Win a playoff game or JG is sent packing?

[IrishAnto]

Does anyone else think this is where we are? It's what I suspect. Or do you think there's some way that JG keeps his job even if there's no playoff victory? Maybe winning the NFC East with a very good record is enough, especially if whoever we face in the playoffs is very good.

I can't imagine after another 8 and 8 or worse that Garrett sticks around.

It never ceases to amaze me the lack of patience most fans have.

How about seeing what actually happens before drawing making a decision?

Sometimes building something worthwhile takes time.

I’m sure Cleveland are really happy getting rid of that Belichick fella back in 1995 coz he could never get a team to win a Super Bowl….

 

[CATCH17]

Just que up the next Jerry puppet destined to fall on his sword 3 years from now all so a certain someone doesn't need to look in the mirror when analyzing this teams problems.

If we don't make the playoffs again this year it will be because of our weak lines and safeties exactly the same as last year.

No coach is going to make what we have on our OL look and play good

Maybe not but there are ways to try and coach around it smartly and if anything we put more pressure on our O-line.


Also, yes, Jerry deserves tons of blame. But Garrett's in game management has nothing to do with Jerry and he doesn't even get that right a lot of the time.

We aren't outcoaching any of these teams. We're just holding on defensively and waiting for Romo to make a play. We can do better than Garrett.

If anything I blame Jerry for not opening his wallet for Sean Payton.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Provided Romo stays healthy...

1-7 start, Garrett might be fired before the season is over.

4-4 start, Garrett would have to win 75% of the games in the second half (6) to stay.

6-2 start, Garrett could win 2 of his last 8 and still hold on, if like last year he was pressing for an NFC East champ in the last game.

Making the play-offs at 9-7 and then losing the first play-off game, Jerry would call this improvement and keep him.

Anything above that and Garrett stays.

JMO.

 

[junk]

I think he's a better HC than an OC, so I hope that is completely off his plate. Completely.....to the point that it is all Callahan implementing it.

But, if he doesn't make the playoffs this year, he should definitely be gone.

 

[john van brocklin]

Does anyone else think this is where we are? It's what I suspect. Or do you think there's some way that JG keeps his job even if there's no playoff victory? Maybe winning the NFC East with a very good record is enough, especially if whoever we face in the playoffs is very good.

I can't imagine after another 8 and 8 or worse that Garrett sticks around.

I think Jerry likes Red more than most here realise.
I thinks it would take a disaster of a season like 6 and 10 or worse for a change to happen.
Jerry can br pretty stubborn.

 

[Eskimo]

A good coach will know how to better mask the deficiencies on your OL and safeties, though. How confident are you that Garrett has been (and will be) able to do both?

You mean like on offense being #10 in scoring adjusted per possession in the league with a bottom 5 OL? I call that a pretty impressive performance on the offensive side of the ball even though it was a bit disjointed. The biggest problem is Garrett wanted the run the ball too much and the OL couldn't do it. By the time we gave up on it we were usually down by a fair amount.

Now part of the reason we wanted to play ball control with the run game is because of how bad the defense turned out to be. I think we were bottom 5 in opponent passer rating allowed and were bottom 5 in INTS and TOs forced.

I know our fanbase isn't too bright but I laugh at all those who think the defense was anything but bottom 10 in the league.

The biggest and best change Garrett has made is to recognize the failure of the 3-4 defense which has mostly been below average despite having some very good talent. It is just flawed as implemented here by everyone - Zimmer, Brian Stewart, Wade and Rob Ryan. None of them used the scheme to its strength and constantly turned it into a weakness for us. The way we played most run downs we were weak up the middle because Rat couldn't hold everything up at NT and when they passed against the base defense we were usually dropping back one of our two best pass rushers into coverage. Furthermore the read and react 1-gap nature of the defense took some of the steam out of the rush. Add onto that that we never really seemed to deceive anyone but ourselves and I would say the whole scheme was a catastrophe. I am shocked Ryan got another job but a name will still get you a job in this league and he has one of the more famous ones.

I think the new defensive staff and the new defensive scheme is going to play better to the strengths of this team with our quick interior DL, fast DEs, excellent coverage LBs, tough CBs with press skills and young, athletic safeties. I fully expect some growing pains at the Safety and recognize that age and health along the DL are major concerns but this defense could definitely go from bottom 5 to top 10 in a year. Now add back in a better offense with a stronger and more experienced OL, more continuity in Callahan's scheme and the 1st round pick and we should be better up front. Add in a few more playmakers and Dez playing at an elite level the whole year and we could be really, really good next year. I really don't expect huge growing pains in the 12 formation since we have always used it a fair bit but more as a running offense to take advantage of Bennett and Witten's run blocking. Now we will be using it as a balanced offense. We are going to be more seasoned and cohesive in Callahan's version of the ZBS and should be able to keep defenses honest and guessing.

I think we have reached that critical point when everything is going to start clicking for a bunch of young players and no one will have seen it coming because of how methodically it was built up out of scraps, spare parts and judicious use of premium draft picks.

The key will be to maintain cap discipline and Jerry has got to learn to let go of his players or better yet trade some of the accomplished vets for a boatload of picks if possible. Once Jerry tasted the success in the past he just kept wanting to pay the vets instead of trying to find a new set of youngsters to knock the vets off their perch. This game is full of injuries and players who suddenly decline so outside of a small core you have to just keep churning and developing young and cheap players to put on the field to complement the core. Maybe Garrett has finally gotten through to Jerry about this but he has done this twice before so I'm worried he might just do it again. Luckily Garrett has a good head on his shoulders and wants sustained success year after year, not just a flash in the pan. That is the way he has rebuilt this team and I am very happy with the job he has done with the resources available.

 

[T-RO]

If the Cowboys offense fails and the team goes 7-9... Garrett will be gone. On the other hand, if the Cowboy offense appreciably improves...all credit will be posited instead to Callahan, with possible calls for his promotion to head coach.

If the Cowboys defense fails and the team goes 7-9...here again... Garrett will be gone. Meanwhile if the Cowboy defense appreciably improves...all credit will go to Kiffin, Marinelli and with possible calls for a Marinelli promotion to the helm.

If both offense and defense improve markedly...Jerry will insist he himself receives the credit. He'll point to his recent hirings.

There is no possible way Garrett comes out of this in an improved position. He'll get credit for losing, but no credit if the team succeeds. His NFL head coaching days will soon be over, at least for a long time while he attempts to reconstruct his creed.

 

[TwoDeep3]

You mean like on offense being #10 in scoring adjusted per possession in the league with a bottom 5 OL? I call that a pretty impressive performance on the offensive side of the ball even though it was a bit disjointed. The biggest problem is Garrett wanted the run the ball too much and the OL couldn't do it. By the time we gave up on it we were usually down by a fair amount.

Now part of the reason we wanted to play ball control with the run game is because of how bad the defense turned out to be. I think we were bottom 5 in opponent passer rating allowed and were bottom 5 in INTS and TOs forced.

I know our fanbase isn't too bright but I laugh at all those who think the defense was anything but bottom 10 in the league.

The biggest and best change Garrett has made is to recognize the failure of the 3-4 defense which has mostly been below average despite having some very good talent. It is just flawed as implemented here by everyone - Zimmer, Brian Stewart, Wade and Rob Ryan. None of them used the scheme to its strength and constantly turned it into a weakness for us. The way we played most run downs we were weak up the middle because Rat couldn't hold everything up at NT and when they passed against the base defense we were usually dropping back one of our two best pass rushers into coverage. Furthermore the read and react 1-gap nature of the defense took some of the steam out of the rush. Add onto that that we never really seemed to deceive anyone but ourselves and I would say the whole scheme was a catastrophe. I am shocked Ryan got another job but a name will still get you a job in this league and he has one of the more famous ones.

I think the new defensive staff and the new defensive scheme is going to play better to the strengths of this team with our quick interior DL, fast DEs, excellent coverage LBs, tough CBs with press skills and young, athletic safeties. I fully expect some growing pains at the Safety and recognize that age and health along the DL are major concerns but this defense could definitely go from bottom 5 to top 10 in a year. Now add back in a better offense with a stronger and more experienced OL, more continuity in Callahan's scheme and the 1st round pick and we should be better up front. Add in a few more playmakers and Dez playing at an elite level the whole year and we could be really, really good next year. I really don't expect huge growing pains in the 12 formation since we have always used it a fair bit but more as a running offense to take advantage of Bennett and Witten's run blocking. Now we will be using it as a balanced offense. We are going to be more seasoned and cohesive in Callahan's version of the ZBS and should be able to keep defenses honest and guessing.

I think we have reached that critical point when everything is going to start clicking for a bunch of young players and no one will have seen it coming because of how methodically it was built up out of scraps, spare parts and judicious use of premium draft picks.

The key will be to maintain cap discipline and Jerry has got to learn to let go of his players or better yet trade some of the accomplished vets for a boatload of picks if possible. Once Jerry tasted the success in the past he just kept wanting to pay the vets instead of trying to find a new set of youngsters to knock the vets off their perch. This game is full of injuries and players who suddenly decline so outside of a small core you have to just keep churning and developing young and cheap players to put on the field to complement the core. Maybe Garrett has finally gotten through to Jerry about this but he has done this twice before so I'm worried he might just do it again. Luckily Garrett has a good head on his shoulders and wants sustained success year after year, not just a flash in the pan. That is the way he has rebuilt this team and I am very happy with the job he has done with the resources available.

All these things are wonderful, but there is a little stat that keeps creeping in that was being discussed on Dallas radio in the last couple of days. And that is redzone opportunities versus scoring.

And all the stats in the world that show Dallas having this major offense ignore that those stats represent the offense between the 20s.

And the hallmark of Garrett's teams save for the 2007 version is an offense that stalls out and cannot get5b into the endzone.

Oddly enough, this seems to be acceptable for the GM.

 

[Picksix]

I agree to a point. Yes, if they have a poor record, Garrett will most likely pay for it, whether he should or not. That's part of being a head coach. If they succeed, the credit may go somewhere else, whether it should or not. A lot of people tend to think very simplisticly But for one, I think it depends on how they succeed. Some may just see it as a change in schemes or playcallers, and say, "well, they changed schemes and they won more games, so that must be it." The players will support Garrett, at least publicly. Who knows who Jerry will credit?

But the reason I don't worry about Garrett is because I don't think he cares about who gets the credit. If they win, that'll be what's important to him, and it won't matter if there are calls for Callahan to be head coach. All it will take is the reminder of how he took a SB Raider team and ran it into the ground to quell that idea. It will still be Garrett. Not saying he's immune to what's said in the press, or on the TV/radio, but I don't think he lets it get to him near as much as some think. He has a lot more resolve than people give him credit for. If we're winning, he'll be winning, whether he gets credit for it or not.

 

[Picksix]

You mean like on offense being #10 in scoring adjusted per possession in the league with a bottom 5 OL? I call that a pretty impressive performance on the offensive side of the ball even though it was a bit disjointed. The biggest problem is Garrett wanted the run the ball too much and the OL couldn't do it. By the time we gave up on it we were usually down by a fair amount.

Now part of the reason we wanted to play ball control with the run game is because of how bad the defense turned out to be. I think we were bottom 5 in opponent passer rating allowed and were bottom 5 in INTS and TOs forced.

Man, you're making way too much sense. Don't you know that we only scored when Garrett got out of the way and let Romo take over?

 

[ElGatoGrande]

Garrett has a chance here to branch out and act like a real head coach ala Jimmy Johnson. He needs to focus on getting a winning staff in place and then taking control of the team as its leader, it's focal point,,, something I think this team could really use.

With Jerry's constant hovering and hamstringing this will be easier said than done, but it needs to be done IMO. If Garrett continues to be the OC/play-caller he's always going to be a glorified OC and part-time head coach. This team needs a full-time head coach to counteract all of Jerry's meddling and take over the team's helm... Get control of this circus!!

 

[Austin 3-16]

I can see a 10-6 season and him keeping his job. Jerry will spin it into a "process" scenario and all will be good;at least in his mind.

 

[punchnjudy]

I want to see better, more disciplined ol play this year. Otherwise, c-ya. That may not be fair since he's not the gm, but too bad. A coach has to recognize his needs, and I do think Jerry listens to his coaches when they say they can't win with such and such. I thought he undersold his need for better linemen last offseason. However, some of the young guys may develop into effective starters, making for an effective unit. If that's the case, then the team will likely perform well enough that keeping his job won't even be an issue. If not....next.

 

[Stash]

I think 10 wins or a playoff appearance will keep him around.

Otherwise, Jerry will never be able to sell keeping his guy around to the masses, no matter how comfortable he might be with the structure.

 

[waving monkey]

I don't think so but it will sure [actually] get uncomfortable around Valley Ranch.
This and next season I think.

 

[waving monkey]

stalling in the end zone would be attributed to what?
no running game?

 

[Califan007]

You mean like on offense being #10 in scoring adjusted per possession in the league with a bottom 5 OL? I call that a pretty impressive performance on the offensive side of the ball even though it was a bit disjointed. The biggest problem is Garrett wanted the run the ball too much and the OL couldn't do it. By the time we gave up on it we were usually down by a fair amount.

Wouldn't the OL being unable to "do it" (run block) be something that a good coach would know how to mitigate to a certain extent through playcalling and scheme? I think the Cowboys were ranked #29 in terms of yards per rushing attempt. Something obviously needed to be done to improve that stat. What did Garrett do or try to do? (I'm not being facetious, I honestly don't know)

I also thought the consensus on this board was that the only reason the OL looked anywhere close to decent pass blocking was because of Romo...not anything having to do with Garrett. I'm not saying the consensus on a fan message board is always right or anything lol...just pointing out that Garrett's name is rarely--if ever--mentioned in connection to hiding the OL deficiencies. Can the #10 ranking in scoring adjusted per possession be attributed to Romo instead?

Not being able to score more than 10 points in the 1st half all season was huge. It helped teams be able to build those leads by a "fair amount" that you mentioned. Since the majority of the scoring occurred in the 2nd half of games, whatever Garrett did in the 2nd half of games to help mask the troubles on the OL he must not have been doing it in the 1st half of games as well. If not, why not? Was the noticeable 2nd half improvement in scoring due to halftime adjustments by Garrett and his playcalling, or something else?

 

[Risen Star]

Wouldn't the OL being unable to "do it" (run block) be something that a good coach would know how to mitigate to a certain extent through playcalling and scheme?

Only to a certain extent and he has. It's why the Cowboys have been running the football with delays and draws so much since Garrett has run the offense.

But trickery can only go so far and when the field shrinks in the red zone, teams don't have to respect anything deep. You must move people in that situation and the Cowboys have fielded, IMO, the single worst OL in the league the last two seasons. They are laughably bad at attempting to get any push.

It's easy to blame the coach. It's also just as wrong as it is easy.

 

[waving monkey]

RStar is correct

 

[Califan007]

Only to a certain extent and he has. It's why the Cowboys have been running the football with delays and draws so much since Garrett has run the offense.

I'm not sure delays and draws are the best (or only) way to offset a deficient O-Line that can't get any push. Might be just as effective to throw a bunch of screens or misdirection pitches to the RB. Get the opposing D-Linemen to tire themselves out quicker running sideline to sideline.