The Evolution of Jerry Jones The Cowboys GM In The Red Garrett Era

[WPBCowboysFan]

As far as the stock market comparison... Say you decide to entrust your hard-earned million dollars to a hedge fund manager. Do you really choose an average performer who has made numerous blatant management mistakes over another manager with a proven track record of success?

Others can choose the middle-of-the-pack guy and hope he learns from his mistakes. I'll choose guy who has put the results on paper.

And to something WPB said... Maybe it was true at one time that hiring a new coach meant years of building and teaching before you could expect any success. I don't think that's true anymore. Look at Harbaugh in SF.

General consensus is that Harbaugh inherited a talented roster. He SHOULD HAVE done well.

Could we hope for the same results with our roster if we dumped Red _ and hired another coach?

 

[burmafrd]

General consensus is that Harbaugh inherited a talented roster. He SHOULD HAVE done well.

Could we hope for the same results with our roster if we dumped Red _ and hired another coach?

a top coach should be able to make a difference; like bellicheat has done. Like Coach Tom did. Red is not one of those.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

General consensus is that Harbaugh inherited a talented roster. He SHOULD HAVE done well.

Could we hope for the same results with our roster if we dumped Red _ and hired another coach?

The exact same results? Probably not -- going to the conference championship game every year is pretty hard to duplicate. But the point is that changing systems like the Niners did on offense and defense doesn't take years anymore. (And I think it's revisionist to say that the Niners were -so- talented... No one was saying that in Singletary's last year.)

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

(And I think it's revisionist to say that the Niners were -so- talented...

Not if you were paying attention. Its revisionist to say they were not.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

a top coach should be able to make a difference; like bellicheat has done. Like Coach Tom did. Red is not one of those.

I would tend to agree. Red hasnt shown that he is one of those and the comparisons to Coach Landry are laughable at this point.

 

[visionary]

The exact same results? Probably not -- going to the conference championship game every year is pretty hard to duplicate. But the point is that changing systems like the Niners did on offense and defense doesn't take years anymore. (And I think it's revisionist to say that the Niners were -so- talented... No one was saying that in Singletary's last year.)

i cannot believe rational fans still believe this stuff

comparing a guy who has failed at every coaching stop to a guy who was a great college HC and has taken his team to 3 straight NFC CGs

if the niners had hired garrett the niners fans would be talking about the process, stacking stuff, the easter bunny, and the tooth fairy

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I agree with you 100%. Some fans always try to find the sunshine in the darkness and just ignore the reality that is just so blatantly obvious. If Garrett is fired next year they will jump right on the new coaches bandwagon and never miss a beat. In some ways I envy them. I wish I could just ignore the reality of the situation the Cowboys are in and always be happy but every time I try reality comes creeping back in. I have invested way too much time and emotion on this team to be satisfied with a poor coach who is learning on the job and still can't manage a game / clock after 3 1/2 years as a coach and a lifetime of being around football..

and what do you think the next coach will accomplish that the previous 6 since Johnson didn't?

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I'm not a fan of Jason coaching but he has drafted nicely. If he sucks it up as coach again I wouldn't be surprised if he moves up into the front office.

you might be right. he probably makes a better GM or front office man, than a coach.

 

[birdwells1]

you might be right. he probably makes a better GM or front office man, than a coach.

So he got play calling duties taken away (failed), he may get fires at the end of next season (failed), so lets promote him to GM. What kind of sense does that make for any team?

 

[Beast_from_East]

and what do you think the next coach will accomplish that the previous 6 since Johnson didn't?

Didn't one of those 6 win a SB after Jimmy left? (see Barry Switzer)

Also, didn't 4 of those 6 since Jimmy make the playoffs with Dave Campo and Jason Garrett being the two exceptions?

 

[cml750]

and what do you think the next coach will accomplish that the previous 6 since Johnson didn't?

Considering Jerry will hire the next coach, I do not hold out too much hope he will get it right however it is painfully obvious he got it wrong with Garrett who can't even manage a clock. I guess I just hold out some hope he will hire the right guy who is passive enough when dealing with Jerry to make Jerry happy and stern enough with the players to get the most out of them and maybe just maybe would have a little bit of a frickin clue as to how to manage a game clock better than a peewee coach(unlike Garrett).

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

Didn't one of those 6 win a SB after Jimmy left? (see Barry Switzer)

Also, didn't 4 of those 6 since Jimmy make the playoffs with Dave Campo and Jason Garrett being the two exceptions?

And simply making the playoffs in a league where almost half the teams make it each year is some kind of significant accomplishment?

 

[Idgit]

(And I think it's revisionist to say that the Niners were -so- talented... No one was saying that in Singletary's last year.)

They actually were. There was a lot of young talent on that team. That said, Harbaugh did a fantastic job, immediately. He was a great hire for them. Most notably, he turned Alex Smith around and *then* brought in a young franchise QB without burning a first round pick. That's really impressive.
I'd be all for a good young coach like that if we had one identified. I've yet to hear a name I like better than what we've got who's actually likely to be available, though. I'm not interested in making a change because we want the illusion of motion. I'd want actual motion.

Chip Kelly was another coach I had a lot of interest in, and I was really bummed to see him go to Philly. There are other guys I like out there, but fewer of them I think have the potential to play nicely with Jerry. And fewer yet of those guys are actually available.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

Evolution from dirt to mud, just added more fresh fan squeezed eye nectar to the settled dust. Looks like more rain on the way with no drought relief in sight.

 

[casmith07]

And simply making the playoffs in a league where almost half the teams make it each year is some kind of significant accomplishment?

Impossible standards. Regardless of what this football team does, there will always be detractors on this website.

I've said it numerous times - we could go 19-0 and win the Super Bowl and someone here will criticize Tony for hoisting the Lombardi Trophy with his right hand instead of his non-throwing hand.

 

[birdwells1]

Impossible standards. Regardless of what this football team does, there will always be detractors on this website.

I've said it numerous times - we could go 19-0 and win the Super Bowl and someone here will criticize Tony for hoisting the Lombardi Trophy with his right hand instead of his non-throwing hand.

Huh? We also could go 8-8 miss the playoffs 3 years in a row and some will want a ticker tape parade, see how that works? The standards aren't impossible, make the playoffs make some noise showing promise of going farther the next year.

If the Cowboys continue like they have the last few years, the job of propping up this organization is only going to get harder because more people see what's "really" going on. You should have heard me in the 90s, boy you couldn't say nothing about JJ or you were going to get an ear full from me but as time went on Toto pull back the curtain to show the "Wiz" for what he really is.

 

[cml750]

Didn't one of those 6 win a SB after Jimmy left? (see Barry Switzer)

Also, didn't 4 of those 6 since Jimmy make the playoffs with Dave Campo and Jason Garrett being the two exceptions?

LOL, you are 100% correct!! All the Campo hate and Garrett love around here and they don't even realize Campo and Garrett are the only two coaches in Cowboy's history to not make the playoffs. At least Campo's team didn't have a QB. Garrett does not have that excuse!!

 

[ConstantReboot]

Since Garrett has been the Head Coach, they had been getting younger and shedding the big contracts.
Gone:
Roy (WR) Williams
Barber
Bigg
Gurode
Bradie James
Keith Brooking
Sensabaugh
Newman

Ware
Ratliff
Hatcher
Austin

The questionable moves during Garrett's tenure:
2nd new contract for Ratliff
Trade up for Claiborne
Signing Carr to a big contract
Romo's contract

IMO, I'll take those questionable decisions any day over:
Trading a 1st, 3rd and 7th (the 1st and 3rd were not enough, they needed a 7th).
Giving Roy Williams a new contract for 9M+ per year after the trade.
Trading two 1st for Joey Galloway
Giving Miles Austin a 9M per year contract when he probably would have received about half that much as a free agent.
Drafting Shante Carver in the 1st round.
Not drafting Randy Moss.
Drafting Ekuban in the 1st round.
Etc..

The only remaining players over 30 are Romo, Witten and the long snapper. I think Free is right at 30.

The salary cap situation is going to be better in 2015 than it has been in long time. The dead money will be at it's lowest in several years with an expected number of about 5.5M as compared to 30M just a couple of years ago.

Summary: Jerry is not going anywhere. It seems that Garrett is the best Head Coach for Jerry. A coach like Parcells causes Jerry to need to make a big splash to get attention (i.e signing TO, etc.). A coach like Wade puts up Zero resistance to anything that Jerry wants to do (i.e. trade for Roy Williams).

Questionable moves under Garrett should be longer.

-You forgot to mention that we relied too long with Costa under Center when we got rid of Gurode. Somehow he seems to hang onto these deadbeat olinemen for too long.
-Called plays that took too long to develop.
-Failed to utilize Dez
-Failed to run the ball even though we have a legit runningback.
-Atrocious game management skills which still lingers on until now
-His still learning how to coach
-Failed to fix the oline sooner than he should have ( its still a problem)
- Too stubborn to pass on the playcalling to someone else even though he sucked.
- Knows how to throw his coaches under the bus (see Calahan)
- Doesn't take accountability for his faults (see Rob Ryan)
- Never really deserved to be coach from the start and was one of the main problems during Wade's tenure
- 8-8 3 years in a row.
- Doesn't know how to win the big games to get into the playoffs
- Still has to be told what to do by Jerry on how to run the team ( see playcalling)
- I could go on and on but I will stop there.


Garrett has his faults and still has a ways to go before being considered a good coach. Our team needs one badly.
I reacted to you post because you pointed out that it was Parcells fault that Jerry signed TO. Yet you failed to point out major failures by Garrett. I think you give him way too much credit for success even though some of those moves were by Jerry and you blame Parcells for the bad moves by Jerry. Doesn't make sense.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I've said it numerous times - we could go 19-0 and win the Super Bowl and someone here will criticize Tony for hoisting the Lombardi Trophy with his right hand instead of his non-throwing hand.

Post of the day.

But you forgot one thing - Romo would also be critized for wearing his hat backwards.

 

[junk]

I believe that there are signs of progress.

Has Jerry done a complete 180? No, but there are signs of progress.

Such as? Their record doesn't really show it.

Should Garrett get credit for all progress? No, but he is an influence in the right direction. IMO, Garrett pushes to do things the right way and is joined by Stephen Jones and probably others in the organization. I think Stephen Jones and the people that work for him on the salary cap issues have been in favor of being conservative for a long time. Garrett just adds 1 significant voice to their side.

I think the catastrophe with the Ratliff situation followed up by the drastic injury issues might have pushed Jerry over the edge and forced him to get on board with the Garrett/Stephen side of being conservative. My guess is that Garrett/Stephen were not in favor of the 2nd new contract that Jerry gave Ratliff a couple of years ago.

Since Garrett has been the Head Coach, they had been getting younger and shedding the big contracts.
Gone:
Roy (WR) Williams
Barber
Bigg
Gurode
Bradie James
Keith Brooking
Sensabaugh
Newman

Sensabaugh was given his big contract while Garrett was coach. He can't get credit for signing a guy to a big contract (not to mention a guy that no one had enough interest in to sign to more than a one year deal previously) and then cutting him two years later.

Bradie James left as a free agent.

Brooking wasn't a big contract by any stretch.

Summary: Jerry is not going anywhere. It seems that Garrett is the best Head Coach for Jerry. A coach like Parcells causes Jerry to need to make a big splash to get attention (i.e signing TO, etc.). A coach like Wade puts up Zero resistance to anything that Jerry wants to do (i.e. trade for Roy Williams).

But Garrett doesn't really seem to have the team going anywhere. The team probably isn't good enough to compete for a Super Bowl, but it was good enough to get in the playoffs the last couple of years. Coaching held them back.

Drafting? I don't get this mentality that Garrett turned the drafting process around. It looks about the same as it was whenever it wasn't being guided by someone not named Jimmy or Bill.

This is very crude, but let's compare to Parcells and Phillips first three years of drafting to Garrett's with respect to Pro Bowls/All Pros.

Parcells - Newman (2 Pro Bowls), Witten (9x Pro Bowl, 6x All Pro), Demarcus Ware (7x Pro Bowl, 4x All Pro), Marion Barber (1x Pro Bowl), Jay Ratliff (4x Pro Bowl, 1x All Pro), Tony Romo (3x Pro Bowl), Miles Austin (2x Pro Bowl), Jason Hatcher (1x Pro Bowl), Mat McBriar (2x Pro Bowl, 2x All Pro)
Phillips - Anthony Spencer (1x Pro Bowl), Nick Folk (1x Pro Bowl), Mike Jenkins (1x Pro Bowl), Dez Bryant (1x Pro Bowl)
Garrett - Tyron Smith (1x Pro Bowl), DeMarco Murray (1x Pro Bowl)

Garrett had one draft that looks pretty good (2011 benefiting from a top ten pick), one that looks pretty thin (2012) and one that is probably too early to tell.