Dallas Cowboy Way? Jason Garrett Must End Offensive No-Shows, Humiliating Losses

Jason Garrett made the comment that he liked to refer to the way he wants to operate as the "Cowboy way".

The "Cowboy way" never included being humiliated on some of the bonehead calls that resulted in humiliating the entire team and its owner over the last four years.

It certainly isn't the way Jason Garrett ran the offense in Green Bay in November, abandoning the run, going three and out all night with passes, and providing the Green Bay offense with 14 points in a 45-7 shellacking that got head coach Wade Phillips fired.

And I'm certain that calling a pass play from your own 37 yard line with four seconds left to go before halftime and no chance of scoring is not the "Cowboy way".

""Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud."
-- Proverbs 16: 18-19 (KJV)"

Jerry Jones loves the Dallas Cowboys, but it seems that he is so intent on being able to say, "Look at us, and what we have achieved" that he has ignored the basic elements required to succeed.

I love his passion for his team, but it is his pride that is possibly his undoing. He goes out and finds the best talent that money can buy, and then begins to conduct interviews with the smile of a man who has things figured out.

But it is his choice of leadership on the sidelines that has caused the Cowboys to continue to struggle. He has not found leadership with the ability to guide that talent in an organized attack.

He almost had it right. Wade Phillips was an outstanding defensive coordinator, and Jerry himself said that the attraction to Wade was the knowledge that if all else failed, the defense would still be great.

But it was his fatherly affections for a former third string quarterback that once again brought his dreams of rebuilding a dynasty crashing down.

In 2007, the Cowboys were freshly rebuilt, with a brand new franchise quarterback in Tony Romo, and an offensive array of talent second to none in the NFL. On the defensive side, the Cowboys had a surplus of top linebackers, and DeMarcus Ware was becoming a beast at defensive end. The entire roster was full of playmakers, and ready to revive the heritage and tradition of the Dallas Cowboys.

But rather than hire a qualified offensive coordinator that was mature and experienced in calling plays and planning the attack on NFL caliber defenses, Jerry chose Jason Garrett—a former third string quarterback with two years of coaching quarterbacks for the Miami Dolphins. I do not think this was the Cowboy way.

He hired him even before Wade Phillips was named as the head coach, and gave him full control of the Cowboys offense, eventually naming him as assistant head coach.

The result has been an offense that has been plagued with turnovers, undisciplined play, near misses and wasted talent. By the end of Garrett's first full season as the offensive coordinator, the Cowboys offense had  become undisciplined and erratic, and the mentality of "60 minute football" had disappeared.

The once physical style of play instilled under Parcells and in line with the dynasty of the Cowboys of the nineties would disappear, replaced by a high flying aerial attack that resulted in celebrations and pats on the back in the first quarter of games after their first score—revealing a mentality that their "greatness" was such that opposing teams would simply give up after witnessing their first flash of brilliance on the field.

Garrett's offenses have repeatedly stalled, and games that appeared on paper to be ones that the Cowboys should readily expect to win became nightmares and repeated humiliations for Jerry Jones.

The 2007 team jumped out to a 12-1 record, but then lost two of their final three regular season games. Still, their 13-3 record gave them home field advantage throughout the playoffs, but Jerry Jones' dreams of glory would be shattered in the first playoff game.

Trailing 21-17 early in the fourth quarter to the New York Giants, Garrett abandoned the run game, and pass after pass fell short in the last quarter and a half as the Giants held on to win. Tony Romo threw 20 passes as opposed to four runs, the last one an interception in the end zone. The fourth quarter run game with Marion Barber that had made Barber a star under Parcells' leadership was gone.

The 2008 Cowboys were hyped to be "Super Bowl or bust"; and it was the latter that happened, as the offense disappeared in a 44-6 shellacking by the Eagles in a game that the Cowboys needed to win to get into the playoffs. That season was also mired by the embarrassing loss to the Ravens in the last game to ever be played at Texas Stadium, after which Jerry Jones had a planned celebration that included many of Dallas' former stars such as Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett.

In 2009, it was the Minnesota Vikings that ended the Cowboys season, humiliating them in a 34-3 drubbing in Minnesota. Tony Romo was harassed as he tried to pass all day, and he fumbled three times, losing two of those in a first half that saw the Vikings build a 17-3 lead. Despite having found a solid ground game that had lifted the Cowboys offense to a higher level of performance, Garrett refused to commit to that same ground attack, allowing the Vikings pass rush to tee off on Romo as the Minnesota fans went wild.

The 2010 season began with a humiliation when Garrett called a pass play from the Cowboys own 37 yard line with only four seconds left in the first half that resulted in a touchdown for the Washington Redskins, giving them a 10-0 lead going into halftime. It was an embarrassing display that saw the Cowboys lose, 13-7. The Cowboys' last play of the game was a touchdown pass that would have given them the victory, but it was called back due to a holding call against Alex Barron, the Cowboys' right tackle.

Midseason, the coaching change was brought about by the worst defeat in Cowboys history, as Garrett completely abandoned any semblance of a professional game plan and forced the Cowboys defense to play the entire game against the Green Bay Packers by themselves. The result was a 45-7 shellacking in which the offense never really tried to win that game.  

The last such game, the "Nightmare on Christmas", came just a few weeks back on Christmas day, when the Cowboys played the Arizona Cardinals, who were on their fourth quarterback of the season.

Early in that game, Garrett's pass happy ways returned and he called four passes in a row on one drive, with the fourth being intercepted by the Cardinals and returned for a touchdown.

Shortly after, Jon Kitna threw another interception that was once again returned for a touchdown, and the Cowboys once again were humiliated in a game that they expected to win with ease.

His plan of attack in games has often become a half hearted attempt at establishing the run, only to give way to an aerial attack with Tony Romo throwing the ball all over the field, often resulting in multiple turnovers in the Cowboys' own end of the field that give their opponents easy scores.

Garrett's refusal to commit to an attack that will allow the Cowboys' huge offensive line to take over the line of scrimmage often results in the inability of the Cowboys to make the push needed to score once inside or nearing the red zone.

With the kicking woes of the Cowboys, failing to score a touchdown might very well mean not scoring at all.

This is not the "Cowboy way".

Jerry Jones' affinity for Garrett borders on naive, as he has seemingly turned his head while the Cowboys offense would be a no-show in season ending debacles that laid to rest a year of effort by the entire franchise.

The struggles with the offense have prevented the Cowboys from reaching the consistency needed to do the one thing that all great teams do—and that is to simply be able to go out and win the games they are supposed to win.

Sure, they can put together a game or two here and there, but these Cowboys under Jason Garrett's coordination on offense are just as likely to struggle in scoring against a team that is 1-15 as a team that is 15-1.

They don't know how to be great. For all of Garrett's talk about "being great today", his offense hasn't learned how to be great in four years under him, and now he expects the whole team to be great under his philosophies?

Here is one clue to watch for: greatness is not repeatedly turning the ball over from an undisciplined passing attack.

Jerry Jones' decision to name Jason Garrett as head coach was what he had wanted, but was it wise? Garrett's failures with the offense have caused a mess of the 2010 season, and letting him coach the team after failing with the offense makes about as much sense as firing the dog catcher and making him mayor.

So this year, the Cowboys started at 1-7, and Wade was fired—but it was the offense that had struggled and caused the Cowboys to fall to that level. While the blame fell on Wade Phillips and the defense, it was an offense that couldn't run the ball, and that gave up 13 interceptions and six fumbles in seven losses, that was the real culprit in the loss of the entire 2010 season.

If accountability is the watchword, where was the accountability for the way the offense was handled?

When Jason Garrett took over, it wasn't his defensive leadership that helped the Cowboys to finally win any games; the defense actually got worse under Garrett.

No, it was that the offense finally showed up with a running attack, and the multiple interceptions from the first seven losses disappeared. The result was that the Cowboys defeated the New York Giants—who were in first place at the time—and suddenly the Cowboys were back.

The "Cowboy way", at least in my eyes, is a demand for perfection, sought out by hard work coupled with integrity, and not allowing themselves to sink to the circus atmosphere that has surrounded the Cowboys of the last four years.  

For the Cowboys to return to greatness, they will need to mature, and finally reach a level of performance and consistency that will not allow them to be humiliated at their own hands.

It will take mature, seasoned leadership that won't allow them to let down their guard—and that will impose on them the meaning of greatness—and that is an unflinching determination to achieve perfection despite the temptations and distractions around them, while being mindful that they must set the example that others will want to follow.

That is the Cowboy way, and it's what made them "Amercia's Team".

Anything less, and more time, talent, and what is left of their window of opportunity will be wasted.  

That's the bottom line.