Dallas Cowboys: 3 issues to address or history is destined to repeat
By Dink Kearney
Dallas Cowboys offensive play calling and situational football
When head Mike McCarthy was hired back in January of 2020, the Dallas Cowboys had finally hired a competent Super Bowl-winning head coach with the pedigree to take this historic franchise beyond the divisional round of the playoffs.
Coach Big Mac had a winning record against Dallas and had broken this fanbase’s heart in the most devastating ways when he coached at Green Bay.
Coach Big Mac inherited a good team that had went as far as it could go under former head coach Jason Garrett. Along with inheriting Super Bowl ready roster, Coach Big Mac also inherited “Boy Wonder,” Kellen Moore, an upcoming offensive coordinator who was prematurely tagged an offensive genius by many around the NFL.
A leftover from the Garrett regime and a fan favorite of Jerry Jones, Moore came as a package deal when Coach Big Mac was hired. If Michael Myers scares you when watching horror movies, then Moore is his little brother because he scares the living heck out of Dallas Cowboys fans each and every Sunday with his inconsistent, unpredictable play calling.
For instance, Moore will call a flawless game against the Minnesota Vikings (40-3 Dallas win) and then call a low percentage vertical passing play on third-and-10 (instead of a running play to cause the Jags to use their final timeout).
My Gawd! Help me!
Moore is a disciple from the Garrett and Scott Linehan (former offensive coordinator) coaching tree and uses the same offensive philosophies. These philosophies are rooted in beating your man up front rather than scheming and putting your players in the best position to succeed. As a result, situational football is never a concern, which leads to disappointing losses like the ones against the Packers and Jags.
In those collapses, the Dallas Cowboys had comfortable 2-3 touchdown leads but the unpredictable play calling, and lack of situational football awareness stalked them like Michael Myers hunts on Halloween night.
Dallas lost to two inferior teams with losing records when they had at least a two-touchdown lead. That is not supposed to happen in the NFL and rarely happens to good teams.
Those types of embarrassing losses are the same ones this fan based witnessed in ’07, ’16, ’21. It is the same blueprint for losing a game. Wade Phillips did it in ’07 and Garrett followed suit every season thereafter.
Coach Big Mac must either take over play calling duties or negate some of “Boy Wonder” play calling duties because what we witness against the Jags was a clinic on how to lose a game and make Vegas some money all in the day.