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For probably gazillionth time, Owner Jerry must fire GM Jerry
By Randy Galloway
The right guy was fired but for the wrong reasons.
The wrong guy was hired but for the right reasons.
In a major shakedown at Valley Ranch on Monday, it would not be accurate to say Jerry Jones screwed up this process. He didn't. But, of course, he will.
For 16 years and counting, from the day the Jimster left town in 1994, one truth has been constant:
The Cowboys are going nowhere near another Super Bowl, and never will, as long as Jerry the Owner keeps Jerry the GM as his football guru. If that reads like an echo, it is.
But no matter how many years you print it, it's still accurate.
That one exception, a Super Bowl run in the 1995 season, came with Jimmy's players, but once age and anarchy in the streets caught up with that group, we know the rest of the story.
"Jerry, we did it our way, baybee," was Barry Switzer famous winner's circle decree and hug-up with Jones that January night, 1996, in Tempe, Ariz.
I laughed when I heard it that evening, willing to wait on history to prove "that way" would never work in the long run. I'm still laughing.
That last fling with glory was a long, long time ago. And now five head coaches ago, plus only two playoff wins ago.
Taking the exit on Monday was Wade Phillips, who wasn't fired because he was a bad head coach, which he was. But being a head coach wasn't why he was hired in the first place.
The ax fell on Phillips because his defense not only failed but also quit on him the past month. Phillips was the defensive coordinator with the false title of head coach.
That's the convoluted way Jerry the GM wanted it when he hired Wade, who was, yes, a nice guy/softest head coach in the history of the Cowboys/excuse-maker/whiner and, in the end, a helpless pawn for the same defensive players who were sadly saying Monday how much they loved the man.
They loved him, but they quit on him and left him hanging out on the sideline over the past three or four games, easy prey for the TV cameras showing a coach with the dazed look of confused and befuddled.
Love stinks.
Do believe what Jerry said on Monday, about how he agonized over this firing, because we know he did. Wade was the perfect head coach for Jerry the GM, who wants to be the uncontested face of the franchise.
But the disgrace in Green Bay on Sunday was so bad, and continued a five-game stretch of pathetic performances, not even Jerry the GM could tolerate his "perfect head coach" any longer.
Enter Jason Garrett.
Already the head coach in charge of offense, Garrett is now the head coach in charge of everything, when we consider the promotion of staff member Paul Pasqualoni to defensive coordinator.
Paul, who was the defensive line coach, will now answer to the head coach, unlike Garrett, who didn't necessarily have to answer to Wade.
What a wonderful new concept we now have. A head coach who is accountable for all aspects of the team.
Based on offensive execution, and points on the scoreboard, for the most of the past four seasons, Garrett could easily have been fired himself on Monday.
Instead, he's the new head coach for eight games, and is in an audition situation for next season and beyond, although with a backup quarterback and a defense that quit on the last head coach.
But I like the hire, simply because Jason was the most likely option to replace Wade, and it's a new voice, a different kind of voice, and if his Monday media session was any indication, a much stronger voice.
We'll see on that last part, but at least Garrett definitely knows where all the bodies are buried at Valley Ranch.
There are local football people who have both played with and have been Garrett pals for years and they have always maintained that Jason has all the prime qualities of a head coach.
"Accountability" is what they say Garrett will bring to a team. Funny (not ha-ha), but accountability is exactly what has been missing at Valley Ranch.
And despite Jerry the GM throwing around "accountability" on Monday, it has been a foreign concept at Valley Ranch since Bill Parcells checked out of the place, his departure coming with much delight for Jones, of course.
Until Jerry the Owner sticks strictly with stadium promotion (he's great at that), fires Jerry the GM, hires a real general manager, who hires his own head coach, then there will be no accountability with this team, and nothing resembling a true Super Bowl contender.
I thought Wade's defense, combined with the offense, would be good enough to make a Super Bowl run this season.
I blew that prediction, but at least I could see the mistake after just two bleeping games.
Jerry the GM is now working on two decades of not seeing himself as the problem. And he will...not...change. Bet that.
Good luck to the new head coach. But I don't like his chances and neither does team history, AJ. (After Jimmy.)
By Randy Galloway
The right guy was fired but for the wrong reasons.
The wrong guy was hired but for the right reasons.
In a major shakedown at Valley Ranch on Monday, it would not be accurate to say Jerry Jones screwed up this process. He didn't. But, of course, he will.
For 16 years and counting, from the day the Jimster left town in 1994, one truth has been constant:
The Cowboys are going nowhere near another Super Bowl, and never will, as long as Jerry the Owner keeps Jerry the GM as his football guru. If that reads like an echo, it is.
But no matter how many years you print it, it's still accurate.
That one exception, a Super Bowl run in the 1995 season, came with Jimmy's players, but once age and anarchy in the streets caught up with that group, we know the rest of the story.
"Jerry, we did it our way, baybee," was Barry Switzer famous winner's circle decree and hug-up with Jones that January night, 1996, in Tempe, Ariz.
I laughed when I heard it that evening, willing to wait on history to prove "that way" would never work in the long run. I'm still laughing.
That last fling with glory was a long, long time ago. And now five head coaches ago, plus only two playoff wins ago.
Taking the exit on Monday was Wade Phillips, who wasn't fired because he was a bad head coach, which he was. But being a head coach wasn't why he was hired in the first place.
The ax fell on Phillips because his defense not only failed but also quit on him the past month. Phillips was the defensive coordinator with the false title of head coach.
That's the convoluted way Jerry the GM wanted it when he hired Wade, who was, yes, a nice guy/softest head coach in the history of the Cowboys/excuse-maker/whiner and, in the end, a helpless pawn for the same defensive players who were sadly saying Monday how much they loved the man.
They loved him, but they quit on him and left him hanging out on the sideline over the past three or four games, easy prey for the TV cameras showing a coach with the dazed look of confused and befuddled.
Love stinks.
Do believe what Jerry said on Monday, about how he agonized over this firing, because we know he did. Wade was the perfect head coach for Jerry the GM, who wants to be the uncontested face of the franchise.
But the disgrace in Green Bay on Sunday was so bad, and continued a five-game stretch of pathetic performances, not even Jerry the GM could tolerate his "perfect head coach" any longer.
Enter Jason Garrett.
Already the head coach in charge of offense, Garrett is now the head coach in charge of everything, when we consider the promotion of staff member Paul Pasqualoni to defensive coordinator.
Paul, who was the defensive line coach, will now answer to the head coach, unlike Garrett, who didn't necessarily have to answer to Wade.
What a wonderful new concept we now have. A head coach who is accountable for all aspects of the team.
Based on offensive execution, and points on the scoreboard, for the most of the past four seasons, Garrett could easily have been fired himself on Monday.
Instead, he's the new head coach for eight games, and is in an audition situation for next season and beyond, although with a backup quarterback and a defense that quit on the last head coach.
But I like the hire, simply because Jason was the most likely option to replace Wade, and it's a new voice, a different kind of voice, and if his Monday media session was any indication, a much stronger voice.
We'll see on that last part, but at least Garrett definitely knows where all the bodies are buried at Valley Ranch.
There are local football people who have both played with and have been Garrett pals for years and they have always maintained that Jason has all the prime qualities of a head coach.
"Accountability" is what they say Garrett will bring to a team. Funny (not ha-ha), but accountability is exactly what has been missing at Valley Ranch.
And despite Jerry the GM throwing around "accountability" on Monday, it has been a foreign concept at Valley Ranch since Bill Parcells checked out of the place, his departure coming with much delight for Jones, of course.
Until Jerry the Owner sticks strictly with stadium promotion (he's great at that), fires Jerry the GM, hires a real general manager, who hires his own head coach, then there will be no accountability with this team, and nothing resembling a true Super Bowl contender.
I thought Wade's defense, combined with the offense, would be good enough to make a Super Bowl run this season.
I blew that prediction, but at least I could see the mistake after just two bleeping games.
Jerry the GM is now working on two decades of not seeing himself as the problem. And he will...not...change. Bet that.
Good luck to the new head coach. But I don't like his chances and neither does team history, AJ. (After Jimmy.)
