What Garrett is doing is building the team long-term. Instant results were never in the cards for the way he's doing it. Like ESPN NFC East blogger Dan Graziano says, Garrett is building for a stable, winning future, not just trying to get as good as possible for this one year.
Garrett has and is changing the culture inside Valley Ranch and that takes time. He's been cutting high priced, under productive vets like Leonard Davis, Andre Gurode, Kyle Kosier, etc. and replacing them with young, hard working, inexpensive players who are having to develop. That takes a toll in the W-L column, but is vital to building a franchise that is healthy from the inside out. I applaud the way he is doing it and have been dying to see it done that way for a long, long time.
His drafts have been very good, helping stockpile young talent that loves to play the game and works hard to get good. He has created an atmosphere of competition, accountability, and hard work that hasn't been seen around Dallas in almost two decades.
Last year, we started to see his methods start to bear fruit when the team went from a 3-5 start to finish the last half of the season 5-3... and really it was the heart the team showed under adverse circumstances that showed the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what kind of character Garrett is building in the team. It has been years since we have seen a Dallas team fight through adversity and actually be the team that looked tougher and like they wanted the victory more. When teams did beat Dallas, you got the feeling that they barely got out of the building with a victory.
It has been a slow process of getting to this point and there have been serious flaws with those teams... and serious injury problems. But you can see where it is heading. You can see the changes starting to take place and the players starting to play as a team the way we've been wanting them to for a long, long time.
Safety and OL has killed Dallas the last couple of seasons, and those two units are probably what kept Dallas out of the post season both years. Those have been improved at least some - maybe substantially - and should be much less of a detriment this season. Kiffin's defense coupled with fewer injuries will almost assuredly equal a much better defense, and just that alone could help propel Dallas above the 8-8 mark that so many deride.
I really think this is the year that Garrett's presence starts to pay dividends in the way the team prepares and the way it plays.
Regardless of what you say about him not having power, Garrett has done it his way, which is way different than it has been done since Jimmy Johnson left. He has done it his way and this is the year that I think it all starts to fall into place. The weak spots have been shorn, the malcontents have been eradicated, and the team is finally full of Garrett's kind of players. 2013 is the first year that I think we will really see Garrett's vision put into practice.
This is the year that he has been working towards, and it will be fun as hell to see what happens.
