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DALLAS – Although Jerry Jones admitted “there’s no joy in Mudville” after the Dallas Cowboys failed to reach the playoffs for a fourth straight season, the owner said Tuesday there won’t be as many changes to the coaching staff as there were a year ago.
Jones said on his weekly radio show his decision to keep Jason Garrett as head coach was made long before the 24-22 loss to Philadelphia that doomed his team to yet another 8-8, out-of-the-playoffs finish.
“I had made that decision several weeks ago,” Jones told Dallas’ KRLD-FM. “I think what’s important here is that I haven’t given it a consideration. I like what we are doing. I like what he’s doing as coach.”
Garrett is 24-24 over the last three years after three consecutive 8-8 finishes. In each of those seasons, the Cowboys lost season finales to NFC East foes with the division title and a playoff berth at stake.
Jones seemed less certain about the future of Garrett’s top lieutenants, offensive coordinator Bill Callahan and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.
After the 2013 season, Dallas fired Rob Ryan and replaced him with Kiffin. Callahan, meanwhile, was promoted to play-caller, a job held previously by Garrett. The Cowboys made several other staffing changes, including the addition of Rod Marinelli as defensive line coach.
The offense ranked 16th in the league after totaling 5,461 yards, the club’s lowest total since 2005. The defense was a disaster under Kiffin, finishing last in the league and ranking as the third worst in NFL history after allowing an average of 415.3 yards per game.
“Well I’m pleased that we have them,” Jones said of Callahan and Kiffin. “I know that when we got them I never had so many people talk about, ‘Boy, you have really upgraded…added plus to your coaching staff. Now, we had a rough year, but we didn’t necessarily have a rough year because of coaching in terms of our defense.”
Jones indicated that the staff evaluations haven’t started yet.
“All of that will be considered as we move forward,” Jones said. “I haven’t really sat down and discussed it, looked at it and I don’t know how much thought Jason has given to it here in this latter part of the season.
“We’ll be looking at that in the future. There’s no hurry.”
Jones pointed out that Callahan and Kiffin remain under contract.
“I think you’ve got to assume that their contract status is the answer (to their futures) until we do differently,” Jones said. “Those guys are still under contract. There others that are under contract. There are others that are not.”
Jones was asked why he thinks Garrett should continue as coach.
“One thing that is positive here is that we’ve been in it the last three years,” Jones said. “We have been in it during his time as head coach, right there playing for it in the last game for the last three years. I am in complete step with our fans that want more than 8-8, so you don’t have to be playing for the NFC East championship and a division berth in the last game every year. That’s where we can have improvement.
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Jones said on his weekly radio show his decision to keep Jason Garrett as head coach was made long before the 24-22 loss to Philadelphia that doomed his team to yet another 8-8, out-of-the-playoffs finish.
“I had made that decision several weeks ago,” Jones told Dallas’ KRLD-FM. “I think what’s important here is that I haven’t given it a consideration. I like what we are doing. I like what he’s doing as coach.”
Garrett is 24-24 over the last three years after three consecutive 8-8 finishes. In each of those seasons, the Cowboys lost season finales to NFC East foes with the division title and a playoff berth at stake.
Jones seemed less certain about the future of Garrett’s top lieutenants, offensive coordinator Bill Callahan and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin.
After the 2013 season, Dallas fired Rob Ryan and replaced him with Kiffin. Callahan, meanwhile, was promoted to play-caller, a job held previously by Garrett. The Cowboys made several other staffing changes, including the addition of Rod Marinelli as defensive line coach.
The offense ranked 16th in the league after totaling 5,461 yards, the club’s lowest total since 2005. The defense was a disaster under Kiffin, finishing last in the league and ranking as the third worst in NFL history after allowing an average of 415.3 yards per game.
“Well I’m pleased that we have them,” Jones said of Callahan and Kiffin. “I know that when we got them I never had so many people talk about, ‘Boy, you have really upgraded…added plus to your coaching staff. Now, we had a rough year, but we didn’t necessarily have a rough year because of coaching in terms of our defense.”
Jones indicated that the staff evaluations haven’t started yet.
“All of that will be considered as we move forward,” Jones said. “I haven’t really sat down and discussed it, looked at it and I don’t know how much thought Jason has given to it here in this latter part of the season.
“We’ll be looking at that in the future. There’s no hurry.”
Jones pointed out that Callahan and Kiffin remain under contract.
“I think you’ve got to assume that their contract status is the answer (to their futures) until we do differently,” Jones said. “Those guys are still under contract. There others that are under contract. There are others that are not.”
Jones was asked why he thinks Garrett should continue as coach.
“One thing that is positive here is that we’ve been in it the last three years,” Jones said. “We have been in it during his time as head coach, right there playing for it in the last game for the last three years. I am in complete step with our fans that want more than 8-8, so you don’t have to be playing for the NFC East championship and a division berth in the last game every year. That’s where we can have improvement.
Continue reading...