The Cap: how it has changed the league (and should change Garrett)

[Sydla]

Whatever he's doing has worked about 2/3 of the time since the beginning of 2016.

"Worked" is in the eye of the beholder.

Over that time period he has one playoff win and lost a home playoff game as the top seed. Winning a bunch of regular season games is meaningless to me if he can't carry that over to the postseason and, at the very least, get beyond the divisional round.

 

[Sydla]

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, he’s been their head coach since Nov 2010.

A true champion needs at least a decade to get something on track. Don't you know?

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

A broken clock is right twice a day.

A broken clock isn't right 2/3 of the time.

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

"Worked" is in the eye of the beholder.

Over that time period he has one playoff win and lost a home playoff game as the top seed. Winning a bunch of regular season games is meaningless to me if he can't carry that over to the postseason and, at the very least, get beyond the divisional round.

"Worked" as in winning games. Two out of every three. That's not nothing in this league. I've said previously the playoff criticism is legit, I can't fault it and don't. I do know you can't have postseason success without first having some regular season success. Let's just call it as it is, on both sides of the coin.

 

[Sydla]

"Worked" as in winning games. Two out of every three. That's not nothing in this league. I've said previously the playoff criticism is legit, I can't fault it and don't. I do know you can't have postseason success without first having some regular season success. Let's just call it as it is, on both sides of the coin.

No one said it's nothing.

But coaches are judged, largely, on post season successes. So again, if Garrett teams win a bunch of regular season games but continually spit the bit in the playoffs, is what he's doing really "working"?

I think people that like Garrett have overinflated the value of the regular season because they simply have zero leg to stand on when it comes to postseason successes. Yes, you need to do at least fairly well in the regular season to make the playoffs. But in the end, it's what you do in the postseason that defines the coach IMO.

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

No one said it's nothing.

But coaches are judged, largely, on post season successes. So again, if Garrett teams win a bunch of regular season games but continually spit the bit in the playoffs, is what he's doing really "working"?

I think people that like Garrett have overinflated the value of the regular season because they simply have zero leg to stand on when it comes to postseason successes. Yes, you need to do at least fairly well in the regular season to make the playoffs. But in the end, it's what you do in the postseason that defines the coach IMO.

I think some of Garrett's detractors are undervaluing his work in the regular season because they struggle with critical thinking or they are simply impatient. When he was hired, he was raw and probably not even ready for a head coaching job. It was always going to be a long game on his growth and improvement, and some folks have run out of patience, which is fine. But I see the tangible improvement over the past three seasons and think it's worth seeing through at least another year or so. I think Jerry is playing this one just right to give JG another make or break season.

If you have another option sitting there that's a slam dunk, I'm all ears. But making a change just to make one rarely works out.

 

[Sydla]

I think some of Garrett's detractors are undervaluing his work in the regular season because they struggle with critical thinking or they are simply impatient. When he was hired, he was raw and probably not even ready for a head coaching job. It was always going to be a long game on his growth and improvement, and some folks have run out of patience, which is fine. But I see the tangible improvement over the past three seasons and think it's worth seeing through at least another year or so. I think Jerry is playing this one just right to give JG another make or break season.

If you have another option sitting there that's a slam dunk, I'm all ears. But making a change just to make one rarely works out.

Putting aside the subtle insult where you claim some Garrett detractors are basically dumb and lack critical thinking skills, l understand some of what you are saying but given where we are, I cannot agree. For starters, I am perfectly fine with giving him another season at this point. Firing him right now doesn't make a whole lot of sense given where we are in the NFL calender. I would have fired him after 2017 but that time has come and gone and we are where we are.

I never really understood the charge of fans being impatient. He's going into his 9th year. At what point is it fair to judge him on his full body of work, not just his regular season successes? Further, at this point, if the Cowboys have to make a change, it's not really change for change sake. It's change for the sake that what we are doing clearly isn't working. If Garrett spits out a non-playoff year in 2019 or makes it and then gets bounced before the getting out of the divisional round again, what value is there in continuing down this same path? At that point, is it really change for change sake or is it change for the sake that in almost a decade of his leadership, this franchise has gone no further than say, Wade Phillips took them, and he was fired after basically 4 seasons.

 

[Reid1boys]

See: Baker Mayfield after Hue was canned.

See: Jared Goff after Fisher was canned.

See: Nick Foles w/o John DeFilippo.

See: Matt Ryan after Dirk Koetter. (Who's back again, gonna be interestin', fer shore!!!)

I really don't understand why you'd even say this, Greg, it's been a well known fact for a long long time that a QB's OC makes a monster of a difference, and many QB's have been derailed by bad ones.

Baker Mayfield??? Are you kidding? Well first off, rookies QBs that start, are very likely first rd draft picks, and first rd QBs are very likely coming to an atrocious team.... thats how they got drafted so high to start with. Baker Mayfield came in the game in wk 3 at halftime. He KICKED *** right then. It was immediately apparent, if you have a brain, that this kid has "It." He had "It," with Hue Jackson still there. Now you watch , and this is what happensa ll the time with "Great coaches." The new coach, Kitchens is walking into a totally different Cleveland team that REALLY started the transformation from crap to legit with the arrival of...... drumb roll please................... the freaking QB, Baker Mayfield. I know, I know... all those other draft picks are just starting to ball out. No doubt adding Landry and OBJ will help Mayfield immensely, Chubb tore it up last year when he got to play, and now add in Kareen Hunt to the mix... give this new offense to Hue Jackson, and they would have been just fine. But now HItchens is arriving at the exact opportune time, and Cleveland is going to take off. Do you think Cleveland would also be predicted to have its first winning season in a very long time if any of 30 different people was hired as coach? Hitchens has some pretty minimal coaching experience, but watch how AMAZING he is gonna be. You could have hired 30 different guys to take over Cleveland, and Mayfield is goin gto do what Mayfield is going to do... which is start his ascent to the top of the QB list in the NFL. Cleveland has finally hit paydirt with the most important position on the field.

So which is it that gets all the credit for QBs? The coordinator? The hwad coach? I need to know how to form my argument. Is it the one that suits your needs best? Apparently our coordinator did a pretty good job developing Dak. I mean afterall, he is primed for a huge payday. or was it the QB coach? In any event, we have a new coordinator, a boy wonder genius... no doubt our offense is about to explode.

Now, I will give youGoff. He arived in LA and made an immediate impact. As well as Goff being in his second year, where one would expect a young QB to start just being .... BETTER than they were as a rookie.

 

[Reid1boys]

Talent is so important it's a gimme!!!

However, you suggested that changing coaches/OC didn't matter. It matters a ton, and teams are constantly chasing guys who they think will maximize the talent.

yep, and all those coaching changes , more often than not dont equate to much.... thats why 25% of coaches get axed every single year. Only when they get the thing all crappy teams have in common..... a new QB. Even Goff... yeah, he showed up with a 2nd year QB that was a first rd pick that was drafted with the expectation of being THE guy. Yea, he sucked under Fisher, and Goff helped him.. but Goff showing up to the Rams 4 years ago, likely results in a crappy rams team as well.

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

Putting aside the subtle insult where you claim some Garrett detractors are basically dumb and lack critical thinking skills, l understand some of what you are saying but given where we are, I cannot agree. For starters, I am perfectly fine with giving him another season at this point. Firing him right now doesn't make a whole lot of sense given where we are in the NFL calender. I would have fired him after 2017 but that time has come and gone and we are where we are.

I never really understood the charge of fans being impatient. He's going into his 9th year. At what point is it fair to judge him on his full body of work, not just his regular season successes? Further, at this point, if the Cowboys have to make a change, it's not really change for change sake. It's change for the sake that what we are doing clearly isn't working. If Garrett spits out a non-playoff year in 2019 or makes it and then gets bounced before the getting out of the divisional round again, what value is there in continuing down this same path? At that point, is it really change for change sake or is it change for the sake that in almost a decade of his leadership, this franchise has gone no further than say, Wade Phillips took them, and he was fired after basically 4 seasons.

Well, the dig wasn't specifically aimed at you, but you can't argue that some of the anti-Garretts out there demonstrably don't think critically about it.

It's always fair to judge someone by their full body of work. In fact, that's what I am trying to do. I argue that Garrett has indeed improved. He essentially went from a .500 coach to a coach that wins 67% of his games. That's dang solid and tangible. Experience has been a great teacher. He also has shown that the players play hard for him and that they can weather some adversity (3-5 start, for instance).

Again I think the playoff criticism is fair. I think the Rams game was a debacle that was impacted some by injury but also by scheme and that ultimately falls on the coaching staff. And a fair criticism is that Garrett and his staff can at times be slow to adjust (I think they usually do better than the common fan sees, but it does seem to rear its ugly head on occasion).

If Garrett and the Cowboys don't show a next step this season, it's possible a change is needed. I like to reserve judgement until we can see what takes place before delivering ultimatums. Besides the ultimate ultimatum has been issued by Jerry - he's not been extended. So you may get your wish yet.

 

[noshame]

don't spend big money on RBs., TEs, or LBs
Spend it all on the lines, QB , DB, and a WR.
Championship.

 

[Bobhaze]

Well, the dig wasn't specifically aimed at you, but you can't argue that some of the anti-Garretts out there demonstrably don't think critically about it.

It's always fair to judge someone by their full body of work. In fact, that's what I am trying to do. I argue that Garrett has indeed improved. He essentially went from a .500 coach to a coach that wins 67% of his games. That's dang solid and tangible. Experience has been a great teacher. He also has shown that the players play hard for him and that they can weather some adversity (3-5 start, for instance).

Again I think the playoff criticism is fair. I think the Rams game was a debacle that was impacted some by injury but also by scheme and that ultimately falls on the coaching staff. And a fair criticism is that Garrett and his staff can at times be slow to adjust (I think they usually do better than the common fan sees, but it does seem to rear its ugly head on occasion).

If Garrett and the Cowboys don't show a next step this season, it's possible a change is needed. I like to reserve judgement until we can see what takes place before delivering ultimatums. Besides the ultimate ultimatum has been issued by Jerry - he's not been extended. So you may get your wish yet.

This is well said Ghost. The only departure I have with you is thinking fans need to be more patient. I don’t know how long normal NFL patience is supposed to last for fans, but with Garrett going into his 9th full season as HC, i think it’s completely fair for Cowboys fans to be saying, “Show me the money”....”Prove you’re worth keeping”.

Yes, Garrett has shown some good things, especially in improving the talent, culture and commitment of our players. We have won some div “titles”. But the bottom line for any self respecting organization has to be more than qualifying for the playoffs 3 times in 8 seasons and 2 WC wins to show for it. Bottom line is that’s not acceptable. So win some more playoff games or we need another HC who can get us there. Patience at this point is not appropriate in my opinion.

 

[Reid1boys]

This is well said Ghost. The only departure I have with you is thinking fans need to be more patient. I don’t know how long normal NFL patience is supposed to last for fans, but with Garrett going into his 9th full season as HC, i think it’s completely fair for Cowboys fans to be saying, “Show me the money”....”Prove you’re worth keeping”.

Yes, Garrett has shown some good things, especially in improving the talent, culture and commitment of our players. We have won some div “titles”. But the bottom line for any self respecting organization has to be more than qualifying for the playoffs 3 times in 8 seasons and 2 WC wins to show for it. Bottom line is that’s not acceptable. So win some more playoff games or we need another HC who can get us there. Patience at this point is not appropriate in my opinion.

This is MIke Zimmer's 6th season with Vikings. How long doe she get? 1-2 in playoffs. 3rd/1st/3rd/1st/2nd place finishes. So what is a good amount of time? What is "success?" Anything short of superbowl is failure? NFC title game???? IM jsut curious what you think on HOW long should a team give a coach in today's NFL?

 

[Diehardblues]

jerry will never understand how critical coaching is in Cap era, people say he is so smart, yet he is incapable of understanding this?

I think by now we have come to realize he does understand but his personal passions outweigh what’s best for Cowboys Football .

Jerry didn’t appreciate winning championships with a HC that received more credit . There simply isn’t enough room in Big D for an Ego bigger than Jerry’s.

Garrett is perfect for Jerry’s personal passions.

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

This is well said Ghost. The only departure I have with you is thinking fans need to be more patient. I don’t know how long normal NFL patience is supposed to last for fans, but with Garrett going into his 9th full season as HC, i think it’s completely fair for Cowboys fans to be saying, “Show me the money”....”Prove you’re worth keeping”.

Yes, Garrett has shown some good things, especially in improving the talent, culture and commitment of our players. We have won some div “titles”. But the bottom line for any self respecting organization has to be more than qualifying for the playoffs 3 times in 8 seasons and 2 WC wins to show for it. Bottom line is that’s not acceptable. So win some more playoff games or we need another HC who can get us there. Patience at this point is not appropriate in my opinion.

Just because I think someone is impatient doesn't mean I am right and those with less patience are wrong. I just hate this culture that someone gets a couple of years to deliver and then they are out. That's not productive. Look at all the teams that operate that way and you can add their number of championships on one hand with fingers to spare.

If you had told me nine years ago where we'd be right now in respect to Garrett, I'm not sure I would have signed up. I'm not saying I wouldn't have, but it has been a long ride so to speak. But that doesn't mean we can't acknowledge that real improvement has taken place and we are in a better spot now than we were in 2013 or 2015. And most folks really don't have any idea who deserves the credit for that, but they assume it isn't Garrett and I think that's ignorant.

 

[Bobhaze]

This is MIke Zimmer's 6th season with Vikings. How long doe she get? 1-2 in playoffs. 3rd/1st/3rd/1st/2nd place finishes. So what is a good amount of time? What is "success?" Anything short of superbowl is failure? NFC title game???? IM jsut curious what you think on HOW long should a team give a coach in today's NFL?

I don’t think there is a set answer to that as each team’s needs and recent history are different. Zimmer has a divisional playoff win and took the Vikes to an NFC championship game in 2017. I would think if they don’t make the playoffs this year and/or don’t win some in the playoffs his job will be on the line, perhaps even fired.

In a more direct answer to your question, most NFL owners give a HC 3-5 years to meet team goals, whatever they may be. We all know our owner has a strange relationship with his HC, because his first goal (he’s even said it publicly) is his own “comfort” with that coach. So I realized a long time ago that we don’t have a “normal” situation here.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Today’s NFL is completely different than it was when we last won a Super Bowl in the 1995 season. Back then, the salary cap had just been instituted and it would have a profound effect on the league in several key ways:

• How teams acquired, developed and maintained its talent changed dramatically.
• It also leveled the playing field in talent matchups between teams. It became much harder to stockpile talent with depth like the Cowboys did back in the early 90s.
• Because the talent gaps are smaller in today’s game, the role of creativity and scheme became much more important than just winning by brute physical advantages.
• And finally, this led to critical importance of having a head coach and staff that can BE CREATIVE AND ADAPT TO CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES QUICKLY- both in games and in season. Quite simply, having a creative HC has become more critical than ever before.

So, the importance of having creative and adaptive schemes on both sides of the ball have become a must if your team is to win in the regular season and to qualify for the playoffs. And, once in the playoffs, your team's ability to be creative and adaptive is even more critical.

Improving this team’s ability to be more creative and adaptive may be the biggest key to finally having a deep playoff run we haven’t seen since the salary cap was installed.

Unfortunately, despite some strengths exhibited in acquiring talent and getting his teams ready to consistently play hard, Jason Garrett runs this team like a 1965 Vince Lombardi packers team. “Here is what we do, we’re going to do it over and over, because that’s what we do, and we are going to out physical you with it”. The problem is, that theory doesn’t work so often in today’s NFL.

Jason Garrett does several things well as previously stated. But his inability to be creative and adapt is an absolute killer in the playoffs. Which is where coaching matters most.

If Garrett doesn’t correct this bad habit, he will continue to be a decent regular season coach who struggles to win in the playoffs. My hope is that the addition of Kellen Moore will add some creativity to our offensive schemes and influence some of the habits and practices of our head coach.

Surely this season is Garrett’s last chance to prove he can be that kind of coach.

On occasion someone here makes a post of such high quality that I wish the Cowboys coaching staff would read it. This is one of them. Great post.

 

[Diehardblues]

Greg, that type Qb is simply not readily available. You can ask that question all day, now outline your plan for us to get one.

Good questions .

First of all it’s not my job as a fan or critic to address solutions . I’m simply pointing out what I see and believe as issues which are preventing this team from having a greater offense and potentially a more serious contender .

I also have concerns our ownership might have underlying issues with intentions to see this QB thru despite some of the obvious concerns that have been raised. Given that I also appreciate what we’ve accomplished with Dak in his 3 years and see the intangible assets he brings and with all of the right pieces surrounding him are a solid competitor.

But if you ask me what would put us over the hump offensively that’s one of the key pieces I see. And I can’t help but wonder if our ownership hadn’t fell head over hills after the Rookie season we might have looked to bring some competition in to compete for the position.

I believe enough concerns were raised in 2017 to take a step back and reevaluate our stance after 2016. The potential solutions could have been in draft or FA. I certainly don’t believe using a 5th round pick was a serious effort for competition for the position.

Our ownership IMO placed all of our eggs in one basket once they released Romo which I’d argue wasn’t the best decision overall for Cowboys Football or the development of Prescott. So yes, there’s several different moves and decisions we could have made.

 

[Diehardblues]

I don’t think there is a set answer to that as each team’s needs and recent history are different. Zimmer has a divisional playoff win and took the Vikes to an NFC championship game in 2017. I would think if they don’t make the playoffs this year and/or don’t win some in the playoffs his job will be on the line, perhaps even fired.

In a more direct answer to your question, most NFL owners give a HC 3-5 years to meet team goals, whatever they may be. We all know our owner has a strange relationship with his HC, because his first goal (he’s even said it publicly) is his own “comfort” with that coach. So I realized a long time ago that we don’t have a “normal” situation here.

Good stuff Bob. We really should better define and explore this “ comfort” you’ve so well described. And discuss not having a “ normal situation”.

I think if we do then we’d better understand why we have a HC like Garrett and probably appreciate more what he’s accomplished here under these circumstances.

I’m not sure comparing Garrett to normal situations is fair?

 

[kskboys]

Baker Mayfield??? Are you kidding? Well first off, rookies QBs that start, are very likely first rd draft picks, and first rd QBs are very likely coming to an atrocious team.... thats how they got drafted so high to start with. Baker Mayfield came in the game in wk 3 at halftime. He KICKED *** right then. It was immediately apparent, if you have a brain, that this kid has "It." He had "It," with Hue Jackson still there. Now you watch , and this is what happensa ll the time with "Great coaches." The new coach, Kitchens is walking into a totally different Cleveland team that REALLY started the transformation from crap to legit with the arrival of...... drumb roll please................... the freaking QB, Baker Mayfield. I know, I know... all those other draft picks are just starting to ball out. No doubt adding Landry and OBJ will help Mayfield immensely, Chubb tore it up last year when he got to play, and now add in Kareen Hunt to the mix... give this new offense to Hue Jackson, and they would have been just fine. But now HItchens is arriving at the exact opportune time, and Cleveland is going to take off. Do you think Cleveland would also be predicted to have its first winning season in a very long time if any of 30 different people was hired as coach? Hitchens has some pretty minimal coaching experience, but watch how AMAZING he is gonna be. You could have hired 30 different guys to take over Cleveland, and Mayfield is goin gto do what Mayfield is going to do... which is start his ascent to the top of the QB list in the NFL. Cleveland has finally hit paydirt with the most important position on the field.

So which is it that gets all the credit for QBs? The coordinator? The hwad coach? I need to know how to form my argument. Is it the one that suits your needs best? Apparently our coordinator did a pretty good job developing Dak. I mean afterall, he is primed for a huge payday. or was it the QB coach? In any event, we have a new coordinator, a boy wonder genius... no doubt our offense is about to explode.

Now, I will give youGoff. He arived in LA and made an immediate impact. As well as Goff being in his second year, where one would expect a young QB to start just being .... BETTER than they were as a rookie.

Is it OK if I disagree w/ you, or are you going to keep yelling at me?