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Spagnola: Perfect Time To Promote Garrett
IRVING, Texas - Just do it.
Right now. Don't delay.
Take that i-n-t-e-r-i-m tag from in front of head coach Jason Garrett and feed it to a shredder. Let him move into the office initially designed for Tom Landry on a permanent basis. No title stigma.
Interim is such a benign designation. Might as well be something like step-coach or substitute-coach. Just reeks of temporariness, this as-if-for-now status undermining whatever authority he might have with the players and assistants, along with any amount of legitimacy with the fans.
Just put the sign on the door: Head Coach Jason Garrett.
This is what Cowboys owner Jerry Jones really wants to do, and has wanted to do at some point ever since hiring Garrett back in January of 2007 when Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga gave him basically a one-week ultimatum when under NFL rules he really didn't have to: Either hire Garrett right now or forget about it no matter you haven't decided on a head coach yet, because technically he's ours.
This also is what Jones had in mind following the 1999 season when Garrett's contract expired, making him a free agent and one of the cherished candidates in the backup quarterback community. Jerry tried to convince Garrett to give up on his football career and start his coaching training immediately with the Cowboys.
As Jerry remembers it, "Jason is the only guy I've offered a coaching job to who has turned me down," and really with good reason since Garrett at the time was just turning 34 and felt he had a few playing years left in him.
And, of course, after the brilliant 2007 season as a first-time offensive coordinator and only three years into his coaching career, Jerry offered him enough money to at least have something to weigh when those head coaching opportunities arose in Baltimore and Atlanta and then the soft overtures from St. Louis and Detroit.
Now I am not naïve nor am I a proponent of upstaging the very integrity of the Rooney Rule, which mandates at least one minority candidate being interviewed for any head coach opening in the NFL. Neither would Jones. He told me just that mid-week, saying he would not in any way do anything to minimize the Rooney Rule. So technically he could not remove the interim tag without first interviewing a minority candidate since nothing was written into Jason's contract bequeathing him the head coaching job if anything happened to Wade Phillips - a certain surprise to many of the assuming know-it-alls out there.
So guess I'm saying if Jones could, or if he wanted to just bring someone in for an interview to satisfy those Rooney Rule watchdogs out there, this is the perfect time to hire Garrett as the undisputed Dallas Cowboys head coach.
Come on, you've seen the difference in this team. It's not even your 12-week-old baby girl's Dallas Cowboys. Because admit it, at the start of the fourth quarter on Thanksgiving Day, you had forgotten all about that unforgiveable 1-7 start. You had forgotten that this actually was a 3-7 team you suddenly were lustily cheering for again. My gosh, it was as if this were a brave new season, your Dallas Cowboys but 2-0 and trailing the defending world champion New Orleans Saints just 23-20 with a full quarter to go.
There is momentum. Why, the Cowboys, in Garrett's interim head coaching debut, went up to New Jersey with a 1-7 team mired in a five-game losing streak and minus its starting quarterback to spank the erstwhile 6-2 Giants, winners of five straight, 33-20. They then returned home to dismiss the equally erstwhile 2-7 Detroit Lions, 35-19, just the way they should have.
And look, I have not gone into some tryptophan-induced slumber from eating too much turkey on Thanksgiving. I know the Cowboys were beaten, 30-27, that afternoon by the Saints. But come on, let's be reasonable here about what the 3-7 Cowboys almost did to the 7-3 defending champs.
The Cowboys had the lead 27-23 with 3:03 left to play, and if not for an incredible effort by New Orleans safety Malcolm Jenkins to steal the ball from a hard-charging Roy Williams at the Saints' 11, the Cowboys would have salted this game away. Even so, they still were kicking for the tying field goal, albeit 59 yards away, with the final seconds ticking off the clock.
The 27 points the Cowboys scored are the second most the Saints have given up in the past six games, and only the second time they have yielded more than 19 points in the past six games. The 457 yards the Cowboys gained are the most all season totaled against the Saints, and only the fourth time all year the Saints have given up 400 yards of offense and been outgained by an opponent. The 313 yards passing by backup quarterback Jon Kitna marks just the second time this season that the Saints have been hit for a 300-yard passing performance.
Plus, and this to me is what's most important: You guys were either on your feet cheering your guts out among the 93,985 at Cowboys Stadium from the fourth quarter on or had not turned the flat screen off at home by the start of the fourth quarter as you mostly had over the first eight games of the season. And maybe most surprising, you didn't take that turkey dinner-induced nap by the start of the fourth quarter as planned for a game the Cowboys were a touchdown dog, and at home at that.
And ... and ... on top of all this, this Cowboys team did not throw in the towel after going down 17-0 and 20-3 with 43 seconds left in the first half, certainly no reflection of that group embarrassingly run out of Green Bay 45-7 on national TV.
Yeah, heading in the right direction, no matter the W's and L's.
And I'm not saying the Cowboys should be happy with taking solace in a moral victory. Garrett isn't. Jones certainly isn't. And the players didn't want to hear about it, which might be the best thing coming out of Thursday's game. No longer are the Cowboys given - or accepting - a soft pillow to lay their heads upon after a disheartening loss.
Take Buehler. He didn't want to accept any atta-boys for his valiant attempt from 59 yards, saying afterward, "This sucks. Put yourself in my shoes - you know how I'm feeling." He was crushed he missed, no matter the unreasonable distance.
Nose tackle Jay Ratliff was emotionally crushed, hurt deeply they let this one get away, but even this bottom-line dude could sense the worm turning, saying, "The way we played and the emotion we had today, I'm not going to hold my head down about that, not at all."
Wait, and Jones might let a diminishing record or fan discontent improperly influence his ultimate decision. All this talk about Garrett must go 6-2 to earn the job to me is nonsense. With this schedule and this team and operating without your franchise quarterback makes utilizing any record barometer seem unreasonable.
Come on, ride the wave.
Even the no-nonsense Jason Witten sensed this all has been different, and while he wanted to be sure to point out "the standard stays the same, moral victories are not the goal out there, but I'm proud of our team, proud of our guys since you still kick yourself (for losing).
"But it shows what Jason stands for."
And just so were not mistaken, that's Jason Garrett, who by all rights should be transitioned from interim head coach to next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
Spagnola: Perfect Time To Promote Garrett
IRVING, Texas - Just do it.
Right now. Don't delay.
Take that i-n-t-e-r-i-m tag from in front of head coach Jason Garrett and feed it to a shredder. Let him move into the office initially designed for Tom Landry on a permanent basis. No title stigma.
Interim is such a benign designation. Might as well be something like step-coach or substitute-coach. Just reeks of temporariness, this as-if-for-now status undermining whatever authority he might have with the players and assistants, along with any amount of legitimacy with the fans.
Just put the sign on the door: Head Coach Jason Garrett.
This is what Cowboys owner Jerry Jones really wants to do, and has wanted to do at some point ever since hiring Garrett back in January of 2007 when Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga gave him basically a one-week ultimatum when under NFL rules he really didn't have to: Either hire Garrett right now or forget about it no matter you haven't decided on a head coach yet, because technically he's ours.
This also is what Jones had in mind following the 1999 season when Garrett's contract expired, making him a free agent and one of the cherished candidates in the backup quarterback community. Jerry tried to convince Garrett to give up on his football career and start his coaching training immediately with the Cowboys.
As Jerry remembers it, "Jason is the only guy I've offered a coaching job to who has turned me down," and really with good reason since Garrett at the time was just turning 34 and felt he had a few playing years left in him.
And, of course, after the brilliant 2007 season as a first-time offensive coordinator and only three years into his coaching career, Jerry offered him enough money to at least have something to weigh when those head coaching opportunities arose in Baltimore and Atlanta and then the soft overtures from St. Louis and Detroit.
Now I am not naïve nor am I a proponent of upstaging the very integrity of the Rooney Rule, which mandates at least one minority candidate being interviewed for any head coach opening in the NFL. Neither would Jones. He told me just that mid-week, saying he would not in any way do anything to minimize the Rooney Rule. So technically he could not remove the interim tag without first interviewing a minority candidate since nothing was written into Jason's contract bequeathing him the head coaching job if anything happened to Wade Phillips - a certain surprise to many of the assuming know-it-alls out there.
So guess I'm saying if Jones could, or if he wanted to just bring someone in for an interview to satisfy those Rooney Rule watchdogs out there, this is the perfect time to hire Garrett as the undisputed Dallas Cowboys head coach.
Come on, you've seen the difference in this team. It's not even your 12-week-old baby girl's Dallas Cowboys. Because admit it, at the start of the fourth quarter on Thanksgiving Day, you had forgotten all about that unforgiveable 1-7 start. You had forgotten that this actually was a 3-7 team you suddenly were lustily cheering for again. My gosh, it was as if this were a brave new season, your Dallas Cowboys but 2-0 and trailing the defending world champion New Orleans Saints just 23-20 with a full quarter to go.
There is momentum. Why, the Cowboys, in Garrett's interim head coaching debut, went up to New Jersey with a 1-7 team mired in a five-game losing streak and minus its starting quarterback to spank the erstwhile 6-2 Giants, winners of five straight, 33-20. They then returned home to dismiss the equally erstwhile 2-7 Detroit Lions, 35-19, just the way they should have.
And look, I have not gone into some tryptophan-induced slumber from eating too much turkey on Thanksgiving. I know the Cowboys were beaten, 30-27, that afternoon by the Saints. But come on, let's be reasonable here about what the 3-7 Cowboys almost did to the 7-3 defending champs.
The Cowboys had the lead 27-23 with 3:03 left to play, and if not for an incredible effort by New Orleans safety Malcolm Jenkins to steal the ball from a hard-charging Roy Williams at the Saints' 11, the Cowboys would have salted this game away. Even so, they still were kicking for the tying field goal, albeit 59 yards away, with the final seconds ticking off the clock.
The 27 points the Cowboys scored are the second most the Saints have given up in the past six games, and only the second time they have yielded more than 19 points in the past six games. The 457 yards the Cowboys gained are the most all season totaled against the Saints, and only the fourth time all year the Saints have given up 400 yards of offense and been outgained by an opponent. The 313 yards passing by backup quarterback Jon Kitna marks just the second time this season that the Saints have been hit for a 300-yard passing performance.
Plus, and this to me is what's most important: You guys were either on your feet cheering your guts out among the 93,985 at Cowboys Stadium from the fourth quarter on or had not turned the flat screen off at home by the start of the fourth quarter as you mostly had over the first eight games of the season. And maybe most surprising, you didn't take that turkey dinner-induced nap by the start of the fourth quarter as planned for a game the Cowboys were a touchdown dog, and at home at that.
And ... and ... on top of all this, this Cowboys team did not throw in the towel after going down 17-0 and 20-3 with 43 seconds left in the first half, certainly no reflection of that group embarrassingly run out of Green Bay 45-7 on national TV.
Yeah, heading in the right direction, no matter the W's and L's.
And I'm not saying the Cowboys should be happy with taking solace in a moral victory. Garrett isn't. Jones certainly isn't. And the players didn't want to hear about it, which might be the best thing coming out of Thursday's game. No longer are the Cowboys given - or accepting - a soft pillow to lay their heads upon after a disheartening loss.
Take Buehler. He didn't want to accept any atta-boys for his valiant attempt from 59 yards, saying afterward, "This sucks. Put yourself in my shoes - you know how I'm feeling." He was crushed he missed, no matter the unreasonable distance.
Nose tackle Jay Ratliff was emotionally crushed, hurt deeply they let this one get away, but even this bottom-line dude could sense the worm turning, saying, "The way we played and the emotion we had today, I'm not going to hold my head down about that, not at all."
Wait, and Jones might let a diminishing record or fan discontent improperly influence his ultimate decision. All this talk about Garrett must go 6-2 to earn the job to me is nonsense. With this schedule and this team and operating without your franchise quarterback makes utilizing any record barometer seem unreasonable.
Come on, ride the wave.
Even the no-nonsense Jason Witten sensed this all has been different, and while he wanted to be sure to point out "the standard stays the same, moral victories are not the goal out there, but I'm proud of our team, proud of our guys since you still kick yourself (for losing).
"But it shows what Jason stands for."
And just so were not mistaken, that's Jason Garrett, who by all rights should be transitioned from interim head coach to next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
