Dallas Cowboys: Why a coaching change is needed

The Dallas Cowboys ended their season on a sour note, missing the playoffs with a 9-7 record. However, this is a talented team that may just need new leadership.

Since Jason Garrett became the Dallas Cowboys head coach, his teams have missed the playoffs five times (six times if you count his 5-3 record in 2010 as the interim head coach). During that span, Garrett had three straight 8-8 seasons with playoff implications on the line. He went 4-12 in 2015, and finished 2017 with a 9-7 record.

This season is by far the most disappointing one because the Cowboys had enough talent to reach the Super Bowl yet they failed to even get into the playoffs.

With a young and talented up and coming team, the Cowboys need a new head coach to lead to better success. It’s that simple. There is nothing to debate or argue. The Cowboys are in need of new leadership.

This young team needs a coach who can develop their talents, coach them up, and lead them to the promised land, the Super Bowl. A coach that does more than clap whenever his team is massively underperforming.

If you need more proof Garrett is the wrong man for the job, just look at this past season. The Cowboys had one of the most talented rosters in the NFL and were coming off of a 13-3 season as reigning NFC East champs.

The Cowboys were bringing back the NFL’s leading rusher and the ROY (rookie of the year) in Dak Prescott. And the Cowboys were viewed as Super Bowl contenders.

When it comes to coaching, its more than”x and o’s”. A head coach needs to know how to motivate his players, encourage them, change their attitude, inspire them, hold them accountable for mistakes, and set a high standard of excellence.

Somehow the Cowboys went 5-3 with Ezekiel Elliott in the starting lineup. However, the Cowboys should’ve been 7-1 because they blew double-digit leads to the Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers, losses that would come back to haunt them.

Instead of taking advantage of winnable games, the Cowboys were stuck at 5-3 and lost three straight games and went 3-3 while Zeke served his six game suspension.

We witnessed the Cowboys dramatic downfall, losing an elimination game to the playoffs to the undermanned Seattle Seahawks.

There is no way in hell the Cowboys were supposed to lose to the Seahawks. But that’s what happens with inept coaching and a coach who claps louder than thunder.

It yields mediocre results. This is why Garrett has to go because he simply can’t make adjustments, even when he knows in advance an adjustment has to be made. The Zeke suspension is an example.

Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan had plenty of time during the offseason to prepare for Zeke’s impending suspension. Heck, they had several mini camps and a full training camp to implement a backup plan.

Also, watching your franchise quarterback get sacked six times before benching the left tackle is another level of ineptitude. To be that ill-prepared to stop an average pass rusher and not have any contingency plan is gross negligence at the highest level.

Those are just a few examples of Garrett’s inabilities to lead a team to success. I could go on forever about Garrett’s flaws but I’ll need my own talk radio show to do that.

A better coach would’ve won 11-13 games, easily, with the Cowboys roster. Seriously, the Cowboys could’ve won that many games with the right coaching. This team lost seven games and three of them they should’ve won (Rams, Packers, and Seahawks).

If Dallas wins those three games and wins at least one game against either the Falcons, Eagles, or Chargers, that’s 13 wins. So tell me again why “Captain Clapper” is still the head coach? Oh, that’s right, Jerry Jones is the owner and he needs his puppet.

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I’m not about to waste my breath on Jerry. I wrote an article last week about how Jerry has destroyed the legacy of this historic franchise.

In the meantime, look at the success of the Los Angeles Rams and their rookie head coach Sean McVay. The Rams are 11-5, NFC West champs, and will host the Atlanta Falcons in the first round of the playoffs Saturday night.

McVay is the NFL’s youngest coach, but what’s impressive about McVay is how he turned around an underachieving a 4-12 team and won a divisional title in his first year of coaching. This is the exact team that former head coach Jeff Fisher resided over-who went 31-45-1 with zero playoff appearances in five seasons as the head coach.

Further, McVay has coached the Rams so good that running back Todd Gurley is a MVP candidate, and former number one pick Jared Goff is playing like an elite franchise quarterback.

None of the above was ever going to happen under the leadership of Fisher, a veteran coach with an overall 173-165-1 record.

Fisher was a mediocre coach just like Garrett. That’s why a new coach is needed because this team needs someone to maximize their potential. Dallas is as talented as any team in the playoffs, NFC and AFC.

If McVay can do it for the Rams, I know there’s another coach who can do the same for Dallas. However, I’m well aware it won’t happen anytime soon because ole Jerry is steadfast on keeping Garrett as Dallas’ head coach for 2018 (it seems like Garrett has been coaching forever).

Next: Dallas Cowboys: Assessing all of the offseason needs

When it comes to coaching, it’s more than just “x and o’s”. A head coach needs to know how to motivate his players, encourage them, change their attitude, inspire them, hold them accountable for mistakes, and set a high standard of excellence.

But as long as Garrett remains Dallas’ head coach, this team will remain the sports version of a Greek Tragedy, having something of importance, only to see it end in disaster and disappointment.

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