Dallas Cowboys: Jerry Jones calls for good coaching
Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett will be under a spotlight on Thursday night after comments made by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones seems pretty emphatic. Despite the Cowboys season on the brink of playoff irrelevance, head coach Jason Garrett is not on the hot seat. After all, as Jones has pointed out, this is the reigning NFL Coach of the Year we are talking about here.
And excuses as to why the Cowboys are currently in the midst of a three-game losing streak are plentiful. Ezekiel Elliott‘s six-game suspension. Sean Lee‘s hamstring injury. Inconsistent offensive line play. A young, inexperienced defense. Take your pick!
All of these excuses equal yet another “Get out of jail free card” for Garrett and his coaching staff. And it’s not that their not legitimate reasons for their poor season. It’s simply the fact similar excuses have saved Garrett in the past.
Through his first three seasons as the official head coach for America’s Team, the Cowboys finished each year with an 8-8 record without a playoff appearance. We were told then that Dallas was almost there. We just needed to get over the hump.
With his job likely in jeopardy, a 12-4 season in 2015 prematurely earned Garrett a five-year $30 million contract extension. The following season, disaster. Posting a mirror-opposite 4-12 record, the fact quarterback Tony Romo was injured for 12 games was the ready excuse used. No one focused on the fact Garrett and his coaching staff was unable to scratch out more than one win without Romo under center.
Adding high draft picks to the team like running back Ezekiel Elliott once again made the Cowboys playoff relevant with a 13-3 record. But Dallas squandered their chance at a Super Bowl run by losing to the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round at home.
With 2016 fresh in everyone’s memories, this season has been an absolute dumpster fire in Dallas. Currently sitting at 5-6, the Cowboys have underwhelmed with and without Elliott in the lineup this season. Honestly, Dallas now appears to be a poorly coached team with several problems that need to be addressed in the offseason. And that’s one year separated from a legitimate shot at a Lombardi Trophy.
With a pivotal game against their divisional rivals, the Washington Redskins, set for Thursday night, Jerry Jones believes Garrett’s coaching will finally lead the way to victory. I’m not holding my breath.
"“No one understands any better where we need to improve than Jason [Garrett] does,” Jones explained during a radio interview on 105.3 The Fan earlier this week. “I think what you’re seeing this week, and you’ll continue to see, is the kinds of things good coaching will bring us. This is when you call on good coaching.”"
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After posting the worst string of offensive football in franchise history the past three games, Jones actually believes Jason Garrett and the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff can make a difference. If he’s right, it will likely secure everyone’s jobs for another season. But what happens if Dallas loses? Only Jerry Jones really knows.