Maybe Its A Culture Problem, Not Neccessarily Playcalling

[Idgit]

Your statement about them having some sort of fear of making mistakes is what I'd like to see proof of. Unless you are talking about scrubs who were cut for not wearing suits. I guess the suggestion is JG is all smiles and an oh golly gee they try hard guy in public but a tyrant behind closed doors. I think Garrett knows he's lucky to have a job and built in excuses every season.

None of us really knows what goes on when the cameras aren't on. I based that statement off of of what the beat reporters frequently say about how Garrett's demeanor differs greatly behind the scenes v. behind the mic. You might remember last season he invited reporters in for an off-the-record session to see how the coaches interact with players and to give the local reporters a better idea of what goes on in prepping for a game? The people who attended that, and I don't remember who all it was but Broaddus was one of them and several of the DC.com guys were included all said that his personality was night and day different.

I don't have a link for you, so if that's not enough to find one yourself, I can't really prove it. But that was what I was thinking about when I made the comment.

Doesn't that make Garrett a weak coach?

Some people obviously think so. My opinion? If a dude hires you for $6MM a year and says "but I'm the one that calls the shots" and you take the job, then you deal with the consequences of that. I don't think having to work for Jerry as opposed to another owner makes a coach weak. In fact, I'd suggest you need a fairly strong personality to work well with Jerry Jones. Weak or strong, though, you're not getting your way when the guy who pays the bills has a giant ego and wants it the way he wants it. It's Jerry's team, so what he says, goes.

 

[Sydla]

Refuting points not made is my specialty. It's the other ones that I struggle with.

There is no way Booger is going to hire a strong coach that might pull some of the attention away from him. He holds court, not press conferences, with his son and adopted coach hanging on every word or trying to figure out what he just said so they can agree with it.

He might not hire a strong coach. He may hire another Campo. He may hire another Garrett. Or maybe he just gets lucky and hires a guy who turns out to be a winner.

All I know is what we have isn't working. Some fear the unknown - that the next coach could really suck. I don't. If this season ends up being another missed playoff season, I am willing to take a chance on a new guy. Because what I would know is that the odds of Garrett ever succeeding are pretty low at that point. 6 seasons. One playoff appearance. Not sure how anyone could argue that would be good enough.

 

[Idgit]

To further the point, I think some of the best coaches in the NFL right now are obviously Belicheck, Carroll, Ariens, Tomlin.

To believe what some have opined here, that Jones makes it difficult, almost impossible for Garrett to coach here, my question would be if Bill Belicheck decided he wanted one more challenge in life and that is trying to coach the Cowboys to a SB, would he turn into a .500 coach here in Dallas because of Jones? Would Carroll?

Don't be passive, dude. You can use '@Idgit' to let me know the bat signal is lit and I'll try to reply.

Your list isn't the same as mine, but we've got Belichick and Arians in common. I never said Jones makes it impossible to coach here, because I think Garrett has already done a good job coaching here. My point was that Jones is a liability in ways that makes it difficult to make the team into a legit contender for championships.

There's no question in my mind that--if Belichick could co-exist with Jones--he'd build a contender in Dallas. Belichick is the best coach of his generation and probably the best NFL HC ever. He's not available, so the point is moot.

Carroll I'm not as high on as you seem to be, but he's a very good coach, too. Carroll benefited from really good personnel decisions, many of which were related to team management. Absent those, no, I don't think he's any more successful here than Garrett has been.

Arians, I don't see coexisting with Jerry Jones, so I won't bother to go into that one. But he's a hell of a HC.

 

[CouchCoach]

Because the owner of every NFL team makes the final call. Do you think Bellichick or Elway could sign off on a 100 million dollar contract? The owner does; it's his money. It's the same way here. You're just hung up on titles......

That's a huge No Sale and you don't know how other teams are run any more than I do. I would pretty much think both Belichick and Elway will get what they want.

 

[CouchCoach]

He might not hire a strong coach. He may hire another Campo. He may hire another Garrett. Or maybe he just gets lucky and hires a guy who turns out to be a winner.

All I know is what we have isn't working. Some fear the unknown - that the next coach could really suck. I don't. If this season ends up being another missed playoff season, I am willing to take a chance on a new guy. Because what I would know is that the odds of Garrett ever succeeding are pretty low at that point. 6 seasons. One playoff appearance. Not sure how anyone could argue that would be good enough.

I don't fear losing Garrett as the HC as I don't think he's a good one. What I think has happened though is Garrett is one of the voices Booger will listen to and I think that OL got built because of that. Remember Parcells comment that the goal is to save Booger from his inclinations. He's a crummy football guy and clueless how to build a NFL team that can contend. My only fear is losing one of the voices that keeps Booger Madness at bay.

It is my belief that Booger has not changed or grown in the job at all. He has only changed out the voices that he listens to and his circle of influence. That's why I hope McClay doesn't get a GM job with another team.

 

[yimyammer]

To further the point, I think some of the best coaches in the NFL right now are obviously Belicheck, Carroll, Ariens, Tomlin.

To believe what some have opined here, that Jones makes it difficult, almost impossible for Garrett to coach here, my question would be if Bill Belicheck decided he wanted one more challenge in life and that is trying to coach the Cowboys to a SB, would he turn into a .500 coach here in Dallas because of Jones? Would Carroll?

they may do better than 500 but as long as jeri does what jeri does, they wouldn't be as successful or win super bowls.

If given the same set-up, power and control they have in their current gigs, they've have great success here

all just my humble opinions of course

 

[Sydla]

Don't be passive, dude. You can use '@Idgit' to let me know the bat signal is lit and I'll try to reply.

Your list isn't the same as mine, but we've got Belichick and Arians in common. I never said Jones makes it impossible to coach here, because I think Garrett has already done a good job coaching here. My point was that Jones is a liability in ways that makes it difficult to make the team into a legit contender for championships.

There's no question in my mind that--if Belichick could co-exist with Jones--he'd build a contender in Dallas. Belichick is the best coach of his generation and probably the best NFL HC ever. He's not available, so the point is moot.

Carroll I'm not as high on as you seem to be, but he's a very good coach, too. Carroll benefited from really good personnel decisions, many of which were related to team management. Absent those, no, I don't think he's any more successful here than Garrett has been.

Arians, I don't see coexisting with Jerry Jones, so I won't bother to go into that one. But he's a hell of a HC.

Contend for a Super Bowl? Let's keep this simple. How about just make the playoffs consistently for starters? Garrett can't even do that. If this year is a dud, that's one playoff appearance in 6 years. To sell that as "a good job coaching here" would be comical at that point.

The point of my post wasn't to suggest Belicheck or Ariens would come here. It was to show that the notion that Jones makes it way too tough to win here is bogus. It's a myth created by Garrett fans who can't articulate why he's a good coach. So the only other option is to pick apart everything around him - specifically that Jones makes it tough for him to win.

But the reality is that the right coach could win here. Could Jones hire the right coach? Who knows. I suspect some luck would have to be involved there. But it's mindboggling that if the Cowboys miss the playoffs for the 5th time in Garrett's 6 years, one could try to argue he's still the best option to coach here.

 

[Sydla]

they may do better than 500 but as long as jeri does what jeri does, they wouldn't be as successful or win super bowls.

If given the same set-up, power and control they have in their current gigs, they've have great success here

all just my humble opinions of course

Well doing better than .500 would be a step up from where we are now, wouldn't it?

Again my point wasn't to insinuate we should go out and hire one of those guys or that they'd even consider the job. It was to point out that this idea that Garrett is probably hitting the ceiling of where this franchise can go with Jerry running things is bogus IMO. The right coach could win here. At least win more than Garrett.

 

[Mountaineerfan]

All these other coaches have the ability to coach up a lesser player to step up. In that they have their starters always prepared for game time situations, like getting out of bounds. I could see belicheck cutting/trading a player for those mistakes. So yes the original thought of this thread of culture is a big problem inmo.

 

[Idgit]

they may do better than 500 but as long as jeri does what jeri does, they wouldn't be as successful or win super bowls.

If given the same set-up, power and control they have in their current gigs, they've have great success here

all just my humble opinions of course

Exactly. Every situation is different. You need the personnel, and you need the staff (not just the HC, btw). And then you need a little luck with injuries and in getting matchups you can win in the playoffs. It's a tough thing to do.

Which is why you see guys like Carroll and Belichick, or maybe Kubiak now struggle early and go on to have a lot of success. Or guys like Billick or Siefert have some success but then struggle to repeat it. The really good ones, like Parcels and Vermiel, have at least some measure of success wherever they go, but even those guys need to have the right personnel.

It makes it hard to know what's really a personnel problem v. what's a staff problem, or an organizational problem or an actual limitation with the HC himself. You can narrow down the causes, but it's hard to really know what the problem is until a guy goes somewhere else and then has a lot of success.

 

[Risen Star]

I agree that Jerry sets the culture and is the root cause of the disease. But Garrett is just not a very good coach. You could chalk it up initially to inexperience but at some point it's just so obvious that Garrett offers us no gameday advantage and Romo hides all of his flaws. I don't absolve Garrett of any guilt here which it appears you're doing.

I absolve all blame for any coach here under Jerry. I can not evaluate a coach if he's in a no win situation. An owner who acts as his own GM with his son as the top assistant and won't even allow his coach authority over his own staff and locker room. That's a no win situation for any coach. People don't want to hear it but it's true. So as easy as it is to blame Garrett since he can actually be replaced I know better. Garrett could suck regardless of where he is but I don't know that. What I do know is no coach on planet Earth would win here with the owner comfortable. It's just not happening. That's the only reason I want Garrett gone. The small hope that we'll have another Parcells hire and things will change for the better.

Who's the best head coach in the league? Bill Belichick? Imagine little Bill coming to Dallas and being told - yeah, you're the head coach...but my son and I are gonna pick your players and your staff, I'm gonna sit in on staff meetings during the week, keep that locker room door open too..we go in there...I'll do most of the media and be the voice of the team.....oh, and I'm always available to any of your players should they have any issue with what you're doing.

This is the cancerous culture in Dallas and why that plane sat on the tarmac for hours in December 2002 while Bill Parcells negotiated with a mad man.

 

[yimyammer]

Well doing better than .500 would be a step up from where we are now, wouldn't it?

Again my point wasn't to insinuate we should go out and hire one of those guys or that they'd even consider the job. It was to point out that this idea that Garrett is probably hitting the ceiling of where this franchise can go with Jerry running things is bogus IMO. The right coach could win here. At least win more than Garrett.

I dont have a problem with this and I'm so beaten down, I'm ready to try anything at this point.

I've just grown to expect the same results in the end. Like moving deck chairs around on the Titanic, it still sinks in the end

 

[Idgit]

Contend for a Super Bowl? Let's keep this simple. How about just make the playoffs consistently for starters? Garrett can't even do that. If this year is a dud, that's one playoff appearance in 6 years. To sell that as "a good job coaching here" would be comical at that point.

The point of my post wasn't to suggest Belicheck or Ariens would come here. It was to show that the notion that Jones makes it way too tough to win here is bogus. It's a myth created by Garrett fans who can't articulate why he's a good coach. So the only other option is to pick apart everything around him - specifically that Jones makes it tough for him to win.

But the reality is that the right coach could win here. Could Jones hire the right coach? Who knows. I suspect some luck would have to be involved there. But it's mindboggling that if the Cowboys miss the playoffs for the 5th time in Garrett's 6 years, one could try to argue he's still the best option to coach here.

Let's agree to disagree, then. I don't even want my original point misunderstood, because I do think Garrett's made his share of mistakes in his tenure. There are, as I've said, lots of reasons why teams lose football games. I believe Jerry poses a unique problem for coaches in Dallas. If you don't agree, that's fine. I also think the size of the spotlight is an issue in Dallas. That might be another thing we disagree on. My point, though, was that Jason's done a pretty good job limiting variables and stabilizing ownership, cap spending, media coverage, drafting procedures, and just generally bringing sanity to a lot of stuff that was disorganized before he got here. At the end of the day, it's his watch, and we all understand that he's got to get his team in the playoffs and winning games or he won't keep his job. That's true no matter what the factors are that are causing the team to fall short in these close games.

 

[yimyammer]

I absolve all blame for any coach here under Jerry. I can not evaluate a coach if he's in a no win situation. An owner who acts as his own GM with his son as the top assistant and won't even allow his coach authority over his own staff and locker room. That's a no win situation for any coach. People don't want to hear it but it's true. So as easy as it is to blame Garrett since he can actually be replaced I know better. Garrett could suck regardless of where he is but I don't know that. What I do know is no coach on planet Earth would win here with the owner comfortable. It's just not happening. That's the only reason I want Garrett gone. The small hope that we'll have another Parcells hire and things will change for the better.

Who's the best head coach in the league? Bill Belichick? Imagine little Bill coming to Dallas and being told - yeah, you're the head coach...but my son and I are gonna pick your players and your staff, I'm gonna sit in on staff meetings during the week, keep that locker room door open too..we go in there...I'll do most of the media and be the voice of the team.....oh, and I'm always available to any of your players should they have any issue with what you're doing.

This is the cancerous culture in Dallas and why that plane sat on the tarmac for hours in December 2002 while Bill Parcells negotiated with a mad man.

Bingo

 

[yimyammer]

Exactly. Every situation is different. You need the personnel, and you need the staff (not just the HC, btw). And then you need a little luck with injuries and in getting matchups you can win in the playoffs. It's a tough thing to do.

Which is why you see guys like Carroll and Belichick, or maybe Kubiak now struggle early and go on to have a lot of success. Or guys like Billick or Siefert have some success but then struggle to repeat it. The really good ones, like Parcels and Vermiel, have at least some measure of success wherever they go, but even those guys need to have the right personnel.

It makes it hard to know what's really a personnel problem v. what's a staff problem, or an organizational problem or an actual limitation with the HC himself. You can narrow down the causes, but it's hard to really know what the problem is until a guy goes somewhere else and then has a lot of success.

I don't believe there is one single, obvious path to success in the NFL. Given parity, free agency and random chance, even the Cowboys current regime could win a Super Bowl again in this era.

The salary cap and free agency made it more of a game of chance than its ever been (teams can no longer stock pile talent and overwhelm the rest of the league for years) so I often liken the mentality needed to win in the modern NFL to that of another game I love, poker.

I've heard it said that to be a perfect poker player (which isn't possible), you need to develop 100's of individual specific skills, hereafter referred to as "edges". So for example, if it was determined there were exactly 2000 edges, then the closer your individual skill set became to that number, the greater your edge will be.

I dont know the number, but I would say NFL football is similar in that there are a finite number of edges available to be had (talent, coaching, cap management, health, etc, etc) The closer a team can get to the max number of edges, the greater their overall chance of success. Chance still plays enough of a part to keep winning from ever being a certainty but I think Belichik has found a way to gather more of of those edges (and reduce or remove his opponents edges) than any other team and that’s why they've been the most successful team over the last decade+.

My contention is that jeri disregards and/or has no respect for many of the edges needed to win in football. I won’t bother to attempt to list them out but I think its fair to say he leaves a lot of untapped edges lying on the table due to a combination of ignorance, arrogance and a desire need to be intimately involved in the process (despite being woefully inferior to the people he is competing against).

IMO, the league has kind of become like the NBA draft lotto in that some teams (like the Patriots) have a lot more balls in the hopper and the Cowboys typically have a lot less.

Sure the Cowboys could win it all at some point but the way jeri has to structure his organization greatly reduces their chances while also increasing the need for luck due to his inferiority as a GM and his propensity to gamble with draft picks. I suspect this will continue until he is 6 feet under or mentally incapacitated & that’s why its so discouraging and frustrating for this and many other fans.

 

[Beast_from_East]

Now, this is a thread I can get behind. I'm not sure what the problem is, but it needs to change. I don't know if it's a benching, or a bold proclamation, or what, but somebody needs to get some skin in the game in Dallas. And I'm perfectly fine putting that on the head coach, where it belongs.

The frustrating this is the same symptoms bite us from a different place each game. It's drive-killing OL penalties. It's ST breakdowns. It's downfield blocking calls on WRs that remove TDs. It's drops, or officials overturning calls they should not, or body catches, or the sun in my eyes, or not getting out of bounds. It's a blown coverage because a LB got hurt at the end of regulation. It's not holding your water at QB and putting in a guy who doesn't take care of the football. You can't see it coming because it's so many little things.

Is it culture? Maybe. I think, mostly, we've got a good culture right now, but there's something keeping these guys from getting the job done when it matters.

Is it reliance on Tony's magic to make it all work? Maybe. Tony's pretty great. But we found so many ways to lose last season, it was crazy. And we picked up right where we left off this week.

My own feeling is that we're very close. It's a mental shift or an expectation, or a fear of getting fired or cut or something. I'm not sure what's missing, but whatever it is, I honestly don't think it's something all that significant. You could kind of feel things slide into focus for us in 2014 as the swagger started. When it did, all of the little excuses for it not getting done sort of just disappeared and things started to snowball positively.

I wish I had a better answer for what I thought the problem was. It drives me crazy, and makes the games and the seasons just not fun to watch when we sisyphus it out there week after week after week.

I agree with you that we are very close, we are not losing by multiple TDs, its just the little things that add up over the course of a game. I really think Garrett needs to make the atmosphere a little less comfortable.

Now I am not saying that he should be yelling and screaming at everybody on the sideline and getting in anybody's face as they walk of the field after a mistake, but this "pat on the back and we will get them next time" attitude needs to change and it needs to change now. There needs to be repercussions for mistakes, now it doesn't have to be something drastic like getting released or anything, but maybe that player doesn't start the next game and has to sit out the first couple of series or something. Maybe he practices with the 2nd team unit for a day or two during the week, or maybe a public scolding on how player A or player B has to be more focused or something.

Bill Parcells used to call out players in press conferences who he thought were milking injuries by saying "she is day to day". Obviously this was a shot at the player's manhood in order to motivate that player to maybe get back a little bit quicker. Now I am not saying Garrett should start making fun of players in press conferences or anything, but this is an example of how a hall of fame coach motivated players. Other coaches like Tomlin in Pitt or Hoody in New England are also known for being strong disciplinarians. I have seen players in those games literally look terrified to the point of starting to cry walking back to the sideline after making a big mistake. A lot of the times, these coaches don't even say a word to the player, they just glare at them and the player knows and starts thinking "am I going to get benched the rest of the game? Am I going to be on the 2nd team this week in practice? Am I going to get called out publicly by the coach?

Maybe Garrett cant do it, maybe his coaching style doesn't allow him to be an authoritarian or disciplinarian. Maybe he is too friendly with the players and he doesn't want to alienate himself from them. Maybe he likes going to basketball games with his players and he fears that if he is too heavy handed with them that they will not like him anymore. And these thoughts may be valid, but what he is doing now is not working and its his coaching record that is suffering. A head coach that continually misses the playoffs year in and year out will eventually be replaced, and while Garrett has had a much longer leash than many other coaches around the league, his leash is not infinite and he too will eventually be fired as well if his lack of playoff success continues.

So ultimately, its Garrett's decision and his coaching career that is on the line here. So he better figure something out and he better do it now.

 

[Sydla]

It should be noted that while you are ripping Jerry for decisions he makes and how he runs his team, keeping Garrett on is his decision.

So if he's bat poop crazy in everything else he does, it's probably true that he's bat poop crazy in thinking Garrett is a winner and deserves a ton of leeway.

I could see absolving Garrett if every Sunday you saw a well coached team that play smart football and was tpyically losing games because we just lacked the roster our opponents had.

But that's not happening. Not only do we have some talent deficiencies but it's almost weekly you are left wondering what in the hell were the coaches thinking there? Or why the heck are we racking up penalties again? Or why the heck our best WR is running half his routes as simple go routes.

 

[Idgit]

I agree with you that we are very close, we are not losing by multiple TDs, its just the little things that add up over the course of a game. I really think Garrett needs to make the atmosphere a little less comfortable.

Now I am not saying that he should be yelling and screaming at everybody on the sideline and getting in anybody's face as they walk of the field after a mistake, but this "pat on the back and we will get them next time" attitude needs to change and it needs to change now. There needs to be repercussions for mistakes, now it doesn't have to be something drastic like getting released or anything, but maybe that player doesn't start the next game and has to sit out the first couple of series or something. Maybe he practices with the 2nd team unit for a day or two during the week, or maybe a public scolding on how player A or player B has to be more focused or something.

Bill Parcells used to call out players in press conferences who he thought were milking injuries by saying "she is day to day". Obviously this was a shot at the player's manhood in order to motivate that player to maybe get back a little bit quicker. Now I am not saying Garrett should start making fun of players in press conferences or anything, but this is an example of how a hall of fame coach motivated players. Other coaches like Tomlin in Pitt or Hoody in New England are also known for being strong disciplinarians. I have seen players in those games literally look terrified to the point of starting to cry walking back to the sideline after making a big mistake. A lot of the times, these coaches don't even say a word to the player, they just glare at them and the player knows and starts thinking "am I going to get benched the rest of the game? Am I going to be on the 2nd team this week in practice? Am I going to get called out publicly by the coach?

Maybe Garrett cant do it, maybe his coaching style doesn't allow him to be an authoritarian or disciplinarian. Maybe he is too friendly with the players and he doesn't want to alienate himself from them. Maybe he likes going to basketball games with his players and he fears that if he is too heavy handed with them that they will not like him anymore. And these thoughts may be valid, but what he is doing now is not working and its his coaching record that is suffering. A head coach that continually misses the playoffs year in and year out will eventually be replaced, and while Garrett has had a much longer leash than many other coaches around the league, his leash is not infinite and he too will eventually be fired as well if his lack of playoff success continues.

So ultimately, its Garrett's decision and his coaching career that is on the line here. So he better figure something out and he better do it now.

I don't think Garrett can pull off yelling at guys on the sidelines. You got to be who you are, and he's just not that guy. What I'd like to see him do, though, is sit them for making mistakes like he did when he took Murray out for fumbling. Witten false starts? Have a seat. I'll put you back in when you're focused enough to not hurt the team. That sort of thing.

To that end, I hope they shake up the WR and DE reps this week. Give somebody else a shot. Especially at WR where we actually need a WR2 to step up and take advantage of the huge opportunities that are there with what Dak can do when Dez is covered and when we're demanding attention up front with our running game.

 

[Idgit]

It should be noted that while you are ripping Jerry for decisions he makes and how he runs his team, keeping Garrett on is his decision.

So if he's bat poop crazy in everything else he does, it's probably true that he's bat poop crazy in thinking Garrett is a winner and deserves a ton of leeway.

I could see absolving Garrett if every Sunday you saw a well coached team that play smart football and was tpyically losing games because we just lacked the roster our opponents had.

But that's not happening. Not only do we have some talent deficiencies but it's almost weekly you are left wondering what in the hell were the coaches thinking there? Or why the heck are we racking up penalties again? Or why the heck our best WR is running half his routes as simple go routes.

It doesn't follow that, if some decisions are bad, all of them are bad. As much as I hold against Jerry, he's a mixed bag and also does a lot of good for the Cowboys.

We're just not going to agree on whether or not the team is well-coached. I almost never wonder what the coaches were thinking. They do things I don't like, but it's normally pretty reasonable stuff. Fans cannot stand that the design of the offense is to take the easiest throw available, but that's the design of the offense. *****ing about it over and over isn't going to change things and doesn't mean the coaches are clueless. It means some fans don't like the design of the offense.

 

[Idgit]

I don't believe there is one single, obvious path to success in the NFL. Given parity, free agency and random chance, even the Cowboys current regime could win a Super Bowl again in this era.

The salary cap and free agency made it more of a game of chance than its ever been (teams can no longer stock pile talent and overwhelm the rest of the league for years) so I often liken the mentality needed to win in the modern NFL to that of another game I love, poker.

I've heard it said that to be a perfect poker player (which isn't possible), you need to develop 100's of individual specific skills, hereafter referred to as "edges". So for example, if it was determined there were exactly 2000 edges, then the closer your individual skill set became to that number, the greater your edge will be.

I dont know the number, but I would say NFL football is similar in that there are a finite number of edges available to be had (talent, coaching, cap management, health, etc, etc) The closer a team can get to the max number of edges, the greater their overall chance of success. Chance still plays enough of a part to keep winning from ever being a certainty but I think Belichik has found a way to gather more of of those edges (and reduce or remove his opponents edges) than any other team and that’s why they've been the most successful team over the last decade+.

My contention is that jeri disregards and/or has no respect for many of the edges needed to win in football. I won’t bother to attempt to list them out but I think its fair to say he leaves a lot of untapped edges lying on the table due to a combination of ignorance, arrogance and a desire need to be intimately involved in the process (despite being woefully inferior to the people he is competing against).

IMO, the league has kind of become like the NBA draft lotto in that some teams (like the Patriots) have a lot more balls in the hopper and the Cowboys typically have a lot less.

Sure the Cowboys could win it all at some point but the way jeri has to structure his organization greatly reduces their chances while also increasing the need for luck due to his inferiority as a GM and his propensity to gamble with draft picks. I suspect this will continue until he is 6 feet under or mentally incapacitated & that’s why its so discouraging and frustrating for this and many other fans.

That's actually a great way of looking at it and describing what I've been trying to get at. Yes, the Pats look at stuff like what causes fumbles. They figure out one variable is air pressure, and then figure out how to skirt the rules regarding air pressure in their favor. Or break them, who's to say? Personnel groupings? Eligible receivers? What's the cost in terms of penalty yards if we just pick the defenders? How many of those flags they really gonna throw? What's the real cost of roughing the passer? That sort of thing. And, yeah, they multivariate test it and do the things that make sense.

The Cowboys do some of those things, and Jerry makes some of them really easy because he's willing to be aggressive. But, as you say, he's a barrier to others of them, and that's not going to change. So the question becomes: are there guys out there who can bring Dallas more 'edges' than the current regime. Every now and then there are. I though Harbaugh after SF snubbed him might be one. Then Sean Payton two years ago looked like another. Mike Zimmer (I know a lot of you guys hate him, too, but whatever) I thought was a third guy who'd be a good fit here. But those guys aren't as plentiful as some seem to think. Because one giant edge the coach here has to have is the ability to work successfully with an egomaniac and to keep the team steady in the biggest spotlight in the league. It's not the same thing as sitting back in Green Bay and quietly installing your offense and building only through the draft.