A Contrast In Culture: The Futility Of The Rams May Illustrate What Is Right About The Cowboys

[waving monkey]

I wouldnt write about how great we are when we havent won a playoff game since 1996 but the team the writer is comparing us to has been to SB twice in same time span.
yeah 13-3 was great but means nothing if Garrett continues to show he cant game plan or prepare for the playoffs. The first half vs GB remains some of the worst coaching I've ever seen.

execution and game planning are not synonymous

 

[plasticman]

One of the most important skills a head coach can have is the ability to manage, getting things done through others. The best ones are able to find, hire, train, and delegate talented assistants.

Nobody complained about the abilities of 1956 NFL champions Giant head coach Jim Lee Howel, it was said, who spent most of the time in his office reading a newspaper. He had the ability to hire pretty good coordinators. His OC was Vince Lombardi. His DC was Tom Landry.

Jason made great management decisions in the hiring of his coaches, even after enduring some interference from someone who clearly should have learned by now.

So Jason's game plan was to allow his coaches to do the things that they could do better than Jason. However, they follow Jason's basic blueprint which is quality preparation.

And it's true Jason has made mistakes but this was his first gig, he had to make gain experience and part of the definition of experience is learning what not to do.

 

[fredp22]

execution and game planning are not synonymous

execution with Dak, Zeke, Witten, Dez etc was fine. No coming out and throwing out of the gate and often against the GB depleted secondary was surprising. Plus if we got a jump in scoring it would have been tough for them without Jordy to come back.

You sure you're a cowboys fan?

lol why would u say that?

 

[waving monkey]

execution with Dak, Zeke, Witten, Dez etc was fine. No coming out and throwing out of the gate and often against the GB depleted secondary was surprising. Plus if we got a jump in scoring it would have been tough for them without Jordy to come back.

lol why would u say that?

you go back over the game and I see missed tackles and late coverage same with blocking assignments.
The team wasn't ready for play off intensity that's not game planning.
Getting a jump on the other team is always a good idea and they did.

 

[AsthmaField]

You sure you're a cowboys fan?

 

[Jstopper]

execution with Dak, Zeke, Witten, Dez etc was fine. No coming out and throwing out of the gate and often against the GB depleted secondary was surprising. Plus if we got a jump in scoring it would have been tough for them without Jordy to come back.

lol why would u say that?

Because we have won 2 playoff games during the timeframe you said we won 0. Which is why I highlighted it in my response. That's basic cowboys fan knowledge

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Respect your opinion but I believe the GM is more important than you do. I see a synergy with McClay and the coaches which does nothing to make me think we have mini Jimmy Johnson's coaching up our players. Our drafts are successful and I praise Will McClay for bringing that to the front office. I think we have some above average position coaches, barely above average head coach. Making a case for Garrett being a great coach is a difficult argument. I still tend to think of him more as a bus driver.

Garrett has been great at creating an environment to allow players to develop. He's hired a lot of excellent assistants and seemingly given them contracts and autonomy to where they want to stay with the team and are happy to coach for the Cowboys (Callahan being the exception). Unlike Wade, Garrett will stick to his guns on disciplinary action. Miss a rehab session with Garrett and you'll be fined a good amount and he'll stick to the amount of that fine. Wade's practices were oriented more towards film room sessions rather than practice. Wade's policy was that he allotted a certain amount of time towards on the field practice and regardless of how well the players looked on the field, once that time was up we went right to meetings and film sessions. Garrett is a bigger believer in practicing on the field until they 'get it right' and then we'll have meetings and film room sessions.

Garrett also was responsible for hiring Tom Robinson, the Director of Football Research, for the team. Robinson's role goes beyond data analytics and goes into discovering the latest technology that will help with injuries, making it easier for players to learn the playbooks quicker, better practice methods, etc.

As I've mentioned here, Garrett has really tested my belief that the NFL is about the HC and his ability to develop his players with conservative play calling, bad clock management and underwhelming schematics. But, to his defense one could reasonably argue that the conservative play calling (yes, I know Linehan is the play caller, but it's under Garrett's supervision) and schematics may allow players to better develop over time.

I can't think of a team in the league where it's glaring to see where the GM position has far less of an influence than the HC. Not a SINGLE team.

What McClay has done for this team is that he has gotten his scouts on the same wavelength as the coaching staff and Jerry and Stephen. That's why he got the job because that used to be Ciskowski's job and he failed to do so in the 2013 draft when the scouts had scouted Sharrif Floyd and Marinell and Kiffin didn't want him. I'm not downplaying the importance of doing that. But if we had Wade or Campo as the head coach here, the talent on this team wouldn't perform nearly as well as they have under Garrett.




YR

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

Could you please provide an example of a coach coming in and building team culture while turning things around within a year or two?

Jim Harbaugh with the 'Niners.

 

[waving monkey]

Jim Harbaugh with the 'Niners.

Here's Harbaugh's roster 2011/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/sfo/2011_roster.htm

Nobodies is denying that Harbaugh is not a great coach and a better experienced coach.
Not so now. Harbaugh is a fast burner and relationships sour quickly around him.

 

[Pants]

Here's Harbaugh's roster 2011/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/sfo/2011_roster.htm

Nobodies is denying that Harbaugh is not a great coach and a better experienced coach.
Not so now. Harbaugh is a fast burner and relationships sour quickly around him.

gave you the "like" for the second statement; have NEVER been a fan of him at any level...hothead....and, I think he will be right up there with the SEC and Ohio St as coaches that look the other way in relation to following standards that are SUPPOSED to be in place for all colleges....I don't Harbaugh, or his chin that juts out so much that it blocks out the sun

 

[diefree666]

gave you the "like" for the second statement; have NEVER been a fan of him at any level...hothead....and, I think he will be right up there with the SEC and Ohio St as coaches that look the other way in relation to following standards that are SUPPOSED to be in place for all colleges....I don't Harbaugh, or his chin that juts out so much that it blocks out the sun

Harbaugh is very high maintenance and like more than a few others will never last more than 4-5 years anywhere.

 

[Manwiththeplan]

The underlying reason he fails to mention: For some reason, in recent years Jerry's been willing to accept the staff's (Stephen/Jason/Will) peace offering that allows him (Jerry) to make the second round pick every year in exchange for his promise to stop meddling in the process of running the team.

I think there is a zero percent chance that this is accurate

 

[Silver Surfer]

I think there is a zero percent chance that this is accurate

Here's a fun fact:

"Facetious" is one of two words in the English language that contains all five vowels in alphabetical order.

 

[Trouty]

Here's a fun fact:

"Facetious" is one of two words in the English language that contains all five vowels in alphabetical order.

Lmao!

 

[xwalker]

Here's Harbaugh's roster 2011/http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/sfo/2011_roster.htm

Nobodies is denying that Harbaugh is not a great coach and a better experienced coach.
Not so now. Harbaugh is a fast burner and relationships sour quickly around him.

Singletary was not a good overall HC, but he at least instilled the concept of discipline into that team before Harbaugh took over.

A team will decent talent and with a previous HC that was a disciplinarian is a good recipe for a new HC to have success early.

It is the reason that the Cowboys had some success when Wade first took over from Parcells.

Garrett on the other hand, took over one of the least disciplined teams in the history of sports. They luckily had some holdovers from the Parcells era that maintained their own self-discipline (Witten, etc..) but overall that team was a disaster when Garrett took over. The defense had just quit on Wade.

 

[Macnalty]

Garrett has been great at creating an environment to allow players to develop. He's hired a lot of excellent assistants and seemingly given them contracts and autonomy to where they want to stay with the team and are happy to coach for the Cowboys (Callahan being the exception). Unlike Wade, Garrett will stick to his guns on disciplinary action. Miss a rehab session with Garrett and you'll be fined a good amount and he'll stick to the amount of that fine. Wade's practices were oriented more towards film room sessions rather than practice. Wade's policy was that he allotted a certain amount of time towards on the field practice and regardless of how well the players looked on the field, once that time was up we went right to meetings and film sessions. Garrett is a bigger believer in practicing on the field until they 'get it right' and then we'll have meetings and film room sessions.

Garrett also was responsible for hiring Tom Robinson, the Director of Football Research, for the team. Robinson's role goes beyond data analytics and goes into discovering the latest technology that will help with injuries, making it easier for players to learn the playbooks quicker, better practice methods, etc.

As I've mentioned here, Garrett has really tested my belief that the NFL is about the HC and his ability to develop his players with conservative play calling, bad clock management and underwhelming schematics. But, to his defense one could reasonably argue that the conservative play calling (yes, I know Linehan is the play caller, but it's under Garrett's supervision) and schematics may allow players to better develop over time.

I can't think of a team in the league where it's glaring to see where the GM position has far less of an influence than the HC. Not a SINGLE team.

What McClay has done for this team is that he has gotten his scouts on the same wavelength as the coaching staff and Jerry and Stephen. That's why he got the job because that used to be Ciskowski's job and he failed to do so in the 2013 draft when the scouts had scouted Sharrif Floyd and Marinell and Kiffin didn't want him. I'm not downplaying the importance of doing that. But if we had Wade or Campo as the head coach here, the talent on this team wouldn't perform nearly as well as they have under Garrett.




YR

First let me say you analogy of the Chargers should be etched in stone that was great insight about coach Schottenheimer. Also agree with you on the Robinson hiring as pivotal, his use of mnemonics for the players was long overdue. I believe the analytics are in such an infancy state that we have not begun to reach their full benefits.
NFL teams normally go nowhere without a great draft so you want to make sure you are providing talent that can be use to it full potential, I think you will agree. McClay bringing his acumen to the draft room has a calming effect on the whole front office unlike with some of the others from the past. You have to start with good ingredients and occasionally get a free agent that is going to upgrade a position to make it to the postseason in today's NFL. I see the problem with the FO solved mostly, we are getting good results from the draft. Now for the next stage in our evolution, Garrett has some good traits but he does not have that step on the neck type of aggression when a weakness is exposed, and in my book that separates the good from the great. His time management skills make me cringe in the 2nd and 4th quarters, to his credit he has gotten better but more often than not we get out coached in those two quarters. A good GM handles these things and should be there to decide once the coach has reached his ceiling and his learning has peaked, not like what we saw played out when Wade was fired. It is a business like they say if thing are not working we should be churning. I love the commanderie that the team now has but that is a sideshow as the number one goal is winning in the playoffs. We need just a crease and a good coach to get us through there to make this a really good season as McClay and the FO have done their job. If we get outcoached by the Giants we should be mad.

 

[LocimusPrime]

Here's a fun fact:

"Facetious" is one of two words in the English language that contains all five vowels in alphabetical order.

Hey what's the other one?

 

[Silver Surfer]

Hey what's the other one?

abstemious

One of those words describes me precisely. The other.... not so much.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

NFL teams normally go nowhere without a great draft so you want to make sure you are providing talent that can be use to it full potential, I think you will agree. McClay bringing his acumen to the draft room has a calming effect on the whole front office unlike with some of the others from the past. You have to start with good ingredients and occasionally get a free agent that is going to upgrade a position to make it to the postseason in today's NFL.

The vast majority of players in the draft will have very similar grades throughout every team in the league.

It's not like Bobby Carpenter was projected to go in the 4th round (or even the 2nd round). Had McClay been a part of the team back then, we would have likely drafted Carpenter. The same goes for Marcus Spears, Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick (who was drafted prior to McClay), etc.

The difference is the coaching. The ingredients are the same, but the coaching is different. Now, with somebody like Garrett who comes from an offensive background and has done a great job of developing the offense as a HC, that may force us to draft more defensive players because the offense is in good shape. But a defensive minded coach that develops a good defense like Mike Zimmer may end up directing their draft towards offensive players. But those players are likely to be drafted right about where the rest of the league has them graded upon.

Furthermore, our top players on this team are mostly pre-McClay players:

Dez
Beasley
T-Will
Witten
Tyron
Leary (I know he's gone, but he's been the starting guard since 2013)
Fred
Free (again, I know he's retired)
Sean Lee
T. Crawford
Jeff Heath
Scandrick

Even with Elliott we still had the most productive NFL RB with Murray, who came here prior to McClay. And Dak just replaced Romo who came here in 2003 (and supposedly Dak was wanted more by Garrett than by McClay).

Nobody in this league really has this magic 'eye' for talent.

Wade is one of the league's best X's and O's coaches, but he's terrible at developing talent. When he inherited Parcells' developed talent, he was able to take the X's and O's and make for a very good team. But as years went by, Wade's inability to consistently develop talent came back to haunt us





YR

 

[waving monkey]

The vast majority of players in the draft will have very similar grades throughout every team in the league.

It's not like Bobby Carpenter was projected to go in the 4th round (or even the 2nd round). Had McClay been a part of the team back then, we would have likely drafted Carpenter. The same goes for Marcus Spears, Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick (who was drafted prior to McClay), etc.

The difference is the coaching. The ingredients are the same, but the coaching is different. Now, with somebody like Garrett who comes from an offensive background and has done a great job of developing the offense as a HC, that may force us to draft more defensive players because the offense is in good shape. But a defensive minded coach that develops a good defense like Mike Zimmer may end up directing their draft towards offensive players. But those players are likely to be drafted right about where the rest of the league has them graded upon.

Furthermore, our top players on this team are mostly pre-McClay players:

Dez
Beasley
T-Will
Witten
Tyron
Leary (I know he's gone, but he's been the starting guard since 2013)
Fred
Free (again, I know he's retired)
Sean Lee
T. Crawford
Jeff Heath
Scandrick

Even with Elliott we still had the most productive NFL RB with Murray, who came here prior to McClay. And Dak just replaced Romo who came here in 2003 (and supposedly Dak was wanted more by Garrett than by McClay).

Nobody in this league really has this magic 'eye' for talent.

Wade is one of the league's best X's and O's coaches, but he's terrible at developing talent. When he inherited Parcells' developed talent, he was able to take the X's and O's and make for a very good team. But as years went by, Wade's inability to consistently develop talent came back to haunt us





YR

thanks