I've been through this so many times before, but since this is a more or less serious thread on the topic, I'll chime in again. I like Garrett. I think he's specifically a good fit for this team and this market. I don't necessarily love everything about him, but he offers far more good than bad and he's become the reactionary whipping boy for the organizations' failures despite overseeing a period of the most stability and success we've had in Dallas going back to Jimmy Johnson.
What I don't like about the guy: I'm not a particular fan of his passing offense. I appreciate a good conservative approach to a game plan, but I think he errs on the side of not taking risks too often specifically when he's got a good team (though he *is* more aggressive when he's got a team he trusts, for sure. He's still not aggressive enough for my liking). He's a very middling game-day coach. And even though he's had a lot of success teaming up with Stephen in managing Jerry's roster haymakers and the traveling circus he brings with him wherever he goes, he hasn't been able to restrain all of those impulses, and it's hurt the roster composition a bit (drafting Gregory is an example. Keeping Greg Hardy on the roster a full season is another).
He does a great job building the culture, though. He's obviously very organized when it comes to the development plan for how the season is structured. You know he does a good job managing his staff and keeping them on the schedule. I like how he's built the team from the lines out. I like how he puts an emphasis on straight up out-executing the other team (I know a ton of people hate that, but it's a perfectly legitimate way to prepare a team). He revamped the scouting department when he took over, integrated player selection tighter with his position coaches, the organization elevated McClay twice during that period, and he's overseen the best drafting we've had, again, since Jimmy. I know everybody loves to pretend that Jerry just changed is mind in a vacuum and that we did the 180 on the terrible drafting we did under Wade coincidentally, but that's obviously just a fantasy. However much credit you give Jason for his influence in selecting the players he wants on his team, it was a dramatic departure from what we had been doing right before he was made HC.
I love how he handles the Dallas media, because the Dallas media sucks and is only looking for something incendiary to write about so that the circus stays in town. I like how he's set a culture of not talking and instead just working hard. I like that he runs public interference for his coaches even when privately they're having discussions about who to let go and why. I like that he never publicly blames players and rarely slips up (like he did with Callahan) and blames anybody at all when things don't go well.
He's just a good, solid coach. Which is evidenced by how his staff and his team feels about him and by the number of games he's managed to win--with two different starting QBs--since he's put his team together. He's got his faults, but he's brought stability to an organization that was a riot before he got here. He's still looking for more success, despite an owner who comes with his own mixed bag of issues and who doesn't think twice about throwing his coaches under a bus.
Fans hate him, because he's boring and sort of creepy and he looks and acts externally like a 'yes' man who's been neutered by his boss. It doesn't matter that pretty much everybody who ever gets behind the veil says that's completely not the case. They won't hear anything different. They're already trying to raise Kellen Moore up to get the credit for any success we might have in what feels like a pretty competitive season. They guy is literally in a no-win situation as far as the fans go, which is just fine by him because the people who actually know what's-what are probably going to end up extending him again because the facts are, the guy knows what he's doing whether you want to admit it or not.
So, there's that. I'm not going to defend the points here, because I know what's going to happen when I hit Post Reply and I have no desire to dodge monkey-poo for the next three hours or so. But at least it's out there again so you can all tell me I'm crazy again as we continue to rack up wins and improve the team some more. Have at it.