The season is 100% lost for Dallas at this point, but that win on Monday night was still meaningful.  Whenever you have a little brother that starts to build up confidence and thinks he’s getting to a point where he can hold his own against you, it’s important to give him a good whooping to put him back in his place.  Washington had a great opportunity to shake up the balance of power in the NFC East, but Dallas rose up and proved once again that the Redskins will always be minions compared to the prominence of America’s Team…

 

Despite the win, Jerry Jones was fucking livid after the game.  For some reason, he was a little perturbed by the fact that the superstar WR he just paid a $20M signing bonus to wasn’t getting the ball…  He was also upset about the horrendous game management in the 4th quarter and said that his team “won on will, not tactical mastery” before ranting about how absurd it is that they’re still last in this god awful division…

I am stunned that we haven’t been able to win more games without Tony.  And I would have thought that we could have coached it up enough, and put it together enough, that we would not have lost those games without Romo early.  We would be in better shape than we are right now…  I look at it as 4-8 and won’t look at it any differently  as we move up the ladder until something really special happens.

Jerry is spot on in his assessment here…  Almost all of Garrett’s decisions last night were atrocious, and the clock management was criminally horrendous.  It’s not just isolated to this game either.  No matter who the quarterback has been, we’ve had a shit scheme all season.

In terms of Xs and Os, Garrett has definitely been underwhelming as a head coach, but there was never a reason to expect any better.  Coming into this job, Garrett’s schematic credentials were less than just about any head coaching hire I can possibly think of.  Yes, our offense was sick in 07 during his first full year as coordinator, but our NFC East foes started shutting it down when the rematches came up.  By the end of 08, the scheme was completely exposed for good.  Garrett’s never called an effective offense since…

However, Garrett doesn’t necessarily need to be a master tactician to be a great coach.  As Jones said, he can field teams that win on will.  His own gutsy NFL performances give him enough street cred to connect with current players.  When he first became interim head coach in 2010, he took a team that lolligagged their way to a 1-7 start under Wade Phillips and immediately got them to legitimately compete on a weekly basis.

In 2012, we rolled into December as the most depleted team in the NFL.  The front 7 had no starters left, Dez was playing with broken bones, Romo’s back was falling apart, and the team was an emotionally stricken bunch that just had to watch their own teammate get buried after the Josh Brent incident.  They still went on a 5-1 stretch and almost made the playoffs.  The amount of heart they put on display was more than I’ve ever seen in pro sports.

If Dallas is semi competitive in their last four games, Garrett needs to stay.  He may need to delegate the entire offense to somebody else.  Maybe Jerry should lock him up in a room with a PS4 and Madden for a week or two so he can learn how to manage a clock.  But firing him altogether will set this team back.

Not only is Garrett one of the only coaches out there that can motivate and discipline well enough to keep Dallas from turning into a complete shit show, he also might be the only capable coach out there that is willing and able to perform under Jerry Jones.  We all know the story…  Ever since Jones unleashed his egomania and fired Jimmy Johnson, he’s demanded way too much operational control and has been nearly impossible to succeed under as a coach.

He did loosen up and hand the reins to Parcells for a short time, but that was only because he needed some public funding for his new megastadium (Parcells had also just divorced needed some serious cash).  Unfortunately, Parcells is not an option an option at this point, so Garrett really is the only competent option that can work for Jerry Jones.

Garrett isn’t a complete yes man, either.  His fingerprints are all over some of the notable culture changes we’ve seen in the front office recently.  Dallas makes a point to target high character guys in the draft now because of Garrett, and it was most likely him that spearheaded the movement to focus on building the most dominant line possible.

You see… the stress of performing under Jones is nothing compared to what Garrett has had to ordeal throughout his life.  He grew up with a fucking batshit crazy father that called his players “drug addicted losers” after losing his first game as a head coach for Columbia.  He cut the punter on the spot after that same game, claiming that he was the reason they lost 49-17.  I get that special teams are important, but blaming a blowout loss on a punter?  Not only is he crazy, but he’s also stupid.  Also, did I mention Jason was a player on that team?

This dude has been through some shit.  He’ll see these boys through.  He may need to keep his hands completely off the offense from here on out, but there’s no point in getting a new head coach.