Dallas Cowboys: Can Kellen Moore Change Jason Garrett?

With the hiring of Kellen Moore to replace Scott Linehan the Dallas Cowboys are moving their offense in a different direction. Can Kellen change Jason too?

So far during the Dallas Cowboys OTAs the talk has been the formations Kellen Moore has been implementing. It looks like long gone are the conservative personnel groupings and predictable offense. Moore has been telling anyone who will listen the Cowboys will be different this year. The question is if Garrett can change when the time comes.

Over the past few years, fans and analysts have been down on how the Cowboys’ offense has been running. I don’t remember many games where the offense wasn’t overly predictable (outside of the Giants game last year). It seemed like every game the opposing defenses, analysts, fans, and announcers were making comments about how simple the Cowboys were.

It looks like the addition of Kellen Moore should inject some new ideas where the offense will run plays out of various formations. This is what many call, “wrinkles” in the offense. Runs out of 11 personnel, passes out of 12 personnel and so on. This should keep defenses guessing and help the 22nd ranked offense improve.

However, this all comes down to changing Jason Garrett‘s ingrained ways. One of the most critical critiques I, and others, have had about Garrett is that he is too conservative. Historically, he will turn to the run too early in games, punt on a 4th and inches, run three times inside the five, and other “safe” and predictable playcalling. While many have pointed to Scott Linehan as to the reason the Cowboys were so safe, it starts with Jason Garrett.

With what many view as a hot seat for Garrett, the chance of him resting his longevity on Kellen Moore could go one of two ways. First, he could see that Moore‘s change as paramount to sticking around. The other way, would be that he would not want to trust his future to something he isn’t in control of. Either way, success of the Cowboys will probably dictate the future of Garrett.