Is there another organization in the NFL...

[Wahoo Cowboy]

...that has to deal with questions about whether or not the General Manager is stepping on the Head Coach?

There's been - understandably, considering recent success - a lot of negativity towards Jerry and how he runs the organization. The most common analogy is that the Cowboys are a circus with Ringleader Jerry undermining Jason at every turn.

I want to try and separate two things; the way Jerry structures the organization as GM, and the quality of the decisions Jerry makes as GM. For example, Jerry the GM made the decision to trade up for Morris Claiborne. However, that decision was made based on factors like the scouts ranking of Claiborne (#2 overall), what his scouts and coaches told him was necessary on the team (Secondary), whether they thought it was the worth losing out on the players that would otherwise be available (Obviously, yes), etc...the way Jerry set up the organization, in this case as it pertains to ranking and making decisions on players in the draft.

The reason I want to separate these things is because I think, as of late, Jerry has been getting unfairly criticized for how the organization is set up. I know there are a lot of people who will never be happy with Jerry as GM for the simple fact that he's also the Owner. This provides job security no other GM in the league has, and I understand thinking that's a bad thing.

That said, let's look at what's happened this off-season that shows Jerry the GM being Ringleader Jerry. Rob Ryan, who presided over two awful defenses, got fired, and Jason may or may not call plays next season. Getting back to the original question, is it just me, or are these the types of decisions a GM regularly and should make? I mean this as an honest question. There are coaches like Belichick who I imagine have a lot more say than coaches like Ron Rivera, but in what organization would it be unusual for the GM to decide - in the off-season, in particular - to fire the Defensive Coordinator and look at who is calling plays next year?

If you want to criticize individual decisions the GM makes and think they're bad enough for him to lose his job, then that's fine. If you want to criticize the Owner also being the GM and so he can't be fired, then that's fine too. But if you're going to criticize the GM firing an awful DC or looking at who is calling plays next year, then I think you really only have a few options. One, you criticize the decisions on their individual merits...you show why Rob didn't deserve to get fired, why we should have hired someone else, or why you think Jason deserves to keep calling plays. Two, you show why a GM making these decisions during the off-season is outside of the norm and indicative of a dysfunctional organization.

For my part, it's hard to look at the coaching staff that's been assembled and not be excited. We'll see if he still has it, but Kiffen is in the Dick LeBeau and Jim Johnson pantheon of great DCs. Rod Marinelli, a pretty darn good DC in his own right, will be coaching arguably the most important part of the new defense. We cut the fat, but we still get to keep quality coaches like Matt Eberflus and Jerome Henderson. We're lucky to have Callahan helping out on offense, and he brought in one of his own guys, Frank Pollack, to help out with the OL.

I don't think all of these quality coaches would have come to a dysfunctional organization, but I could be wrong. So please, I sincerely want to know if I'm wrong; is there an organization where the GM doing what our GM has done would be considered unusual, considering the circumstances of the Cowboys having a second-year head coach with a career record of 21-19 and not Bill Belichick?

 

[xpistofer]

Excellent post, WC. Very well thought out...

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

Excellent post, WC. Very well thought out...

Except he is assuming that Jerry, not Jason, made the call to can Rob Ryan and change the play calling scenario. If Jason made those decisions, or was the primary reason for the changes, his post goes out the window.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

To the OP, I can kinda see your point. Very well thought out and you backed up your argument. But here is where we are....at this juncture.....we are 1 of 3 teams that has not played in the NFC title game in the last 15+ years. Think about that for a second. CLEARLY, the NFL is designed for everyone to get a chance to have a REAL shot at the Super Bowl at the very least once in a while. And the BEST run organizations are in the hunt year in and year out. We are NEITHER right now. Also, we were the ONLY team in the NFL that did not score more than 10 points in the first half of a game this season. Let that sink in.

This is a bottom line business. ESPECIALLY for fans. Because, we do not reap ANY of the rewards that Jerry does for running a losing franchise. Win or lose, Jerry World is still the biggest party the NFL throws on a week to week basis. So JERRY wins even though he loses. Fans simply just simply lose.

And I do not want to hear the whole "he bought it with his money, so he can do what he wants" That is OBVIOUS. But I became a fan of the star long before I knew Jerry existed...and I cannot just go follow another team if I do not like how Dallas is being run. Therein lies the quandary I am in.

A part of me really wonders if Jerry is afraid to let someone else try to right the ship while he is still living. Because he could not take someone else being more successful than him at running the team. So make no mistake about it...he will run this team until he is physically AND mentally incapable of doing do. So strap in folks...we have 10+ more years of this in my estimation!

 

[Wahoo Cowboy]

Except he is assuming that Jerry, not Jason, made the call to can Rob Ryan and change the play calling scenario. If Jason made those decisions, or was the primary reason for the changes, his post goes out the window.

That's an implicit assumption of the post, yes, because the post is responding to people who hold that point of view.

Personally, I don't care whether it was Jerry, Jason, or both of them who decided to move on from Rob Ryan. The fact that it happened at all is enough to show me Valley Ranch is still relatively sane. Getting Kiffen and Marinelli was the cherry on top.

 

[Wahoo Cowboy]

To the OP, I can kinda see your point. Very well thought and you backed up your argument. But here is where we are at....at this juncture.....we are 1 of 3 teams that has not played in the NFC title game in the last 15+ years. Think about that for a second. CLEARLY, the NFL is designed for everyone to swing and miss at the very least once in a while. And the BEST run organizations are in the hunt year in and year out. We are NEITHER right now. We were the ONLY team in the NFL that did not score more than 10 points in the first half of a game this season.

This is a bottom line business. ESPECIALLY for fans. Because, we do not reap ANY of the rewards that Jerry does for running a losing franchise. Win or lose, Jerry World is still the biggest party the NFL throws on a week to week basis. So JERRY wins even though he loses. Fans simply just simply lose.

And I do not want to hear the whole "he bought it with his money, so he can do what he wants" That is OBVIOUS. But I became a fan of the star long before I knew Jerry existed...and I cannot just go follow another team if I do not like how Dallas is being run. Therein lies the quandary I am in.

A part of me really wonders if Jerry is afraid to let someone else try while he is still living. Because he could not take someone else being more successful than him at running the team. So make no mistake about it...he will run this team until he is physically AND mentally incapable of doing do. So strap in folks...we have 10+ more years of this in my estimation!

All of your points are valid.

The only thing I'm to trying to convey is that this would be evidence of Jerry being a bad GM who should no longer hold that position. Now, that's not going to happen. But Jerry being a bad GM and the Cowboys being a circus, the organization being a joke, and other sentiments like that are different. It's possible that Jerry is a bad GM AND that the organization isn't the clown-show it's often portrayed to be here and in the sports media.

 

[burmafrd]

All of your points are valid.

The only thing I'm to trying to convey is that this would be evidence of Jerry being a bad GM who should no longer hold that position. Now, that's not going to happen. But Jerry being a bad GM and the Cowboys being a circus, the organization being a joke, and other sentiments like that are different. It's possible that Jerry is a bad GM AND that the organization isn't the clown-show it's often portrayed to be here and in the sports media.

a good case could be made that the rest of the organization is constantly on damage control to make up for the Bad GM.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I don't think all of these quality coaches would have come to a dysfunctional organization

Despite the long held belief that this statement is true, clearly it has been disproven the last few weeks.

 

[lostar2009]

JJ has been a cancer to this team for a while.. Has he improve ? yes he has because since the RW trade he now realizes big risky choices can cripple your team in today's NFL. Dallas gave up 1048 points or the equivalent to the 15th overall pick. The drafts has been getting better but it's not because of JJ.. Thank JG for that

 

[Dodger12]

Despite the long held belief that this statement is true, clearly it has been disproven the last few weeks.

Outside of Marinelli who arguably came here because of Kiffin, lets not make it sound like these guys were in high demand. The University of Tennessee would rather pay Derek Dooley $5 million than let him coach another year there. I didn't see some up and coming assistant leave as a successful position coach to get promoted to our staff. Guys like Dooley are just happy to get a job. And Kiffin was a failure at the college level who basically had to leave or it may have cost his son his job; he's a re-tread and I'm not even sure any other NFL team wanted him. Thank Larry Lacewell who now has a buddy to attend his AARP meetings with and talk about the days when they played the game without a facemask.

 

[AMERICAS_FAN]

No other franchise but the Dallas Cowboys endures this level of nit-picky national criticism.

Some teams endure some of this criticism locally, but NONE nationally. This is why only the Dallas Cowboys are the ONE AND ONLY America's Team.

Most recently, the Patriots, Steelers and Packers, maybe even the Giants, have been claimed by some ot be the real America's Team the years they had great playoff success. All have since fallen from grace; have you heard a national peep about what went wrong? No! You also no longer hear how they are America's Team. That's because they NEVER were, nor will they ever be!

I live in Chicago, where the Bears are huge. Know what? This team is under the critical spotlight LOCALLY (not nationally). Right now, Bears management is being heavily criticized locally for enduring with Lovie Smith so long, for his lack of control of his offenses and poor choices in offensive coordinators, and for losing Merrinelli to Dallas.

Have you heard a peep about it? No; not even from the local Dallas media - a team tangentially involved in the ire of the Bears’ loss of Merrinelli.

And why have you not heard about this from the Dallas media? It’s because they’re more interested in driving the National media witch-hunt of all that is wrong in Dallas than writing objectively about all that is right.

After all, if losing Merrinelli is that bad for the Bears, it must be that good for Dallas. But you won’t read about it, just piece after piece about how the Rob Ryan firing was wrong. Except you won’t read about that in Chicago because the press here all but laughed at the idea of Rob Ryan being a viable replacement as defensive coordinator for the Bears (yet another tangential sub-story the local Dallas media has failed to report on).

 

[sonnyboy]

...that has to deal with questions about whether or not the General Manager is stepping on the Head Coach?

There's been - understandably, considering recent success - a lot of negativity towards Jerry and how he runs the organization. The most common analogy is that the Cowboys are a circus with Ringleader Jerry undermining Jason at every turn.

I want to try and separate two things; the way Jerry structures the organization as GM, and the quality of the decisions Jerry makes as GM. For example, Jerry the GM made the decision to trade up for Morris Claiborne. However, that decision was made based on factors like the scouts ranking of Claiborne (#2 overall), what his scouts and coaches told him was necessary on the team (Secondary), whether they thought it was the worth losing out on the players that would otherwise be available (Obviously, yes), etc...the way Jerry set up the organization, in this case as it pertains to ranking and making decisions on players in the draft.

The reason I want to separate these things is because I think, as of late, Jerry has been getting unfairly criticized for how the organization is set up. I know there are a lot of people who will never be happy with Jerry as GM for the simple fact that he's also the Owner. This provides job security no other GM in the league has, and I understand thinking that's a bad thing.

That said, let's look at what's happened this off-season that shows Jerry the GM being Ringleader Jerry. Rob Ryan, who presided over two awful defenses, got fired, and Jason may or may not call plays next season. Getting back to the original question, is it just me, or are these the types of decisions a GM regularly and should make? I mean this as an honest question. There are coaches like Belichick who I imagine have a lot more say than coaches like Ron Rivera, but in what organization would it be unusual for the GM to decide - in the off-season, in particular - to fire the Defensive Coordinator and look at who is calling plays next year?

If you want to criticize individual decisions the GM makes and think they're bad enough for him to lose his job, then that's fine. If you want to criticize the Owner also being the GM and so he can't be fired, then that's fine too. But if you're going to criticize the GM firing an awful DC or looking at who is calling plays next year, then I think you really only have a few options. One, you criticize the decisions on their individual merits...you show why Rob didn't deserve to get fired, why we should have hired someone else, or why you think Jason deserves to keep calling plays. Two, you show why a GM making these decisions during the off-season is outside of the norm and indicative of a dysfunctional organization.

For my part, it's hard to look at the coaching staff that's been assembled and not be excited. We'll see if he still has it, but Kiffen is in the Dick LeBeau and Jim Johnson pantheon of great DCs. Rod Marinelli, a pretty darn good DC in his own right, will be coaching arguably the most important part of the new defense. We cut the fat, but we still get to keep quality coaches like Matt Eberflus and Jerome Henderson. We're lucky to have Callahan helping out on offense, and he brought in one of his own guys, Frank Pollack, to help out with the OL.

I don't think all of these quality coaches would have come to a dysfunctional organization, but I could be wrong. So please, I sincerely want to know if I'm wrong; is there an organization where the GM doing what our GM has done would be considered unusual, considering the circumstances of the Cowboys having a second-year head coach with a career record of 21-19 and not Bill Belichick?

Great OP, but let me answer the 1st question you posed. No, it's not unique. Plenty of franchises have had and are having that "issue". Who has or should have the power? GM or HC?

It almost always comes up unless the GM is hired to run the WHOLE show and brings in his HC.

I've always favored the structure the Cowboys operate under which oddly enough is nearly identical to how the franchise has been run since 1960.

What I find even more odd is how few see it that way and or recognize the obvious benefits.

This franchise was founded with Tex Schram as it's Team President, Brandt as it's GM/Player Personel guy and Landry as it's HC.

Schram was senior to Brandt and Landry but pretty much let them run the team day to day. 98% of the coaching and player decisions were theirs to make. Schram oversaw the whole thing and stepped in on occasion for big deals. Trading up for Dorsett is a good example of as significant move that Schram was all over.

Jerry Jones learned from Schram for a short time after he bought the team and simply assumed his role. Jerry and Stephen basically fill the role of Team President. Cikowski is the GM/Player Personel guy and Garrett is HC.

 

[sonnyboy]

No other franchise but the Dallas Cowboys endures this level of nit-picky national criticism.

Some teams endure some of this criticism locally, but NONE nationally. This is why only the Dallas Cowboys are the ONE AND ONLY America's Team.

Most recently, the Patriots, Steelers and Packers, maybe even the Giants, have been claimed by some ot be the real America's Team the years they had great playoff success. All have since fallen from grace; have you heard a national peep about what went wrong? No! You also no longer hear how they are America's Team. That's because they NEVER were, nor will they ever be!

I live in Chicago, where the Bears are huge. Know what? This team is under the critical spotlight LOCALLY (not nationally). Right now, Bears management is being heavily criticized locally for enduring with Lovie Smith so long, for his lack of control of his offenses and poor choices in offensive coordinators, and for losing Merrinelli to Dallas.

Have you heard a peep about it? No; not even from the local Dallas media - a team tangentially involved in the ire of the Bears’ loss of Merrinelli.

And why have you not heard about this from the Dallas media? It’s because they’re more interested in driving the National media witch-hunt of all that is wrong in Dallas than writing objectively about all that is right.

After all, if losing Merrinelli is that bad for the Bears, it must be that good for Dallas. But you won’t read about it, just piece after piece about how the Rob Ryan firing was wrong. Except you won’t read about that in Chicago because the press here all but laughed at the idea of Rob Ryan being a viable replacement as defensive coordinator for the Bears (yet another tangential sub-story the local Dallas media has failed to report on).

Excellent post. The negative coverage is annoying as hell.

Marinelli was a HUGE get. It makes the Kiffin hire so much better. Shoot, I would have been very happy to have Marinelli as DC, but the two of them together while keeping Henderson and Eberflus was a master stroke.

This is a STRONG defensive staff.

It's probably easier and better for readership for the media to go negative and feed into the negativity of the vocal minority of Cowboy fans.

Why bother with a balanced view and accentuate anything positive?

Here's an honest question........What franchise could secure Marinelli's services as a DL coach? Was there not one NFL frachise willing to hire him as DC this off-season? Could there have been a few?

Maybe I'm over valuing the guy, but I don't think so. As it see it, securing him as a DL coach, clearly speaks to the credibility of the Cowboys and the desireablility to work for it.

 

[Dodger12]

I've always favored the structure the Cowboys operate under which oddly enough is nearly identical to how the franchise has been run since 1960.

This franchise was founded with Tex Schram as it's Team President, Brandt as it's GM/Player Personel guy and Landry as it's HC.

It's nowhere near identical. Bum Bright and Clint Murchison were never the owner/GM, nor was Brandt the GM. Tex ran the show and represented the club in owners meetings, one of the only GM's to do so at the time. Brandt was the chief scout and VP of Player Personnel. He didn't make trades and operate as the GM.

 

[KJJ]

No other franchise but the Dallas Cowboys endures this level of nit-picky national criticism.

Most of the nit-picky national criticism is due to the Cowboys underachieving every year. This nit-picky criticism isn't just national it's within the teams own fan base. Not living up to expectations year after year is going to result in criticism. The more consistently a team loses the more nit-picky the criticism becomes. You start scrutinizing every little thing about a team when the end result is always the same year after year. Most view the Cowboys as a talented team that's a big reason for some of the criticism. They have a very productive QB that has elite "skills" who can play as good as any QB in the league on a given week. They have a future Hall of Fame TE who's still playing at a high level.

They have one of the most talented young WR's in the league in Dez Bryant and one of the top defensive players in Demarcus Ware who like Jason Witten is building a Hall of Fame resume. On paper the Cowboys look like a contender heading into every season. Except for the 2010 season in which Romo missed the final 10 games the Cowboys have been in a position every year under him to make the playoffs entering the final month of the regular season. In the past 5 years the Cowboys season has come down to them having to win their final game of the regular season 3 times to make the playoffs and they've come up short. They've failed the last 2 years to win the division and make the playoffs in the final week.

The level of inconsistency with the team has led to a lot of the criticism. When you're known as America's Team and have a controversial owner/GM who puts himself in front of the media all the time you're going to be more heavily scrutinized than other teams. When you put the kind of money that Jerry has into personnel and a state of the art stadium more is going to be expected from the product on the field than a 22-26 record over the past 3 seasons with no playoff appearances.

Most recently, the Patriots, Steelers and Packers, maybe even the Giants, have been claimed by some ot be the real America's Team the years they had great playoff success. All have since fallen from grace; have you heard a national peep about what went wrong?

None of those teams have fallen from grace like the Cowboys have not even close. The Pats, Steelers, Packers and Giants have all won championships the past decade and 3 of those teams have won multiple championships. Since the Cowboys last SB win in 95 those teams have combined for 8 championships. None of those teams have missed the playoffs the last 3 seasons. It's not going to be a bowl full of cherries for a team every season everyone endures a down year but it's been consistently down for the Cowboys since their last SB win 17 years ago.

The Pats have only missed the playoffs once under Brady since he took over in 2001. They've been to 5 SB's winning 3 of them over that period. Practically every season they put themselves in a position to go to the SB. The Steelers have only missed the playoffs 3 times since Roethlisberger took over in 04 and have been to 3 SB's winning 2 of them over that period. The Giants have missed the playoffs 4 times since 04 under Eli and have won 2 SB's during that period. The Packers have only missed the playoffs once since Rodgers became their starter in 08 and have won a SB during that period.

Not a single one of those teams has suffered the disappointments and inconsistent play the Cowboys have over that period of time. With the Cowboys it's been the same troubling pattern year after year which has created a lot of nit-picky criticism. They've only won ONE playoff game in the past 15 years. Is it really any wonder why the Cowboys have received more criticism than the Pats, Steelers, Packers and Giants? Every season isn't going to end in a championship or playoff birth the NFL is too competitive but when down years and missed playoff opportunities become consistent for a team year after year after year it's going to create a lot of criticism.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Obviously, the Raiders and Al Davis.

Bengals and Mike Brown.

While Ralph Wilson isn't the GM, anybody who knows the Bills knows that he's going to put his input in there and it has to be followed.

I've heard the same about Bud Adams and the Titans. Along with Woody Johnson and the Jets.

I know there were problems with Jerry Angelo when he was a GM in Chicago.

AJ Smith and Schottenheimer butted heads so badly that Schottenheimer got fired after going 14-2.

Believe it or not, the only thing I question recently is it appears Garrett will keep the playcalling. And that actually seems to be a JJ move since he's so big into not having a 'walk around coach.' I think the entire defensive moves are all Garrett and I think they have all made sense to me. Particularly after hearing Garrett talk about them in the PC.






YR

 

[Kristen82]

No other franchise but the Dallas Cowboys endures this level of nit-picky criticism from its fans.

There, fixed it for you.

 

[Shiloht88]

There, fixed it for you.

I think fans have every right to be judgmental. If you've been a fan as long as some, the last 16 years of mediocrity with no hope for change, have been eye opening and brutal.

 

[DandyDon1722]

All of your points are valid.

The only thing I'm to trying to convey is that this would be evidence of Jerry being a bad GM who should no longer hold that position. Now, that's not going to happen. But Jerry being a bad GM and the Cowboys being a circus, the organization being a joke, and other sentiments like that are different. It's possible that Jerry is a bad GM AND that the organization isn't the clown-show it's often portrayed to be here and in the sports media.

I think Jerry is a bad GM and I think the organization isn't the clown show it's often portrayed.

Here's three reasons I believe he's bad.

Overpaying of players.
Hanging onto players too long.
Not devoting all his time to the GM position which is impossible when you're the owner.

However, I think his Quincy Carter pick days are over and I believe he now listens to the scouts and coaches. I cannot see him ever again trumping everybody in the room and making a pick that wasn't on their board.

As far as coaches I also think he has distanced himself from assistant choices and relies on Stephen more and more so I just have a feeling things will get better -- God strike me dead.

 

[BringBackThatOleTimeBoys]

I think fans have every right to be judgmental. If you've been a fan as long as some, the last 16 years of mediocrity with no hope for change, have been eye opening and brutal.

Amen!