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As if an ice storm last week weren’t enough to beat the holiday spirit out of North Texans, they get their electricity and cable back just in time to see their head coach trussed up like Ralphie’s little brother in A Christmas Story while the Bears depantsed his defense. Given the mood, I’m surprised Jason Garrett didn’t leave Monte Kiffin in Chicago with his tongue stuck to a goalpost.
Cowboys fans fear it means no playoffs in their stockings. Trust me, it could be worse.
They could actually make it.
Stephen Jones certainly expects so, saying this week he’s confident that, once they do, they’ll “make a difference.” Why he’d expect anything different from what the Cowboys have been all season, particularly against winning teams, I don’t know. But let’s concede the point on making it. They certainly could. Consider the final three games.
Green Bay isn’t the same without Aaron Rodgers, who may or may not play Sunday. The Packers are being coy. If it were up to me, it’s a no-brainer. Nothing cures a quarterback like the Cowboys’ defense.
Even if Rodgers plays, though, the Packers have other problems. Meanwhile, the Cowboys will be back in cozy JerryWorld, where the only thing that makes you tear up is the concession prices.
Next up after the Packers: Washington, where the coach reportedly benched the franchise quarterback to provoke the owner into firing him just so he could get a nice severance. I am not making this up. The commissioner should stop counting money long enough to act outraged.
And the home finale against the Eagles? The win in Philadelphia was actually Kiffin’s finest hour. He shut down the Eagles’ running game and forced Nick Foles into his worst performance as a starter. Maybe he could do it again.
What you should also remember about the first Philadelphia game is that it was the Cowboys’ lone win over a team still in playoff contention.
Let me ask: Is it really worth it to make the playoffs, only to risk the embarrassment of another flop like Detroit or New Orleans or Chicago?
The team that came close to beating the Broncos and Chiefs is as distant in memory as Kiffin’s defensive success at Tampa Bay. Early in the season, the Cowboys were generally victims of top-rated quarterbacks. These days, the Cowboys get carved up by quarterbacks they don’t even know.
“Is that Luke McCown,” Orlando Scandrick asked an ESPN.com reporter after Monday’s game, “or Cade McCown?”
Give Scandrick this: He was close, which is more than you can say about most of the Cowboys’ defensive backs Monday. In fact, he was in position to pick off two Josh McCown passes and missed both. Bruce Carter, the linebacker, dropped another.
Defensive backs drop passes all the time. It’s why they’re not wide receivers. But this defense can’t afford any drops. It can stop an offense only by taking the ball away. Other than Philadelphia, Kiffin’s crew hasn’t stuffed anybody. Three NFL teams this year have gone an entire game without punting. Two were too busy steamrolling the Cowboys to bother.
Jerry Jones says the defense should blitz more. It sounds good, except every time the Cowboys blitzed Monday, McCown audibled to a screen. The Cowboys reacted like the Bears had invented an offense on the fly.
If the Cowboys can’t disguise their packages any better, they should just try tackling somebody.
The defense is so bad that it’s been recommended that they pass all the time. Win by shootout. Don’t run more than you pass, as the Cowboys did against Chicago.
Frankly, they didn’t run enough. The Bears have the league’s worst run defense. They couldn’t stop a run on support hose at Wal-Mart. The Cowboys averaged 7.1 yards, 2 better than they averaged per pass.
The game got away from them when they deserted the run.
Down 17-14 with 1:27 left in the half, they had an opportunity to tie or go ahead. But what they absolutely, positively had to do was keep the Bears from getting the ball again. Remember when they couldn’t run out the clock against Detroit, and it cost them a win?
They couldn’t kill the clock in the first half against Chicago, either. Four passes, three incomplete, and a punt. The Bears got the ball back in time for a miracle play and 10-point lead at the half.
Poor decisions continued into the third quarter, when the Cowboys had the ball for just two series. They called eight plays. Only two were runs. The others resulted in a pair of completions for a total of 18 yards, three incompletes and a sack. By the time the quarter was over, they were down 35-14.
Only when the Cowboys started running the ball in the fourth quarter did they score again, keeping Chicago’s ravenous offense from its defense in the process.
What it means is that the Cowboys not only don’t learn from their mistakes, they don’t learn from their successes, either. They’re also fooled by the schedule, which, in today’s NFL, presents a ready victim every other week.
There’s a reason these Cowboys haven’t won more than two games in a row, though they still might. It makes you shiver, and not from the cold.

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There is an undeclared war raging in Dallas.

It is obvious. Listen to the comments. Read between the lines. It is all there.

And it could get really ugly for head coach Jason Garrett if the Dallas Cowboys fail, again, to make the playoffs.

Last month, the Cowboys' all-purpose czar, Jerry Jones, bequeathed Garrett a fourth season in Dallas, saying that Garrett would definitely be back as head coach in 2014. But that was before the Week 15 collapse against the Packers. That was before the finger-pointing and shirking of responsibility and Garrett not taking one for the team. That was before the war.

Call it the War of 37-36.

What's transpired in the minutes and days since the Cowboys blew a 23-point halftime lead and lost to Green Bay is the result of Jones having slowly stripped Garrett of control over his team. Jones is the one who selected the roster. Jones is the one who picked the defensive coordinator, Monte Kiffin. Jones is the one who handed the play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Callahan.

Jones is the one who felt the defensive line was talented enough and deep enough that the Cowboys could trade down in the 2013 draft and forgo selecting Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd. Jones is the one who decided to release Jeremiah "Jay" Ratliff. The defensive line was supposed to be a position of strength for the Cowboys. Instead, 19 different linemen have played this season and the defense as a whole has been atrocious.

And Jones is the one who guaranteed Romo involvement in the weekly game planning and mentioned that part of justifying paying him like a Super Bowl MVP was his Peyton Manning-like involvement.

It is understandable that Garrett has had enough. He must be livid. He is coaching a team over which he has little say and less control and he must know, given his 28-26 record and zero playoff appearances, that time is against him.

Why else would he throw quarterback Tony Romo under the bus following the Green Bay loss? With 2 minutes, 46 seconds left in the game and the Cowboys clinging to a five-point lead, Romo emerged from a timeout, looked at the nine Packers defenders at or near the line of scrimmage and did what he's been taught over and over to do: check out of the run play and throw to a receiver.

Romo evaded a charging Clay Matthews, never set his feet and underthrew Miles Austin. Sam Shields intercepted the ball, and eight plays later the Packers took the lead. On the Cowboys' next possession, Romo threw another pick. Game over.

Afterward, Garrett uncharacteristically said Romo should have never thrown the ball to Austin. He said under no circumstance in that situation should Romo have checked out of the run play, even though the play had a tag that allowed Romo to change to a pass depending on the defensive alignment.

Garrett didn't take responsibility, either, for DeMarco Murray getting only seven carries in the second half after Murray gouged Green Bay for 93 first-half yards. He didn't take responsibility for one stretch of the second half where, despite the Cowboys having a sizable lead, Romo dropped back 14 of 15 times.

Instead, Garrett reminded everyone that he doesn't call the plays. Callahan does -- the way Jones wanted it to be.

Jones returned fire on his radio show Tuesday, backing Romo and his decision to throw on that second-and-6 play from the Dallas 35-yard line. Perhaps most telling, Jones refused to offer Garrett a vote of confidence. Now isn't the time for that, Jones said, even though November was, previously. If Garrett does feel like his job is slipping away from him, there remarkably is still time for him to alter his course. While he doesn't call the plays, he still has direct communication with Romo on every play. He could change calls. He could take control.

That's what Garrett should have done against the Packers. Everyone at Jerry World, except, apparently, the Cowboys coaching staff, knew that the surest way to protect the lead and win the game was to control the clock by running the ball. Dallas' best defense would have been to keep the offense on the field and the clock moving.

If presented with a similar situation Sunday against Washington, Garrett should demand that Callahan call running play after running play after running play. If Callahan refuses, Garrett should usurp him and call the plays himself.

Dallas can still win the NFC East. If the Cowboys beat Washington -- and let's face it, as dysfunctional as Dallas is, Washington and its three-headed monster are more so -- it doesn't matter what Philadelphia does against Chicago. The Cowboys-Eagles game in Week 17 will determine who wins the division and who watches the playoffs from home.

Garrett is in a precarious position. He knows he has a reputation for being a lousy game manager. He knows his quarterback has a history of making bad decisions late in games in December and January. Garrett needs to wrest control and put Romo in situations where he and the team can succeed.

If he doesn't, it won't matter at whom he points the finger, because ultimately Jones will point his at Garrett. The czar will always win this war, and the quarterback will not be collateral damage. The head coach will be.

Quote (Hoos @ Dec 21 2013 06:38pm)

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/%5F/id/10173983/jason-garrett-seize-control-cowboys-jerry-jones

not a bad read

Quote (Nerlens @ Dec 21 2013 05:42pm)

tl dr

Quote (TarHeels @ Dec 22 2013 10:51am)

@Edwerderespn
Source says current expectation is Jerry Jones will fire HC Jason Garrett and coaching staff unless the Cowboys win NFC East, make playoffs.

Quote (TarHeels @ Dec 22 2013 10:51am)

@Edwerderespn
Source says current expectation is Jerry Jones will fire HC Jason Garrett and coaching staff unless the Cowboys win NFC East, make playoffs.