I’ll be honest with you, for the past couple years I haven’t been a big fan of Jason Garrett. In fact, I’ve told people on several occasions that he should have been fired a long time ago. Luckily, Jerry Jones didn’t see it the same way I did because we’re finally beginning to see Garrett’s plan coming together.
Whether it was his clock management, play calling, or the fact that he couldn’t win the big games in week 17 to get the Cowboys into the playoffs, I always had something to complain about with Garrett. It’s safe to say after the beginning of this season that he’s started to grow on me. Jerry gave him the time that he needed to put his type of team together and in his fourth full season, he finally has it.
One thing that Jason Garrett made clear from the start is that he wanted high character guys who love to play the game; preferably team captains in college.
I wasn’t always on board with that thought. While you get some team leaders and hard workers, you don’t always get the guy that can fire the team up. You don’t get the guy with a mean streak that’ll come in and blow someone up. I’ve come to the conclusion that Garrett’s high character guys are what allow the Cowboys to bring in guys like Dez Bryant and Rolando McClain, who may have had some issues in the past. It gives guys like that a locker room full of veterans like Witten, Durant, Romo, and Carr who can mentor these players. They can still play with the fire on the field, but also figure out how to live right off the field.
This will play a big role in keeping McClain after this season. Reports have come out saying that he wants to wait and see what the staff is going to look like next year before resigning because he likes the structure of the organization.
Jason Garrett was on those Super Bowl teams in the 90’s and things have got to be looking pretty familiar to him right now. The Cowboys of today are built around a great offensive line and the new-age triplets Romo, Dez, and Murray. I’m not saying Garrett was the mastermind behind putting together a 90’s replica team, but I’m sure he played his part.
On top of that, he was given the freedom to hire his own play caller this year and that couldn’t have turned out any better. Linehan came in with a pass-happy reputation and quickly produced the number one rushing offense in the NFL.
While I’m sure there are still Jason Garrett haters out there, I am no longer one of them.
This team is different. They have a never say die mentality and fight on every play. If you want to win big games, there’s no other way to be and this starts at the top. Expect to see Garrett on the Cowboys sideline for the next couple years and expect to see some good Cowboys football.
