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Josh Ellis
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
IRVING, Texas - As head coach, Jason Garrett now must make a lot more tough decisions. Two-time Super Bowl winner and documentary film star Bill Parcells once shared a saying about those.
"Some say it's going up. Some say it's going down. Whatever you do is wrong. Act immediately," Parcells said.
So here's a decision Jerry Jones is going to have to make in the offseason that Garrett might as well take off his hands. Tashard Choice should take over Marion Barber's role in the offense for the rest of the season.
Actually, it's one of a few personnel moves the Cowboys need to make if they're going to get anything lasting out of this final month of the season. We all know they're not going to the playoffs. Fine. Things don't always go your way. But if there's nothing to play for but pride, they might as well make some use of the next five games.
I'm not saying Garrett should throw every young guy on the roster out there just for the heck of it, or to sandbag the rest of the way to get better draft position. On the contrary, I think the Cowboys would be just as competitive in the final five games, if not more, if they went ahead and made some of the alterations that will probably occur in the offseason anyway.
This team is going to look quite a bit different next season than it has in 2010. We've called them "additions by subtraction" before when the Cowboys released "progress-stopper" types like Terrell Owens, Roy Williams and Ken Hamlin. So it's time Garrett, the likely head coach, started helping himself and Jones, the GM, by closing the gap between then and now. For his part, Garrett says he's involved in the Cowboys' ongoing, introspective personnel evaluations.
"You do it all the time," Garrett said. "The obvious one is in game situations, but you do it on a daily basis. You see how guys conduct themselves in meetings, in walkthroughs and on the practice field. You're always doing that and you're always talking about it as coaches."
Some of these personnel changes are inevitable. Don't wait to cross the bridge when you get to it. Cross it now. Why wait?
Let's start with the running backs, none of whom have been able this season to establish the same success that they're used to having. The offensive line has had a terrible time run blocking this year, and will probably require a difficult offseason facelift of its own. Unfortunately, it's hard to say any replacements worthy of starting are currently on the roster, so unless a guy is injured and the backup is forced into action, there's no way to know for the Cowboys to know they have a better option there.
Anyway, the running game has struggled mightily, and the easiest thing to change is the backfield rotation. Barber has been a nice player for the Cowboys for a few years, but just doesn't look like the same guy, not as powerful or quick as he has been throughout his career. That's the qualitative view.
As for the quantitative view, it would be somewhat misguided to judge Barber's season entirely on his career-low per carry average of 3.1 yards - which happens to rank 31st of the 32 backs in the league with at least 100 carries heading into Monday night - because the numbers are down for all three of the Cowboys backs this year. Choice actually averages less per rush than Barber, but since the third-year guy only has 14 carries, it's difficult to compare the two. Choice's sample size just isn't there.
In the same vein, it's probably not fair to point out that 38-year-old Jon Kitna has now outrushed Barber in back-to-back games because defenses aren't really gearing up to stop Kitna. Garrett points out, as did Wade Phillips before him, that a lot of Barber' touches are in short-yardage situations, which skews his average downward. Defenses are loading the line of scrimmage.
But guess what? Since they came into the league, Choice and Felix Jones are actually better in short-yardage situations than Barber. On third- or fourth-down situations with two yards or less to go, Barber has converted 32 of 52 attempts (62 percent) for first downs or touchdowns since 2008. Choice, meanwhile, is 12 of 16 (75 percent), and Jones is a perfect 4-for-4. This is supposed to be where Barber excels - not even talking about all the yards he leaves on the field on any other random run, or the fact he only has two carries over 12 yards all year.
Yet the Cowboys continue to leave Choice on the bench. If he stays on the team past this year all signs point to Barber continuing to be the team's least effective back despite making the most money, an average of $6 million per year through 2014. It all adds up to the Cowboys not bringing him back, because most of the guaranteed cash is out of the way now.
So, if Barber will indeed be forced to miss time with this calf strain, it would be in Garrett's best interest to not look back. That's just the most obvious of a few moves that wouldn't hurt the Cowboys in the final five games, but could make a huge difference going into 2011.
How about Sean Lee replacing Keith Brooking on first and second downs entirely? Brooking seems to have held up OK against the run, and really well against the pass, but he's 35. He can still play, and maybe the Cowboys do bring him back next year just for nickel duties. But are they really going to go into 2011 banking on him standing up to the pounding of the interior running game? No, that's the reason they drafted Lee.
What about the case of Williams v. Bryant? If there's no salary cap, maybe you can find a way to keep Roy Williams around as the third receiver, but it's really not good business. It's obvious Dez Bryant needs to be on the field more than Williams, and it's obvious that's going to be the case next year and beyond, whether Williams is on the team or not. Why continue to shuttle the two? Bryant would get more benefit out of playing the starter's true share of the snaps.
The point is that Garrett's going to be here a while, and he's going to have to try to win with some assortment of these guys, plus a little help from free agency and the draft. His long-term credibility will in part be determined by the kind of clout he carries in the war room and in the Cowboys' roster decisions. Jimmy Johnson had it. Parcells had it. Garrett needs it.
"Certainly guys you're deciding to bring on to your football team and certainly when you're cutting your football team down and then ultimately who you're playing, those are things coaches really need to be involved in," Garrett said. "Obviously, we have a whole department full of people who are experts in that area. But the communication between the coaching staff and the personnel people and really all the decision makers in the organization is really critical."
There are already some changes that Garrett, Jerry Jones and the scouts realize need to be made.
They should act immediately.
Josh Ellis
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
IRVING, Texas - As head coach, Jason Garrett now must make a lot more tough decisions. Two-time Super Bowl winner and documentary film star Bill Parcells once shared a saying about those.
"Some say it's going up. Some say it's going down. Whatever you do is wrong. Act immediately," Parcells said.
So here's a decision Jerry Jones is going to have to make in the offseason that Garrett might as well take off his hands. Tashard Choice should take over Marion Barber's role in the offense for the rest of the season.
Actually, it's one of a few personnel moves the Cowboys need to make if they're going to get anything lasting out of this final month of the season. We all know they're not going to the playoffs. Fine. Things don't always go your way. But if there's nothing to play for but pride, they might as well make some use of the next five games.
I'm not saying Garrett should throw every young guy on the roster out there just for the heck of it, or to sandbag the rest of the way to get better draft position. On the contrary, I think the Cowboys would be just as competitive in the final five games, if not more, if they went ahead and made some of the alterations that will probably occur in the offseason anyway.
This team is going to look quite a bit different next season than it has in 2010. We've called them "additions by subtraction" before when the Cowboys released "progress-stopper" types like Terrell Owens, Roy Williams and Ken Hamlin. So it's time Garrett, the likely head coach, started helping himself and Jones, the GM, by closing the gap between then and now. For his part, Garrett says he's involved in the Cowboys' ongoing, introspective personnel evaluations.
"You do it all the time," Garrett said. "The obvious one is in game situations, but you do it on a daily basis. You see how guys conduct themselves in meetings, in walkthroughs and on the practice field. You're always doing that and you're always talking about it as coaches."
Some of these personnel changes are inevitable. Don't wait to cross the bridge when you get to it. Cross it now. Why wait?
Let's start with the running backs, none of whom have been able this season to establish the same success that they're used to having. The offensive line has had a terrible time run blocking this year, and will probably require a difficult offseason facelift of its own. Unfortunately, it's hard to say any replacements worthy of starting are currently on the roster, so unless a guy is injured and the backup is forced into action, there's no way to know for the Cowboys to know they have a better option there.
Anyway, the running game has struggled mightily, and the easiest thing to change is the backfield rotation. Barber has been a nice player for the Cowboys for a few years, but just doesn't look like the same guy, not as powerful or quick as he has been throughout his career. That's the qualitative view.
As for the quantitative view, it would be somewhat misguided to judge Barber's season entirely on his career-low per carry average of 3.1 yards - which happens to rank 31st of the 32 backs in the league with at least 100 carries heading into Monday night - because the numbers are down for all three of the Cowboys backs this year. Choice actually averages less per rush than Barber, but since the third-year guy only has 14 carries, it's difficult to compare the two. Choice's sample size just isn't there.
In the same vein, it's probably not fair to point out that 38-year-old Jon Kitna has now outrushed Barber in back-to-back games because defenses aren't really gearing up to stop Kitna. Garrett points out, as did Wade Phillips before him, that a lot of Barber' touches are in short-yardage situations, which skews his average downward. Defenses are loading the line of scrimmage.
But guess what? Since they came into the league, Choice and Felix Jones are actually better in short-yardage situations than Barber. On third- or fourth-down situations with two yards or less to go, Barber has converted 32 of 52 attempts (62 percent) for first downs or touchdowns since 2008. Choice, meanwhile, is 12 of 16 (75 percent), and Jones is a perfect 4-for-4. This is supposed to be where Barber excels - not even talking about all the yards he leaves on the field on any other random run, or the fact he only has two carries over 12 yards all year.
Yet the Cowboys continue to leave Choice on the bench. If he stays on the team past this year all signs point to Barber continuing to be the team's least effective back despite making the most money, an average of $6 million per year through 2014. It all adds up to the Cowboys not bringing him back, because most of the guaranteed cash is out of the way now.
So, if Barber will indeed be forced to miss time with this calf strain, it would be in Garrett's best interest to not look back. That's just the most obvious of a few moves that wouldn't hurt the Cowboys in the final five games, but could make a huge difference going into 2011.
How about Sean Lee replacing Keith Brooking on first and second downs entirely? Brooking seems to have held up OK against the run, and really well against the pass, but he's 35. He can still play, and maybe the Cowboys do bring him back next year just for nickel duties. But are they really going to go into 2011 banking on him standing up to the pounding of the interior running game? No, that's the reason they drafted Lee.
What about the case of Williams v. Bryant? If there's no salary cap, maybe you can find a way to keep Roy Williams around as the third receiver, but it's really not good business. It's obvious Dez Bryant needs to be on the field more than Williams, and it's obvious that's going to be the case next year and beyond, whether Williams is on the team or not. Why continue to shuttle the two? Bryant would get more benefit out of playing the starter's true share of the snaps.
The point is that Garrett's going to be here a while, and he's going to have to try to win with some assortment of these guys, plus a little help from free agency and the draft. His long-term credibility will in part be determined by the kind of clout he carries in the war room and in the Cowboys' roster decisions. Jimmy Johnson had it. Parcells had it. Garrett needs it.
"Certainly guys you're deciding to bring on to your football team and certainly when you're cutting your football team down and then ultimately who you're playing, those are things coaches really need to be involved in," Garrett said. "Obviously, we have a whole department full of people who are experts in that area. But the communication between the coaching staff and the personnel people and really all the decision makers in the organization is really critical."
There are already some changes that Garrett, Jerry Jones and the scouts realize need to be made.
They should act immediately.
