The Dallas Cowboys’ embarrassing loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thanksgiving isn’t all on head coach Jason Garrett. There’s plenty of blame to go around.
The Dallas Cowboys are not a good football team. Dallas is now .500 on the year and has yet to beat a team with a winning record. Head coach Jason Garrett will likely take the brunt of the criticism for this embarrassing performance on national television.
It’s quite possible this could even be Garrett’s final game as the team’s head coach, even though initial reports coming out of the game seem to suggest that team owner Jerry Jones will be sticking with Garrett for the remainder of the season.
At this point, I don’t think it even matters. Regardless of whether or not Jason Garrett stays or goes after this game, the Dallas Cowboys are not a playoff-caliber team.
Yes, coaches draw up the schemes and put their players in the best position to succeed. And I think we can all safely agree that Garrett and the rest of the staff don’t always do that. But you can’t blame every little screw up the team makes during a game on poor coaching.
A lack of general preparedness can certainly be blamed on the head coach, but there comes a time when the players simply must execute, regardless of the play call or the situation. Sometimes they just need to be better than the man they are lining up against.
Garrett has been criticized as being the one responsible for the Cowboys’ consistently slow starts to games. He’s blamed for his inability to fire up the team. Well, I’m sorry, but if you’re a player and you can’t get fired up to play a home game in front of a national audience on Thanksgiving then that’s on you, not the coach.
Dallas came out of the gate with an impressive touchdown drive to start the game. From there, they had two drives end in punts followed by an interception, a fumble and a missed a field goal to end the first half.
Those turnovers are not on Jason Garrett. That is a lack of execution by the players and carelessness with the football.
Quarterback Dak Prescott, playing in a contract year, had multiple costly turnovers in the second quarter. A mixture of bad quarterback decision-making and poor blocking can be blamed for these turnovers.
The Bills defense simply outplayed the Cowboys offense. This is has been the story all year. When this offense goes up against a team with an above-average defense, they get shut down.
The offensive line, labeled one of the best in the league, was manhandled all game. Is it the scheme? Is it playcalling? Or is it simply just not rising to the occasion and beating your man one-on-one? It’s probably a little of everything, which is what makes this team so frustrating.
We keep hearing how good Dak Prescott is, but do we really know for certain? It seems in games against teams with winning records and legitimate defenses, he always seems to struggle. If Dak wants to be paid like an elite quarterback, he’s going to need to beat these good defenses at some point. He’s going to need to make those around him better. That’s not all on the coaches.
Running back Ezekiel Elliott, who just signed a $90 million contract extension to make him the highest-paid back in the league, had a solid game all-around; but, he also seems to vanish against good defenses. Is that on the offensive line? Has he lost some pep in his step? Again, it’s probably a little of everything.
Special teams continued to struggle. A 35-yard field goal that would’ve cut Buffalo’s lead to three at the half was blocked. Another field goal attempt to start the second half was no good after kicker Brett Maher pushed it wide right.
Team owner Jerry Jones believes special teams play is “100 percent coaching.” I agree to an extent, but neither Jason Garrett nor special teams coach Rich Bisaccia can control whether the normally reliable Brett Maher shanks a kick. They can’t execute the blocking at the line.
Garrett called the game like he was coaching for his job, and rightfully so after Jerry Jones put him on blast last week. After being criticized for taking a field goal while down seven late in last week’s game against the Patriots, Garrett went aggressive on fourth down from the Buffalo 6-yard line late in the third quarter and down 23-7.
It was a gutsy call. It showed confidence in his offense and trust in his players. How did they respond? Dak skipped the pass short to Elliott in the flat. It was a play call designed to get the ball in the hands of their best players. You can’t blame that lack of execution on a poor coaching decision.
A series of screw-ups and mental lapses led to that 23-7 deficit and Garrett was trusting his offense. It’s an offense that seems to have no problem moving the ball between the 20s but struggles to score touchdowns when in the red zone.
A second attempt to go for it on fourth down while on the Buffalo 22-yard-line ended with a sack. You can’t even blame the offensive line’s struggles on the Cowboys becoming one-dimensional in the second half because they struggled in the first half as well. And this is supposed to be one of the best offensive lines in the league?
I don’t want to rail too much on the defense because they have been one of the bright spots for the team this season. They don’t always show up when they need to in the clutch, but the defense does rank among the top-10 in terms of points allowed per game. If there is one cause for concern, it’s probably the lack of forced turnovers.
Part of an offense’s success is starting with good field position and the Cowboys rarely have that because of their defense’s inability to force turnovers. You can’t expect an offense to play mistake-free football all of the time and consistently drive 80 yards down the field on every drive.
Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli’s scheme could have something to do with the lack of forced turnovers, but the defense is also comprised of a bunch of big-named, talented players. Is there any point when sheer skill just takes over? When will a player’s natural instincts lead to a much-needed turnover? Or is individual skill the only reason the Dallas defense has any success?
There’s so much confusion surrounding this Dallas Cowboys team, and it has for years. Are the players being held back by Jason Garrett? Is it the coordinators? Or is it just the players not executing as they should?
The blame starts at the top with Jason Garrett at the top, but there’s plenty to go around. At some point, there needs to be accountability by everyone in the organization, and that even includes general manager Jerry Jones. A new coach can change the culture of a team, but some serious soul-searching needs to be done by the players already here before this sinking ship is going to be righted.