Jason Garrett Escaping Blame from Dallas Follies for Too Long

As the Dallas Cowboys move past another opening night debacle in which they self-destructed in front of a national television audience, the mistakes of the past continue to follow them. There has to be the question raised as to why they continually "shoot themselves in the foot" when greatness is only inches away.

Once again there are plenty of fingers pointed at Tony Romo. Sterling Sharpe even went public this past week on the NFL Network and criticized Jason Witten after the loss to the Jets on Sunday night. Witten did not score and allowed himself to be pushed out of bounds at the three on the pass play from Tony Romo that would have all but sealed the victory for the Cowboys.

Three pass plays later, Tony Romo fumbles the ball and the Jets have new life. And Sterling Sharpe wants to blame Jason Witten for not scoring to start with, which would have saved the Cowboys from having to run the next three plays.

Jason Witten? Are you serious? Here is the most prolific Cowboy in uniform, and you want to blame him?

Here's a novel idea: How about blaming Jason Garrett for not calling three running plays instead of three pass plays. Three running plays that would have kept the clock moving, and even if the Cowboys hadn't made it into the end zone, they would have a chip-shot field goal that would have still virtually iced the game.

At some point, the blame has to be laid at the feet of Jason Garrett. That's why they call it "coaching". If your team doesn't perform, or if they make mistakes that simply should not be made at this point, then the blame ultimately lies with the man who has been in charge of that offense for five-years now.

Even with the coaching shift in Dallas last year, it is still the same man–the man that so many have heralded as the "second-coming of Jimmy Johnson"–who is the one who must take responsibility for so many "boneheaded" plays.

That's why they call it coaching.

If it was simply about making a lineup, anyone could do that, and Jerry Jones wouldn't need to pay out millions of dollars for someone to do that. No, this has to be a team that is led and inspired, and taught with experience and discipline not to do the things that routinely cost this team victory that is so closely within their grasp. Instead, this group makes a habit of boneheaded plays that let so many of those games needlessly slip away.

From the embarrassing decision to run a play from their own 37 with four seconds left in the first half and no chance of reaching the end zone versus the Washington Redskins, to the fumble by Roy Williams that cost the Cowboys the game versus the Saints on Thanksgiving, to the three pass plays in a row to Dez Bryant that same game that led to David Beuhler being forced to attempt a 59-yard field goal to tie the game because the Cowboys failed to move the ball.

And on to the two interceptions returned for touchdowns versus the Arizona Cardinals that helped a hapless Cardinal team with a third-string quarterback embarrass Jerry Jones and the Cowboys fans in yet another debacle on national television on Christmas night–at some point the blame has to quit falling on the players and land squarely on the shoulders of the man who has "coached" them for the past five years.

And the term "coached" must be used loosely in conjunction with Jason Garrett, because there are so many occasions over the past four seasons in which the Cowboys offense more resembled a sandlot football team with no coaching than the flagship franchise of the NFL. The blame has been passed around like a left-handed cigarette, but at some point it must fall to the man directly responsible for that offense.

If a player runs the wrong way, makes the wrong decision, or doesn't turn a possible touchdown towards the goal line when he should, then at some point you have to ask what these guys have been taught during practice.

Mistakes happen, most assuredly. But when the same group of guys continually make the same type of mistakes, that is a direct indicator that the coaching is failing to properly prepare them for these types of situations.

When the Cowboys give games away because Tony Romo makes ill-timed throws that result in repeatedly putting the opposing team in scoring position, it's not the defense that should take the fall when the opposing teams score. It's not Tony Romo who is always to blame, either. At some point, the question must be raised as to how Romo is taught to manage the game, and whether or not he has been instructed that there are simply some throws an NFL quarterback just can't afford to make.

It's called "coaching" for a reason.

This pattern of mistakes falls upon the shoulders of one man, and one man only. Jason Garrett has had control of the Cowboys offense for nearly five years now, and the mistakes continue. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.

That's the bottom line.