Is Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Losing Faith in Head Coach Jason Garrett?

Of course, the answer to the above is yes.

When Jerry Jones looks down onto the field from his Cowboys Stadium luxury box and sees his head coach with a mediocre record of 7-6 after 13 regular season games, he can’t exactly be brimming with confidence. He may not necessarily be panicking but he obviously cannot be too comfortable with the state of his team at the moment.

Jerry Jones had planned on making Jason Garrett his eventual head coach back when he hired Garrett as offensive coordinator.  Garrett arrived in the honeymoon suite even before eventual head coach Wade Phillips was brought in, an act that flew in the face of traditional NFL protocol.

Jones’ comments following losses to both Detroit and New England the last two weeks tell the true story, a story we have seen before. We are at the beginning of the end of Garrett, at least without a dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of the Dallas Cowboys.

Unfortunately, the formula isn’t really there for fortunes to change. Dallas can’t run the ball as effectively as they need to and the other 31 NFL teams are aware of this. Despite calling enough carries to give Dallas a good chance to control the tempo and field position the yards just don’t add up.

An inability to effectively run the football on first and second down means they have to throw the football on third-and-long situations in order to move the chains.  Putting the ball in the air stops the clock, or worse, leads to turnovers.

This exact scenario played out in the Cowboys' second half meltdown against the Detroit Lions in Week 4.  Quarterback Tony Romo had to throw the ball due the ineffectiveness of the rushing game; the two ensuing interceptions returned for touchdowns helped the Lions overcome a 24 point second half deficit to win the game 34-30.  

Following the Detroit meltdown in Week 4, Jones offered this: “We needed to use clock with that kind of lead. You can make the case that if you run the ball a few times and punt it, run the ball a few times and punt it, the stats show that you can’t lose it.”

The Cowboys also had trouble running out the clock late in the fourth quarter against the New England Patriots in Week 6.  Trying to run out the clock, the Cowboys only managed three meager runs and a punt, giving the ball back to Tom Brady and the Patriot offense with slightly over two minutes left.  Brady drove his team down the field for the winning score, the Cowboys lost, and again Jason Garrett's playcalling was widely blamed for the late game collapse.

Jones said this after the Patriot loss: "When you get in a situation like that, you've got to go for the kill. I felt like we could've been more aggressive. Our defense had been good all day, but you knew Brady had a length-of-the-field drive in him - so it didn't surprise me at all when he took them down at the end."

I am not accusing Jones of being wishy-washy. On the contrary, I can see clearly that the frustration is already there. When Garrett needs to run, he passes. When he needs to pass, he runs.

Jones even compared the situation facing his waning franchise late in the fourth quarter in New England to the scenario facing his team late in the same quarter at San Francisco in the 1992 NFC Championship Game.

The results however, differ.

Then-offensive coordinator Norv Turner could have handed the ball to Emmitt Smith with just over five minutes remaining which would have undoubtedly lost yards. The 49ers were just waiting for the youngest team in the NFL to try to back their way into a victory.

But Turner opted to throw the ball and the result, on first down mind you, was Alvin Harper’s dynasty launching catch and run that shifted the balance of power in the NFL for years to come.

Jason Garrett does not have this kind of pulse when it comes to play calling. Opposing defenses seem to have him figured out.

You take away Garrett’s running game and he’ll likely abandon it early on, even if leading. Then you just play the percentages with Tony Romo slinging the ball around.

Once the Cowboys get inside the red zone, the drive generally stumbles into a field goal attempt.

More proof that Jones is feeling the heat is the fact that he has expressed regret about his public statements regarding Garrett’s play calling.  Jones knows how the media works and the spreading of his comments had to be expected. Jones can’t even talk at a bar without the media and avoid making national headlines.

But the facts are still there.

In Dallas-Fort Worth you have a basketball team, the Mavericks, that just won its first NBA Finals back in June. The long beleaguered Texas Rangers will play Game Four of its second consecutive World Series right after the Cowboys play their next game in Arlington … in the same parking lot.

Jones knows his Cowboys are falling behind both in competitiveness and where fan interest is concerned. And he has a really big building to pay for.

At least he is partially admitting his mistake with Garrett.

The question now is how long will it take to fix it?