Cowboys: Dallas Can’t Allow More Excuses In 2016
The Dallas Cowboys will use excuses from the 2015 disaster during this offseason, but the approach in 2016 needs to change regarding personnel across the board.
The Dallas Cowboys 2015 season almost ended before it began. Key injuries to numerous players well after training camp and into the regular season obviously impacted how this team’s preseason Super Bowl aspirations would likely unfold.
The result was a disastrous 4-12 record and a most-unexpected last-place finish in the NFC East, one of the worst divisions in the NFL this season.
At one point do we acknowledge that injuries are an excuse rather than a factor?
This is a major question for Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones from this point moving forward.
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It’s one thing to concede that losing a cornerback like Orlando Scandrick, a quarterback like Tony Romo, a wide receiver like Dez Bryant and even a third running back like Lance Dunbar will change the capabilities of any football team.
Then again, are these misfortunes justification for the awful mess that the Cowboys produced last season in all but those four wins, only one or two of them resembling the convincing variety?
Hall of Fame Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman spoke to Dallas-Ft.Worth radio station The Ticket this week about many things, including what impact Romo’s injury made to the team, as a whole. The Dallas Morning News grabbed the following regarding how the entire franchise didn’t necessarily have to collapse because of a couple of big injuries.
"I think when Tony [Romo] went down, he gave a lot of people an excuse. It sounds to me like some people have used that excuse as to why this team wasn’t able to do more. It’s gotta go much deeper than that. You take Matt Cassel for instance. Matt had not played in a collegiate football game at quarterback while he was in college at [USC]. The last time he started a game was in high school. He takes over for Tom Brady years ago and he wins 10 games. Then he goes to Kansas City and he’s a Pro Bowl quarterback. You can’t tell me that he’s not capable of winning games in this league and they [the Cowboys] won one with him at quarterback."
Yes, things do run deeper – and I fully believe that injuries like those that the Cowboys suffered in ’15 were definitely the kind that reduce any teams capabilities, and especially with a head coach that doesn’t bring much credibility and experience to the table.
Nobody wants to say it, but Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett and his staff weren’t on the ball this season. They certainly weren’t in position to adapt to the tremendous adversity that struck the roster as training camp ended.
Why was that?
I’m not sure, but I liken it to the following analogy.
If you take two chefs with similar ingredients and ask them to make a great meal, they’ll probably do it.
But what if we swipe the steak and potatoes, for example, and still expect the same entree?
Well, we’re not going to get the same exact thing, but I’ll bet that both chefs can get creative enough with what they’ve still got, which is plenty for dinner, and use their skills and experience to come up with something quite good.
Right?
Garrett and Co. insisted on trying to make the steak and baked potato, despite the fact that they no longer had the ingredients to do so.
Would more experience and skill at the top have changed the possibilities for the Cowboys last season?
In other words, would a better coaching staff – and I really mean head coach – have gotten better focus from the players?
Would they have been better able to inspire a team that was facing much more of an uphill climb than expected last season?
I believe so.
Garrett has delivered just once in five tries as an aspiring football coach – just using that term to describe this figure makes me squirm, but only because I see nothing in Garrett that in any way resembles the type of ‘A’ personality that’s generally required to lead men.
So, the excuses will be accepted much like a teacher agreeing that a student didn’t turn in a homework assignment because his dog really ate the homework. This is always a possibility, provided there really is a dog in the house, and when it happens there’s not much you can do about it. Preventing said dog access to the homework in the first place is where the true infraction really lies.
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So, Garrett had better lock up the dog in 2016. His boss, Jones, might accept excuses for as long as the billionaire is alive, but how long will the Cowboys fan base keep accepting frequent mediocrity – or worse?