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The Dallas Cowboys were in sore need of a win on Sunday afternoon against the Detroit Lions. Thankfully they got it. Why did Dallas need a win so badly? Well, they lost last week. In rough fashion. The Cowboys dropped a game against the Minnesota Vikings in your classic “snatched defeat from the jaws of victory” way, and that had a lot of fans feeling frustrated.
While there’s certainly a difference between being a fan and a player for the Cowboys, it’s a fair assumption to say that some players were likely miffed with the way the Minnesota game was handled as well. Of course the reference here is regarding the play-calls on the infamous 2nd-and-2 and 3rd-and-2 situations, not to mention the decision to have Tavon Austin call for a fair catch on a punt that gave Dallas one final opportunity.
There was a feeling that Jason Garrett didn’t own up to the loss in a way that a head coach should. If that was the case, Jason Garrett took it upon himself to rectify the situation personally. According to the NFL Network, the head coach held a meeting with his players on Thursday to own up for things that happened against the Vikings.
For those questioning this tweet, it shows the coach was responsive and sensitive to the fact that he felt the players needed to know that he had his hand up as well when it came to taking accountability for this season. Something that got lost in translation post Vikings loss. https://t.co/YZJFhtySE2
— Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) November 17, 2019
Jason Garrett detractors are not going to see this and suddenly believe that he’s an elite head coach worthy of an extension. And to be clear, nobody here is saying that, but at least he saw a problem and did something.
Jason Garrett has always had a locker room that fights for him and refuses to quit when things look most bleak. Part of this is due to his ability to sense how they’re feeling and when he needs to do something. Clearly that was the case last week.
While they weren’t playing super elite competition in the Jeff Driskel-led Lions on Sunday, it seems as if the Cowboys responded. They had a great offensive showing behind quarterback Dak Prescott, although the defense continued to struggle.
Garrett can have all the conversations that he wants to with his team but if the defense can’t stop Jeff Driskel, they’re going to face much more serious problems across the final six games of the regular season and, if they make it there, the playoffs.