drawandstrike
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Made this rant on Twitter the other day as I watched the Witten press conference. The sight of Jerry Jones prattling on as he watched one of the greatest players of all time ride off into the sunset was too much for me to take.
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And so Jason Witten retires.
I am on the last episode of Amazon Prime Video's 'All Or Nothing: The Dallas Cowboys' which revisits the 2017 season Dallas had. And I am once again about to rant about Jerry Jones. Who is on my TV at the moment with Witten.
I am absolutely horrified by what I'm seeing in the 8 episodes of "All Or Nothing", which recounts a year in which once again, Dallas got nothing. I see a team culture where coaches crave the acceptance of their PLAYERS, which is exactly backwards.
I see a coaching staff that sees itself as father figures, motivational speakers, life coaches, who want to be their player's BFF's. You know what the most successful NFL franchise has been since Dallas declined in the late 1990's?
It's the New England Patriots.
The New England Patriots are owned by Robert Kraft and the head coach is Bill Belichick, a guy who learned the ropes under Bill Parcells, a no-nonsense disciplinarian. The team culture between Dallas & New England could not be more different or starker.
Bill Belichick & his coaching staff most certainly do not see themselves as their player's BFF's or hand clapping motivational speakers or life coaches. They are TASKMASTERS, strict disciplinarians who keep a firm line between those who give the orders and those who take them.
Jimmy Johnson was old school. He built a team and established a winning culture, all the while holding Jerry Jones at bay, who wanted to get in there and coddle and 'nurture' the players.
The biggest thing that caused the Jimmy/Jerry relationship to finally break down after 2 straight Super Bowl wins was that Jimmy Johnson got tired of holding Jerry Jones at bay. And once Jimmy left & Jones got his way, the club has never been the same.
The Team That Jimmy Built won 1 more Super Bowl under Barry Switzer, the good ol' boy who let Jerry get in there at last and completely sabotage the team culture.
I don't know if you've ever seen it, but Troy Aikman went off on a sideline rant that was captured on camera. In it he says stuff is now going on with the team that Johnson would never have allowed. They've lost their edge. Starts at 4:40
That wasn't just Barry Switzer's fault. That was Jerry Jone's fault. Jones completely changed the team culture in just 3 short years that Switzer was there. By 2002 Jerry the GM had made such a wreck of the franchise he finally threw his hands up and sought help.
Jones went and brought in Bill Parcells to rebuild the franchise, which Parcells did, with Jones interfering with him the entire way. Parcells was to draft and coach up the team and manage the games but Jones made it clear the TEAM CULTURE was off limits. The players needed a nurturing, family environment and Jones was not going to let Parcells change it.
From 2003 to 2006, in 4 seasons Parcells resurrected the franchise from the shambles Jones has reduced it to.
Try as he might, even as he built a team that could compete & brought in Tony Romo, DeMarcus Ware, Jason Witten & more, Parcells was helpless to counter Jones' influence in subverting his attempts to change the team CULTURE.
What was Parcell's reward for doing this? After rebuilding the club, Jones had his new stadium ready and figured he didn't need Parcells any more. So Jones didn't renew Parcell's contract once it expired after the 2006 season. The Cowboys had just made the playoffs with their new QB, Tony Romo. Jones figured he was set. So he bid Parcells adieu and made Wade Phillips the new head coach in 2007.
And thus was the stage set for the rise of a new Cowboys dynasty!
Just kidding.
After going 14-2 in 2007 with The Team Bill Built, the Cowboys lost to the Giants in the very first playoff game at home.
2008 followed with the team missing the playoffs. In 2009 they made the playoffs, beat the Eagles in the 1st round, then were absolutely blown out by Brett Farve and the Minnesota Vikings. And then 2010 arrived. And the team totally collapsed.
After a humiliating 1-7 start to the season, Jones fired Wade Phillips and promoted OC Jason Garrett to head coach. Phillips, like Switzer & Chan Gailey & Dave Campo, the coaches who followed him & preceded Parcells, were yes men. They didn't ever stand up to Jones.
And so since mid-2010, Jason Garrett has been the head coach, laboring under a team CULTURE that - like all the other coaches since Jimmy Johnson - he really has no control over. He does what he's ALLOWED to do by the owner always at his elbow playing GM.
Would Jason Garrett have been a rah-rah cheerleader motivational life coach-type head coach if he hadn't had Jerry Jones constantly at his elbow urging him to treat all the players like just one big happy family? Maybe, maybe not. But that's what happened.
And watching this 8 episode season of 'All Or Nothing: The Dallas Cowboys' horrified me at the state of this team culture currently. These players have absolutely no fear whatsoever of their coaches. Jerry's "we're all just one big happy family!" culture is everywhere.
I don't doubt Bill Belichik loves *most* of his players. But he will pick a time and a place to show it. After the work is done. After players have met his expectations. After they've, you know, WON SOMETHING.
I'm not saying there can't be different approaches to reach the same goal. But 1 of these approaches has garnered 8 Super Bowl appearances since 2001 & 5 championships. The other has won 2 playoff games since 1996.
And so today, as I watch another great Cowboys player retire, a guy who gave his heart and soul to this team, I can't help but wonder, what if Jimmy Johnson had won that battle of egos with Jerry Jones back in 1993? What if he'd manage to SHOW Jerry why you don't coddle players and treat them like family until they've WON something? How many rings would this team have by now?
They are all gone now. Tony Romo, DeMarcus Ware, Dez Bryant and now Jason Witten. I feel especially bad for Romo & Witten. At least Ware got a ring after he left the Cowboys and went to the Broncos.
But Jerry Jones is still there, doing it his way. With a coach he has complete control of, reduced to being a clapping motivational speaker nobody really fears or respects.
Sure, they will probably win a bunch of games this year. They went 13-3 just 2 years ago when everybody was healthy and no suspensions.
But championship?
I don't see it.
This team culture is too soft. And it wastes the careers of too many great players.
==================================================
And so Jason Witten retires.
I am on the last episode of Amazon Prime Video's 'All Or Nothing: The Dallas Cowboys' which revisits the 2017 season Dallas had. And I am once again about to rant about Jerry Jones. Who is on my TV at the moment with Witten.
I am absolutely horrified by what I'm seeing in the 8 episodes of "All Or Nothing", which recounts a year in which once again, Dallas got nothing. I see a team culture where coaches crave the acceptance of their PLAYERS, which is exactly backwards.
I see a coaching staff that sees itself as father figures, motivational speakers, life coaches, who want to be their player's BFF's. You know what the most successful NFL franchise has been since Dallas declined in the late 1990's?
It's the New England Patriots.
The New England Patriots are owned by Robert Kraft and the head coach is Bill Belichick, a guy who learned the ropes under Bill Parcells, a no-nonsense disciplinarian. The team culture between Dallas & New England could not be more different or starker.
Bill Belichick & his coaching staff most certainly do not see themselves as their player's BFF's or hand clapping motivational speakers or life coaches. They are TASKMASTERS, strict disciplinarians who keep a firm line between those who give the orders and those who take them.
Jimmy Johnson was old school. He built a team and established a winning culture, all the while holding Jerry Jones at bay, who wanted to get in there and coddle and 'nurture' the players.
The biggest thing that caused the Jimmy/Jerry relationship to finally break down after 2 straight Super Bowl wins was that Jimmy Johnson got tired of holding Jerry Jones at bay. And once Jimmy left & Jones got his way, the club has never been the same.
The Team That Jimmy Built won 1 more Super Bowl under Barry Switzer, the good ol' boy who let Jerry get in there at last and completely sabotage the team culture.
I don't know if you've ever seen it, but Troy Aikman went off on a sideline rant that was captured on camera. In it he says stuff is now going on with the team that Johnson would never have allowed. They've lost their edge. Starts at 4:40
That wasn't just Barry Switzer's fault. That was Jerry Jone's fault. Jones completely changed the team culture in just 3 short years that Switzer was there. By 2002 Jerry the GM had made such a wreck of the franchise he finally threw his hands up and sought help.
Jones went and brought in Bill Parcells to rebuild the franchise, which Parcells did, with Jones interfering with him the entire way. Parcells was to draft and coach up the team and manage the games but Jones made it clear the TEAM CULTURE was off limits. The players needed a nurturing, family environment and Jones was not going to let Parcells change it.
From 2003 to 2006, in 4 seasons Parcells resurrected the franchise from the shambles Jones has reduced it to.
Try as he might, even as he built a team that could compete & brought in Tony Romo, DeMarcus Ware, Jason Witten & more, Parcells was helpless to counter Jones' influence in subverting his attempts to change the team CULTURE.
What was Parcell's reward for doing this? After rebuilding the club, Jones had his new stadium ready and figured he didn't need Parcells any more. So Jones didn't renew Parcell's contract once it expired after the 2006 season. The Cowboys had just made the playoffs with their new QB, Tony Romo. Jones figured he was set. So he bid Parcells adieu and made Wade Phillips the new head coach in 2007.
And thus was the stage set for the rise of a new Cowboys dynasty!
Just kidding.
After going 14-2 in 2007 with The Team Bill Built, the Cowboys lost to the Giants in the very first playoff game at home.
2008 followed with the team missing the playoffs. In 2009 they made the playoffs, beat the Eagles in the 1st round, then were absolutely blown out by Brett Farve and the Minnesota Vikings. And then 2010 arrived. And the team totally collapsed.
After a humiliating 1-7 start to the season, Jones fired Wade Phillips and promoted OC Jason Garrett to head coach. Phillips, like Switzer & Chan Gailey & Dave Campo, the coaches who followed him & preceded Parcells, were yes men. They didn't ever stand up to Jones.
And so since mid-2010, Jason Garrett has been the head coach, laboring under a team CULTURE that - like all the other coaches since Jimmy Johnson - he really has no control over. He does what he's ALLOWED to do by the owner always at his elbow playing GM.
Would Jason Garrett have been a rah-rah cheerleader motivational life coach-type head coach if he hadn't had Jerry Jones constantly at his elbow urging him to treat all the players like just one big happy family? Maybe, maybe not. But that's what happened.
And watching this 8 episode season of 'All Or Nothing: The Dallas Cowboys' horrified me at the state of this team culture currently. These players have absolutely no fear whatsoever of their coaches. Jerry's "we're all just one big happy family!" culture is everywhere.
I don't doubt Bill Belichik loves *most* of his players. But he will pick a time and a place to show it. After the work is done. After players have met his expectations. After they've, you know, WON SOMETHING.
I'm not saying there can't be different approaches to reach the same goal. But 1 of these approaches has garnered 8 Super Bowl appearances since 2001 & 5 championships. The other has won 2 playoff games since 1996.
And so today, as I watch another great Cowboys player retire, a guy who gave his heart and soul to this team, I can't help but wonder, what if Jimmy Johnson had won that battle of egos with Jerry Jones back in 1993? What if he'd manage to SHOW Jerry why you don't coddle players and treat them like family until they've WON something? How many rings would this team have by now?
They are all gone now. Tony Romo, DeMarcus Ware, Dez Bryant and now Jason Witten. I feel especially bad for Romo & Witten. At least Ware got a ring after he left the Cowboys and went to the Broncos.
But Jerry Jones is still there, doing it his way. With a coach he has complete control of, reduced to being a clapping motivational speaker nobody really fears or respects.
Sure, they will probably win a bunch of games this year. They went 13-3 just 2 years ago when everybody was healthy and no suspensions.
But championship?
I don't see it.
This team culture is too soft. And it wastes the careers of too many great players.
