Eskimo
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Look at the roster Garrett inherited in 2010 and it is easy to see why he didn't start posting 12-4 seasons right off the bat. Most of the good players on that roster were in steep decline and the drafts from 2006-2009 only netted Free, Spencer and Scandrick as major ongoing contributors. Ratliff was in steep decline already as were Newman, Colombo, Gurode, Kosier, RW (safety), RW (WR), TO, Brooking, Brady James. Ware was still a beast but by mid-2012 he would be a shadow of his former self due to injury. Ditto for Spencer by the start of 2013. Ditto for Sean Lee who missed a big chunk of 2013 and then all of 2014. He did have Dez but many people thought he was more likely to self-destruct then become a star at that point in time.
The roster just wasn't there. We had "names" but they were mostly either injured, entitled or in decline. We had no extra draft picks nor did we do a quick rebuild by tanking the roster by trading vets for picks and then getting top 5 picks to add All-Pro potential players to the mix. What we had was a QB and a patient front office who could spot talent that would work in our systems and we leveraged that into rebuilding without losing.
How many current key cogs of the roster were established stars when Garrett took over in mid-2010? I'd argue we're down to Witten and Romo now (I don't think Free is a cog anymore, just a stop-gap solution at RT). That is a monumental roster rebuild to get from where we were at the time he took over (a team that was 1-7) to the start of the 2014 season (a team that would go 12-4). I would certainly agree that not all the credit should go to Garrett but what part of Jerry Jones' GM resume argues that he is capable of putting together a strong team without a great HC? He got somewhere in the past with Parcells and Jimmy Johnson, two HOF coaches. He got nowhere with guys like Gailey, Campo and Wade.
Anyhow, I think this whole argument over assigning credit for Garrett's success is silly. Good coaches tend to find themselves associated with good front offices and good coordinators/assistant coaches. It is far too big of a job for one man to do but without the right guy at the HC job I don't think winning can be sustained. We saw how everything fell apart with Wade and the same thing would happen here if Garrett were replaced by a below average HC fairly quickly.
The roster just wasn't there. We had "names" but they were mostly either injured, entitled or in decline. We had no extra draft picks nor did we do a quick rebuild by tanking the roster by trading vets for picks and then getting top 5 picks to add All-Pro potential players to the mix. What we had was a QB and a patient front office who could spot talent that would work in our systems and we leveraged that into rebuilding without losing.
How many current key cogs of the roster were established stars when Garrett took over in mid-2010? I'd argue we're down to Witten and Romo now (I don't think Free is a cog anymore, just a stop-gap solution at RT). That is a monumental roster rebuild to get from where we were at the time he took over (a team that was 1-7) to the start of the 2014 season (a team that would go 12-4). I would certainly agree that not all the credit should go to Garrett but what part of Jerry Jones' GM resume argues that he is capable of putting together a strong team without a great HC? He got somewhere in the past with Parcells and Jimmy Johnson, two HOF coaches. He got nowhere with guys like Gailey, Campo and Wade.
Anyhow, I think this whole argument over assigning credit for Garrett's success is silly. Good coaches tend to find themselves associated with good front offices and good coordinators/assistant coaches. It is far too big of a job for one man to do but without the right guy at the HC job I don't think winning can be sustained. We saw how everything fell apart with Wade and the same thing would happen here if Garrett were replaced by a below average HC fairly quickly.
