This offseason has been crazy for Jason Garrett.  Meetings for head coaching positions, endless ridicule from our (sometimes unfaithful) fan base, and a running gag order, which kept him even more quiet than usual.  It seems to me that in the midst of all this, and the hard work he’s putting into his offenses arsenal, he has an obstacle on the horizon. 

Tashard Choice finished the season impressively strong.  The question is… just how impressive was he?  I would say he was a diamond in the rough.  Choice finished with 92 rushes for 427 yards with a 5.1 average.  On top of that he finished with 21 receptions for 185 yards.  Not impressed?  How about he accomplished that in 4 games against Pittsburgh, New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia in the thick of a competitive playoff rush.  Still not impressed? Against a strong New York Giants Defense Choice dazzled with 9 attempts for 91 yards.  Our other running backs? Well, while healthy in Week 9 against the Giants Marion Barber was only 19 for 54. 

Now don’t murder me yet Dallas Faithful, if anyone knows how valuable Marion the Barbarian, and Flashy Felix is, it’s me.  I love them both and think we are entirely blessed to have them.  My argument is simply this:  Tashard Choice has earned a chance to have legitimate snaps as a Cowboys tailback.  Things that can be done are possibly implementing a split back system with Choice and Jones or implementing him into “I” formations to identify holes to finagle through for some serious downhill running.  He would also work well out of the Shotgun.  If we can implement all three backs our potential is limitless! 

So Jason, you have more to think about than you think, but I think you can handle it!

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Those pushing for a regime change at Valley Ranch might want to keep their television sets handy Friday at 6:30, as the Owner of www.FireTheCowboysGM.com is scheduled to do an interview on Sports Talk with David Marcus this evening.

Sports talk airs on KFWD-TV 52. Click here to find your local cable channel.

In addition, the guys at www.CowboysFanRebellion.com tell me that a request to Dale Hansen of WFAA 8, the local DFW ABC station, to publicly support the movement has been denied. Here’s what Dale had to say:

“Oh I’m with you ….. but since I know it’s such a futile effort I’m staying away from it … he won’t ever change …..

But I’ll ask him about it when I can and see what he says

Good luck with it

dale”

It’s a rather confusing response considering that Dale has been outwardly critical of Jerry Jones in a special series he’s doing all this week. Seems like he’d be the perfect candidate to get behind this since he says he’s “with” us.

Don’t be like Dale Hansen, if you agree that Jerry Jones should hire a real GM, then head on over and sign the petition, and donate to the billboard.

“All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing” – Edmund BURKE

Jerry Jones may not be evil, but just think about it …

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With the latest and shameful coming out of Valley Ranch this week, it makes sense finally to put some of these pieces into place for next season. One of my favorite speculations at this point is coming from www.CowboysFanRebellion.com. MSchmidt64 is the author, and you can also find him over at www.DallasCowboysCentral.com. Here’s a piece of his article followed by a link to check out the whole thing.

COWBOYS TO HAVE NEW HEAD COACH IN ‘09

Many of the more level-headed among us had a feeling that this team wouldn’t open up Yet-To-Be-Decided-Corporate-Sponsor Stadium with Wade Phillips at the helm. Or at least, that’s what we hoped.

Come on. Wade Phillips? A head coach who has never won a playoff game in his long, long, NFL career? A man who has just presided over quite possibly one of the most embarrassing seasons ever for your Dallas Cowboys? A character who, in terms of the always important marketability angle, is more likely to cause fans to part with their hard earned dollars for a multitude of various prescription and non-prescription drugs as opposed to personal seat licenses?  

So it was no real surprise when I logged onto the interweb recently and found out, officially, that he’s no longer running the show. Sure, there had been evidence before. Hints dropped here and there. But now we know for sure. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Head Coach for the 2009 Dallas Cowboys will be…. Jerry Jones.

Head Coach Jerry Jones. To be honest, I wanted to come up with a catchier moniker for the old-new big man, one that would appropriately characterize his role as Owner/General Manager/Head Coach/Team Physician/Quality Control/Character Consultant for the organization. But with “slash” already taken by Kordell Stewart, and “solidus,” while appropriately sinister, sounding more like one of the Transformers, I’m just not creative enough to do better (aside: work in Jerry Jones reconstructive face surgery angle here? Take this down). Maybe Jerry/Jones? Ehh.

So Head Coach Jones it is. And why not?

• He already decides what schemes we’ll run (Was Phillips the best coach available? Or the best 3-4 coach available?).
• He already decides if players are being utilized correctly.
• He’s already refused to bring in much needed help for former head coach Wade Phillips, and, in refusing to hire him a Defensive Coordinator, essentially relegated him to that role.
• He already sets the fines for players who break team rules.
• He’s already the guy that players go to when they have complaints about other coaches or players.
• He’s already the guy that gives pre- and post-game pep talks in the locker room and on the sidelines.
• He’s already the guy that looks at the X-Rays on injured players.
• He already sits next to Wade during Press Conferences and probably has provided him with note cards with what he’s supposed to talk about on them.

You can see the full article and comment on it by going to www.CowboysFanRebellion.com. While you’re there take a minute and sign the petition to have Jerry Jones hire a real GM. We’re really starting to gain some support, so you won’t be alone. Sign The Petition.

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It’s amazing to me how things can get so out of shape after a disappointing season in Dallas. Never mind that the team did win 9 games on one of the tougher schedules in the league, or that they lost a game to each of the eventual Super Bowl contenders by 6 points, one in overtime. It all comes crashing down.

It’s been a slow end of the week and weekend so far news-wise, so it’s easy to recap what has happened this weekend. There’s been two major stories to come out of Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine, first is Wade’s now infamous “I can’t … against the rules” comment when asked for an update at the combine on Friday, and second is Michael Crabtree and his broken foot.

It’s nothing new for the Cowboys to be thrust into the media spotlight at any event in football, even during the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl the Cowboys were discussed in-game by the analysts calling each game. But the team usually never sinks to such a low as this, one man stepping up and claiming ultimate rule and power over a team, is that even possible?

Jerry Jones has tried to do it in the past, but he’s never been quite so successful at it until now. “I’m the guy that’s got the full picture,” Jones says, and he adds, “I just want to make sure you’re not getting bits and pieces of information. That’s not doing anybody any good and you’re not making accurate reports.” So please, let us see what is accurate.

Since Jerry Jones, who is now beyond any doubt Head Coach Jerry Jones, is the guy then we can safely say that the spread of misinformation amongst the media is his fault. Sure, he’s made it clear today that he wasn’t the one giving the false information to the press, but then he’s also taking control with his gag order, essentially placing his team on lock down. That’s to say that he has the power to do so, to control the situation, why else would he be doing this?

So that must mean that he failed to enforce his rule in the past, that’s how the misinformation leaked to the press.

He says “All I’m trying to say is basically that’s where you need to go to see where the status of that decision is.” Since he is the only Dallas Cowboy allowed to speak to the media now, it means that he is where to go for the status of all decisions.

So how about it Jerry … What’s going on with Terrell Owens? What is the plan to fix the woes of the 2008 season? How will you declare a leader for this team on the field? Who will be coaching the players? What players are staying and going? Can the fans sit down in this new stadium? Is team chemistry important? Is 9-7 good enough?

For most of that, he simply isn’t saying at this point. But Head Coach Jerry has stated that 9-7 is good enough, which brings me to my next point. Sure, the Cardinals went 9-7 and made it to the Super Bowl, they played their best football at the right time of the year. Let us not forget, though, that had they been in any other division they probably wouldn’t have gotten the chance to play their best football in January. The combined record of their NFC West opponents was 13-35, so Arizona knew they were in the playoffs in mid December.

Even the AFC West, with the Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos, and Chargers; still had more combined wins than the NFC West. And it took a week 17 showdown between the Chargers and Broncos to hold all teams in that division at no better a record than .500.

Being that the Cowboys play in the NFC East division, I think it’s safe to say that while a 9-7 division title can happen, it won’t for the Cowboys.

But the real question, the one that will not be asked at this event, or any other, is how can one man run a football team in the NFL? Jerry Jones has tried to do it for 20 years now, and while it started with the likes of Troy Aikman and Jimmy Johnson, without them this team hasn’t even won a playoff game.

A lot of the time, Jimmy Johnson is given credit for running a Super Bowl franchise, but he was just the Head Coach. He was the coach at a time when Jerry Jones didn’t know enough about the sport to try doing so much as he does now, and he had something extra. He knew how to approach Jerry Jones; he knew how to handle his players.

In the years since our last playoff win he’s tried it Jimmy’s way and been tough. He’s tried it Chan’s way and been lenient, he’s even tried being tough the Parcels way, and none of it has really worked for him.

Maybe he’s figured doing it the way someone else would isn’t good enough anymore, so he’s doing it his way, I don’t know. But I can tell you that gagging your entire coaching staff during their time of the year isn’t going to work.

Letting your players be the primary source of misinformation to the media isn’t going to work. Coddling your players with new deals and huge contracts whenever they want isn’t going to work. And bringing in fading talent isn’t going to work either.

The simple truth is that Jerry is asserting his control over this franchise without controlling anything. His players talk to the media, but his coaches can’t. He imposes fines to the players that are cheaper than my gas bill. His overpaid Offensive Coordinator interviews for every job available, every year.

The only thing Jerry is controlling is who gets more time in front of the cameras, and while he’s made it clear that his coaches aren’t good enough for it, he’s also made it clear that his players are.

Personally, I’d rather my coaches talking and my players working, not the other way around.

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“You and I both know that the one you are asking about all the time, if I have an answer for . . . if I gave you the answer you want to hear, then you would already have had it, so the fact you don’t have it ought to tell you something. Or it should.“

I’m sure you’ve all seen it by now … it’s been on every Cowboys related headline since the words were first spoken. Jerry Jones found a way to once again let himself be open for interpretation.

A lot of you have expressed confusion over what he said, but let’s look at it and see just how clearly he answered the T.O. question.

“If I gave you the answer you want to hear …” We all know that most of the beat writers that were at that press conference have been spouting off about the T.O. situation. Most of them, most of the time, have expressed their desire to see Owens released. So my take on this answer is that Jones is saying if we were going to hear Owens will be released, we would have heard it by now.

Your guess is really as good as mine, but if I were a betting man, I’d bet strongly in favor of keeping Owens after hearing a statement like that. Only time will tell if Jones backs it up.

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Okay, well a little bit of everything is due by now, so let’s recap. Jerry Jones is an idiot!

Okay, so maybe that doesn’t cover every thing, but it’s a good start. Admittedly, I don’t know what the breakdown was exactly, but from what Jones and Reeves have said during radio interviews since Wednesday, it’s hard to imagine what the specifics of the break down were.

Both sides agree that it was a time issue, and while that could be taken as perhaps Jones wanting to limit the amount of time Reeves’ worked each day, or week, more information suggests otherwise.

In Reeves’ interviews, he stated that he was looking at it as a full time job, and that to him that meant he would work until the job was done. Maybe Jones wanted some language stating how long Reeves would be a consultant for the team?

That certainly could make sense given another of Reeves’ statements. He said that in all his years in football, that he’d never seen something like that added to his contract before. It’s something we’ve all gotten used to, seeing coaches leave a team before the contract expired, and given the rules in the NFL, could he, as a consultant, have been given the same freedom as say an offensive coordinator?

Many of us know by now that Todd Haley is the new Head Coach in Kansas City, which is an opportunity that was afforded to him by the NFL’s rules. An OC can interview for, and accept, a position as a HC with another team, without penalty, before the expiration of their OC contract.

We know that Reeves was ready for a more hands-on job from his interview for the once vacant OC position in San Francisco, so maybe Jones wanted to lock him up so that he didn’t get the itch again and take a HC job somewhere else in a year or two.

We don’t really know what the issue was, but we do know from Reeves’ own words that if Jerry removes that questionable clause that Reeves would be on the first flight to Dallas.

One other thing, Jones said in an interview that as long as he walked the halls of Valley Ranch, that no coach would ever be given full control or authority. Some media outlets are reporting this as though it was all he said, and that’s not the case. He went on to say that no coach has the ability to hire a player, to fire a player, or a coach. He said that’s his job. Do you think he slid through the intention of that question? I do.

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The first official word from Valley Ranch about Dan Reeves’ future with the organization was delivered today, and guess what? He doesn’t have a future with the Cowboys.

Very little information was given for why it happened, but what we do know is that the contract negotiations broke down today when both sides couldn’t agree on several details of a deal.

To say I’m disappointed would be an understatement as I was really hoping that an actual change would come about this off-season. So far we’re doing more of the same crap we’ve been doing for years, and it hasn’t been a successful approach yet so I don’t expect it to be now.

We’ve got to make more change than just firing coaches. This team had everything it needed in 2008 and it still self-destructed. That’s not a problem you can fix by continuing to destroy the stability of the team.

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According to a post at CowboysGab.com (read the post here), today’s edition of the Fort Worth Star Telegram newspaper has employees at Valley Ranch reporting that Dan Reeves has moved into Todd Grantham’s old office, while Grantham has moved into former Defensive Coordinator Brian Stewart’s office.

This is the first sign of any movement by the Cowboys to name a new defensive coordinator since Stewart’s termination a few weeks ago. Todd Grantham has fared well thus far in in Dallas. He has been the defensive line coach only, up until now, and while the line could have used some help throughout the season, he’s done a solid job of preparing his unit.

2009 will be his tenth year as a coach in the NFL, though he spent another eight coaching at the collegiate level for both Virginia Tech and Michigan State. What concerns me about him is that in his first 9 years as an NFL coach, though he’s been a coordinator with the Browns in 2005-2007, is that he has been with four teams already.

He started out in Indianapolis under then Head Coach Jim Mora and when Mora was fired, Grantham moved to Texas to coach the defensive line for the Texans. He again got solid production from his line in all three seasons he spent there, solid enough that Romeo Crennel  wanted him to coach the Browns’ defense.

He increased the performance of an already solid defensive unit in Cleveland, but made a few errors in judgment. He held secret meetings in which he assumed Crennel would be fired and that he would be the new Head Coach. After the end of a 2007 season in which the Browns’ defense dropped within a few spots of last place in various defensive statistics, he came to Dallas.

He’s familiar with the 3-4, as the Brown’s ran it under his tenure. But has yet to prove that he can be consistent beyond just handling the defensive line.

If he is indeed the new coordinator in Dallas, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s good enough to allow Phillips to be the Head Coach, and Head Coach only.

While we wait for some kind of announcement from Valley Ranch about the status of both Grantham and Reeves, it looks like the best we’re going to get is an unofficial word based on who is which office. Personally, I would have thought Reeves would get the bigger office, even if Grantham did get promoted.

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I disagree with those who say Wade is a puppet simply because the notion that Jerry Jones is this teams’ coach is a little absurd. Wade is given control over a lot of what happens, and Jones has veto power that he uses on the bigger things. To use an example mentioned on the forum stating that Bill Parcels wanted to start Romo over Bledsoe in 2006, benching your starting quarterback who has Super Bowl experience in favor of an undrafted free agent qualifies as one of those bigger things.

Wade did say he would have to talk with Jerry about things often, and while Wade tried to make it sound like it was more of a respect thing and a mutual decision to be made, there’s some credit to the idea that he was simply trying to make it sound that way.

On the same point though, how do we know that Wade isn’t playing a bigger role in Dallas than other coaches have under Jones? Do we just look at how visible it is in the media to determine? Parcels made a big splash about doing things his way, to the point that even Jerry Jones had to publicly state that he would let Bill work. Jimmy Johnson had his way as the head coach, but who was Jerry to argue after having just bought the team.

To look at this past month, we’ve never seen it before from Jerry Jones. He’s never zipped his mouth so well toward the media, and he’s never tried to go after a guy that is well known around the league for being set in his ways; ways that come from a guy Jerry Jones fired his first day on the job. He did get Parcels here, but even that came with a media frenzy attached, not like with Reeves where the best reports we have are from the San Francisco 49ers and staff writers at Valley Ranch who simply see him there. And Jerry Jones has never been so willing to admit that things need to change on a scope that includes his level as an Owner, a Team President, and a General Manager.

It’s also the first serious down note for the Cowboys with Wade Phillips on staff. To me, it all goes to show that maybe Wade is the cause of the changes in how Jones is doing things. Wade said in his final press conference of the season that he would turn to several coaches that he’s worked with over the years, which included Dan Reeves, and now we’ve got Reeves setting up shop this week in his own office at Valley Ranch.

To me, this looks like the beginning of a big upset for those that claim Wade Phillips is and will be the ultimate downfall of this team in 2009, and possibly beyond.

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I just saw something I found interesting and wanted to share it with you guys. You know that I support this website … www.FireTheCowboysGM.com … well they’ve had a poll on their front page for a week or so now, and the results are worth a mention here.

The question being asked is this, “Based on the results from the last 12 years (no playoff wins), how many times would Jerry Jones have fired the General Manager, if it wasn’t him?”

54 people out of the 1,154 that have voted think the answer is none, 95% of the votes are for at least an answer of once. That includes 822 votes agreeing that he would have done it three times or more.

It’s funny because so many people like to say that he isn’t the problem when people like Shannon Sharpe starting saying he is the problem. This little website with very little exposure has already gotten 1,100 people to agree that he has messed up pretty badly. I wonder how the results would change if more people went and checked out the site.

More to come …

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I’ve got a theory; tell me what you think of it.

Wade Phillips is the head coach, he responsible for overseeing his other coaches and getting everything together for the game plan he develops.

In 2008, the defense sucked until Wade started taking a bigger role on D, even though Stewart still looked like the guy in charge.

Starting with that Tampa game, when Phillips took over the D, the offense started playing worse, at first because Romo was out, but even when he came back, the O wasn’t doing half of what the D was doing.

It seemed for the last half of the season that whenever the D played well, the O played poorly, and when the O played well, the D played poorly. Going up against the best defensive teams in the league, the Cowboys still stayed in the game until the end.

Before the Tampa game, when Romo was playing the offense did great, see week 2 against Philly for an example. You can even look at the Baltimore game for an example. Both teams were pretty even throughout the game, caught in a strong defensive game. But when the Cowboys started driving to score late for the win, the D completely collapsed. Makes you wonder.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Saw something interesting this morning. According to the DC.com Writer’s Block Blog, Former head coach Dan Reeves reportedly told the San Francisco 49ers that he will decline a position on the team in favor of joining the Dallas Cowboys.

No official word as of yet on exactly what that means or even if it’s true, Josh Ellis says it is supposed to be some sort of consulting role that is in the works.

Reeves has coached several teams, but the most notable of which was the Atlanta Falcons. Wade Phillips served as his defensive coordinator in Atlanta and when Reeves was fired during the 2003 season, Phillips was his successor.

Atlanta made a Super Bowl appearance in XXXIII under then head coach Dan Reeves, but lost to the Denver Broncos, another team that Reeves has led in his career. It also would team him together with his son-in-law Joe DeCamillis, who the Cowboys recently hired to run their special teams unit.

He’s always been known as a hard ass, a tough coach that demands a lot from his players, and his character could be a great addition to this team after a year plagued by reports of indiscipline in the Cowboys locker room, practices, and games.

What do you think about bringing in Dan Reeves, and what role do you think he would be best for on this team? Remember that he was interviewing for the OC spot in San Fran, and has a strong offensive background in the league.

Does Garrett stand in the way of him being the OC in Dallas? Should he?

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One thing that no one can deny is that Jerry Jones likes to shoot for the best.

Record setting stadium in my hometown of Arlington.

Most valuable sports franchise in the world.

Most well known team in the league, in any city.

To name a few. He even goes after high profile players with his check book flapping, all because he wants to bring in the best guys he can find to help his beloved team get a sixth Super Bowl banner hanging from the rafters. You can’t blame him for what he is trying to do; we’d all probably do the same thing for a while if were us in his shoes.

And Jerry really hasn’t had that long to experience his own influence on the team. He got lucky in the draft with the Trio of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin. Not to mention players like Bill bates, Jay Novacek, Leon Lett, Nate Newton, and big Larry Allen.

Add players like that with the coaching of Jimmy Johnson and you really don’t have a lot else to worry about as an Owner/President/GM. He was free to go wave the Cowboys flag in front every media member that he could find, and they all listened because it’s America’s Team. Read the rest of this entry »

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Jason Garrett

I don’t know everything about football, not by a long shot. All I know is when I see something that doesn’t work, and I usually want whoever to stop doing whatever isn’t working; no big surprise there.

But I’m not totally on-board with the “Fire Garrett” sentiments that I’ve been hearing from fellow fans.

I do think his offense is too vanilla for this league, but I have a hard time believing that he can’t change to go with it. Just look at the coaching changes he endured as a player in Dallas, that alone is enough evidence for me that he can adapt as needed to what an offense needs to do, that he can see how an opposing defense helps to dictate the scheme an offense uses.

Help me out here, though, does he really need to change his offensive scheme? Is it really his playbook that is the problem? Or could be something else?

It’s no doubt by now that something has to be figured out, and something has to be done about the problems that plagued this team last year, but being so quick to fire the Offensive Coordinator because the offense didn’t trounce on every team in the NFL seems a bit of a stretch.

This December gets a pass that no December in recent Cowboys history got, playing nothing but the best defenses in the league week in and week out. That has to account for something, right?

The injuries didn’t help either, but you can’t say that a lot of it was injuries because of all injuries on the offense this year, only four starting quality players were really affected. I’m not counting Jason Witten here, he was injured, but he also played through the injuries without too many issues.

First Felix Jones is hurt, then is hurt worse during rehab, then gone for the season. that certainly made things tougher for Garrett since he no longer had any speed on the offense at all, especially not on the ground. Then Romo goes out for three weeks, leaving Brad Johnson as the quarterback, insert your own derogatory comments about him here.

he wasn’t quite the veteran backup that Jerry Jones had envisioned, I’m sure, and I doubt he could have been a positive influence on young Tony Romo either.

And even coming back after only three weeks, Romo was still limited by the splint and healing finger. Though he did seem to do quite well during that time, maybe the splint held him back a bit, and saved the mishaps from him trying to do too much with a dead play.

Then Barber goes out, but wait, Choice actually rose to the challenge and did good starting as the teams only healthy back. Really, it says more about next year than anything.

Add in Kyle Kosier going down for most of the season, which left the other four starters on the line trying to compensate for Proctor, and you’ve got a few problems for Garrett to work out.

What kills me, and we all know this, that every team has certain things they do because of the personnel they have, the players. Garrett never made any noticeable changes to the offense no matter what players were hurt or not playing at all. Seems like if you have an offense designed for a specific group of guys, and one or two or three of those guys go down with injuries, your offense should change to fit whoever is playing.

Is it just me, or did he not ever seem to do that? It’s a weekly process, game planning, and he didn’t seem to do a lot to help out when it was needed most.

Help me out folks, help me understand what the problem is with that whole situation.

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It’s not like I’m Mickey Spagnola or anything. I’m not going to say “Passed Over” just because it’s nicer. Garrett was rejected, and for good reason that I can see.

Garrett missed out on three opportunities to be a head coach this year, so far. Though I wonder what really happened in Saint Louis last weekend, because everything lined up for him getting the job there. Maybe the pay cut wasn’t what he had in mind, nor what he would accept.

So we’re stuck with Garrett for another year, it seems, and I must admit that it doesn’t really sound like all that bad of an idea. Yeah, his offense struggled greatly in 2008, but how do you separate out his part from injuries, distractions, weather, the opposing defenses, and especially players lacking focus, drive, or concentration? That’s what I can’t wrap my head around; how do we really know that he was to blame for it all?

I still think having him back means things will change, I mean who is better motivated to turn this offense around now that he has missed three head coaching opportunities this year. If he wants to be a head coach anytime soon, he had better figure this out and fast.

Plus, he’s got a ton of examples to find in the game films from 2007 and 2008. Something changed there, and I doubt injuries and distractions cover it all. maybe he did get figured out, and just maybe, 2008 will prove to be his evidence of that and he’ll make the appropriate changes.

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