Posted by jellis at 11/9/2010 12:21 PM CST on truebluefanclub.com
If Jason Garrett and the rest of the Cowboys are to be evaluated this season based on playing winning ball and actually winning games, one of the first things they have to do is figure out how to run the football.
For the time being, with a damaged defense and a backup quarterback, the offense's complete inability to control games on the ground is the biggest hurdle to overcome.
Garrett knows this. His promotion comes just a week after his lack of commitment to the running game was criticized by defensive end Igor Olshansky.
"The only thing I know to do is continue to emphasize it," Garrett said. "You emphasize it in meetings, you emphasize it in practice, and you try to take that emphasis to the field on Sunday. At different times this year we have run the ball OK. We haven't run it consistently well enough, so we need to get back to doing that.
"We need to run the ball better, we need to defend the run better, we need to be more balanced on the offensive side of the ball and we need to do the things that contribute to winning. We turn the ball over too much, we haven't been physical enough in the running game to control the game enough. So we need to continue to make that emphasis, and hopefully it will show up on Sunday."
If Jason Garrett and the rest of the Cowboys are to be evaluated this season based on playing winning ball and actually winning games, one of the first things they have to do is figure out how to run the football.
For the time being, with a damaged defense and a backup quarterback, the offense's complete inability to control games on the ground is the biggest hurdle to overcome.
Garrett knows this. His promotion comes just a week after his lack of commitment to the running game was criticized by defensive end Igor Olshansky.
"The only thing I know to do is continue to emphasize it," Garrett said. "You emphasize it in meetings, you emphasize it in practice, and you try to take that emphasis to the field on Sunday. At different times this year we have run the ball OK. We haven't run it consistently well enough, so we need to get back to doing that.
"We need to run the ball better, we need to defend the run better, we need to be more balanced on the offensive side of the ball and we need to do the things that contribute to winning. We turn the ball over too much, we haven't been physical enough in the running game to control the game enough. So we need to continue to make that emphasis, and hopefully it will show up on Sunday."
