Garrett is to some extent handcuffed by a frighteningly inconsistent and undisciplined OL and much of the blame for that has to fall on the players as apparently good OL coaches in Sporano and Houck have not had much success at getting them to play together as a cohesive unit. I do think major changes need to be made and I would start with Flo - he is the epitome of what I don't want on this roster anymore. He grew up too long in the losing culture of Gailley/Campo to understand what it means to be a professional - he inherited this from Larry Allen who cut his teeth under Barry Switzer.
Getting back to Garrett, I really think he is trying to recreate the 90s Cowboys offense. I know recently some people have suggested that it was Garrett that really coveted RW more than Jerry Jones (not sure if this is true). This would fit with that theory. I suspect he thought he would have had RW = Irvin, TO = Harper, Witten = Novacek, Barber = Emmitt and Romo = Aikman. The thing that perturbs me is that Barber and RW are so inferior to Irvin and Emmitt that the comparison is laughable now. It sometimes seems that he tries to get the players to play to these archetypes instead of accepting what each person does well and adapting the offense to that.
Romo should not be glued to the center of the pocket. It really is not his game. He improvises so well on the move and gives the defense fits. He is a master at handling the ball that we could be running all sorts of fancy play designs but we usually don't. Garrett is happiest when Romo plays like Aikman and he seems to have tried to coach the "Romo" out of Romo.
Barber isn't a full-time elite back yet Garrett treated him in this manner in 2008. He abused a player who was good in his previous role but not meant to the full-time pounding of 25+ carry games. It is just too much punishment for his body and he ruined him in a matter of a few games thinking Barber was Emmitt.
I don't know what he saw in RW to make him think he could be a legit #1 WR in the league. We paid a pretty penny for that slob in money and picks. And for this, we get a guy who puts up slightly better numbers than Crayton was at the #2.
Lastly, I really don't think he has any idea what to do with Felix because we didn't have anything remotely similar to him on the 90s Cowboys. Garrett doesn't know how to make him fit even though he apparently lobbied for him. Perhaps he envisioned Felix as an elite 3rd down RB that we never had to give Emmmitt a break. Instead, he lucks out with a phenom who is capable of averaging 8 ypc in his rookie year and then 9 ypc at the start of his second year. What does he do? He doesn't let him touch the ball more than 10 times a game. That is absolutely crazy and you can't use the fragile excuse because he was doing the same thing before Felix ever had his first injury. Felix doesn't seem to take too many shots and I think he can be an elite RB getting 15-20 touches per game with some of those hopefully in the passing game with a full head of steam breaking away from a LB or out in the flat on a well-executed screen.
Anyways, I guess my point is that I think he tries to design his offense around archetypes instead of around the individual strengths of his players. He fails to my eye to see what is special in some of them (Romo, Austin, Felix, ?Ogletree, ?Choice, ?Bennett) and the limitations in others (Romo, RW, Barber).
I think he needs more seasoning as a position coach before going back to being an OC and then maybe some day a HC. I don't think he entirely grasps the big picture which is why I think he will fail as HC.
Let's go out and find one of those aggressive, workaholic, brilliant young coordinators out there with excellent leadership skills and high football IQ who has had 5-10 years experience in the league. I'm tired of bargain basement coaches (Gailley, Campo) and retreads (Wade, Parcells).