Hard to forgive icing Austin

[CT Dal Fan]

Somebody's lying. Tavon Austin is on a one year contract. Garrett's trying to save his job.

So, I think I know who's at fault here. The coach.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Somebody's lying. Tavon Austin is on a one year contract. Garrett's trying to save his job.

So, I think I know who's at fault here. The coach.

Well, given Garrett's history of throwing people under the bus and/or sabotaging, I have to say it's Garrett.

 

[catiii]

This tweet reveals the sort of confusion that exists due to JGs less than effective instructions. He put the onus of decision-making in the hands of a seldom-used player. Once the confusion manifested itself, Garrett blamed the player for the unclear instructions that he, himself gave. It ended as an unfortunate setup for failure. He should have taken half the blame for infusing the situation with more confusion than necessary. Arrogant people like JG routinely have big trouble admitting to their failings.

 

[Sarge]

Have you ever once in the last 9 years ever hear Garrett say anything like, “I have to do a better job” or “we need to do better, including myself” etc....... he has never once, as far as I can recall, ever once accepted responsibility for a loss or a mistake.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

Have you ever once in the last 9 years ever hear Garrett say anything like, “I have to do a better job” or “we need to do better, including myself” etc....... he has never once, as far as I can recall, ever once accepted responsibility for a loss or a mistake.

You're right. The closest he's come is saying "we as a staff" or something like that.

And I've heard Dak Prescott take the blame for losses that weren't even his fault. We have players that are more accountable than the head coach.

 

[Number1]

The Cowboys may well have told him to fair catch unless he was confident of a chance for a big runback, which would have been the right thing to convey, but that doesn't mean he was told he had no choice and to fair catch no matter the situation.

hard to believe Tavon was acting on his own judgement

I hear what your saying but here's what really gets me ... it's a scenario that ST coaches and players dream of.
note, the unit executed, as soon as they saw the directional kick they built the wall

as a former PR ... if it goes to the middle of the field or hangs fair catch it, otherwise return it PERIOD
the odds are in your favor with the punt team is kicking from their end zone behind max protection

 

[Irvin88_4life]

Maybe Garrett didn't make the call, maybe it was the special teams coach, but SOMEone did, because he called for the fair catch way too soon.

But it's just another coaching mistake in a LONG LINE of them for Garrett or his staff. To be expected.

I think JJ's getting tired, he's too old, and he's not able to see the light at the end of the Superbowl tunnel. I expect a change to be made in the offseason.

Garrett is the HC and has to tell the special teams coach lets try and get a block or big return. I don't blame the special teams coach, it's on Garrett and people keep blaming everybody but Garrett

 

[OmerV]

hard to believe Tavon was acting on his own judgement

I hear what your saying but here's what really gets me ... it's a scenario that ST coaches and players dream of.
note, the unit executed, as soon as they saw the directional kick they built the wall

as a former PR ... if it goes to the middle of the field or hangs fair catch it, otherwise return it PERIOD
the odds are in your favor with the punt team is kicking from their end zone behind max protection

The fact it was near the sideline is the one piece of info that gives me some pause on what I said, because even if he fielded the punt and then decided he had no running room he likely could have made it to the sideline to kill the clock. But he may not have wanted to risk it. We are still talking about a human mind, and it's easily possible that he was overly cautious because he wanted to make sure he didn't screw up the team's chances.

As for the "human wall" , we can't know how aware he was of how well it set up against the coverage team - a punt returner can't closely and carefully watch this and still field the punt safely. Because he can only glance at the coverage as it runs toward him, to some degree his decision on whether to return a punt based on a feel for whether the distance and trajectory of the punt would allow him some running room before the coverage team converges.

 

[Chrispierce]

There's a tweet saying Austin was "doing what he was told" and then Garrett said this:

Then clearly the players aren’t understanding the teams guidelines. It’s always something isn’t it? Some little dumbo moment at the 4 way stop,where no one goes and we’re all left asking why?

 

[Number1]

Garrett is full of it. There's no way Austin, who is dying to make a play, ices himself by faircatching with no defender within 20 yards. Garrett should be ashamed to insinuate such a thing. Great leader he is...

was JG covering for his STC ... ?

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...-cowboys-didnt-communicate-well-on-fair-catch

 

[glimmerman]

The fact it was near the sideline is the one piece of info that gives me some pause on what I said, because even if he fielded the punt and then decided he had no running room he likely could have made it to the sideline to kill the clock. But he may not have wanted to risk it. We are still talking about a human mind, and it's easily possible that he was overly cautious because he wanted to make sure he didn't screw up the team's chances.

As for the "human wall" , we can't know how aware he was of how well it set up against the coverage team - a punt returner can't closely and carefully watch this and still field the punt safely. Because he can only glance at the coverage as it runs toward him, to some degree his decision on whether to return a punt based on a feel for whether the distance and trajectory of the punt would allow him some running room before the coverage team converges.

He fields punts, he knows and saw the lane. No one touches him till the red zone. Certainly looks like a TD.. Not sure who is lying and at this point it don’t matter. Was a winnable game. We have another next week. Concentrate on that. But it could cause internal problems amongst the players and staff...

 

[Bob-Lillys-War]

How many times must we go over this ?

The post game press tape is there , Garrett clearly states that Austin decided to fair catch it .

Garrett clearly states Austin decided , and that the staff gave him choices .

Then he followed up by saying in the radio:

“If there’s an opportunity to make a play we certainly encourage him (Austin) to do that."



It's all on Austin .

 

[KMY_Amber]

Garrett is the HC and has to tell the special teams coach lets try and get a block or big return. I don't blame the special teams coach, it's on Garrett and people keep blaming everybody but Garrett

OK, works for me, because I have no problem blaming Garrett. LOL I lost my patience with Garrett during the Romo years, so you KNOW I'm ready for a change.

 

[remdak]

The fact it was near the sideline is the one piece of info that gives me some pause on what I said, because even if he fielded the punt and then decided he had no running room he likely could have made it to the sideline to kill the clock. But he may not have wanted to risk it. We are still talking about a human mind, and it's easily possible that he was overly cautious because he wanted to make sure he didn't screw up the team's chances.

As for the "human wall" , we can't know how aware he was of how well it set up against the coverage team - a punt returner can't closely and carefully watch this and still field the punt safely. Because he can only glance at the coverage as it runs toward him, to some degree his decision on whether to return a punt based on a feel for whether the distance and trajectory of the punt would allow him some running room before the coverage team converges.

You don’t have to worry about getting out of bounds on a punt return. The clock automatically stops after the play cause it’s a change of possession

 

[smitty313]

The Cowboys may well have told him to fair catch unless he was confident of a chance for a big runback, which would have been the right thing to convey, but that doesn't mean he was told he had no choice and to fair catch no matter the situation.

Look at how fast Austin called for the FC, he was absolutely told do it. There's noway they told him that he had the ability to make that choice. Garrett is a liar.

 

[xwalker]

of all the decisions made in the game full of weird moves ... having Austin fair catch at mid field to preserve TOs is one of the dumbest in game calls I can imagine

that scenario is exactly why Tavon is of value ... Sunday night lights and open field

if you sign a speedster, a self describe "weapon" - then give him a shot to impact the game and season

the coaching call is bad enough but IMO, Tavon should have ignored his coach - sad but true

Most of the time that would have been the correct decision. I've seen a Cowboys returned use up the clock in years past in similar situations.

In this specific instance, returning the ball would have been the best option, especially considering their plan of action after the fair catch was to just gain enough yards for a reason attempt at a Hail Mary.

The bigger issue is why didn't they try a couple of times to complete a long pass at the sideline.

One long pass completion would give them a change to execute a real pass play into the endzone instead of a Hail Mary.

Also, why not have 1 WR run a route towards the other side of the endzone?

If Cooper had run a route from right to left, he might have had single coverage with a trailing CB.

If he had more than 1 defender follow him, then that's 2 or more defenders out of the big group but only 1 receiver out.

 

[nightrain]

was JG covering for his STC ... ?

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...-cowboys-didnt-communicate-well-on-fair-catch

Inexcusable to not clearly lay out the expectations on what was to be one of the most critical plays of the game.

 

[OmerV]

He fields punts, he knows and saw the lane. No one touches him till the red zone. Certainly looks like a TD.. Not sure who is lying and at this point it don’t matter. Was a winnable game. We have another next week. Concentrate on that. But it could cause internal problems amongst the players and staff...

So, how is it that punt returners still sometimes get hit immediately after fielding a punt or only get a short gain or even a loss? It's not as easy to see this clearly as you imagine it. Guys that take their eyes off the ball too long lose it and mishandle it. They only have time for glances, not a full study of things. And then add in the pressure of knowing every second is precious, and not wanting to take precious seconds off the clock, it's really pretty easy to understand how he could have been overly cautious.

 

[Clove]

Garrett is conservative by nature. He'd rather play the game close, and pull it out at the end. He tries so much to not mess up, that he's never in consideration for Super Bowl titles. His game-plans are usually conservative, and if they aren't, then his next game-plan will be. He seems content with making the playoffs and that's all. He'd rather win the TOP battle, than to totally annihilate an opponent. And when Jerry tells him to be more aggressive, he's totally out of his element. He starts doing weird things in games that doesn't make sense. What I'm trying to say is, he's just worthless.

Don't think for a second that when Moore was introduced as the new offensive coordinator that Garrett didn't sit down with him and veto plays. Garrett puts in the game-plan and removes any such plays he doesn't want/like. I'm almost certain he instructs Moore to run it run it, and then run it more. Moore uses his running plays, but that's on the instruction of Jason Garrett based on game-plan management days prior.

Make no mistakes about it, this is Garrett's team, and no matter what plays you run, it filters through his paws first.

 

[Number1]

Inexcusable to not clearly lay out the expectations on what was to be one of the most critical plays of the game.

“If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, then the general is to blame.”

― Sun Tzu