No, I think I finally figured out where the anti-Wade crowd is coming from. I think I see their concerns finally about Wade Phillips as head coach. If he were truly the head coach, he would tell Garrett, "All right, cut it out. We're up 24-20 on these guys, and it was because of the legs of our backs and the weight of our O-Line. Pound that rock." Instead, he just accepts that Garrett is the assistant head coach and let's him have cart blanche with the offense, even when we're down to the nut-cutting.
Jason Garrett is a good offensive coordinator when you're playing the Seahawks at home in Week 8 (i.e. "peacetime consiglieri"). I'm still not sold on his ability to call a winning game plan in a critical game in December (i.e. "wartime consiglieri"). That's not to say Garrett would come out and turn Romo into Jake Delhomme or something, but it's to say that many scenarios like Pittsburgh in 2008 are on our horizon.
Think back to The Godfather in that scene where Sonny and Tom Hagen are talking before the family dinner on Sunday. Sonny says, "Pop had Genco, and look what I have!" indicating that Tom Hagen was not a wartime consiglieri. If you'll remember, Tom was trying to patch things up, whereas Sonny wanted to pursue an aggressive course of action.
That's how it is with Jason Garrett. I think he can do good for us when it's easy, but when it's December and cold on the road, I don't know if he can get it done. Just because he hasn't so far does not mean he can't or he won't; he's still young and if he's willing to learn and not be a doctrinaire dolt, he can get it done.
This is where a real head coach comes into play. Seriously, what was Jimmy Johnson good at? Really, what was his specialty? Nothing. His specialty was being a leader and decision maker. He let Norv and Butch/Dave do their thing on their sides of the ball, but when it came down to the nut-cutting, he would override them and tell them what he wanted. He didn't specifically meddle, but he meddled enough that he got his way. Take the famous catch-and-run by Harper in the '92 NFC Championship game. At the beginning of that drive, Norv asked Jimmy, "What do you want to do?" Jimmy said, "I want to score!" Bing. Of course, the decision was between taking time off the clock or scoring. Jimmy wanted to score and certainly the scoring drive was not intended to be that expedient.
So, that's the conundrum with Wade Phillips. If he were really a head coach, he would override Garrett on some of those boneheaded play-calls. Of course, even if he has been, we'd never hear about it because the mediots are framing Wade Phillips as some softie who doesn't know what he's doing on the sidelines or is some kind of yes-man, but that's who the mediots are, those rats. Look what they did to my Cowboys and look what they did to my country, those scum vermin. Anyway, even if Wade were overriding Garrett, we wouldn't hear about it, and if you were to do so, it would only be because you watched the entire postgame press conference on DallasCowboys.com, not because the demons in the media told you about it.
Wade Phillips said at the beginning of this year that he thought being the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys was a dream job and he wasn't, "going down without a fight." Well, if he believes one word of what he just said, then he would get up in Garrett's business when he was making boneheaded play-calls in crunch time. So, now, the question becomes whether or not Wade Phillips himself is a "wartime consiglieri." He's one heck of a defensive coordinator -- no doubt about it. Is he one heck of a coach? Well, if you want to beat the Seahawks at home in Week 8 on a 12:00 PM game with third tier announcers, he seems to be the coach for the job.
Make no mistake about it: those are my 'Boys out there. Yes, Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett are my 'Boys. The day they aren't is the day they are no longer with the Cowboys. I know many fans have trouble with that issue of loyalty, but that's who they are and why they easily get gulled by the mediots and further prove Henry Louis Menckin's adage about, "No one ever lost money betting against the intelligence of Cowboys fans." I want to see Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett succeed, but I'm also in search for the truth. And from the evidence I've seen, I see that these guys aren't wartime consiglieris. I'm not saying us winning a playoff game or having a successful December is out of the question, but I am saying I see where the concerns are that people have for these two gentlemen.
Personally, I think the determining factors are Keith Brooking and Joe DeCamillis. They bring the personality and the leadership of the Wade Phillips system that Wade himself does not bring to the table. I really think if we still had Akin Ayodele and had Joe Marciano, for instance, as our special teams coach, we probably would be 6-5 like the Giants, maybe worse. Brooking definitely has interest in both sides of the ball, something Wade Phillips does not. And because of Brooking's contagious enthusiasm, it has spilled over onto guys like DeMarcus Ware. Can you imagine Ware going over to the sidelines when the Cowboys and Steelers were tied up at 13-13 last year and saying, "What does that name say on the back of your jersey? We've got your back; don't worry about it." Brooking, by his presence, does not hold merely the defense accountable. He's holding the team accountable.
So, the whole thing is intricately warped. It's not just a simple diagnosis. It's not "Wade sucks" or "Garrett is hopeless." No, it's as complex as a necktie, but just as simple to undo. Did you know that you can undo a necktie with one pull? Well, we can fix our problems with simple solutions. A) Garrett has to establish the run. B) Wade has to override Garrett when he's infected with too much hubris. And that's it. Those are the solutions. We don't need to fire anyone per se. We don't need to bring in Mike Holmgren or kvetch that we didn't hire Josh McDaniels or whatever. We can win with these guys. We really can, but they are going to have to make simple amendments to their strategies in order for us to succeed.
Those are my thoughts.
