Jason Garrett enjoyed an eight-year playing career in the National Football League as a backup quarterback with the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants. As a player Garrett’s greatest claim to fame came when he filled in for an injured Troy Aikman at quarterback for the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day in 1994 when he led Dallas to a victory over the Green Bay Packers. Garrett was appointed as the Cowboys offensive coordinator in 2007 and he quickly became a hot commodity in the coaching profession as Dallas had the third ranked offense in the NFL during the 2007 season. The Atlanta Falcons wanted Garrett as their next head coach in 2008, but Cowboys owner intervened to keep Garrett in Dallas as the Cowboys offensive coordinator. The Cowboys started the 2010 season with a record of 1-7 which resulted in Jerry Jones firing Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips and naming Garrett as the team’s interim head coach. The Cowboys went 5-3 under Garrett to finish the season with a record of 6-10. Jones saw enough and named Garrett as the Cowboys head coach for 2011.
In 2011, the Cowboys were 8-7 heading into their last game of the regular season needing a victory over the New York Giants to win the NFC East. The Cowboys would fall to the Giants 31-14 and they watched New York claim the NFC East Title. In 2012, the Cowboys would once again enter Week 17 with a record of 8-7 and needing a victory to win the NFC East. This time it was the Washington Redskins that stood in the path of the Cowboys and Dallas was once again sent home short of the playoffs as they lost 28-18. The same scenario was in place this for the Cowboys this season as it was the Philadelphia Eagles who stood in Dallas’ way. The Cowboys were without their starting quarterback Tony Romo as the result of a back injury and they fell to the Eagles 24-22.
After the loss to the Eagles, Jones had the opportunity to make a coaching change but he has decided to stick Garrett for 2014 which should result in more mediocrity which makes you wonder why that is the case?
When Jones fired Phillips in 2010, his record as Cowboys head coach was 34-22 including two trips to the playoffs and one playoff victory. In three full seasons as Cowboys head coach, Phillips never head a losing season so why is he sticking with Garrett? The last time that the Cowboys had four consecutive non-winning seasons was from 1999-2002. 2000-2002 produced three consecutive 5-11 seasons and Jones fired Dave Campo as the Cowboys head coach.
Jones’ reasoning for sticking with Jones as his head coach is the same reason why he decides to stick with Romo as his starting quarterback. Jones simply feels that Garrett actually is better than what he actually is. Otherwise why would Jones continue to retain a head coach that can only get the Cowboys to 8-8?
Since Garrett became the Cowboys head coach the team longest winning streak for the team was a four-game winning streak which took place in 2011. But like his players in Dallas, Garrett doesn’t come through in the clutch.
To open the 2011 NFL season the Cowboys blew a 14-point fourth quarter lead and lost to the New York Jets 27-24. Three weeks later the Cowboys blew a 24-point lead as Romo threw two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns and Dallas lost to the Detroit Lions 34-30. In Week 6 of the 2011 NFL season the Cowboys were leading the New England Patriots by three points with 22 seconds left in the game, but they gave up the game-winning touchdown and lost 20-16. In Week 13 of that season the Cowboys had a chance to secure a road victory over the Arizona Cardinals, but in the waning seconds of regulation Garrett called a timeout to “ice” his own kicker Dan Bailey who would go on to miss the game-winning field goal and Dallas fell in overtime 19-13. The next week the Cowboys held a 12-point lead over the Giants before losing 37-34.
Jumping to the 2012 NFL season Romo threw five interceptions in a Week 4 game against the Chicago Bears with two being returned for touchdowns as Dallas lost 34-18.
This season the Cowboys blew fourth quarter leads to the San Diego Chargers, Denver Broncos, Lions, and Packers which all resulted in losses. Do you notice a trend here? In all of these games Romo was the quarterback and Garrett was the head coach. The two most important positions for a football team are the ones that consistently have hurt the Cowboys.
This season the Cowboys defense allowed 415.3 yards per game which was the worst in the NFL. Jones wants to reassess the Cowboys defense and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, but Jones was the one that made Kiffin the Cowboys defensive coordinator; not Garrett. After the 2012 NFL season Jones was quick to fire defensive coordinator Rob Ryan who landed on his feet this season with the New Orleans Saints who are playoff bound.
Jones being the control freak that he is will continue to employ Garrett because the Cowboys are so close to winning a mediocre NFC East in Jones’ eyes. The NFC East hasn’t been dominant in recent years, but what does that say about the Cowboys who have failed to take advantage of it? If the Cowboys are mediocre in 2014 with another chance to win the division in the final game of the season what will Jones’ excuse be when the Cowboys lose? Jones rationally cannot justify bringing Garrett back for 2014 and firing him would be an indictment on Jones himself as it would mean that his boy geniuses in Garrett and Romo cannot get the job done. Everyone that follows the NFL knows that Garrett cannot cut the mustard except for the man calling the shots and writing the checks at Valley Ranch which is Jones. Without even doing my projections for the 2014 NFL season I can go ahead and pencil the Cowboys in for another 8-8 season with Jones justifying bringing Garrett back for the 2015 NFL season. It is time to change the channel because we are tired of seeing the same old re-run that is the Dallas Cowboys.
Source: Pro-football-reference.com
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