I read thread after thread with people griping about the productivity of Dez Bryant. What we are seeing today has been building for some time. And the biggest culprits of what we are seeing today...is Jason Garrett and his offense. It is no secret that I am not of fan of Jason Garrett. I have felt all along that the Romo era and Jason Garrett should have ended together. I am on record saying I would not want Jason Garrett to spend 1 day tutoring, nurturing, developing our QB for the future. The book on Garrett has been out for some time AND it is not very difficult to figure out. He does not have enough flexibility, creativity or diversity to win 3 games in the postseason against quality opponents. The problem is the Romo era ended abruptly and we were in no position to move on from Garrett.
What does this have to do with Dez? First of all...is Dez Bryant perfect? No. Is he a speed demon? No. Is he an exceptional route runner? No. What he was....which is why he was deployed the way he has been for years...was a player that Garrett used to allow the other playmakers on the team a chance to go one on one against the oppositions weaker defenders. And Jason was content to leave Dez in one spot....so they could have a good idea where bracket coverage was going to be the majority of the time. Instead of Dallas getting a bona fide #2 borderline #1 WR...they have been content to fill that spot with warm bodies. And this is not to take anything away from Terrance Williams. But when Dez was younger and more explosive....and had the attention of the entire defense....a bona fide #2 WR would have put up Pro Bowl numbers. Thus making everyone's life on this team a lot better.
Dez has played such a physical style...because he was deployed to be the Shaquile O'Neal of WRs. Just throw it into him 2 feet from the basket and let him dunk everything. Dez has played such a physical style where every catch was with defenders within 6 inches of him...that the wear and tear has robbed him of his explosiveness. We never deployed him to catch the ball in different areas of the field with space to turn and run and wreak havoc in the open field on a consistent basis. Jason was content to let Dez just out physical everyone. And he has taken a lot of big shots over the years IMMEDIATLEY after catching the ball..because so many of his catches have been in traffic
So that brings us to where we are today. And this has NOT been by accident. Dallas is a big, lumbering, plodding slow team on offense. They have MANY opportunities to add guys that can stretch the field...and they have NOT done it. So that leads me to believe this has been by design. Witten will get all the 6 to 8 yard catches on his way to the HOF. Dez can get his 8 to 12 yard catches while engaged in a boxing match the over that 12 yard span....and of course Dallas will run the ball. So we just have to hope that 12 play drives in 4 - 8 yard increments is a formula that will work against quality opponents IF we are lucky enough to make it in the tournament.
WE NEED SPEED. And we need an organization that is not afraid to take these sacred cows off the field for a few snaps...so this team can be infused with some explosiveness.
