With season over, Jason Garrett must blame himself for Dallas Cowboys’ Era of Average
Jason Garrett can’t clap his way out of this one, and this time he knows no rah-rah sales pitch can save his butt.
No one believed in Garrett as a head coach more than Jerry Jones, and the owner of the Dallas Cowboys gave him everything possible to make it all a success.
Ultimately, it was not how Jerry handled this head coach that cost him, but rather his choice of Garrett for the role in the first place.
Save for a few moves, Jerry did not meddle in Garrett’s business. Jerry made sure to see that Jason Garrett’s Process included a Super Bowl.
It won’t.
Some things are not meant to be, no matter how hard we try, or how much money Jerry has in his wallet.
On Sunday, Garrett needed a miracle to coach one more game. Instead, he was just handed a plate of reality.
The Cowboys defeated the Washington Redskins 47-16 to finish 8-8 for the fourth time under Garrett.
The Philadelphia Eagles did not lose to the New York Giants, and thus the Cowboys’ season is deservedly over. The Eagles win the NFC East, and the Cowboys now proceed with the formality of dumping their head coach.
The Cowboys did this to themselves, and Jason Garrett has no one to blame but himself.
After the game, the finality to the season was different than a typical finish. They all know what’s coming.
Jerry didn’t say whether Garrett, whose contract expires after this season, will return. Jerry would only say he’s not closing the door to any scenario.
I asked Garrett if he thinks he will return, to which he said, “I have no idea.”
This is on Jason Garrett
Even if the Eagles had lost to the Giants and the Cowboys had won the NFC East, this team was not going anywhere. By now, we know they are not better than the best of the NFC — the 49ers, Seahawks, Packers, etc.
The Cowboys are only better than the bad teams of the NFL.
“Our record is pretty average,” safety Jeff Heath said.
There are no less than 13,414 “what ifs” to this impressive bust of a season, beginning with their Week 6 loss against the New York Jets. Had the Cowboys defeated that bad team, they would have won the division and reached the playoffs.
“We weren’t consistent enough,” Garrett said.
There is a drunken madness about this season, which former Cowboys quarterback and Fox analyst Troy Aikman summarized perfectly Sunday during the telecast.
“When they play the best they can, they can beat anybody. I know some say, ‘Yeah, you can say that about everybody.’ No, you can’t. The Cowboys have the talent,” Aikman said. “They can play with anybody ... and, at times, they’ve shown it. But man, when they’re bad, they are really bad.”
You know Aikman does not want to say this about his former team or his friend, Jason Garrett. To say anything else, however, Aikman would be doing a disservice to his job.
Under Garrett, the Cowboys were neither good nor especially bad. They just were OK, and as often as those results were accepted, even Jerry knows he can’t sell this one any longer.
God knows Jerry tried to make Jason Garrett into Tom Landry.
Other than a move or two, Garrett was allowed to build both the coaching staff and the team to his desires. Both the roster and the staff are encased in his fingerprints.
There were some moves that Jerry pushed onto Garrett: the hiring of Monte Kiffin as defensive coordinator; the removal of Jason’s brother as an assistant coach; and the addition of defensive ends Greg Hardy (free agency) and Randy Gregory (the draft).
Other than those, the Dallas Cowboys were a Jason Garrett football team.
The Cowboys’ next steps
The right thing to do here is for Jerry to “relieve” Garrett on Monday morning, so both he and the rest of the staff can look elsewhere for jobs.
Other than maybe offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, it’s difficult to envision anyone on this staff being retained by the new head coach.
There is no reason to delay this move. Jerry owes it to Jason to do this sooner rather than later, and not let his coach wait.
Jerry gave Jason every chance to avoid this outcome, and he couldn’t.
After being named the full-time head coach of the Cowboys in 2011, Jerry knows that this is who the Cowboys are under Garrett. Under Garrett, the team assembled some talented rosters and had a clear purpose in acquiring players, but these are the results.
They never made the playoffs in consecutive seasons. They never won 10 games in consecutive years. They never reached an NFC title game.
They were always interesting but never champions.
Against the Redskins, the Cowboys once again showed they have solid talent. Dak Prescott, Michael Gallup, Zeke Elliott, Amari Cooper, et al., comprise a decent roster that can compete.
Jason Garrett did the best he could, but this is it. It’s on him.
He knows it, and he can’t clap his way out of it.
This story was originally published December 29, 2019 at 6:45 PM.
