Moose Johnston on ESPN radio

[gdogg24]

Moose is a hater. He picked Dallas to go 6 and 10 before the season started. He just got knocked down a few pegs in my book.

You know I don't think any of those former Cowboys are haters at least not like a lot of people make them out to be. I think they all want to see this franchise do well and when the team under performs it makes them very cynical. Michael is the only one I constanly see as the most optimistic but guys like Moose, Troy even Woody sometimes it seems they talk about the team like they're just plain pissed off.

Woody was in ESPN once before and he was talking about one year late in his career when he was in training camp and some player asked him why it seemed he was always in a bad mood, and he told them "because this isn't it" he knew he wasn't playing for a contender and it was just irritating. I think that's what's going on with these guys but if this team makes real strides and starts contending for titles watch the homer come out in them.

 

[starman22]

More often than not, it takes a combination of things that go together to make the difference between winning and losing. The addition of Zack Martin and the hiring of Linehan were both contributing factors to our success this year. It helped contribute to enough of a difference to account for the first three-game winning streak during Garrett's head coaching career in Dallas.

I'm not sure where the 3 game winning streak mis-information came from but this is 2011, other than that, I agree with your post. There was also a 3 game winning streak in 2012

• 8 OCT 30 LOSS COWBOYS 7 EAGLES 34
  
  
• 9 NOV 6 WIN SEAHAWKS 13 COWBOYS 23
  
  
• 10 NOV 13 WIN BILLS 7 COWBOYS 44
  
  
• 11 NOV 20 WIN COWBOYS 27 Commanders 24
  
  
• 12 NOV 24 WIN DOLPHINS 19 COWBOYS 20
  
  
• 13 DEC 4 LOSS COWBOYS 13 CARDINALS 19

 

[Idgit]

Thanks for sharing the comments, OP. I think they're fairly obvious, but they're still good to hear. Plus it's always fun to watch people who don't want to like the HC tap dance some more. There feet must be getting tired at this point.

It still boggles my mind that people seem to remember the offense as a big part of the problem with last year's team.

 

[Zordon]

What is interesting is that Murray averaged 5.2 YPC last year vs 5.4 YPC this year.

All the offense has shown this year (and parts of last year) is that Garrett shouldn't be involved. The run game could have been more prominently featured earlier

Big improvement in scoring when they kinda/sorta used a poor OC in Callahan. Dramatic improvement, so far, with an average OC like Linehan.

It makes sad how many years were wasted because Jason Garrett is such a poor offensive coach

I also have to chuckle at him getting credit for the OL rebuild. He tried to do it on the cheap for years (and that assumes he had any say in it all, which is unlikely) with the likes of Livings, Nagy, Arkin, Bernadeau, etc. They wouldn't even have drafted Martin this year had Shazier not been gone. And rumblings were that he wanted Eifert 2013. Watching the draft cam, it was apparent Garrett wasn't exactly pleased

Glad they figured it out. Wish they had done it sooner

Took the words right out of my mouth. Seriously your post is gospel. I hate the revisionist history that's going around here. Collingsworth on the broadcast said we rebuilt the oline "overnight".

 

[Zordon]

This is one reason I don't like Garrett. He's always making excuses like this.

So his basic contention is that he was so handcuffed in the past that he had absolutely no chance, which is total BS. A team with a top-tier to great LT, TE, WR, C (last year), RB, and especially QB gives the coach no chance to succeed? Again, nonsense. Hey Jason, as Parcells said all the time, this is an imperfect game. There are always problems and you never have every single piece in place the way you want it. Probably 25 other teams would love to have the talent you had.

I guess Marinelli really is the greatest DC of all time because he doesn't have half the talent you've had. Do you hear him making excuses about it, or is he just coaching his guys up enough to make it work with what he does have?

But I know most people think Garrett is an absolute prince of a human being, so settle down Garrett lovers. It's just my opinion.

Don't hurt their feelings. Excellent post CL. Right on the money. I'm in a good mood about this team so I'm not trying to start fights about this but Garrett's political maneuvering has not gone unnoticed.

 

[Gaede]

Garrett's MO: make excuses and blame others when things go wrong or have gone wrong in the past

Part of the reason our OL was terrible is because he didn't respect the line in the first place

Pretty sure he hired his buddy Huock to run the OL and was the genius behind Phil Costa. He's content to run the ball now because Callahan came in here and fixed Garrett's mess. Just as Linehan appears to be doing as playcaller.

 

[dstovall5]

Hey, that is interesting.

Interestingly obvious. We wasted a lot of years with no offensive line. Now we have one and Detroit's offensive coordinator is suddenly a savior.

Awe c'mon, you know you love some of that Linehan!

 

[65fastback2plus2]

The biggest difference was shown in the Rams game. Contrary to what some so called experts claim, if you are down 21-0 in the first half you do NOT HAVE TO ABANDON THE RUN GAME.

For the first time we did NOT, and that is a MAJOR difference.

Thats when I became a believer that we finally got rid of JG at the offensive helm. Thankfully.

 

[Wolfpack]

Jason is on his 3rd OC in 3 years and his 3rd DC in 3 years yet this is all part of his master plan. Now its revisionist talent problems, its always something else than Teflon Oppie.

He has further never had a running game except when someone else is around to call it. He never understood the specifics of running plays, he did try but was horrid at game flow calls. Traps and pulls in short yardage…tosses to the powerful but slow Barber. This is when he had the maulers of Guarode and Co., slow but powerful guys who should have been blocking for dives and iso calls head up not pulling. When Jason then gets the lighter faster guys he wanted, then, he starts calling dives and iso runs and gets away from the pulls, traps and counters that the lighter guys should run better. Its mind boggling the strategic level of blunders all the way down to the play calling on game day. I know some of this is due to the dysfunctional front office structure but Jason has no feel for a running game and nor should he, he was never an OC before arriving in Dallas and had only a few years as a QB coach.

I hope this structure keeps working in what ever form it really is working but to give credit to some big picture plan is silly. Jason gets credit for stepping back and letting someone run the offense that is more seasoned than he is but lets not pretend that he would rather be still drawing plays on the white board, calling plays on game day and trying to look like the next genius offensive guru. He better managing, clapping and using his political talents to manage the insane gm/owner he needs to deal with. Let the pros run the offense/defense.

 

[Idgit]

Garrett's MO: make excuses and blame others when things go wrong or have gone wrong in the past

Part of the reason our OL was terrible is because he didn't respect the line in the first place

Pretty sure he hired his buddy Huock to run the OL and was the genius behind Phil Costa. He's content to run the ball now because Callahan came in here and fixed Garrett's mess. Just as Linehan appears to be doing as playcaller.

Question, though. How can it be political maneuvering when we're talking about a private conversation with a friend and former teammate? This is Moose sharing the story here of what Jason reportedly thinks.

For four years now, we've heard nothing but complaining about Jason Garrett's decisions as he dismantled the high price OL we had when he took over and systematically devoted resources to rebuilding it for the long term while turning over options for the short term and looking to find diamonds in the rough. At the same time, we had even more dramatic issues in the secondary and a defensive front 7 that was only a year or two behind the OL in terms of it's personnel. Now, we finally have the OL in place, and people are trying to make the argument that it wasn't planned or that it wasn't something attributable to the head coach. That just doesn't make sense.

We've heard the same sorts of complaints about play calling for years now, too. First it was Jason Garrett is an idiot and can't call plays. Then he was neutered by Jerry. Then Callahan could do a better job calling plays than Jason ever could. Then Callahan was an idiot and couldn't call plays. Then Jason was neutered by Jerry again when he looked for a play caller in the offseason. Then Jason was an idiot for hiring Linehan who was pass-happy and also one of his cronies. Now Linehan's a run-calling genius who gets all the credit for bringing the offense from 4th in the entire league on an offensive points/series basis up to 3rd in the league on an offensive points/series basis. And what's Garrett said publicly by way of political maneuvering about all of this? Nothing that I've heard short of giving lots of praise to his players and staff and reminding everybody that the goal is to keep improving and performing better. Conclusion from our fans: Jason Garrett is a political posturer who needs to be kept far away from his own offense.

Meanwhile, we're playing better defense and we've won three games. A far cry from last year's 2-2 at this point. And people are getting away hinting at post season runs. Redonkulous.

This organization needs to just sit tight. We need to continue to do the things we do well offensively and to continue to be as efficient as we have been the last two+ seasons. We need to continue to play ST at a very high level. We need to hold onto the ball if we're going to actually start beating good teams. And we need to improve dramatically still in terms of taking the ball away from the other guys and in terms of making it hard for them to throw against us. We need to stop trying to find excuses for how we could possibly be having success when the owner, the GM, Stephen Jones, and the head coach are incompetent and being propped up by the (sorry, but it's hilarious) offensive and defensive coordinators. We need realize that a lot of us who have been complaining about literally every aspect of this franchise for the last few years and deriding the decisions that have been made every single step of the way are now turning around with the audacity to act vindicated when the accumulation of those moves looks to be working well in the very short term. We need to sit tight, enjoy the fact that the prospects for the future look good, at least for this week, and anticipate a DL getting stronger over the next few weeks as we get Spencer back to form and Demarcus Lawrence come back. And then we need to appreciate for a little bit, that we're fortunate to have a coach capable of handling the crazy-meddlesome owner, the enormous spotlight on America's Team, the challenging cap situation, and the significant work required in overhauling a large percentage of the personnel on this team without the benefit of significant additional draft picks. We ought to be glad we're in the position we appear to be in, instead of finding logically tortured explanations for how it could have happened with no real plan whatsoever. We ought to, but we won't. Because we're Dallas Cowboys fans, and we think this stuff just happens by magic when your hat has a star on it or when you bring in the former offensive mastermind of the Vikings, Dolphins, Rams, and Lions.

I'm sorry. But give me a break.

 

[Primetime42]

The reaction in this thread was predictable.

 

[Idgit]

Jason is on his 3rd OC in 3 years and his 3rd DC in 3 years yet this is all part of his master plan. Now its revisionist talent problems, its always something else than Teflon Oppie.

He has further never had a running game except when someone else is around to call it. He never understood the specifics of running plays, he did try but was horrid at game flow calls. Traps and pulls in short yardage…tosses to the powerful but slow Barber. This is when he had the maulers of Guarode and Co., slow but powerful guys who should have been blocking for dives and iso calls head up not pulling. When Jason then gets the lighter faster guys he wanted, then, he starts calling dives and iso runs and gets away from the pulls, traps and counters that the lighter guys should run better. Its mind boggling the strategic level of blunders all the way down to the play calling on game day. I know some of this is due to the dysfunctional front office structure but Jason has no feel for a running game and nor should he, he was never an OC before arriving in Dallas and had only a few years as a QB coach.

I hope this structure keeps working in what ever form it really is working but to give credit to some big picture plan is silly. Jason gets credit for stepping back and letting someone run the offense that is more seasoned than he is but lets not pretend that he would rather be still drawing plays on the white board, calling plays on game day and trying to look like the next genius offensive guru. He better managing, clapping and using his political talents to manage the insane gm/owner he needs to deal with. Let the pros run the offense/defense.

*sigh*.

 

[waving monkey]

Well it makes sense why the change has been so drastic this year, but I'll still chalk the additional creativity in the play calling up to Linnhean.

no question Linehan is one of the top OC's in yjr NFL

 

[Nirvana]

I'm on to Cincinnati.

 

[Miller]

Thanks for sharing the comments, OP. I think they're fairly obvious, but they're still good to hear. Plus it's always fun to watch people who don't want to like the HC tap dance some more. There feet must be getting tired at this point.

It still boggles my mind that people seem to remember the offense as a big part of the problem with last year's team.

I'm not going to lie, I've never been a JG fan..not him, just the way he's handled the team. Though I've never taken it to a point where I relish losses at his expense..I've enjoyed this season. But the statements do have a little "under bus throwing" element to it considering he said we couldn't run and he had to get Romo up. JG might make me happily eat crow one day but overall I still want to see a full season OC his alleged "master plan." I don't think the numbers say we were a bad offense but game time, situational, offensive issues lost us games that would have put us in the playoffs. I'm really happy the way the offense is working now though. Hope it stays consistent vs better competition.

 

[Gaede]

Question, though. How can it be political maneuvering when we're talking about a private conversation with a friend and former teammate? This is Moose sharing the story here of what Jason reportedly thinks.

For four years now, we've heard nothing but complaining about Jason Garrett's decisions as he dismantled the high price OL we had when he took over and systematically devoted resources to rebuilding it for the long term while turning over options for the short term and looking to find diamonds in the rough. At the same time, we had even more dramatic issues in the secondary and a defensive front 7 that was only a year or two behind the OL in terms of it's personnel. Now, we finally have the OL in place, and people are trying to make the argument that it wasn't planned or that it wasn't something attributable to the head coach. That just doesn't make sense.

We've heard the same sorts of complaints about play calling for years now, too. First it was Jason Garrett is an idiot and can't call plays. Then he was neutered by Jerry. Then Callahan could do a better job calling plays than Jason ever could. Then Callahan was an idiot and couldn't call plays. Then Jason was neutered by Jerry again when he looked for a play caller in the offseason. Then Jason was an idiot for hiring Linehan who was pass-happy and also one of his cronies. Now Linehan's a run-calling genius who gets all the credit for bringing the offense from 4th in the entire league on an offensive points/series basis up to 3rd in the league on an offensive points/series basis. And what's Garrett said publicly by way of political maneuvering about all of this? Nothing that I've heard short of giving lots of praise to his players and staff and reminding everybody that the goal is to keep improving and performing better. Conclusion from our fans: Jason Garrett is a political posturer who needs to be kept far away from his own offense.

Meanwhile, we're playing better defense and we've won three games. A far cry from last year's 2-2 at this point. And people are getting away hinting at post season runs. Redonkulous.

This organization needs to just sit tight. We need to continue to do the things we do well offensively and to continue to be as efficient as we have been the last two+ seasons. We need to continue to play ST at a very high level. We need to hold onto the ball if we're going to actually start beating good teams. And we need to improve dramatically still in terms of taking the ball away from the other guys and in terms of making it hard for them to throw against us. We need to stop trying to find excuses for how we could possibly be having success when the owner, the GM, Stephen Jones, and the head coach are incompetent and being propped up by the (sorry, but it's hilarious) offensive and defensive coordinators. We need realize that a lot of us who have been complaining about literally every aspect of this franchise for the last few years and deriding the decisions that have been made every single step of the way are now turning around with the audacity to act vindicated when the accumulation of those moves looks to be working well in the very short term. We need to sit tight, enjoy the fact that the prospects for the future look good, at least for this week, and anticipate a DL getting stronger over the next few weeks as we get Spencer back to form and Demarcus Lawrence come back. And then we need to appreciate for a little bit, that we're fortunate to have a coach capable of handling the crazy-meddlesome owner, the enormous spotlight on America's Team, the challenging cap situation, and the significant work required in overhauling a large percentage of the personnel on this team without the benefit of significant additional draft picks. We ought to be glad we're in the position we appear to be in, instead of finding logically tortured explanations for how it could have happened with no real plan whatsoever. We ought to, but we won't. Because we're Dallas Cowboys fans, and we think this stuff just happens by magic when your hat has a star on it or when you bring in the former offensive mastermind of the Vikings, Dolphins, Rams, and Lions.

I'm sorry. But give me a break.

Though I disagree with your opinion on Garrett, I do appreciate the thought you put into this post.

I am actually pleased as all that we are playing well and winning. Time will tell what the season's narrative will become, however, at this point I friggin love how we've been playing. The kind of physical game most of us have been longing for has finally arrived. I guess I should give Garrett more credit for that because he is the head coach after all.

I just have a hard time giving him too much credit for a master plan to get to this point when the roster and coaching staff have undergone such upheaval under him. Feels less like a systematic approach to fixing the team's ills and more like seeing what sticks.

That said, if it works, I don't care how we got there. Again, time will tell on that. But we've been in this situation before and it hasn't turned out, so many of us are smart to be cautious.

 

[Idgit]

Though I disagree with your opinion on Garrett, I do appreciate the thought you put into this post.

I am actually pleased as all that we are playing well and winning. Time will tell what the season's narrative will become, however, at this point I friggin love how we've been playing. The kind of physical game most of us have been longing for has finally arrived. I guess I should give Garrett more credit for that because he is the head coach after all.

I just have a hard time giving him too much credit for a master plan to get to this point when the roster and coaching staff have undergone such upheaval under him. Feels less like a systematic approach to fixing the team's ills and more like seeing what sticks.

That said, if it works, I don't care how we got there. Again, time will tell on that. But we've been in this situation before and it hasn't turned out, so many of us are smart to be cautious.

Gaede, we might not agree on all the particulars, but I don't think you and I tend to be all that far off in how we view the team philosophically.

And I agree that Garrett has made a lot of obvious missteps. Both in terms of some of the stopgaps he's tried, and in terms of assembling his staff. I think he did a pretty good job of getting the right people on the bus over time. It just took him longer than I thought it would and longer than it probably should have to get everybody in the right seats. Part of that is because it's a complex problem to solve in the NFL. Part of it is because he's made some mistakes.

'Master plan' or 'dumb luck', I just want to see the early evidence that it might be working pan out. It would be so great to see if we're starting to get the equation sorted out for good now. Whatever anybody else thinks of Jason, I firmly believe he's a great guy to have at the helm of an organization that's got sufficient talent and an experience staff beneath him. That hard part is getting the talent together in the first place.

 

[Idgit]

I'm not going to lie, I've never been a JG fan..not him, just the way he's handled the team. Though I've never taken it to a point where I relish losses at his expense..I've enjoyed this season. But the statements do have a little "under bus throwing" element to it considering he said we couldn't run and he had to get Romo up. JG might make me happily eat crow one day but overall I still want to see a full season OC his alleged "master plan." I don't think the numbers say we were a bad offense but game time, situational, offensive issues lost us games that would have put us in the playoffs. I'm really happy the way the offense is working now though. Hope it stays consistent vs better competition.

I have a hard time holding the guy responsible for private hearsay. If you guys heard the stuff I say privately to my friends, you'd know why. But I don't have a hard time at all believing Jason feels the way Moose suggests he feels. I also think it's bourne out in how he's handled things offensively his first few years.

That said, we definitely need to just sit tight and see how the season plays out. While there have been offensive mistakes and coaching mistakes that have contributed to close losses, we overwhelming lost games last year due to insufficient defense. Until and unless that changes over the next 3/4ths of the season, I don't think it matters all that much how much we can improve offensively. That incremental improvement is nothing next to the room we have to get better on the other side of the ball.

 

[Gaede]

Gaede, we might not agree on all the particulars, but I don't think you and I tend to be all that far off in how we view the team philosophically.

And I agree that Garrett has made a lot of obvious missteps. Both in terms of some of the stopgaps he's tried, and in terms of assembling his staff. I think he did a pretty good job of getting the right people on the bus over time. It just took him longer than I thought it would and longer than it probably should have to get everybody in the right seats. Part of that is because it's a complex problem to solve in the NFL. Part of it is because he's made some mistakes.

'Master plan' or 'dumb luck', I just want to see the early evidence that it might be working pan out. It would be so great to see if we're starting to get the equation sorted out for good now. Whatever anybody else thinks of Jason, I firmly believe he's a great guy to have at the helm of an organization that's got sufficient talent and an experience staff beneath him. That hard part is getting the talent together in the first place.

We agree here, that's for sure! Good post Idgit

 

[blindzebra]

Gaede, we might not agree on all the particulars, but I don't think you and I tend to be all that far off in how we view the team philosophically.

And I agree that Garrett has made a lot of obvious missteps. Both in terms of some of the stopgaps he's tried, and in terms of assembling his staff. I think he did a pretty good job of getting the right people on the bus over time. It just took him longer than I thought it would and longer than it probably should have to get everybody in the right seats. Part of that is because it's a complex problem to solve in the NFL. Part of it is because he's made some mistakes.

'Master plan' or 'dumb luck', I just want to see the early evidence that it might be working pan out. It would be so great to see if we're starting to get the equation sorted out for good now. Whatever anybody else thinks of Jason, I firmly believe he's a great guy to have at the helm of an organization that's got sufficient talent and an experience staff beneath him. That hard part is getting the talent together in the first place.

What you left out was he was not given the chance to blow it up and start over all at once. He had to rebuild and keep them in contention because Jerry would not allow us to be in a full rebuilding mold. Had he been able to gut everything that needed it all at once we would have seen a quicker rebuild,.

What I find funny is the complete denial that Garrett wants us to be a balanced offense. The naysayers point to rushing averages and 20 carry win/lost records as proof without all the variables. The fact is we could run well at times, but never consistently and almost never when we needed to.

There is a reason that 3rd down and short conversion rate running the ball is shooting through the roof this year. He finally has the pieces to run it inside where you need to in short yardage.