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Week 17 Notebook: Cowboys' Future, Chip Kelly's Undoing, More - Albert Breer, NFL.com
"He's safe," Cowboys executive vice president/COO Stephen Jones said [about Jason Garrett] over the phone early Tuesday night. "Change isn't always the right answer. We're not big believers in it. Jason, a year ago, everyone thought he hung the moon. That's the terrible thing about this business: You take one year, and change everything. This doesn't faze us, it won't faze us. We're totally in with Jason. We're totally in with our staff."
Breer drops in a little tidbit from the owner's son about the possibility that Dallas just might go ahead and pull the pin on a passer since they are drafting inside the top tier. Stephen throws out the pros and cons of taking that risk.
"Yeah, we gotta look at that," Jones said. "Obviously, it's a bigger deal now, with Tony injured. And I'm sure he'd understand it. But if we draft the guy [in the first round], we're drafting him to watch. And that's the hard thing. He could be watching for three years, but that's not all bad. It can be a good thing for them. Tony got to watch for a long time -- it helped him. Steve Young, Aaron Rodgers, players like that -- guys that have stepped in and played great -- got to watch."
With Garrett safe, attention now turns to the coaches who work under him, specifically the ones who helped lead the team to the second worst scoring average in the league. Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan still has the full support of his boss. One year after leading the team to its second highest scoring total ever, the offensive output dropped dramatically, but Garrett is looking big picture and what Linehan has done over his long coaching career.
"I just understand the kind of coach that he’s been in this league for a long time,’’ Garrett said. "I know the impact he had on our offense last year. I know the impact he’s had on offenses throughout his career.
"There are a lot of different circumstances that we’ve had to deal with as a team this year. There are no excuses for anybody, we recognize that. We know that more than anybody else.
"But I do believe you look at the body of work and you recognize what a guy is capable of doing, what he’s done and how he’s done it with different circumstances and you stand by him through your core convictions and your beliefs regardless of what the external circumstances are.’’
We are doubling down with Mr. Moore today as he kicks of the post season process that we will debate right up until the draft, or at least one of the topics. Agree with his assessment or not, this one is a good piece to start the conversation with.
Video: Rod Marinelli: Grading Jones & Gregory; Lee Shining - DallasCowboys.com
Since we are talking about grading the talent, let's let defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli tell us have he evaluates some of his guys.
"I think since he's been back, he's gotten better and better and better. That's really what we try to emphasize with all of our guys. He's embraced the opportunity. I do think cutting it loose is important for all players, particularly for young players." - Jason Garrett
Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't there another guy named DeMarcus that used to cut it loose from time to time?
Forget that it is a breakdown of the Cowboys failures against the Buffalo ground game, any analysis by Bob Sturm is worthy of your attention simply because it will increase your wealth of general football knowledge.
While this has been a pretty strong year for Sean Lee, I might argue the same cannot be said for almost the entire remainder of the linebacking group. Now, this is primarily about Rolando McClain, Anthony Hitchens, and a bit of Kyle Wilber, as the young Damien Wilson did not see the field much as a rookie.
As we look ahead to the draft, there will be questions for sure about whether the Cowboys should seek a destroyer at linebacker to make this defense into something more special. Because, to be honest, there was not a ton of "special" in this group all year.
Gruden: Rivalry Gives Meaning to Sunday's Cowboys-Redskins Game - Scott Crisp, NBCDFW.com
Blogging The Boys readers are well aware of my love for the history of the game and of the Dallas Cowboys. From my perspective there are few wins that are any sweeter than those that come over the Washington Redskins. Even the 1-15 season had as its sole mark of success against our oldest rival. This one is special, especially to those who remember the early years. Hearing Gruden's remarks on this game brought a rare smile to my face. He may be the enemy, but Coach Gruden gets it. He really does.
"If you sign up to coach the Washington Redskins, you automatically have a hatred for the Dallas Cowboys, that's for sure. It's a big time rivalry. There's a lot of respect there but you take this game very seriously because I know our fans do and I know our ownership does and everybody that wears Redskins colors, they really want this football game. "Whatever the situation, whatever is at stake, it's a big game for a lot of people and we take it very seriously."
Get your picks in for the BTB Pick 256 Challenge!
If you haven't yet submitted your picks, do it now before you forget to do it in all the New Year celebration. Here's the link to the entry form.
If the link above doesn't work for whatever reason, use the following alternative, which does not autofill your BTB user name into the entry form.
Alternative Pick 256 Entry Form
You still have until 1:00 pm EST on Sunday to submit your picks, but why not get the new year started on the right foot and make your picks now.