Decoding the Garrett Press Conference
By Mark Lane
Jason Garrett held an hour long press conference yesterday at Valley Ranch that the Dallas-Fort Worth sports media didn’t take seriously. Instead, it became another instance of how much a puppet Jason Garrett is.
What’s always funny to me about the DFW mediots crowned Garrett after only two freakin’ days of the 2011 training camp in San Antonio. Even the chronically nihilistic Jean-Jacques Taylor wrote this back then:
Too bad Taylor didn’t share that with his collegaues shortly after the press conference. Instead, what we, the fans who pour over every bit of information in this interminable off-season, got were snarky articles that said nothing. It was typical authority-disorder bias agenda setting from the same people who told you how much of a puppet Garrett wasn’t.
Sanctimonious.
The fact that Jason Garrett will eventually give up his play-calling isn’t proof he’s being manipulated by Jerry Jones. After all, Jason Garrett himself admitted last off-season to giving the idea consideration. In other words, it’s a process. This is the natural conclusion of things.
Jimmy Johnson wasn’tcorpus dominiwhen he came to the Dallas Cowboys in 1989. He had his warts for the first two seasons. Firstly, he was relying too much on his glory days guys at the University of Miami to bring the Cowboys up to speed. Secondly, he hung on too long to offensive coordinator Dave Shula, who was responsible for the erratic 1990 Cowboys offense.
Jason Garrett spends an hour explaining football decision to most who don’t understand football. Photo: LM Otero
Oh, and by the way, in that same article from MySanAntonio.com, you’ll notice Jimmy Johnson advocated Garrett giving up play-calling duties. Remember that the next time the mediots try to hypnotize you like a schmuck into believing this is all Jerry Jones’ idea.
The mediots are also puzzled as to why Garrett could decide in 8 days to give up on Rob Ryan and the 3-4, but needs to wait until preseason to decide on naming a play-caller. Bryan Broaddus from DallasCowboys.com explained that this may go a lot like his time in Green Bay. Garrett may give up play-calling duties during a game if he feels like he’s in a rut. Or, he may let Callahan take an entire game in pre-season and evaluate from there.
Personally, I think it all hinges on how well assistant offensive line coach Frank Pollack does. If he’s able to free up Callahan from his offensive line coaching duties to coordinating game plans, then Garrett may be more likely to give up his play-calling duties. If not, then we may see Garrett hang on to the menu.
Of course, why are we making a big deal out of who is calling the plays? To me, having your coach double up as an offensive coordinator or your position coach double up as a coordinator is a much bigger problem. Organizations where there are dual roles aren’t among the most successful. Delegation of tasks is a key to success, and it is still missing regardless of Callahan calling the plays or Garrett calling the plays.
But let’s not get hysterical and concoct quarter truths. Garrett has said before that he has considered giving up his play-calling duties. Why is that a big shock to everyone? Kind of like how when former Super Bowl-winning Buccaneers coaches started showing up Dallas, it was proof Jon Gruden was going to be head coach. Never mind all of their ties to Jason Garrett and his admiration for them.
The Dallas Cowboys are going to do things to upset us this off-season. Can we wait until they do it instead of fabricating that they already have?