Jason Garrett looks incredibly relaxed. Genuinely happy. Comfortable and in charge of his world.
Here's a guy we thought suffered through an awkwardly and brutally uncomfortable offseason. Brother got canned, hand-picked coaches appointed to him, ducking Jerry during a drunken postseason episode of Gailey and Campo flashbacks. Off to his room without any supper, sentenced to clean out the garage. Jason messed up really good this time.
Or so we all thought.
Just look at him. Bouncing around practice from station to station. No doubt who's in charge of practice, bantering with and confronting players and coaches, one and all. Head up, eyes piercing, ready to pounce on anything askew.
You can tell when someone is hitting their stride.
The offseason PR was handled poorly. But the moves were all right on cue, exactly what the team needed, no doubt in my mind. Jerry took front and center stage, as he does, as we all know by now, but these moves suddenly don't smell of Jerry alone. Not this time.
What's camping in Oxnard right now looks too logical and orchestrated to be the reactionary tomfoolishness of a January Jerry binge. Perhaps it started so, who knows, but the final product strongly hints of a coordinated meeting of minds. Jerry, Jason, Stephen, Lacewell, maybe even Jimmy or another mystery voice.... This was thoughful and strategic in a way that doesn't resemble circuses past.
Garrett is uniquely gifted in an important way. He's able to ignore the barbs and resist the cheese. He's OK if we're wrong and we don't know it. Think about that as posters on this site alone. How much does it bother you when someone is wrong and goes uncorrected? Garrett doesn't care, and in this market with this franchise, that's both admirable and fortunate for his well-being.
Garrett is compared to Landry in his general demeanor. Sure, I can see that. But you can also tell he studied Jimmy and Parcells, and other coaches and leaders he admires and has access to. He's not too Princeton to learn, which is cool. He's very much a willing and open book.
Future results undetermined, my favorite trait of Garrett is that you can tell he's simply a good man. A hard-working, principled, confident head football coach, and an equally committed husband, dad, and friend. You can't say that about many coaches. People in general, for that matter. Some may not care about that, but I certainly do. How you win matters.
Wherever this thing is headed this season, I feel confident that there's a real path in place. Forks in the road appear - see Rob Ryan's departure - but a compass is guiding this thing through the fog.
Only 17 players remain from 2010, playcalling has been reassigned, the 3-4 has been scrap-heaped, Jerry continues to calm his ways, while Garrett steps forward more front and center every day.
Structure and culture. While it still ain't perfect, it's got direction, regardless of what the media parrots regurgitate. Pay them no mind. This feels like a brand new football on Christmas morning to me.
Jerry didn't do that. Nor did Stephen. Credit them both, however, for identifying the man who did. This is Garrett's team now, regardless of what you may hear from people who simply don't measure up to, or even understand, the qualities of Jason Garrett.
