Cowboys head into season finale with eye on future, changes in philosophy

Typical of Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, he refuses to look back on what has been one of the worst seasons in franchise history or talk about possible changes for next season.

He said he is only focusing on Sunday’s season finale against the Washington Redskins.

You know, “one game at a time, one practice at a time, one day a time.”

Oddly, however, ever since the Cowboys (4-11) were officially eliminated from the playoffs two weeks ago, the focus of the entire organization has been about next season and that will continue Sunday at AT&T Stadium.

Tight end Jason Witten is with Garrett in putting all his energy into the finale. But after one of the most disappointing seasons of his career, Witten said next season can’t get here soon enough.

The 13-year veteran Witten, who along with quarterback Tony Romo are the longest-tenured Cowboys, said time is running out for him.

“Anytime you don’t make it into the postseason, it makes for a long off-season, a challenging off-season,” Witten said. “This is far more so the case the way this season has gone, our inability to get wins.

“But nobody feels sorry for you. I’ve said this before. You have to evaluate it and be accountable and fix it. And I think for guys like myself and Romo the urgency is out of this roof.”

Injuries played a big role in the Cowboys’ failures in 2015 — a season they entered with Super Bowl hopes and ended with a last-place standing in the NFC East and one loss away from posting their worst record since going 1-15 in 1989.

That’s the main reason owner Jerry Jones said there won’t be wholesale changes in the off-season.

The return of a healthy Romo and receiver Dez Bryant should put the Cowboys back in the thick of things in the NFC East.

“We’re a lot closer than this record looks like,” Jones said. “I can make a strong case where you should line them up and go again with your hand, but under any circumstances you have to do what you have to do.

“We have contracts. We have players that contracts are up. We have the opportunity to draft players at a high level. We’re going to have opportunities in free agency. We’re in relatively good shape under the salary cap. We ought to look at that and change things.

“But don’t say that’s the highlight of the day, things are changing, because they were going to change anyway. There’s at least 20 percent of this roster that changes every year, maybe higher. So there’s going to be those kinds of changes. There’s changes on coaching staffs that happen.

“So change just for change sake, you’re not going to have that, because I too believe that we’re closer than this record indicates.”

Garrett, who signed a five-year contract extension after last year’s 12-4 season, and the majority of his staff will be back even though this is the worst record of his tenure.

Outside of what the Cowboys can do in the draft (they currently have the fourth overall pick) and free agency, the biggest changes will be philosophical.

A team that has drafted only two quarterbacks since 1991 and only one since Romo became the starter in 2006 will finally address the position in the draft. They begin the process of looking for Romo’s successor as well as a suitable backup for next two years.

Romo, who will be 36 years old next year, twice suffered a broken left collarbone this season and had back surgeries the previous two off-seasons.

“Last year, pass rush was a priority. We got after it in pass rushing,” Jones said. “This year, we were hot off the press, hot off the stove with the quarterback situation, we’re going to address it and we should address it.

“I think the thing that motivates me to address it, both short and long term, Romo relatively short, three to five [years], and then long term with a prospect that might be the future, is the fact that we’re close. You can operate pretty good in this territory.”

Still, a change in offensive philosophy might be in order as well, offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said.

Romo’s injury and absence impacted everything the Cowboys did on offense. They need three touchdowns in the season finale against the Redskins to avoid setting a team record for fewest touchdowns in a season. The record low is 25 in 1989.

Barring a miracle, they will score the fewest points of the Garrett era. They have 252 points through 15 games. The record is 369 in 2011.

It always goes back to the quarterback. And the Cowboys were 1-10 in games started by quarterbacks other than Romo this season. That number includes Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassell and Kellen Moore, who will make his second start in the season finale.

The Cowboys will not completely move away from Garrett’s timing-based passing system. But they must find a way to function and win games with a quarterback other than Romo, who has missed games in each of the past three seasons.

“I anticipate us really, really looking hard at what we are going to do moving forward,” Linehan said. “Obviously, there are a lot things we like to do. We are not that far out of playing a lot really good football offensively a year ago.

“There is no real reason to overreact and change from that regard. But we do need to look at certain things and really be honest and forthright about the direction we need to go, especially if Tony is not playing.

“How are we going to play football? Is it going to be exactly the same? Is it going to be a little different? Those kinds of things. My goal is we stay a little healthier and our key players don’t get hurt. I don’t believe I can control that. If I could control anything, I would control that.”

This story was originally published January 2, 2016 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Cowboys head into season finale with eye on future, changes in philosophy."