Cowboys fans, the nightmare is real: With Jason Garrett gone, Jerry Jones is in charge
All of you Cowboys fans who wanted to shush Sir Clap A Lot, your worst fears are realized: Jerry is in charge without a Fun Governor.
When Jerry Jones is in charge, Barry Switzer is named the head coach, they sign Joey Galloway, trade for Roy Williams, and Johnny Manziel is the desired first-round draft choice.
(BTW: The player the Cowboys drafted instead of Manziel in ‘14, guard Zack Martin, was just named an All-Pro for the sixth time).
When Jerry is in charge, the Cowboys don’t lay up because think they can make a hole-in-one from 6,455 yards into a driving windstorm using their putter.
With the Jason Garrett Exit Show finally ending late Sunday afternoon, Jerry’s priority is to name a successor who has some of the Garrett’s qualities. A coach who shares the red head’s conviction, purpose, professionalism and spine.
However exhausted you are of Garrett, one of Jerry’s better decisions was to name him head coach. Jerry was right — this should have been a Super Bowl-winning head coach.
Garrett was a successful NFL head coach, but he was not successful enough.
The strength of Jason Garrett
To quote Garrett, “He did some good things. He did some bad things.”
To also reference a dull Garrett-ism, he never did quite eliminate enough of the bad things in his effort to “get better every day.” His stubbornness in managing and calling games burned him.
Garrett had his fatal flaws, but when evaluated on the whole he implemented identity, purpose and structure the Cowboys needed. Under Garrett, the Cowboys drafted effectively, developed players, and he never lost the locker room.
After news spread that Garrett was out, his now former players went to social media to profess their respect and love for him. That does not happen by accident.
While publicly boring and purposefully uninteresting, Garrett always conducted himself well and represented his own name, and the Dallas Cowboys, well.
Under Garrett, the Cowboys never looked like a team that was run exclusively by Jerry the way they were under Uncle Wade Phillips, Dave Campo, Barry Switzer or Chan Gailey.
When Jerry does not have a personality strong enough to corral his go-for-it preferences, the Cowboys take the types of risks that seldom work.
With Garrett as the head coach, Jerry went Jerry only a few times, most notably with the signing of free agent defensive end Greg Hardy and the drafting of troubled defensive end Randy Gregory.
Jerry will always talk a lot to the media, and God love him for it, but when it came to football decisions the Cowboys functioned like Jason Garrett.
The next Jason Garrett
Jerry’s challenge now is to find someone he likes and respects as much as he does Jason Garrett.
Jerry’s first two interviews thus far are ex-Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, and former Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis.
Don’t expect either one of them to actually get this job. Oops - nailed that one.
The last time Jerry held a coaching search, in 2007, he interviewed anyone with a whistle. The list of candidates was vast, and anyone wanted the job had to agree that Garrett would be his offensive coordinator, and de facto head coach in waiting.
After Bill Parcells retired, Garrett was Jerry’s first hire.
Don’t envision a similar scenario playing out in 2020, with the exception that Jerry will take his time, and the process won’t be boring. Don’t be surprised when Jerry interviews Baylor coach Matt Rhule on Monday, Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley on Wednesday, and the lead from “Hamilton” on Thursday.
All three have some the necessary qualifications to be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
Ultimately, the Jason Garrett era flopped because the team never reached a Super Bowl, or even an NFC title game. At the very best, the Cowboys were no better than the third-best team in the NFC under Garrett. That’s it.
What Garrett did do was build a “process” that was entirely about preparation, behavior, professionalism and didn’t focus on the end results. He leaves the Cowboys in a better position than when he took over.
Garrett’s process was sound, but his results were not.
So while you celebrate that The Process is over, brace for the reality that this also means Jerry is back in charge.
This story was originally published January 6, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
