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By Jean-Jacques Taylor
jjtaylor@dallasnews.com
IRVING — No honeymoon exists for Jason Garrett as he enters his first full season as the Cowboys’ coach.
He still has the residue of this season’s 1-7 start on his reputation, and there’s still a chunk of the fan base who wish someone — anyone — other than Garrett had been selected as the eighth coach in franchise history.
Since 1997, the Cowboys are 112-112 with one playoff win. They have just four seasons of at least 10 wins in that span.
That represents the epitome of mediocrity.
For a proud franchise with an illustrious history and five Super Bowl championships, that’s not nearly good enough.
Garrett has been charged with making the Cowboys a championship-caliber team again instead of simply a league-wide joke.
Here are four things that must happen for Garrett to be successful.
1) Rob Ryan must succeed: This is Garrett’s hire all the way. There’s no ambiguity now that Jerry Jones has informed the world that Garrett has the authority to hire and fire coaches — even if it’s not actually in his contract.
So Garrett will deserve all the credit if Ryan does for the Cowboys’ defense what his dad, Buddy Ryan, did for the 1985 Bears or his brother, Rex, has done for the Jets’ defense the last two seasons as head coach.
And he’ll get all of the blame, as he should, if this hire fails.
Every bit of it.
More important, if this hire doesn’t work there’s no guarantee Garrett will get an opportunity to rectify it, because Ryan is going to have two or three seasons to make this defense nasty.
His first order of business is to get cornerback Mike Jenkins and outside linebacker Anthony Spencer back to playing at a high level. Do that, and everything else will fall into place.
2) Manage the relationship with Tony Romo: A faction of the locker room — no matter how small — believes Garrett coddles Tony Romo, assigning blame for every mistake the quarterback makes to someone else.
Perception is reality, and Garrett must accept that.
He must make Romo as accountable as every other player on the roster. Frankly, he should probably ride him harder than any other player just to make sure everyone understands Romo is held to the highest possible standard.
The game is always about the quarterback. The four teams still playing for the NFL championship have only reinforced that notion.
Romo and Garrett have developed a close bond during the four seasons they’ve worked together, and the coach has played a significant role in Romo’s 118 touchdown passes, 62 interceptions and 95.5 passer rating in 89 starts.
Listen closely and you’ll notice they often use the same talking points. Each man reveals little when he speaks, providing seemingly preplanned answers designed to appease the media without revealing much of substance.
Romo and Garrett will be linked together in franchise history. Their relationship must be beyond reproach.
3) Make personally difficult decisions: The best coaches make decisions they don’t want to make.
They fire their friends, if necessary. The get rid of players who are their personal favorites a year early rather than a year late — even if they’ve helped win titles.
Garrett loves Marion Barber’s passion and toughness, but he was reduced to being a ceremonial starter this season for reasons known only to Garrett.
Right now, he’s the third-best running back on the team, but he’s going to be one of the highest-paid players on the roster next season.
It’s time to move on. We all know it.
The same goes for secondary coach Dave Campo, who has been among the most loyal coaches Jerry has ever had. But Rob Ryan needs to hire whomever he wants. It’s doubtful that’s Campo.
Make him a consultant. Reassign him. For whatever reason, he never figured out how to help Mike Jenkins last season.
Sadly, it’s time for a new voice in the secondary.
4) Develop an identity: The Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets have an identity. They run the ball and play tough, physical defense.
The Green Bay Packers run the West Coast offense, specialize in screen passes and run an exotic 3-4 defense under Dom Capers. The Chicago Bears run the Tampa 2 zone defense that doesn’t give up the big play.
Notice a trend?
Each of those teams knows exactly who it is and what it does. These Cowboys don’t have a clue.
Are they a power running team? Or a passing team? Do they run the 3-4 with zone principles or man-to-man?
Garrett must fix that.
He must give this team an identity, something it can count on when adversity strikes during a game. Something the opponent can’t take away.
The Cowboys of the early 90s were a power running team with a timing-based passing game on offense. On defense, they were an undersized 4-3 team that relied on speed.
Until these Cowboys figure out who and what they are, the mediocrity will continue.
jjtaylor@dallasnews.com
IRVING — No honeymoon exists for Jason Garrett as he enters his first full season as the Cowboys’ coach.
He still has the residue of this season’s 1-7 start on his reputation, and there’s still a chunk of the fan base who wish someone — anyone — other than Garrett had been selected as the eighth coach in franchise history.
Since 1997, the Cowboys are 112-112 with one playoff win. They have just four seasons of at least 10 wins in that span.
That represents the epitome of mediocrity.
For a proud franchise with an illustrious history and five Super Bowl championships, that’s not nearly good enough.
Garrett has been charged with making the Cowboys a championship-caliber team again instead of simply a league-wide joke.
Here are four things that must happen for Garrett to be successful.
1) Rob Ryan must succeed: This is Garrett’s hire all the way. There’s no ambiguity now that Jerry Jones has informed the world that Garrett has the authority to hire and fire coaches — even if it’s not actually in his contract.
So Garrett will deserve all the credit if Ryan does for the Cowboys’ defense what his dad, Buddy Ryan, did for the 1985 Bears or his brother, Rex, has done for the Jets’ defense the last two seasons as head coach.
And he’ll get all of the blame, as he should, if this hire fails.
Every bit of it.
More important, if this hire doesn’t work there’s no guarantee Garrett will get an opportunity to rectify it, because Ryan is going to have two or three seasons to make this defense nasty.
His first order of business is to get cornerback Mike Jenkins and outside linebacker Anthony Spencer back to playing at a high level. Do that, and everything else will fall into place.
2) Manage the relationship with Tony Romo: A faction of the locker room — no matter how small — believes Garrett coddles Tony Romo, assigning blame for every mistake the quarterback makes to someone else.
Perception is reality, and Garrett must accept that.
He must make Romo as accountable as every other player on the roster. Frankly, he should probably ride him harder than any other player just to make sure everyone understands Romo is held to the highest possible standard.
The game is always about the quarterback. The four teams still playing for the NFL championship have only reinforced that notion.
Romo and Garrett have developed a close bond during the four seasons they’ve worked together, and the coach has played a significant role in Romo’s 118 touchdown passes, 62 interceptions and 95.5 passer rating in 89 starts.
Listen closely and you’ll notice they often use the same talking points. Each man reveals little when he speaks, providing seemingly preplanned answers designed to appease the media without revealing much of substance.
Romo and Garrett will be linked together in franchise history. Their relationship must be beyond reproach.
3) Make personally difficult decisions: The best coaches make decisions they don’t want to make.
They fire their friends, if necessary. The get rid of players who are their personal favorites a year early rather than a year late — even if they’ve helped win titles.
Garrett loves Marion Barber’s passion and toughness, but he was reduced to being a ceremonial starter this season for reasons known only to Garrett.
Right now, he’s the third-best running back on the team, but he’s going to be one of the highest-paid players on the roster next season.
It’s time to move on. We all know it.
The same goes for secondary coach Dave Campo, who has been among the most loyal coaches Jerry has ever had. But Rob Ryan needs to hire whomever he wants. It’s doubtful that’s Campo.
Make him a consultant. Reassign him. For whatever reason, he never figured out how to help Mike Jenkins last season.
Sadly, it’s time for a new voice in the secondary.
4) Develop an identity: The Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets have an identity. They run the ball and play tough, physical defense.
The Green Bay Packers run the West Coast offense, specialize in screen passes and run an exotic 3-4 defense under Dom Capers. The Chicago Bears run the Tampa 2 zone defense that doesn’t give up the big play.
Notice a trend?
Each of those teams knows exactly who it is and what it does. These Cowboys don’t have a clue.
Are they a power running team? Or a passing team? Do they run the 3-4 with zone principles or man-to-man?
Garrett must fix that.
He must give this team an identity, something it can count on when adversity strikes during a game. Something the opponent can’t take away.
The Cowboys of the early 90s were a power running team with a timing-based passing game on offense. On defense, they were an undersized 4-3 team that relied on speed.
Until these Cowboys figure out who and what they are, the mediocrity will continue.
