Dallas Cowboys Have The Talent, But Lack The Coaching
After a 6-1 start that had fans in a frenzy, the Dallas Cowboys have come crashing down to earth with two consecutive losses. Granted, quarterback Tony Romo missed last week’s game versus the Arizona Cardinals and was severely limited in the second half against the Washington Redskins with a back injury. But these two losses have exposed head coach Jason Garrett’s deficiencies that have been apparent throughout his coaching tenure here.
Dating back to his time as offensive coordinator, Garrett’s scheme has lacked ingenuity and creativity. Certainly some of the blame over the last two weeks can be attributed to the current play caller, Scott Linehan. However, it still is Garrett’s offensive scheme which Linehan has to choose from when establishing his gameplan.
This is nothing new for Garrett to be called out for his play calling. Many opposing players throughout the years have commented on the Cowboys lack of creativeness. Back in 2009, former safety Ed Reed said on “The Michael Irvin Show” on 103.3 ESPN
“That was a real simple game plan that they attacked us with. I thought it would be more complicated, but it was a simple game plan that they attacked us with.”
Former Cowboys players have vented their frustrations regarding the vanilla offense as well. That same year wide receiver Roy Williams said
“I know we have so much talent across the board. But after a while a team starts to pick up on it as [Baltimore Ravens linebacker] Ray Lewis said after he got done playing us, that we had the easiest offense to figure out.”
Five years later and the Cowboys seem to still employ an offense that is predictable and has an inability to adapt. At the start of this season, the dominant play of the offensive line and the run-heavy offensive approach helped to mask Garrett’s shortfalls. But recently, when faced against teams with dynamic defenses, the Cowboys have not been able to simply line up and run the ball down the team’s throat.
Garrett and Linehan have not been able to make in-game adjustments or develop game plans to counter the blitz happy defenses they have faced over the last two weeks. It’s as if Garrett is stuck in the 90’s mentality that former Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson established with those all-time great teams.
During that time the Cowboys would line up and run their plays regardless of the fact the opposing defense knew what was coming. And those teams could get away with that philosophy because they were so much better than the teams they faced. The current Cowboys do not have that same advantage of being far superior than their opponents
Nowadays, with the NFL being so balanced, it is imperative to have good coaching to be a successful franchise. When a coach is over-matched like Garrett has been, it is hard to be a top echelon team in the league. Just look at three straight 8-8 seasons as proof of that sentiment.
Even the biggest Cowboys homer in the media criticized the coaching this past week. Michael Irvin said on 105.3 The Fan
“All we’re doing is lining up, one right, one left and playing football. You saw what Arizona does. They are bunching their receivers, they’re helping those receivers get off that bump and get off that jam with all kinds of bunch sets and double-in routes and double-out routes. It’s impossible to cover them, and we haven’t gone to it yet. It blows my mind.”
Without a doubt, this team has the talent to make a playoff run. However, Garrett simply has to do a better job in order for that to happen. He cannot continue to get out-coached if the Cowboys have any chance of making this a special season. Jason, it is time to start utilizing that Ivy League education!
