn't be hard to do.

 

[visionary]

As I said, the old manner of coaching through fear just isn't going to cut it anymore.

That doesn't mean you don't go out there and get on the players. It just means you can't be a raving maniac in the manner you go about it. You also just can't easily get rid of players that you don't like. You have to find a way to make it work with the guys you have inherited until you get a chance to get rid of the guys you don't want and bring in the guys you do. That is a large part of what the first 2.5 years has been. Instilling his message and finding the guys he wants to go forward with to play his style of football.

If you listen to some of the TC reports and the initial team speech he gave you get the sense that this isn't a lackadaisical camp at all. If you listen to what you have heard about the assistants it sounds like they really get on the players when they make mistakes and JG does, too.

I think Garrett has grown into his new role well but clung to his old roles as OC and playcaller too long. He had success with it in 2010 and thought he could do both jobs well full-time but he couldn't. He now has been freed to get a good overview about all parts of the team. He gets to see that all his assistants are implementing the practice concepts properly and that all the players are getting proper and appropriate feedback about their performance.

I think he has really built a good football team and the world is going to find out how far we have come this year.

I fully expect a playoff appearance if we can have some decent health.

This is going to be a very different football team from any that we have seen since our last SB win. I don't know that we'll exceed the 13 wins from 2007 but I think this team is more complete and will probably win a playoff game or more this year. The keys are DL health and OL performance. I think the Safeties are going to be fine and the CBs and LBs are going to be very good.

Neither you nor I know what goes on behind closed doors
Maybe Garrett is different maybe he is not

But all this is just fluff and hot air
In the end what the coaches do should translate into wins
If the team does not win consistently then whatever Garrett is doing is not good enough and he needs to change it or he needs to be fired.

 

[Hostile]

You probaly never saw the very personal interview he gave a few months ago. I recomend it to you.

He gives some arguments why he handles the job like he does. And to me thats the right way to do it. Now does it mean he is a great HC ? I don't think so. Too many other things come into play. But your main argument here against him is that he has a robotic demeanor and is too confident for your taste.

Just have a look at it. Maybe it gives you 2 or 3 more aspects of being a HC before posting another comment that shows you never disputed yourself with the requirements that come with the representation of an organisation.

For reference.

http://www.dallascowboys.com/multim...-The-Fan/e35777c6-e3bd-442b-a3e4-c2af101d3552

 

[Galian Beast]

I like Jason Garrett. I don't like him as an offensive coordinator though, and I don't like him as a head coach/offensive coordinator.

I think what Jason Garrett could excel at because of his intelligence and experience with the game of football is the position of a Manager. I don't think this is a pejorative.

I like Cole Beasley, but I don't think he would make a great wide receiver on the outside every down.

It's important to know what value someone has as use them for that. I think using Garrett appropriately will help us a lot.

Garrett might have a sharp offensive mind, but I don't think he really had the requisite experience to do the job. He was only a QB coach for two years before we hired him to be offensive coordinator. That is ridiculous. Position coaches learn how offenses work from the coaching point of view after years as a position coach and being involved in the offense.

Bill Callahan spent 6 years as an assistant coach at Illinois, then 2 years as a line coach at Northern Arizona. He was offensive coordinator for 1 year at Southern Illinois. Was offensive line coach for 4 years at Wisconsin, two years in philly, and THEN was made offensive coordinator for the Raiders...

13 years of coaching experience... Garrett became offensive coordinator after TWO...

And then we promoted him to be head coach AND offensive coordinator after three years? And people were surprised when our team was a mess?

Callahan taking over the offense is the best thing that has ever happened to us in recent history. We now have a full time manager, and someone who is experienced at being an offensive coordinator handling the offense... We also have a ton of experience on the defensive side of the ball.

I really liked Rob Ryan, but as a defensive coordinator, he didn't have a TON of pro level experience and on top of that he never really had a ton of success. Kiffin is the exact opposite. If it was just Kiffin, I might be worried, but we also have Marinelli, who put together a GREAT defense last year. I see Marinelli as the de facto assistant defensive coordinator on this team. I might be wrong in thinking that as it is pretty much just an assumption, but I think he is definitely helping to run things.

Marinelli might not have called plays in Chicago, but he definitely motivated that defense. If Kiffin is calling the plays on defense, at least we know Marinelli will help set a tone. I see this defense becoming more aggressive already. I think players like Wilcox can help set that tone. Lee and Carter will help set that tone. Ware and Hatcher will help set that tone. Imagine if Ratliff can actually play and stay healthy this year... imagine how good this defense is going to be.

 

[Hoofbite]

KJJ, part of the problem is you are making all sorts of assumptions about what is happening at practices that you don't attend and in meetings that no one outside of the team gets to attend.

I think based on the past couple of years it is pretty obvious that Garrett gets his guys to play hard. There is no quit in this team at all. That is in stark contrast to Parcells' and Wade's teams which would often wilt once they fell behind or once an injury hit. We had a resilience that I had not seen in quite awhile. The problem was the talent was too young and too hurt to really do much damage last year late in the season.

If you want to see evidence that the team responds to him and his coaching then look no further than the Cincinnati game.

The only reason playing hard and not quitting is even impressive right now is because Wade Phillips was a horrible HC and couldn't even get the team do do that. That doesn't mean that there's some inherent awesomeness about getting millionaires to show up and do their job. If Wade Phillips had never been the coach of Dallas, nobody would notice anything different in the effort the team puts forth because there wouldn't have been a horrible coach who allowed his team to quit to show us what that looks like.

Last year Cleveland was 2-7 when they rolled into Dallas and took the Cowboys to the limit. How many coaches actually stay employed without the ability to get their teams to play hard and not quit? Horrible coaches allow their teams to quit and as a result they aren't coaches for long.

Does Garrett get the effort? Sure. I won't deny that but I also won't shower a guy in praise because he gets the team to do it's job when that is his job.

The players care a great deal about the team now, natural leaders are being nurtured and finally stepping up and I believe they all believe in coach Garrett and his vision of the team. He has assembled a great group of coaches and even the younger hires (Gary Brown, Pollack, Wes Phillips, Dooley) appear to be doing good work with their units.

I know you don't believe and that is fine. I think you are just making a bunch of assumptions based on the front that Garrett presents to the media and on the sideline during games. I really don't think he lacks fire, passion or emotion at all. He is just focused, calm and wants to project his confidence in the team even when things aren't going well.

Projecting confidence and stoicism aren't tied to one another. Plenty of people lack emotion AND lack confidence just as there are people who exemplify both. There is no recipe to projecting confidence and there's nothing to say that he'd be less effective in projecting confidence if he were the type of guy who got riled up. I don't suppose either Harbaugh feels deficient in the confidence department. Same goes for stoic coaches.

I don't think there's any script to read from and I certainly wouldn't endorse modeling yourself or your behavior in a certain manner in an attempt to appear a certain way. If he's seriously tempering himself because he feels he comes off as a more confident person then I would say he's doing it wrong. You can't just feign confidence. What would be the reason to even do so? Confidence breeds success? Sounds great and I imagine someone has made a few motivational posters out of it but in the absence of an equal amount of ability comes arrogance. That is generally how we refer to people who are more confident than capable, is it not? Not to mention there's a big disconnect from reality in the idea that you can just project confidence and thereby be successful.

I think the players get the coaching they need without being embarassed and degraded in front of a national audience during a game. We need that players head in the game and shouting at them right after a mistake may feel good to you as the fan but it may be detrimental to that player's performance through the rest of the game.

Negative reinforcement is only detrimental if it isn't paired with positive reinforcement. There's a fine balance between the two. Wade couldn't find that balance and NEVER blamed the players for the mistakes that they made. All he ever did was talk glowingly of them and accept their blame for them. Aside from that, any player who's psyche is so fragile that he crumbles when told that he isn't doing his job correctly probably wouldn't have made it to the NFL, provided they didn't become become a recluse by the time they were high school in the first place. Life in general is full of successes and failures. Telling someone that they aren't getting the job done isn't some life altering even, especially if they are making mistakes that they know they shouldn't make or making the same mistakes over and over again. Maybe it wouldn't have taken Bennett and Olgetree the better part of 3 years to figure out their assignments had they been subjected to a little embarrassment.

So again, Garrett will be judged on the results he achieves in the end but I think he has been doing a very good job turning this team around. We had big problems when he took over that 1-7 team that was the 2nd oldest in the league with a bunch of bad contracts and a bunch of dead money to eat. He has gotten us younger and better and cheaper all while remaining competitive and playing for the division championship in the last week of the season the last two years. Not many teams can do that when rebuilding on that scale in a strong division.

Dallas hasn't done it. They've been "competitive" but the NFCE isn't strong. Sitting on 8 wins in any other division going into week 17 and you would have already been eliminated. In a few divisions you would have been effectively eliminated a month earlier if you finished the year at 8 wins. As far as getting the team younger and cheaper, I'm not sure that's necessarily a Jason Garrett thing or if that's just the natural result of inheriting the 2nd oldest team in the league with a bunch of bad contracts and a bunch of dead money to eat.

Whatever the reason, I don't really care. I think he has done a good job with his drafts thus far for the most part. There are some moves that I don't really care for sprinkled in but for the most part I'm encouraged by his roster management. I think the team would have been forced to go younger and cheaper no matter who was hired but Jason has definitely worked within the tight box that Jerry gave him to work with and he has made some productive moves in the process. That is worth noting, IMO.

Bottom line, I don't think Garrett is a bad coach. At the same time I don't think he's really done anything that stands out as something to point to that says he's a great coach. His offense hasn't particularly wowed and the team is currently as penalty-prone as they have been at any time in the last decade with only 1 year of Wade's tenure being worse than things were in 2012.

The guy still has a lot to prove, IMO. I actually think he'll benefit from giving up the play-calling duties. Time will tell. I think anything less than a playoff appearance this year and he's going to have some serious questions to answer.

 

[erod]

Hoof,it's not about being a great coach as much as being the right coach. The players seem to believe in him. And they understand the constraints he works under

Tomlin and McCarthy aren't great coaches. They are the right ones though.

 

[AsthmaField]

Go back one year, 2 years, 3 years, and find almost the exact same posts as you just made. Wouldn't be hard to do.

Yes, and some would be mine. I have been happy with the direction that Garrett is moving the team in for the past 2-3 years.

Nice call.

The wins haven't been there but I can see the direction the team is heading under his leadership and I'm very happy with it. Like I said, good drafts, good decisions, accountability. All of that has been evident under Garrett.

The wins will come. I'm just happy he is doing a long-term build the right way.

 

[JakeCamp12]

My perspective of Garrett is that he is finally assembling the team that he wanted. I didn't expect the previous 3 teams to win more than 9 games based on some of the previous drafts and the salary cap issues that have been an ongoing headache. When JJ fired Wade after the team quit on him, I knew he finally saw it was going to take a few seasons of better drafts to assemble NFL talent. I am enjoying watching Garrett build this team and I am glad he is a walk around coach now and can focus on the team and not one particular side. I am also very happy to get rid of the 3-4 and go back to the 4-3. I think these decisions will have positive effects on the team this year. The one aspect we can't seem to overcome is the constant injuries. I hope this aspect of the last few years reinforces to JJ that we need to have a tight plan when drafting so that when the injuries come, there are younger players on the roster to replace guys like Ratliff and now Livings when they can not be counted on to suit up every week.

 

[jobberone]

Landry never chastised a player in front of the team or during games he did it in private. A lot of players respect a HC who takes that approach. I'm just one of those fans who likes to see a HC tear into a player for making a bone headed mistake. It all comes down to whether a player is getting the message and not repeating the same mistake over an over. Some players don't respond well to being embarrassed on the sidelines during a game or in front of their team mates during a practice. I saw an interview with Bart Starr and he said Lombardi tore into him one day during a practice.

Starr said he felt so humiliated that he stormed into Lombardi's office immediately after the practice and told him to never do that to him again in front of the team and he said Lombardi never did. I believe LT told Parcell's the same thing after Parcell's ripped him during a practice. He told Bill to get off his back and he said he did. I've heard HC's who've said you have to handle certain players differently. I think it was Joe Gibbs who said that some players don't respond to being yelled at. A HC has to be themselves and Garrett is doing what he believes in.

I don't know where you got this perception but he got quite upset with players at times on the field. He just didn't yell and scream at them at least as its been relayed to me.

 

[Vanilla2]

What emotion do you see from Belichick? Landry? Walsh? Shula? Dungy? Lovie? Levy? Kubiak?

In fact, Garrett shows a LOT more emotion than those guys. He fist pumps like Sean Payton. Very similar demeanor as Payton.

He'd like to see Garrett show emotion in Macho Man Randy Savage sort of way.

But even if that were the case he'd probably complain about Garrett being too emotional.

 

[Vanilla2]

If he doesn't do it on camera how do you know he does the same thing? Have you been to practice and seen him tear into a player for repeatedly screwing up?

How do you know he doesn't?

 

[fortdick]

I haven't really seen or heard anything from Garrett that I didn't see or hear during his first 2 training camps. He's great at playing things off just like he did the play calling change. If anything is bothering him he's not going to show it at least not in public. You can tell his image is important to him. He acts like everything is going as planned and never gets testy with the media. He was asked at the start of camp if he was boring and he played it off. Listening to him would never think he was under fire and was coaching an 8-8 team.

He has a confident, cocky robotic demeanor that never changes. He always seems pleasant and can manage a smile regardless of how things are going. Who knows maybe Jerry has assured him that he's not going anywhere regardless of how this season goes. Garrett seems very comfortable almost too comfortable.

You sure would have been annoyed by the Landry years. He was the same regardless of the team being the worst or the best in the league. Emotion was never present.