Dallas Cowboys: Can Jason Garrett get himself off the hot seat?

The 2018 season will be a make or break season for Jason Garrett. Can he save himself or will the Dallas Cowboys to pull the trigger on a new head coach?

Over the past eight years, the Dallas Cowboys have been led by Head Coach Jason Garrett. During Garrett’s time as the head coach, he has only had three winning seasons. Four if you count the 2010 season after the firing of Wade Phillips where he ended the season with a 5-3 record.

The average lifespan of a head coach in the NFL is four years. Garrett is going into his ninth season with a .588 win-loss percentage. Garrett will need to make some big changes to save his job. Here are three things that may help him do just that.

Change the Offensive Scheme

Last year, we heard players tell the media that they felt the offense was too predictable for defenses. If the players feel this way you have to make a change before you lose them. One way to do that is to change the teams offensive scheme.

Get more guys involved and make the game fun for the players again. We keep hearing they want a Dak Prescott friendly offense, well to do that would be playing more of a power running game out of a spread offense look.

The Cowboys already have the offensive line, running back and quarterback to play in this scheme. What they were missing was an athletic pass-catching tight end and receivers that can create spaces for Dak to make throws.

The departures of Jason Witten and Dez Bryant will be hard for the team to replace but will assist in the scheme change if done correctly. Place Rico Gathers or Blake Jarwin in Witten’s position and Michael Gallup in Dez Bryant’s and you may be able to make the scheme work.

Spread teams out with your receiving threats Prescott can throw to, while also tasking linebackers and defensive lineman with stopping either Ezekiel Elliott and Prescott from beating you with their legs.

Play Your Best Players

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We’ve seen over his coaching career that if Garrett likes you then they are going to play. Even to the detriment of the team. Jason Witten was a prime example of this. We are all sad to see him go but for years he has been a progress stopper at the position.

Before he was a dominant tight end with the New York Giants, Chicago Bears, and New England Patriots, Martellus Bennett was a Dallas Cowboy. Drafted in the second round of the 2008 NFL draft, being selected so high meant they saw a lot of potential in him, yet he was never given the chance to make plays.

He wasn’t the only one though: Gavin Escobar, Anthony Fasano, John Phillips and Rico Gathers are additional examples. None of them had a chance to prove themselves on the field. With the exception of Gathers when they all left the Cowboys they were able to make plays for their new teams when given the chance.

Coaches around the league know that to win games you need to play your best players. Hopefully, Garrett can finally get this right.

Make Halftime Adjustments

This may be his biggest problem of all. How many times did you scream at your tv during the Cowboys vs. Falcons game last year?

This is a prime example of not making any adjustments during a game to counter the Falcons how they were playing them? Chaz Green was left on his own for a majority of the game. In that time, Green gave up five sacks to Adrian Clayborn. No adjustments were made until after the fifth sack of Prescott when Byron Bell was inserted at left tackle. This adjustment didn’t happen until the fourth quarter.

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For some reason, Jason Garrett seems to believe that following the game plan they started the game with will eventually work. We all know this is not the case. Garrett needs to able to make adjustments that can catch teams off guard and get the Cowboys back into games. If he doesn’t fix this he has no chance of staying on as the Dallas Cowboys head coach.

What other changes do you think Garrett needs to make to keep his job?

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