BTB: Dallas Cowboys News And Notes: Why Is Bill Callahan Still On The Cowboys' Payroll?

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Yummy, flavorful, nutritious links for a Thursday morning. Enjoy!

Good and bad: red-zone offense among best; first down woes - Nick Eatman, The Mothership

In a review of the 2013 season's positives and negatives, Eatman selects red zone production as a promising plus and shoddy defensive performance on first down (the Cowboys surrendered 6.20 yards per first down play) as a troubling negative stat.

Cowboys Weekly Draft Notebook - Episode #2 - Bob Sturm

In the second installment of his draft series, The Sturminator takes a detour from looking at potential draftees and offers some thoughts on the Scott Linehan hire. Linehan, Sturm points out, may be the only playcaller who eschews the run with greater fervor than our own Jason Garrett. This is problematic for Bob:


But, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the sport of football is one of disposition and attitude at its core. You cannot watch the Seahawks and 49ers take over the NFC with this bully-football and ignore it. There has to be some recognition that physicality is still alive and well in the NFL and it is still a blocking and tackling league.

I am sorry, but dropping back into shotgun and pass protection play after play is like a boxer who is never allowed to attack. He must simply accept punishment as an offensive lineman and never dish it out. I don't like that and I never have. I also don't believe that many great coaches believe in it either. Yes, this is a passing league and the numbers have never been higher. So, why then, did Seattle and San Francisco take over the conference without a QB who can throw for 200 yards on a regular basis?

Smash-Mouth-Football. Offensively and Defensively. They are going to make you cry.
The days of Marion Barber finishing off games against beaten defenses who had lost their desire to hit him seem far, far in the distant past...

Lack of clarity sounds like inevitable clutter - Rowan Kavner, The Mothership

In a piece with a title as opaque as the Cowboys' offensive coaching hierarchy, Kavner offers his take on the new coaching hires. He approves of keeping Monte Kiffin around, but is puzzled by the organization's decision to retain Bill Callahan. Thia is largely because they have found somebody to handle all of Callahan's potential roles. To wit:

1. Scott Linehan is the new play-caller
2. They will continue to use Garrett's offensive system (which was, in part, developed by Linehan)
3. Frank Pollack became the de facto offensive line coach last season, when Callahan's duties as coordinator necessitated that Frankie P. run O-line meetings, etc.

Here's what Kavner has to say:


People like to use the phrase "too many cooks in the kitchen" to describe what’s going on with the offensive staff. You could make the case that was even occurring last year, as questions abounded after last-minute losses whether play-calling decisions were made by Garrett, Callahan or Tony Romo. Now another person is added to the mix.

This isn’t a slight at Callahan, who clearly was still valued in the minds of other teams who reportedly wanted to interview him. It’s just confusing trying to determine the point in keeping some of these coaches on board after decisions were made to go a different direction.
Although I think much of the media coverage is largely due to the fashionability of kicking the Cowboys when they're down, I must concede here that Kavner has a point - or two.


http://cowboyszone.com/threads/btb-...callahan-still-on-the-cowboys-payroll.282284/