This is my take on it: To run the ball effectively an offense has to be tough, disciplined, and determined. And that starts in training camp. The player salaries have made the team so afraid of injury in training camp they go at it half-speed half the time. A large difference between a starter in the NFL and a former player on the street is the dedication and attitude each brings every day. That has to be instilled in training camp. Play hard every play or hit the street. Ho-hum through training camp translates to ho-hum play during the regular season and that shows its greatest negative impact in the hard-nosed business of running the ball. There was never a ho-hum training camp under Jimmy Johnson and that team was tough, disciplined, and determined. (I will always believe that he was resting on his laurels in Miami and didn't put forth the same effort there that he did in Dallas.)
Further, (just as a continuation of this little rant) penalties and the predictable slow start in the first quarter is a reflection of lack of focus which comes from a lack of discipline. This team is almost invariably behind in the first quarter and has become one of the more penalized teams in the league. Discipline must come from the man in charge, and there cannot be two "men in charge". And I think it is clear to all that the "man in charge" is not the coach. And the guy who is the "man-in-charge" would rather be a buddy than a disciplinarian. Marion Barber should have been cut the day he defied the Coach's dress code. Respect for the coach has to carry a certain amount of fear of the head coach. There is no doubt the players "like" the coach, I doubt any of them "fear" him simply because he can do nothing to them that the owner won't overrule. One of the best bosses I ever worked for told me this when he hired me, "I hired you to make tough decisions on difficult matters and I will support you in any decision you make even if I might have made a different decision than you did. With that said, if you start repeatedly making decisions that appear to be wrong ones, we will have a serious talk." (for what it's worth-he always had my back, and we never had to have that serious talk.) And this is a universal truism (not only applicable to football): individuals will always perform better for leaders they "respect" than they will for leaders they "like." And until this situation changes, no coaching change, no draft philosophy, no scheme changes, no miracle trades, no brilliant football minds, no free agent signing, and no superstar player will get this team to a championship. There is no doubt that Jerry Jones desperately wants to win a superbowl and will do anything he can to achieve that, except the one thing he must do to achieve that: get out of the coach's business and give him the teeth he needs to have more than an empty bark when he seeks to correct a player or situation.
