Dallas Cowboys; Jason Garrett and Rob Ryan, Can They Co-Exist in Dallas?

When Jason Garrett chose Rob Ryan to be the defensive coordinator, it might have been partially due to the fact that no one else wanted the job.

If the Dallas Cowboys struggle in 2011, someone is going to get the blame.

It is all but a forgone conclusion that it won't be Jason Garrett.

While praises for Jason Garrett seem to come as easily as any other media cliche' offered by coaches and former NFL players, no one can deny the issues with the Cowboys offense in 2010.

Underneath all of that love and bravado, one has to wonder if it is concealing the whispers of how the Cowboys offense suddenly got on track the very next week after Wade Phillips was fired and Garrett named as his successor—that is the real story bubbling underneath the surface.

Certainly, it would be politically incorrect for anyone employed by or associated with the NFL to simply come out and publicly question what went on with the Cowboys offense in the first nine weeks of 2010 and why they were suddenly balanced and powerful, rolling over the New York Giants in New York just seven days after being unable to walk and chew chewing gum at the same time just a week before in Green Bay.

Inside the Cowboys organization, any discontent with Garrett's handling of the offense has routinely been met with swift and final resolution.

So, was the reason that the Cowboys search for a defensive coordinator seemingly had little interest from big name coordinators due to the knowledge that if the Cowboys struggle in 2011, someone other than Jason Garrett would inevitably take the fall?

It's no secret that Garrett's ambition was to one day become the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He had already turned down offers from Baltimore and Atlanta to become the head coach of each of those teams on the chance that he would one day get the opportunity to become the Cowboys head coach.

After turning down those offers, Jones made Garrett the Cowboys assistant head coach, and the partnership between Garrett and Phillips as co-head coaches of the Cowboys was born in 2008.

When the Cowboys started out 1-7 in 2010, that dream became a reality: Jerry Jones fired Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett became Interim head coach.

Despite Igor Olshansky and others from the Cowboys defensive unit openly calling out Garrett for his abandonment of the run game and "pass-happy" approach that had repeatedly led to the Cowboys losses, that same unit quickly learned to praise Garrett as a head coach, lest they find themselves unemployed.

Even Jerry Jones has made it clear that Garrett is all but unchallengeable, stating clearly that no player would be on the Cowboys team that Jason Garrett did not want.

It was really no big surprise that, when the search for a defensive coordinator began in Dallas, the availability of seasoned professionals seemed to be few and far between.

Paul Pasqualoni left to take the head coaching job at UConn and uncertainty hung over the Cowboys as they searched for a top coordinator to take over the Cowboys defense.

Time was also an issue, with the uncertainty of the looming lockout and with the 2011 NFL draft upcoming.

Despite the much publicized struggles of the Cowboys secondary, Dave Campo was retained for 2011, even though he was the secondary coach in 2010.

The interest in becoming the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys didn't really seem to be at an all-time high.

Enter Rob Ryan, who was let go after being the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns in 2010. The twin brother of New York Jet's coach Rex Ryan and son of former defensive guru Buddy Ryan, the idea that the Browns actually let him go seemed like a miracle to Cowboys fans.  

With the Cowboys needing to lock down a solid defensive coordinator quickly, there really seemed to be no competition when Ryan became available. Excitement quickly began to spread through Cowboys fans across the country, as the knowledge that Rob Ryan would indeed be named as the defensive coordinator for the Cowboys for the 2011 season.

Surely, if anyone could ensure defensive dominance, Ryan could. His brash style and the confidence with which he carries himself would surely bring back the "edge" to a much maligned defense that had eventually bore most of the blame for the Cowboys struggles in 2010.  

Unfortunately for Jason Garrett, however, Rob Ryan doesn't seem the type to sit back and take the blame for the offensive woes the way Wade Phillips did. Phillips routinely deflected questions pertaining to the subpar performance of the Cowboys offense and willing shouldered the responsibility for its failures, even though Jason Garrett was the man who ran it.

When the Cowboys offense "phoned it in" versus the Green Bay Packers in Week 9 of 2010, in front of a national television audience on a Sunday night in November of 2010, it is highly doubtful that Rob Ryan would be as "philosophical" about it as a defeated Wade Phillips was.

Just ask Kevin Gilbride, who was on the receiving end of a punch from Buddy Ryan, Rob Ryan's dad and then the defensive coordinator under Jack Pardee of the Houston Oilers(now the Tennessee Titans).

In 1994, with the Oilers leading the New York Jets 14-0, Gilbride felt the wrath of his offense making a mistake when a fumble resulted in the Jet's getting the ball on the Oilers 21 towards the end of the first half.

It just so happens that the game was nationally televised and the cameras caught Buddy Ryan expressing his displeasure with Gilbride's play selection by throwing a punch that caught Gilbride in the face. Ryan had been displeased with Gilbride's coordination of the offense all season long, and the fumble that gave the ball to the Jets was apparently more than Ryan could stand to see.

Now in 2010, Rob Ryan appears to have very much the same attitudes as his dad, Buddy Ryan. With Rex Ryan already coaching the New York Jets to two consecutive AFC Championship games in the past two seasons, it seems only a matter of time before Rob Ryan's services are requested by an NFL team looking for a head coach.

With the possibility of becoming a head coach like his brother Rex, Ryan doesn't seem the type to willingly take the fall for an underachieving team like the Cowboys have been since 2007.

If the Cowboys begin to struggle in 2011, tensions between Garrett and Ryan could reach a breaking point early.

Given the immediate popularity of Rob Ryan with Cowboys fans, Jason Garrett's ability to direct a successful offense will be more important to his own success than ever before.

If the Cowboys struggle in 2011 and the defense seems to be holding its own, it could be only a matter of time before fans begin to clamor for Rob Ryan to get his chance as a head coach of the Cowboys—tensions between he and Jason Garrett could escalate quickly.

If Jason Garrett abandons the run game and repeatedly goes three and out, or his offense begins to turn the ball over deep in their own territory, it might be wise of Garrett to look at the game film of the Jets/Oilers game of 1994.

It appears that Jason Garrett now has two choices: Either he gets the Cowboys offense in sync and producing in 2011, or he might want to learn to duck.

That's the bottom line.