Sources: Callahan to remain OC; continue to call plays

[DCBoysfan]

Not sure how they can justify this and Kiffin moves, but hey I'm just a fan.

 

[TTexasTT]

I already know the answer...

Then why do you bother asking?




j/k I already know the answer.

 

[theebs]

It's weird how the guy hired to develop and fix the offensive Line has just all of a sudden become the playcaller.

The thing is frank pollack did an excellent job with the line, as did Gary brown with the backs so maybe this is why they are keeping this setup.

The players in the locker room told Ben Rogers after the Green Bay game that its Callahan calling plays and not Garrett.

 

[jblaze2004]

i knew we would end up keeping the band together to go down like the titanic. Next year is going to be entertaining just the way jerry wants it lmao. As long as he is selling tickets and merchandise, he could care less about wins. As long as were relevant he is happy.

 

[Coy]

Maybe so. I'm not saying you're wrong, but then why keep Callahan as play-caller at all?

This is just all a mess, so I don't really have a clue in what they're doing.

 

[RJ_MacReady]

The real question is: Who would want to be an OC under carrot top in his last year in Dallas? Maybe a High School Coach?

 

[jobberone]

It's weird how the guy hired to develop and fix the offensive Line has just all of a sudden become the playcaller.

The thing is frank pollack did an excellent job with the line, as did Gary brown with the backs so maybe this is why they are keeping this setup.

The players in the locker room told Ben Rogers after the Green Bay game that its Callahan calling plays and not Garrett.

The play calling is not as bad as some think and it's difficult for us to know that much anyway. I certainly have to wonder at times but we don't know what was audibled yada. I think we can look at it hard and make some tweaks. Some of it may be the scheme and that's a worry but I can't tell enough to actually know that. I wanted to see Sc% and RZ% go up and it did. I wanted TO diff to get better and it did. After enough defensive players went down then all they could do was run around trying to plug holes. We'll see.

 

[Picksix]

.......any chance you can break out the numbers against teams with a above .500 record?.............we want to all talk playoffs----lets see how our offense stats out against the teams predominalty in the playoffs.

Good point. Obviously not as well, but I would expect it would be like that for any team.

For the season, our points/drive was 2.4, and our 3 and out percentage was 20.22%.

We played 7 playoff teams during the season (Den, KC, SD, NO, GB, and PHI twice). Our points/drive in those games was 2.05 . Our 3 and out percentage climbed to 26.83%. If we had averaged that over the whole season we would have been:
PPD 15th
3-out 27th

So needless to say, we didn't do as well against playoff teams, but like I said, I would imagine every teams numbers would be worse against playoff teams. The two games that really hurt us in both of those categories was the NO game, and the first PHI game.

* Got most of my info from sportingcharts.com.

Edit: Just saw you asked for teams over .500, but I don't think we played any teams that went over .500 but didn't make the playoffs.

 

[jnday]

I really don't know what to say about this news. The offensive line definitely played a lot better under Callahan so I guess that's a good thing.

This last season, Callahan was the OC. I give the credit for the improved line play to the coach brought in from the Texans. Callahan's oline work was the season before when franchise record lows in rushing was set.

 

[Teague31]

Other than abandoning the run too often, I thought the offense was fine. A healthy romo should allow us to go downtown more often.

 

[theogt]

.......any chance you can break out the numbers against teams with a above .500 record?.............we want to all talk playoffs----lets see how our offense stats out against the teams predominalty in the playoffs.

Against playoff teams, we scored 27.1 ppg. That would be good for 6th overall.

 

[Echo9]

I don't think it is quite as clear as your saying.

You're saying that both the HC and the GM looked at Callahan's body of work this season- both of them intimately aware that his play-calling was SO bad that they had to replace him mid-season and yet they both want him back to do it again?
They BOTH want him back?
Or Jason doesn't want him back and Jerry said "Nope- you're playin' this thing out."?
Or Jerry wants him gone and Jason somehow convinced him that he likes to take over calling plays mid-season because the offense is once again broken and we know how much he likes watching his broken offense struggle...

Or Callahan never gave up calling the plays and they're both satisfied with his job enough to let it extend another season.

Which is it? 4 options- which one is going on?

I'm not saying any of this is the right way to do things and I'm not saying that I like any of the players involved in this game whatsoever.
I'm talking about the clarity of this situation. I think it's pretty opaque.

There's a fifth option that tend to lean towards being closer to what's going on. That Garrett did take over playcalling by the Giants game, but the organization denied it. They are going to keep denying that Garrett is calling plays next year, so whatever we actually had going on towards the end of this year is what will happen next year. And they'll be lying about it.

 

[Gameover]

Football Hell

 

[john van brocklin]

Jason LaCanfora: http://mweb.cbssports.com/nfl/write...ll-continue-to-call-plays-for-cowboys-in-2014

Take it for what it's worth.

If it ain't broke don't fix it LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And yes, I am being sarcastic...

 

[DavidS]

It was clear that Garrett was calling plays in the final month.

This is a non-story.

 

[coult44]

If our GM, HC, DC, and OC is going to stay the same. And we are going to be in a very bad salary cap situation. What the HECK is going to change next year. Pretty freekin scary!!!

 

[Hoofbite]

I don't think it is quite as clear as your saying.

You're saying that both the HC and the GM looked at Callahan's body of work this season- both of them intimately aware that his play-calling was SO bad that they had to replace him mid-season and yet they both want him back to do it again?
They BOTH want him back?
Or Jason doesn't want him back and Jerry said "Nope- you're playin' this thing out."?
Or Jerry wants him gone and Jason somehow convinced him that he likes to take over calling plays mid-season because the offense is once again broken and we know how much he likes watching his broken offense struggle...

Or Callahan never gave up calling the plays and they're both satisfied with his job enough to let it extend another season.

Which is it? 4 options- which one is going on?

I'm not saying any of this is the right way to do things and I'm not saying that I like any of the players involved in this game whatsoever.
I'm talking about the clarity of this situation. I think it's pretty opaque.

It's none of those options, IMO. It's opaque because you've taken a more rational approach but you've left out the irrational possibilities that are possible when dealing with Jerry Jones.

IMO, this is about not revealing a level of dysfunction and protecting the ego of a certain meddling GM, while also protecting the imagine of a certain student at Jerry Jones' Academy of Coaching.

They never said Callahan lost play calling duties but watching the games and seeing Garrett talking into the mic immediately after the previous play is a pretty decent sign that Jason was doing a little more than just listening. They say Callahan will remain but what they really mean is that they're going to continue with Jason having the headset on so he can "listen". This way they can correct a problem that they see without having to admit that they screwed up last offseason. They turned the topic of play calling into a giant charade last offseason when they could have just said that they wanted to having Bill call plays in order to free up some of Jason's attention. Would have worked well with the training line that Jerry dropped after the season.

But, Jerry insisted that Jason wanted to hand play calling over so now he's in a position where publicly restoring play calling to Jason implies one of two things.

A) Jason is indecisive and really has no idea what he wants to do at one of the most fundamental levels of being a HC. 1 year he wants to call plays, the next he doesn't and the following year he wants to call plays again.​

Or

B) What we all already know is true in that Jason never willingly gave up the play calling duties but has since been able to wrestle those responsibilities back based on how things went this year.
​

You don't want A because then you're basically admitting that your coach is so inexperienced and incapable that he can't even decide if he would like to call plays or not. I doubt Jason is willing to be the guy playing that role. Furthermore Jerry sold the play calling switch because "times had changed and now things are a lot more difficult" or some crap like that. You really can't go back on that because then you're just admitting that the organization as a whole has no clue what is going on in that they can't even correctly assess the climate of the NFL in regards to whether or not a HC can call his own plays.

......and you can't have B because then Jerry looks like the incompetent meddling fool that he is and that just doesn't fly. Jerry seeks validation as a good football mind and publicly giving the play calling duties back to Jason would be a self-indictment of poor decision making in that he forced the switch last offseason. It would also reveal Jason to be the puppet coach that this team says that he isn't.

And there's also the aspect that Jerry doesn't want Callahan to look less competent. Bill likely wouldn't even accept that sort of public castration seeing that Bill was given play calling duties that included calling someone else's plays from someone else's offense. From Bill's perspective he was give a job and was ill-equipped from the outset so there's not a chance in hell that he lets his reputation take a hit because Jerry was both exercising his desire to have someone else call the plays while protecting Jason's image by forcing Jason's scheme and playbook to remain.


In short, they say Bill will retain play calling because they don't want to have to talk about it anymore. Everyone knows Jason's role increased as soon as the headset went on but as long as they play the card that Bill calls plays and Jason listens they don't have to be asked a million questions and expose the organization as the dysfunctional mess that it is. Also, nobody has their feelings hurt. Jason doesn't look like a indecisive goon, Bill doesn't look like an incompetent OC, and Jerry doesn't look like a clueless and meddling moron. Works out best for everyone. Well, everyone but the fans.

 

[CyberB0b]

I do think it's clear that Garrett was calling plays the last month of the season, you could see him looking at the play sheet and then talking into his mic, even Broaddus says that he thinks Garrett called all the plays from the 2nd Giants game on.

I think that is because they changed up the communication at some point in the season. They sent Wade Wilson upstairs and had Garrett calling in the plays to Romo's helmet.

http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.co...y-system-and-how-wade-wilson-can-see-the.html

 

[Corso]

There's a fifth option that tend to lean towards being closer to what's going on. That Garrett did take over playcalling by the Giants game, but the organization denied it. They are going to keep denying that Garrett is calling plays next year, so whatever we actually had going on towards the end of this year is what will happen next year. And they'll be lying about it.

So- pay a guy a lot of money to continue a lie to save face in front of the public? Even though it hampers the entire organization as a whole?

It happens every day in other walks of life- I guess why not entertain the possibility?

 

[Corso]

It's none of those options, IMO. It's opaque because you've taken a more rational approach but you've left out the irrational possibilities that are possible when dealing with Jerry Jones.

IMO, this is about not revealing a level of dysfunction and protecting the ego of a certain meddling GM, while also protecting the imagine of a certain student at Jerry Jones' Academy of Coaching.

They never said Callahan lost play calling duties but watching the games and seeing Garrett talking into the mic immediately after the previous play is a pretty decent sign that Jason was doing a little more than just listening. They say Callahan will remain but what they really mean is that they're going to continue with Jason having the headset on so he can "listen". This way they can correct a problem that they see without having to admit that they screwed up last offseason. They turned the topic of play calling into a giant charade last offseason when they could have just said that they wanted to having Bill call plays in order to free up some of Jason's attention. Would have worked well with the training line that Jerry dropped after the season.

But, Jerry insisted that Jason wanted to hand play calling over so now he's in a position where publicly restoring play calling to Jason implies one of two things.

A) Jason is indecisive and really has no idea what he wants to do at one of the most fundamental levels of being a HC. 1 year he wants to call plays, the next he doesn't and the following year he wants to call plays again.​

Or

B) What we all already know is true in that Jason never willingly gave up the play calling duties but has since been able to wrestle those responsibilities back based on how things went this year.
​

You don't want A because then you're basically admitting that your coach is so inexperienced and incapable that he can't even decide if he would like to call plays or not. I doubt Jason is willing to be the guy playing that role. Furthermore Jerry sold the play calling switch because "times had changed and now things are a lot more difficult" or some crap like that. You really can't go back on that because then you're just admitting that the organization as a whole has no clue what is going on in that they can't even correctly assess the climate of the NFL in regards to whether or not a HC can call his own plays.

......and you can't have B because then Jerry looks like the incompetent meddling fool that he is and that just doesn't fly. Jerry seeks validation as a good football mind and publicly giving the play calling duties back to Jason would be a self-indictment of poor decision making in that he forced the switch last offseason. It would also reveal Jason to be the puppet coach that this team says that he isn't.

And there's also the aspect that Jerry doesn't want Callahan to look less competent. Bill likely wouldn't even accept that sort of public castration seeing that Bill was given play calling duties that included calling someone else's plays from someone else's offense. From Bill's perspective he was give a job and was ill-equipped from the outset so there's not a chance in hell that he lets his reputation take a hit because Jerry was both exercising his desire to have someone else call the plays while protecting Jason's image by forcing Jason's scheme and playbook to remain.


In short, they say Bill will retain play calling because they don't want to have to talk about it anymore. Everyone knows Jason's role increased as soon as the headset went on but as long as they play the card that Bill calls plays and Jason listens they don't have to be asked a million questions and expose the organization as the dysfunctional mess that it is. Also, nobody has their feelings hurt. Jason doesn't look like a indecisive goon, Bill doesn't look like an incompetent OC, and Jerry doesn't look like a clueless and meddling moron. Works out best for everyone. Well, everyone but the fans.

Thank you. Very enjoyable post to read although the points displayed were admittedly disturbing.
You may be very right. I'm looking at this from a point of view that isn't feasible in the environment cultivated within Valley Ranch.

But where I have a disconnect with you is on the intention of hiring Callahan in the first place.

Here is a link from way back in January of 2012- not long after Callahan was hired as the OC- the OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR and Line Coach of the team:
http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story...on-garrett-willing-give-play-calling-not-2012

One passage of it intrigues me greatly as it decidedly states that Garrett was thinking of leaving the play-calling decisions long before Jerry "Asked" him to pass the torch.
I'll quote it:
"During a late afternoon news conference to introduce new secondary coach Jerome Henderson and offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Bill Callahan, Garrett said the head coaching position changes from year-to-year.

"Absolutely, absolutely," Garrett said when asked if he will one day give up play calling. "I think you just get to a point where, 'Hey, I'm going to turn that over to somebody else,' and you've seen that around the league at different times and that's just part of the process that we'll go through."

And from the same article:
"Garrett did say he will rely on Callahan, much like he does most of the coaching staff. But the future could mean a change in what Garrett does on the sidelines in terms of calling the offensive plays.

"I think that's something that will evolve and that probably evolves for a lot of head coaches as they grow into their role more and more as they assemble the staffs around them," Garrett said."

So in summation: I'm not so sure that Jerry "forced" Jason into giving up play-calling duties as it seems like it might have been the plan from the beginning.

Also: That doesn't mean I think you're wrong about everything Jerry. I think you're most likely right.
Unfortunately.