Watching Jason Witten Retire With Grinning Jerry Jones

[FuzzyLumpkins]

My TLDR post got near twice as many likes.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

He retired. After bringing this franchise back to life. We all owe him a debt of gratitude.

You seem to be getting emotional talking about your hero here. It's not my problem he quit on the team in the middle of the draft.

Stay classy, Jesu..I mean Jason.

I'm really going to miss him.

It's interesting that he is talking about the good and the bad and you are accusing him of hero worship when you are the one that is being willfully ignorant of the bad.

Thanks for my daily dose of irony.

 

[Risen Star]

I’ll never understand how some equate retiring to quitting on his team. The timing was unfortunate, but Witten, like every other football player, and every other person in any profession, can retire at whatever point they deem to make sense. If this happened mid season it might be different, but it didn’t.

Said by people who call Barry Sanders a quitter.

And in response to me responding to a genius calling Bill Parcells a quitter.

I'm guessing this is a St. Jason thing.

 

[OmerV]

Said by people who call Barry Sanders a quitter.

And in response to me responding to a genius calling Bill Parcells a quitter.

I'm guessing this is a St. Jason thing.

With this viewpoint any person in any line of work that ever changed jobs or retired at a time of their choice was a quitter. Im wondering if you ever changed jobs or if the plan to retire some day - assuming you haven’t already.

 

[birdwells1]

The Jones family is having a blast. They own the premier franchise in all of sports outside of maybe one of those premier Football teams Europe. I can't say I blame them.

But they're basically living off the Cowboys tradition built by Schramm, Landry and Staubach et all, and Johnson, Aikman, Irvin, and Smith et al, and of course, Pete Rozelle.

This. Jerry came in and hired one of the best coaching minds in the business, Jimmy also knew the college player from coaching against them or coaching them. Jerry sat back and allowed Jimmy to run the show, you know how it's supposed to be done, and success followed. When his ego got in the way you get 23 years without a NFC Championship appearance.

Right now the Joneses are milking the Cowboys brand better than it's every been before them, they realized that this team's fans are many and passionate. The thing is they were many and passionate before they purchase the team they just decided to play it for as much cash as they could.

 

[drawandstrike]

Another one of these guys that thinks Hitler is the only leadership style that works in football

Your boy Hitler (bb) just lost the SB to Doug Pedersen...a guy who leads his team With the exact opposite approach you desire

You can't possibly have thought this post out.

BB has EIGHT SB appearances since 2001 and FIVE championships.

 

[OmerV]

This. Jerry came in and hired one of the best coaching minds in the business, Jimmy also knew the college player from coaching against them or coaching them. Jerry sat back and allowed Jimmy to run the show, you know how it's supposed to be done, and success followed. When his ego got in the way you get 23 years without a NFC Championship appearance.

Right now the Joneses are milking the Cowboys brand better than it's every been before them, they realized that this team's fans are many and passionate. The thing is they were many and passionate before they purchase the team they just decided to play it for as much cash as they could.

It’s true that Jerry bought the team knowing he had a brand he could market, but what’s lost is that the Cowboys were actually losing money before Jerry bought the team. I don’t say this to suggest he’s been a good GM, but he did build the brand back up.

 

[drawandstrike]

What in the heck are you talking about. You are trying to make this into something it is not.
PARCELS, yes, he revitalized this team, however when he had them on the verge of going where we all wanted them to go....HE QUIT....

It has nothing to do with a TE that he drafted.

You don't leave your coach hanging on the last year of his contract without offering him an extension. ESPECIALLY after he just resurrected in 3 seasons the franchise YOU drove into the ground.

But Jerry refused to even talk to Parcells about an extension right after Parcells got the Cowboys back into the playoffs. What part of Jerry wanted Parcells GONE are people having trouble grasping?

 

[drawandstrike]

It’s true that Jerry bought the team knowing he had a brand he could market, but what’s lost is that the Cowboys were actually losing money before Jerry bought the team. I don’t say this to suggest he’s been a good GM, but he did build the brand back up.

As an owner Jerry is second only to Robert Kraft. As a GM by HIMSELF, I'd rate about 27 other GM's above him in this league. With the 'GM By Committee' thing we've been doing since 2011, maybe in the top 10, around 8 or 9ish.

 

[birdwells1]

It’s true that Jerry bought the team knowing he had a brand he could market, but what’s lost is that the Cowboys were actually losing money before Jerry bought the team. I don’t say this to suggest he’s been a good GM, but he did build the brand back up.

The brand has always been the brand, America's Team, the most popular sports franchise in America, the team that gets the maximum amount of prime time tv games no matter what the record is, you can love them or hate them but you will watch them. That's who the Cowboys were in the 70s, 80s and up until today, they may have been losing money but that wasn't due to disinterest in the product.

I've said this before, if Jerry had purchased the San Diego Chargers and made them must see tv then I would've been impressed but he took America's Team and made them.........America's Team.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Witten left becuz he was tired of losing.

 

[OmerV]

The brand has always been the brand, America's Team, the most popular sports franchise in America, the team that gets the maximum amount of prime time tv games no matter what the record is, you can love them or hate them but you will watch them. That's who the Cowboys were in the 70s, 80s and up until today, they may have been losing money but that wasn't due to disinterest in the product.

I've said this before, if Jerry had purchased the San Diego Chargers and made them must see tv then I would've been impressed but he took America's Team and made them.........America's Team.

Why would they have lost st money if interest in the product hadn’t dropped?

 

[birdwells1]

Why would they have lost st money if interest in the product hadn’t dropped?

I don't know, why do some businesses lose money and get a new CEO and turn a profit with the same amount of productivity? It was nothing wrong with the product just the people running it.

 

[OmerV]

I don't know, why do some businesses lose money and get a new CEO and turn a profit with the same amount of productivity? It was nothing wrong with the product just the people running it.

They do it by building up the brand - aka doing a better job of marketing the product. If the previous group wasn’t doing their job, the brand suffered. In the case of the Cowboys another major issue was the team hadn’t had a winning record for 3 straight seasons, which also damaged the brand. Hard to promote yourself as “America’s Team” when you are 3-13.

 

[CowboyMike]

I love this thread.

It made it easy for me to add the OP to my ignore list.

 

[birdwells1]

They do it by building up the brand - aka doing a better job of marketing the product. If the previous group wasn’t doing their job, the brand suffered. In the case of the Cowboys another major issue was the team hadn’t had a winning record for 3 straight seasons, which also damaged the brand. Hard to promote yourself as “America’s Team” when you are 3-13.

They did it in 2014 when we went 4-12, then from 1999-2002 they went 8-8, 5-11, 5-11 and 5-11 the brand has never been damaged. The brand is "the Dallas Cowboys are the biggest tv draw in American sports" and that has not changed in my lifetime and I've been watching since the early 70s.

Jerry Jones has done a better job of marketing the Cowboys than the previous ownership and I'll give him credit for that but his generating more revenue hasn't helped us win and that's what we as fans are ultimately concerned with.

 

[birdwells1]

I love this thread.

It made it easy for me to add the OP to my ignore list.

Why? Everything in the OP was true.

 

[birdwells1]

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.

==================================================

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.

My biggest takeaway from "All or Nothing" was Garrett getting on the practice squad player for lack of effort. You should never have to get on PS players, who are really barely on the team, about their effort. That speaks to the soft culture.

 

[Risen Star]

With this viewpoint any person in any line of work that ever changed jobs or retired at a time of their choice was a quitter. Im wondering if you ever changed jobs or if the plan to retire some day - assuming you haven’t already.

You don't seem to get it . I responded to someone calling Parcells a quitter. You've seem to gloss over that and focus entirely on defense of your role model.

 

[jazzcat22]

You don't leave your coach hanging on the last year of his contract without offering him an extension. ESPECIALLY after he just resurrected in 3 seasons the franchise YOU drove into the ground.

But Jerry refused to even talk to Parcells about an extension right after Parcells got the Cowboys back into the playoffs. What part of Jerry wanted Parcells GONE are people having trouble grasping?

Reaching for straws there aren't you. And I am pretty sure Bill had one more year left on his contract after that season.