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Moore: Plenty at stake as Cowboys turn to evaluating players, coaches
10:51 PM CST on Monday, November 29, 2010
David Moore
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IRVING – One tired line of questioning has been retired.
Asking the Cowboys why they traditionally lose ground after Thanksgiving, probing to find how the ghosts of Decembers past still haunt them no longer seems appropriate.
When you never get started, does it really matter how you finish?
Actually, it does. These Cowboys won't ruin their playoff chances with a bad December. A team doesn't enter the final full month of the season at 3-8 with playoff aspirations unless it happens to reside in the NFC West.
But this stretch run means something to the players who are in the final year of their contract and want to return. It means something to Jason Garrett, who can remove the interim label that currently sits in front of his head coach title if the Cowboys finish the regular season with purpose and victories.
This is his audition.
"I don't really think about the word audition," Garrett said. "I think about doing the job as best I can each and every day.
"That's what we try to emphasize to our coaches and players."
The Cowboys will fail to make the playoffs for the second time in the last five seasons. They are one loss removed from the mathematical reality of finishing the season with a losing record for the first time in six years.
But don't float the theory that Sunday's game against the Indianapolis Colts is meaningless. Don't argue that a game against Washington, a Christmas night game against Arizona and two games against Philadelphia are irrelevant in the overall scheme of things.
"You're a professional," quarterback Jon Kitna said. "You get paid to play 16 games in this league, and your job is to play them to the best of your abilities.
"That's my job, that's everybody's job. So to sit around and lick your wounds or throw a pity party ...
"You have a job to do, and we'll do our job well."
A pity party could have broken out on the sidelines Thanksgiving Day after the Cowboys fell behind New Orleans, 17-0. But the way the Cowboys responded was not typical of a veteran team that had begun the season losing seven of its first eight games.
"One of the real positive things about our football team is that nobody blinked," Garrett said of the 30-27 loss to the Saints. "Everybody just kept playing, understanding you just have to keep executing, fighting our way through it and we'll have our chances as well, and we did as that game wore on."
Pride isn't the sole motivation for the players these final five games. Owner Jerry Jones has made it clear Garrett isn't the only person he's evaluating in the second half of this lost season. The players are being evaluated as well.
But here's the key: That evaluation takes place in the context of winning games. Garrett may insert a young backup into the rotation here and there. A Sean Lee or Sam Young might get some snaps this late in the season they wouldn't otherwise get.
But there won't be wholesale changes over these final five games. The Cowboys won't give unproven players extended possessions simply to see what they've got because the playoffs are out of reach. The priority is winning, not development.
"We're trying to win football games," Garrett said, "and the best way to do that is to go about your job as best you can each and every day."
The players also have a say in whether Garrett returns. As receiver Roy Williams pointed out, their poor performance got Wade Phillips fired. A strong finish to the season will likely convince Jones to bring Garrett back.
Is that motivation for this team?
"I don't know." Kitna said. "I can't speak for everybody in the locker room, but I like him."
The Cowboys won't make the playoffs. But these final five games do have meaning.
"I think there's always a tangible goal," Garrett said. "For different people it's probably different things.
"When you're playing and coaching on a football team, you want to put your best foot forward all the time. You want to take great pride in what you do.
"That's what we try to do, and at the end of it, hopefully you've become a better football team. If there's some rewards at the end of the season, that's fine, but we're trying to put our best foot forward each and every day."
• • •
10:51 PM CST on Monday, November 29, 2010
David Moore
Archive | E-mail
IRVING – One tired line of questioning has been retired.
Asking the Cowboys why they traditionally lose ground after Thanksgiving, probing to find how the ghosts of Decembers past still haunt them no longer seems appropriate.
When you never get started, does it really matter how you finish?
Actually, it does. These Cowboys won't ruin their playoff chances with a bad December. A team doesn't enter the final full month of the season at 3-8 with playoff aspirations unless it happens to reside in the NFC West.
But this stretch run means something to the players who are in the final year of their contract and want to return. It means something to Jason Garrett, who can remove the interim label that currently sits in front of his head coach title if the Cowboys finish the regular season with purpose and victories.
This is his audition.
"I don't really think about the word audition," Garrett said. "I think about doing the job as best I can each and every day.
"That's what we try to emphasize to our coaches and players."
The Cowboys will fail to make the playoffs for the second time in the last five seasons. They are one loss removed from the mathematical reality of finishing the season with a losing record for the first time in six years.
But don't float the theory that Sunday's game against the Indianapolis Colts is meaningless. Don't argue that a game against Washington, a Christmas night game against Arizona and two games against Philadelphia are irrelevant in the overall scheme of things.
"You're a professional," quarterback Jon Kitna said. "You get paid to play 16 games in this league, and your job is to play them to the best of your abilities.
"That's my job, that's everybody's job. So to sit around and lick your wounds or throw a pity party ...
"You have a job to do, and we'll do our job well."
A pity party could have broken out on the sidelines Thanksgiving Day after the Cowboys fell behind New Orleans, 17-0. But the way the Cowboys responded was not typical of a veteran team that had begun the season losing seven of its first eight games.
"One of the real positive things about our football team is that nobody blinked," Garrett said of the 30-27 loss to the Saints. "Everybody just kept playing, understanding you just have to keep executing, fighting our way through it and we'll have our chances as well, and we did as that game wore on."
Pride isn't the sole motivation for the players these final five games. Owner Jerry Jones has made it clear Garrett isn't the only person he's evaluating in the second half of this lost season. The players are being evaluated as well.
But here's the key: That evaluation takes place in the context of winning games. Garrett may insert a young backup into the rotation here and there. A Sean Lee or Sam Young might get some snaps this late in the season they wouldn't otherwise get.
But there won't be wholesale changes over these final five games. The Cowboys won't give unproven players extended possessions simply to see what they've got because the playoffs are out of reach. The priority is winning, not development.
"We're trying to win football games," Garrett said, "and the best way to do that is to go about your job as best you can each and every day."
The players also have a say in whether Garrett returns. As receiver Roy Williams pointed out, their poor performance got Wade Phillips fired. A strong finish to the season will likely convince Jones to bring Garrett back.
Is that motivation for this team?
"I don't know." Kitna said. "I can't speak for everybody in the locker room, but I like him."
The Cowboys won't make the playoffs. But these final five games do have meaning.
"I think there's always a tangible goal," Garrett said. "For different people it's probably different things.
"When you're playing and coaching on a football team, you want to put your best foot forward all the time. You want to take great pride in what you do.
"That's what we try to do, and at the end of it, hopefully you've become a better football team. If there's some rewards at the end of the season, that's fine, but we're trying to put our best foot forward each and every day."
• • •
