Attitude Adjustment: Dallas Cowboys Offense In Desperate Need

I don't fancy myself an offensive genius by any stretch, but even I can see there was something awfully wrong with the Dallas Cowboys offense during the 2009 season. This offense never got into a rhythm, plodding in mediocrity from week to week, never taking the bull by the horns, so to speak. The season ending loss to the Minnesota Vikings was just the latest setback to an offense that disappeared for stretches and ultimately became stagnant.

Enter Jason Garrett. In his third year as Cowboys' offensive coordinator, Garrett has seen both ends of the spectrum. After taking over the job in January 2007, Garrett led the Cowboys offense to a 13-3 record, having the second best scoring offense in the NFL. Garrett was like a surgeon, identifying weaknesses in opposing defensive schemes and strategically slicing them up play after play.  

While 2007 was perhaps Garrett’s best season, 2008 was almost the polar opposite. The Cowboys ranked 18th out of 32 NFL teams in points scored. How can this happen? Certainly injuries to key personnel and in-house backbiting played a role in the dysfunction that set in, but they still had the talent. No matter. Garrett couldn't pry the offense out of a wet paper bag, let alone the bag of tricks opposing defensive coordinators threw at him. The season ended with Tony Romo complaining about the offensive design and predictability after back to back devastating losses to Baltimore and Philadelphia. 

While the Cowboys promised change in the ’09-’10 season, Garrett obviously didn’t get the memo…or ignored it…or burned it.

There were times during the year that Garrett's scheme was just unbearable to watch. For a guy who earned a degree in history, you'd think change was a play call away. Forget about it. Garrett has been lining the offense up in the shotgun formation since week one with mostly negative results, but he continues to run it. Too many plays run out of the shotgun have led to incompletions, sacks, interceptions, and fumbles.

The Cowboys have run less plays out of the I formation with a higher success rate. In the I formation, the quarterback lines up under center, forcing the defense to play both the run, and the pass. Those pass rushers can’t just pin their ears back and get after the quarterback.  For instance, in the 2009 Divisional Playoff game with the Minnesota Vikings, the Cowboys faced 1^st and 10 from the Minnesota 26 at the 14:20 mark of the second quarter.  Romo, lined up in the I formation, was able to take a 7-step drop, tie his shoe, eat a cookie, and still find Martellus Bennett for a 16 yard pass.  They made it look way too easy. Why not make this the primary formation?  It seems like it would be such a simple and effective adjustment. By the way, they would go back to the shotgun on their next two pass plays, resulting in a sack and an incompletion.  At least they got the only three points they’d get all game on that drive right?

Needless to say, Garrett doesn't adjust favorably when defenses begin to shred his offensive scheme.  Instead of filtering out non-working plays and altering formations, he becomes repetitive and predictability sets in.  That once dominant offensive line starts to resemble the entrance to a train station, with turnstiles just ahead. The defense has free reign.

Speaking of Free Reign, whose idea was it to take Doug Free out of the line up when Marc Colombo came back?  But I digress.

Garrett is an enigma to say the least.  On one hand, he can call a brilliant quarter of football, allowing the Cowboys to put up a franchise record 27 points in the second quarter of the wild card win over Philadelphia. On the other hand, Garrett can also show how amateurish the Cowboys offense can be, as evidenced by the 3 whole points they scored in the very next game in 4 whole quarters at Minnesota. But where is the in between, being consistently “pretty good’?  I’d even settle for that.  Calling good plays most of the time, be willing to adjust and actually instituting a plan B, C, or even D, when plan A is just not working.

Garrett has been married to his game plan. How else do you explain the Cowboys who were seventh in 2009 rushing the football, ever going away from running it, when it is actually working?  There were games this year where the Cowboys were gashing defenses with the run. One would think they’d stick with it and impose their will with those running backs and that mammoth offensive line. Wrong. They’re lined up in the shotgun, giving up possession of the line of scrimmage, and taking losses.  

While I won't begrudge the opposing defenses their rightful due, I do know it takes two to tango. And Jason Garrett has been an all too willing dance partner, letting the defense lead and choreograph the outcome.

Where is the predatory aggression, the killer instinct, the ability to brutally snatch a team’s hopes away by attacking with menace, using multiple weapons?

Ultimately I do believe that the Cowboys offense has enough weapons to be downright dominant.  They need to find that killer instinct that they have been sorely lacking in recent years. I see it at times with Jason Garrett, just not enough.  This isn’t rocket science, it’s pretty simple. His offense needs to find an identity and play to their strengths.

I've heard the saying about taking what the defense gives you. That's too soft. Too accommodating. The Cowboys need an attitude adjustment. My philosophy: They can't give me anything I can't take. Jason Garrett would be well served by subscribing to this theory.