Jason Garrett

[playmakers]

I thought last year after he made it through the first half of the season defense coordinaters figured him out. There wasnt really a book on him until about then. Look at Philly and Washington the second time they played as opposed to the first. With the Giants it took them to the third game to figure him out but to there credit we played them twice in an 8 game span. I think he needs to adjust a bit because teams started blitzing us like it was a base defense the final 5-6 games. We have to remember he is a rookie too and what we have going for us is he is one of the smartest people in football. Im sure he can figure his way out of this funk. Thats just my take. I dont remember this being really discussed at the end of the year. Then again, there were 8 zillion posts, I might of missed it. Opinions

 

[TonyS]

I think all good OCs change up what they're doing during the year. So, yeah, the DCs probably figured out what we were good at (throwing to TO/Witten) and tried to take that away.

I think our biggest problem later in the year was execution and not coming up with the big play when we needed it whereas we did in the first 2/3 of the season.

Romo's thumb injury had something to do with it as did receivers dropping catchable balls.

I look forward to seeing what JG can do especially after we get him some more weapons on offense.

 

[Hostile]

I think TO was the key to our Offense and without him the DCs figured out how to stop us. That is why Jerry is trying to get another top notch WR. The Giants figured out in the 1st half that TO and Glenn were both not as physical as normal. S they switched to man coverage tight and came with blitzes all the way from Egypt and shut us down for the most part. A healthy TO or Glenn changes that equation. We were 2 drops by Crayton away from winning. Add a threat opposite TO so that Crayton goes back to 3rd WR and better coverage at CB than we got from Reeves and this team is formidable.

 

[rathalarge]

I agree guys, especially with you Hostile!! But when the offense was struggling without TO, then the defense should have stepped it up a notch (or 2)! With the number of high draft choices we have their, we should be stopping people, especially before halftime of the playoff loss to the Giants.

 

[theebs]

I dont think anyone gets figured out in the nfl. The staffs are all extremely intelligent, they know their X's and O's. No one is getting tricked to the level many fans believe.

I really only think the niners of the early 80s and the bears 46 front were the only schemes that needed to be figured out. I guess you could make a case for the rams in 99, but I believe that was more of a matchup problem than a how to. Teams just didnt have enough quality players in the secondary to cover that 99 rams offense.

Anyway, We won this year because of good playcalling and good execution. Any fan who thinks they can watch the game and decipher whether or not a team or a coordinator is getting figured out is fooling themselves.

Even the media falls trap to this myth. Pat kirwan on cbs in the week leading up to the eagles game in philly, picked philly and said we scored in the 40s for two weeks, then 30s for two weeks and then in the 20s since, He then added the ever popular cliche of Teams figuring out our offense and then said Dallas would not play as well as they have because of it going forward.

We then ripped, philly, NY, Washington, The Jets and Green bay a new one with our offense.

Its about talent and execution. A good coordinator like garret and the rest of our staff, John garret, Skip Peete, Tony sporano, Ray Sherman and wade wilson taught this team how to use their talent to execute at a high level and used their strengths to allow them to be succesful, which is the goal of all coaches.

Nobody is reinventing the wheel. When good coaching has good talent it should get good execution and that is what we have right now. I hope we get three new quality offensive players in this draft to continue that.

 

[Big Dakota]

For JG, losing TO(or TO at 100&#37 was like putting a restrictor plate on a race car. It changed everything.

 

[theogt]

I dont think anyone gets figured out in the nfl. The staffs are all extremely intelligent, they know their X's and O's. No one is getting tricked to the level many fans believe.

I really only think the niners of the early 80s and the bears 46 front were the only schemes that needed to be figured out. I guess you could make a case for the rams in 99, but I believe that was more of a matchup problem than a how to. Teams just didnt have enough quality players in the secondary to cover that 99 rams offense.

Anyway, We won this year because of good playcalling and good execution. Any fan who thinks they can watch the game and decipher whether or not a team or a coordinator is getting figured out is fooling themselves.

Even the media falls trap to this myth. Pat kirwan on cbs in the week leading up to the eagles game in philly, picked philly and said we scored in the 40s for two weeks, then 30s for two weeks and then in the 20s since, He then added the ever popular cliche of Teams figuring out our offense and then said Dallas would not play as well as they have because of it going forward.

We then ripped, philly, NY, Washington, The Jets and Green bay a new one with our offense.

Its about talent and execution. A good coordinator like garret and the rest of our staff, John garret, Skip Peete, Tony sporano, Ray Sherman and wade wilson taught this team how to use their talent to execute at a high level and used their strengths to allow them to be succesful, which is the goal of all coaches.

Nobody is reinventing the wheel. When good coaching has good talent it should get good execution and that is what we have right now. I hope we get three new quality offensive players in this draft to continue that.

I agree that no one is getting tricked, but I think if teams can recognize trends in playcalling, they can gain a big advantage when you don't at least attempt to avert those trends on occasion. And teams can't really discover those trends for a good while into the season.

 

[theebs]

I agree that no one is getting tricked, but I think if teams can recognize trends in playcalling, they can gain a big advantage when you don't at least attempt to avert those trends on occasion. And teams can't really discover those trends for a good while into the season.

Yeah, I dont believe that is what so many imply when they say figured out though. I think alot of people feel like we are running pass routes never called before.

I do agree though if you do the same thing each week in the same situations you are asking for trouble. I think Romo missed some throws later in the year and that played a part. Just look at the eagles game, they seemed to know everything we were doing when the ball was snapped and there were still plenty of plays to be made. Same thing in the playoffs. The plays were there to be made we just didnt make them and that happens to everyone.

Laufenbergs game film breakdown of the skins game in washington showed that austin and hurd had repeatedly been open and romo never got them the ball and of course austin dropped the big one when he did. That stuff just happens. Hopefully we wont have that problem late in the year next year.

The giants didnt do anything different when we played them in the playoffs as they did the previous 4 times, they just executed and put more points on the board.

It kills me that they ran that corner route to boss, when in the game in november they ran the exact same corner route out of the same formation and in the two minute drill before half and they completed it again on reeves and williams. I will never understand that.

 

[Stautner]

I agree guys, especially with you Hostile!! But when the offense was struggling without TO, then the defense should have stepped it up a notch (or 2)! With the number of high draft choices we have their, we should be stopping people, especially before halftime of the playoff loss to the Giants.

I don't quite get this thinking.

First, why should the defense suddenly be able to step it up a notch or two after the offense struggled? If they weren't capable of it before, then TO getting hurt certainly didn't make it more capable.

Second, sure we would all like to think the defense could and should be dominant with the number of high draft choices we have in the lineup, but we all know that being drafted high is no guarantee in the NFL. Some (Newman, Ware, Ellis) do very well, others (Spears) become average players, while still others (Carpenter, Roy) disappoint. That's kind of the norm when it comes to drafting.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

If teams can't figure out what Garrett is doing and is likely to do after 4 games, then they need to get rid of their entire coaching staff. I think teams started to see that after 4 games and Dallas still had the #2 offense in the league, only behind the historical offense of the Patriots.

Dallas was a little weak at WR to begin with, then Owens went down and that hurt Dallas in the Carolina game (Dallas was tearing up the Panthers before Owens' injury) and then the Washington game which really didn't matter. I don't think the Dallas offense played poorly in the playoff game. It did alright, and that was with NYG killing them in field position and the dropped passes by Fasano and Crayton which would've given Dallas 28 points instead of 17 and likely would have won Dallas the game. I can't fault Garrett for that.

What I saw out of Garrett was almost an astute poker player that liked to put opposing defenses in a corner. I do think he had his fair share of growing pains, particularly in the Bills and 2nd Eagles game, one of which cost Dallas a victory.

But considering this was his first year as the O-Coordinator and his first year with these players, I thought he did quite well and if the Cowboys can stay reasonably healthy, I think they'll be better on offense than they were in 2007.





YAKUZA

 

[InmanRoshi]

The 2nd Philly game was the turning point. We were scoring 30 points a game, and suddnely we couldn't even get into the endzone. This was the week before Owens was hurt, so the TO injury excuse doesn't fly. Jim Johnson did something that completely disrupted our offense, and Jason didn't seem to have an answer. The offense never looked in synch for the rest of the season.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I don't quite get this thinking.

First, why should the defense suddenly be able to step it up a notch or two after the offense struggled? If they weren't capable of it before, then TO getting hurt certainly didn't make it more capable.

Second, sure we would all like to think the defense could and should be dominant with the number of high draft choices we have in the lineup, but we all know that being drafted high is no guarantee in the NFL. Some (Newman, Ware, Ellis) do very well, others (Spears) become average players, while still others (Carpenter, Roy) disappoint. That's kind of the norm when it comes to drafting.

I would imagine that a new coach coming in and turning a mediocre defense into a dominant defense in one year would be pretty rare. So turning a mediocre defense into a pretty good one that became great at sacking the QB is something I'm happy with and think that it's likely to get better if they stay reasonably healthy.






YAKUZA

 

[Yakuza Rich]

The 2nd Philly game was the turning point, when they held us without a TD. TO was completely healthy for that game, so the TO injury excuse doesn't fly. Philly did something that completely disrupted our offense, and Jason never seemed to adapt.

Philly didn't do much different from what we saw out of teams like New England, Minnesota and others. The execution was off and Garrett forgot to run the ball and try to work off some play action.

Dallas was having no problem with the Carolina defense until Owens got hurt. They also were moving the ball more than effectively against the Giants in the first half, but because they were getting killed on field position they could only score so many points.

One could say that the Bills disrupted the Dallas offense far more than the Eagles did and yet Garrett was able to adapt after that. I think the Philly game was a bit overblown because it was one bad game by the offense and Garrett and then immediately after that came the Owens injury and then the meaningless Washington game.






YAKUZA

 

[InmanRoshi]

Philly didn't do much different from what we saw out of teams like New England, Minnesota and others. The execution was off and Garrett forgot to run the ball and try to work off some play action.

Dallas was having no problem with the Carolina defense until Owens got hurt. They also were moving the ball more than effectively against the Giants in the first half, but because they were getting killed on field position they could only score so many points.

One could say that the Bills disrupted the Dallas offense far more than the Eagles did and yet Garrett was able to adapt after that. I think the Philly game was a bit overblown because it was one bad game by the offense and Garrett and then immediately after that came the Owens injury and then the meaningless Washington game.

YAKUZA

I understand having a bad day, but when you're averaging 30 points a game at that point a "bad day" should be only scoring 14, not getting completely shut out of the endzone for the entire game.

Until that game were were impervious to the blitz, in fact we were right there with the Colts and Patriots for offensive efficiency against the blitz. During and after that game we couldn't stop a blitz to save our lives. John Fox is maybe one of the least blitzing defensive coaches in the NFL, and that's not what his team was built to do. But Gregg Williams and Steve Spagnuolo just ate us up with it after that game. I still, for the life of me, don't understand why Jason Garrett refuses to run a slant route when teams are attacking us like that.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

But Gregg Williams and Steve Spagnuolo just ate us up with it after that game. I still, for the life of me, don't understand why Jason Garrett refuses to run a slant route when teams are attacking us like that.

I don't put much stock in the week 17 game against the Commanders. The players weren't likely to go full bore and there was no need to go out and gameplan against what Washington was going to do, and Dallas didn't. It's also hard to eat up a blitz when your best receiver is hurt, a guy that tends to kill blitzing defenses. Dallas offense was more than fine against the Giants in the first half. The second half they didn't perform well, a lot of that had to do with Gurode struggling with the snaps, but if they don't drop 2 passes, they score 28 points, despite having horrible field position in the first half. I just don't see that as an issue with Garrett. He can't force players to stop dropping passes or Gurode to snap out of the shotgun better.






YAKUZA
does agree that Garrett needs to use more slant patterns with Owens.

 

[Doomsday101]

I think it comes down to execution by the players no doubt the coach and his play calling is important but in the end players must execute if they don't do that then I don't care what changes are made the plays will fail.

 

[Frosty]

I don't put much stock in the week 17 game against the Commanders. The players weren't likely to go full bore and there was no need to go out and gameplan against what Washington was going to do, and Dallas didn't. It's also hard to eat up a blitz when your best receiver is hurt, a guy that tends to kill blitzing defenses. Dallas offense was more than fine against the Giants in the first half. The second half they didn't perform well, a lot of that had to do with Gurode struggling with the snaps, but if they don't drop 2 passes, they score 28 points, despite having horrible field position in the first half. I just don't see that as an issue with Garrett. He can't force players to stop dropping passes or Gurode to snap out of the shotgun better.

Garrett and the Cowboys have to score 2O points or more to be competitive.
Dont think its about the offense....its Defense....Does it make you wonder why the Giants can march down the field and score 7 in less than a minute before halftime. To Many occasions the Defense was out matched and out coached.....

Mike Zimmer and Stewart are equal turds....

 

[Stautner]

Everyone needs to keep in mind that Garrett was a rookie, and for a rookie he did a pretty damned good job.

Sure there were lapses late in the season, and some that perhaps can be partially attributed to Garrett, but lets face it, everyone has an off day or makes a mistake, and a rookie is more prone than an experienced guy.

Bottom line is that Garrett wasn't perfect all year, but it was a nice debut season to build from.

 

[DallasDomination]

Sometimes Garrett was to pass happy. Besides that he was good.

 

[TEK2000]

If you recall, there were a number of big play opportunities that we had wide open for us but we didn't convert the play. Some deep throws to TO that were overthrown/off target, etc. etc. These were the types of plays we were making with some regularity up to that point, then for that game we didn't convert those big plays that we normally did.

Also, that's around the time that Romo's thumb was injured.

It wasn't as if Philly just shut us down completely. We didn't score points... but there were quite a few opportunities that were open and WE didn't make the plays.