Dallas Cowboys: Jason Garrett's disastrous take on Analytics

Jason Garrett said that gameday analytics are not valued on the Dallas Cowboys, and that they aren’t best for the team. Analytics say Jason is wrong.

After a terrible looking loss to the New England Patriots, Jerry Jones, fans, analysts, nearly everyone not name Stephen Jones came gunning for Jason Garrett. Then Garrett went on the radio and was asked about the use of analytics during the game and said, “it wasn’t best for the team.” He doubled down in his press conference saying that gameday analytics weren’t “valued.” Welcome to the end of the Jason Garrett era.

Before I continue, let me be clear in saying that not a lot of teams use gameday analytics like the Baltimore Ravens do. Bill Belichick has said that he doesn’t use them, but Belichick has proven he understands in-game situations and can make the right call most of the time. I don’t expect every team or coach to use analytics. I certainly do not expect every play to be a conversation in analytics.

However, refusing to being open to using them when it has been proven Jason Garrett doesn’t make the correct calls in-game is a huge problem. The Dallas Cowboys have an analytics department. No doubt they are used in game preparation and in film review. But to not have information given to you when you most need it is shortsighted and to be blunt, stupid.

Jason Garrett has been a poor manager of games. For ten years the repeated mistakes of clock management, wrong decisions in-game, the lack of adjusting to teams, and the understanding of the game flow has been some of the biggest issues people have with Garrett. One way to mitigate all of these mistakes is the use of real-time, in-game analytics. Even if you do not go with the suggestion, at least listen to the options.

The two answers from Jason Garrett amplify all that is wrong with him as a head coach. His stubbornness to change is on display for the world to see now. The Ravens are on the cutting edge of the analytics movement, but to not even listen to the topic is shortsighted. Either Jason Garrett doesn’t understand analytics or he genuinely believes he knows more than what they can offer. Either way, it should signal the end of Jason Garrett.

Except there is a deeper issue here, one that should worry people more than Jason refusing to accept analytics. With as mad as Jerry Jones was after the game, and as apt as he has been to use analytics himself, why is he not forcing Jason to use them, he had to know Jason felt this way. Something, or someone is supporting Jason to allow him to say this and be okay with it.

This brings us to Stephen Jones. If you listened to the interviews of both Jason Garrett and Jerry Jones, all signs point to Jason being gone. Then Stephen Jones got on the radio and said, he felt they were getting the best out of the coaching staff. Read that again, Stephen is supporting Jason Garrett. There might be a power struggle inside The Star between Jerry and Stephen, winner decides Garrett’s fate.

Dallas Cowboys: Jason Garrett’s disastrous take on Analytics

By Daniel Ruppert | Nov 26, 2019

Jason Garrett said that gameday analytics are not valued on the Dallas Cowboys, and that they aren’t best for the team. Analytics say Jason is wrong.