DC.com: Callahan Confirms Playcalling Role For 2013 Campaign

[Idgit]

JG's play calling wasn't the problem. We bogged down in the Redzone over and over. And that was because we couldn't run the ball.

Having said that I am glad JG isn't calling plays anymore. It allows him to focus on being a head coach and his other duties. Many coaches around the league don't call plays.

Huge non-story. JG's responses were intelligent, mature and measured.

The only problem with him being head coach is he really doesn't know his butt from a hole in the ground when it comes to how to be a head coach. He's an offensive coordinator--and a marginal one at that.

With that said, I agree the red zone was part of the problem last year. But we were still one game away from the playoffs and not making it in ultimately did not come down to the red zone. It came down to stupid play calling and bad head coaching--again.

Turnover differential. Coupled with the defensive injuries, and it's shocking we were 8-8, honestly.

 

[RoyTheHammer]

Agreed. That was dumb of me to say, I deleted it. Sorry.

There's no apology necessary.. people get riled up sometimes in this little discussions we have. I just don't see what's so hard for you to believe about what im saying.

You seem to agree that what happened today was the worst thing that could have come out of this, and i agree with your statement that being organized about this and presenting a unified front between the coaches and front office is how you go about it. However, what would have been the problem being unified in just not making the announcement?

As idgit already said.. if Jerry could have just held his water and kept his mouth shut, this would be a non issue right now (except maybe to fans who felt like they deserved to know right now).

 

[CoCo]

It's been a good day today to dissect Garrett & Jones again up one side and down the other. Oh well, its the offseason. Gotta rehash something.

 

[Stash]

There's no apology necessary.. people get riled up sometimes in this little discussions we have. I just don't see what's so hard for you to believe about what im saying.

You seem to agree that what happened today was the worst thing that could have come out of this, and i agree with your statement that being organized about this and presenting a unified front between the coaches and front office is how you go about it. However, what would have been the problem being unified in just not making the announcement?

As idgit already said.. if Jerry could have just held his water and kept his mouth shut, this would be a non issue right now (except maybe to fans who felt like they deserved to know right now).

I just don't and have never seen any good that could have come from not deciding and announcing it.

But now I see the bad it can do.

Other teams seamlessly handle these changes, but in Dallas, they're badly bungled like this.

Embarrassing and disappointing to me.

 

[RoyTheHammer]

I just don't and have never seen any good that could have come from not deciding and announcing it.

But now I see the bad it can do.

Other teams seamlessly handle these changes, but in Dallas, they're badly bungled like this.

Embarrassing and disappointing to me.

Fair enough.

I think the decision part of it, clearly we can see by the comments that were made today, had been decided and handled long ago. I just don't see the need of announcing it i guess. For now, not announcing it is an advantage imo, because the media doesn't have anything to stir up drama over at a time where there's not much other news to focus on. I think we were handling the change just fine from a football standpoint.

As far as a PR standpoint.. i don't think this team is ever going to be able to handle anything or be unified on anything until Jerry is 6 feet under.

 

[CooterBrown]

Much...ado....about....nothing. Jason Garrett will still wear a headset. He is still the headcoach. Callahan may call any play he wants to, but it only happens on the field if JG doesn't overrule his call and change it. And the only way any of us will know who actually called any given play is if either of them told us about it. No announcement was necessary because the announcement may not really translate to reality on the field. It doesn't give the opponents any insight because, they (just like the rest of us) don't know what kind of tendencies the Garrett-Callahan offense will have. Just as Jason Garrett said, there is really no reason for a formal announcement.

Jimmy Johnson used the media to keep his players motivated and on edge. Jerry Jones uses the media to keep the fans involved and buying tickets and merchandise. Jason Garrett uses the media to keep everyone guessing.

 

[TheCount]

Media spin is not anything new. And it is counter productive. And the HC is trying to minimize its impact. The people who care have no stake in the issue. The HC is not responsible for making sure things you care to know get made public. If he can help his team avoid distraction by keeping the counterproductive local media guessing, then it's part of his job to do so.

Of course I have a stake in it, I've got almost 20,000 posts on a fan forum. We all have a stake in who's calling plays.

I'm not sure that I buy the idea that suddenly, the Jerry Jones run Dallas Cowboys, find media attention to be counter productive either.

I also had no idea Garrett was in public relations. Dalrymple better start looking for a new gig.

 

[Idgit]

Of course I have a stake in it, I've got almost 20,000 posts on a fan forum. We all have a stake in who's calling plays.

What? This doesn't compute with me. You *want* to know, I believe that much. That's not remotely the same thing.

I'm not sure that I buy the idea that suddenly, the Jerry Jones run Dallas Cowboys, find media attention to be counter productive either.

I also had no idea Garrett was in public relations. Dalrymple better start looking for a new gig.

Of course Jerry Jones doesn't find media attention counter productive. That's the core of the issue. What's best for Jerry and what's best for Jason are different things in this case.

And you're fooling yourself if you think and NFL head coach doesn't concern himself with public relations when he handles the press.

 

[RoyTheHammer]

Of course I have a stake in it, I've got almost 20,000 posts on a fan forum. We all have a stake in who's calling plays.

I'm not sure that I buy the idea that suddenly, the Jerry Jones run Dallas Cowboys, find media attention to be counter productive either.

I also had no idea Garrett was in public relations. Dalrymple better start looking for a new gig.

I would certainly say that part of any HC's job is PR.. especially when you are the football coach in Dallas, where you're going to be hounded by local and national media no matter what you do.

..and i have said the same as idgit already, just because you want to know, doesn't mean you're in any way entitled or deserve to know. If Jerry hadn't opened his suck hole today, and we went all offseason with no formal announcement being made, i'd have been just fine. Besides, we all would have found out at some point this season anyway. The players knew, that's all that matters.

Also, being hounded by the media can certainly put unneeded pressure and tension on any player or coach. Being from the Philly area, i can give you numerous examples of it. Local Philly hockey reporters are the closest thing to the Dallas football beat idiots that i have seen, might even be worse at times.

 

[Beast_from_East]

This is an issue because Jerry has made it an issue. Jerry is the one that said he used to think having a head coach that calls plays is the way to go, but he is now not sure about that.

This logically begs the question, if Garrett is not calling the plays then who?

Instead of just announcing the new play caller, the organization goes all MI6 on us and treats the info as top secret. This causes even more interest and more probing by the media.

Jerry does nothing to curb this, in fact, he fuels the fire by being all coy in interviews hinting that there will be a new play caller, just not giving any names. This again just fuels speculation and causes the media to dig deeper to get the scoop.

Finally the media tricks Callahaun into admitting he is the new play caller so now the discussion is about if Garrett is getting nuetured here.

And you guys think this is a PR blunder? This is how Jerry wanted this thing to go down all along. Jerry loves the media attention, he truly believes that any media coverage is better than no media coverage.

 

[Idgit]

Dangit! I know better than this. I should have listened to the press conferences before commenting on this topic. If you haven't already, I'd recommend it to anyone interesting in this play calling topic.

 

[BrassCowboy]

The team that won the SB did it as a result of their passing game. Flacco's numbers in the playoffs were staggering. He passed for over 1100 yards, had 11 TD's and his passer rating was 117.2. Baltimore kept coming up short in title games until he stepped up as a passer. Both Flacco and Kaepernick had to air it out in the SB. The last 4 SB MVP's have all been QB's so yes the NFL is a passing league.

ONLY because the NFL ties the hands of the CBs and anyone else who dares to actually play what was once football and defend against a WR anymore.... with all the new rules to make this new game some call football "fun", well I would say it is proven to be not so fun hence the NFL abbreviations No Fun League

I miss football when the game was determined by the players and where players were actually allowed to play football. Get physical, and make WRs earn their stats

oh well, majority out there already know this so I will get off my rant.

 

[CoCo]

Dangit! I know better than this. I should have listened to the press conferences before commenting on this topic. If you haven't already, I'd recommend it to anyone interesting in this play calling topic.

I assume you mean Garrett's press conference. So I took your advice and listened. Same old IMO. No surprise there. He was very tight-lipped about the whole thing and in major "I'm not telling you anything" mode. Seemed a little bit irritated.

I thought the last question put it all in perspective. Someone asked "is it fair to say that you and Jerry have different philosophies on how you dispense information?" Garrett answers, "you can draw your own conclusions." Everyone in the room was laughing, including Garrett. To me the emotions of that brief moment told the story. Jerry can't stop himself from talking. Garrett prefers sharing nothing. Both know each other well and try to honor the other's approach as far as possible. When it slips they still cover each others back as much as possible. And mostly, while Garrett has his preferences, he knows Jerry will be Jerry, and he can laugh about it.

Controversy will get legs when Garrett loses the ability to laugh about it or lets it become a big deal to him. But Garrett knew full well how the Cowboys are run with Jerry in the picture and decided he could make that work. How much that is his genuine feeling versus a decision of his will probably impacts how long this relationship will work.

 

[TheCount]

I would certainly say that part of any HC's job is PR.. especially when you are the football coach in Dallas, where you're going to be hounded by local and national media no matter what you do.

..and i have said the same as idgit already, just because you want to know, doesn't mean you're in any way entitled or deserve to know. If Jerry hadn't opened his suck hole today, and we went all offseason with no formal announcement being made, i'd have been just fine. Besides, we all would have found out at some point this season anyway. The players knew, that's all that matters.

Also, being hounded by the media can certainly put unneeded pressure and tension on any player or coach. Being from the Philly area, i can give you numerous examples of it. Local Philly hockey reporters are the closest thing to the Dallas football beat idiots that i have seen, might even be worse at times.

Who is talking entitlement? I said I have a stake in it because I'm a fan of the team and want to know what's going on. Both you and Idbit are making the mistake of assuming that the way you consume Cowboy news is the only way. You post regularly on a fan forum, it's pretty obvious you want to know a lot more things about the team than the average person.

Garrett's job isn't about PR, but he's free to talk about what he wants to talk about. He's not the person I depend on for Cowboy news, so what he wants to avoid or promote has no relevance to me. He clearly isn't the one controlling the news of information flow out of VR anyway, which was my point about PR. The guy never says anything about anything.

 

[Cumart21]

I have always thought Garrett shouldn't be calling plays. He has had issues with game management and will now be able to have more focus on the big picture. Mike Tomlin isn't a coordinator for the Steelers and is still regarded one of the better HC in the NFL. JG can now be a cheerleader like Tomlin while the plays come in from Callahan. How this decision was made is absolutely irrelevant to me. This is a huge upgrade.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

I have always thought Garrett shouldn't be calling plays. He has had issues with game management and will now be able to have more focus on the big picture. Mike Tomlin isn't a coordinator for the Steelers and is still regarded one of the better HC in the NFL. JG can now be a cheerleader like Tomlin while the plays come in from Callahan. How this decision was made is absolutely irrelevant to me. This is a huge upgrade.

Every winning NFL Team has serious structure this team is built with the inner structure of a straw house.

As a Fan it would be nice to see supreme competence in every faze of the Organization, that just doesn't happen here in Dallas and until some accountability does happen whoever your team is they won't be going anywhere.

Plans for building a winner are detailed down to the specifics in a metric grosse, Dallas doesn't work that way it's been obvious for a long long time.

 

[xwalker]

The team that won the SB did it as a result of their passing game. Flacco's numbers in the playoffs were staggering. He passed for over 1100 yards, had 11 TD's and his passer rating was 117.2. Baltimore kept coming up short in title games until he stepped up as a passer. Both Flacco and Kaepernick had to air it out in the SB. The last 4 SB MVP's have all been QB's so yes the NFL is a passing league.

SF was the 4th best rushing team but only the 11th best
passing team during the regular season.

Baltimore was the 11th best rushing team but only the 16th
best passing team during the regular season.

 

[Idgit]

I assume you mean Garrett's press conference. So I took your advice and listened. Same old IMO. No surprise there. He was very tight-lipped about the whole thing and in major "I'm not telling you anything" mode. Seemed a little bit irritated.

I thought the last question put it all in perspective. Someone asked "is it fair to say that you and Jerry have different philosophies on how you dispense information?" Garrett answers, "you can draw your own conclusions." Everyone in the room was laughing, including Garrett. To me the emotions of that brief moment told the story. Jerry can't stop himself from talking. Garrett prefers sharing nothing. Both know each other well and try to honor the other's approach as far as possible. When it slips they still cover each others back as much as possible. And mostly, while Garrett has his preferences, he knows Jerry will be Jerry, and he can laugh about it.

Controversy will get legs when Garrett loses the ability to laugh about it or lets it become a big deal to him. But Garrett knew full well how the Cowboys are run with Jerry in the picture and decided he could make that work. How much that is his genuine feeling versus a decision of his will probably impacts how long this relationship will work.

Yeah, that's the one I was referring to. It was 'same ol', same ol'', but that's what I like about how Garrett handles this stuff.

And, yeah, that moment at the end was really telling, for exactly the reasons you're describing.

 

[khiladi]

Just found out this great news... Even my dead forefather from generations ago, before football had even been invented yet, was announced as the new offensive play-caller outside of Jason Garrett, I'd be happy.

 

[Tabascocat]

Now that the cat is out of the bag, Garrett needs to drop the charade and just go with it. I don't know why it was such a big deal to not acknowledge this earlier, it is not like it can be kept a secret very long.

With OTA's, mini-camps, the press and movement of players from team to team, it would have leaked out well before camp opens up anyways.

The way it happened is mind-boggling but it is done with, time to move on.