The Hot Corner
What is wrong with the Dallas Cowboys?
Fans can’t help but get frustrated watching this team play every week because the talent level on the roster is undeniable. This is one of the best rosters the Cowboys have fielded since the great 1990’s teams that won three Super Bowls in four years.
And yet they continue to under-perform and look to be cursed to finish with an 8-8 record for the fourth time since 2010.
Dallas has had just four winning seasons since the 2010 season and has failed to advance past the divisional playoffs since 1995. While that drought is painful enough, let’s focus on the past 10 years.
Why am I so determined on starting this observation at 2010?
Well, that was the year Wade Phillips was fired as the head coach after starting the year 1-7 and former Cowboy backup quarterback Jason Garrett took over. Immediately, the future looked brighter. Dallas went 5-3 to finish the season. With Garrett at the helm and an emerging offense built around Tony Romo and Dez Bryant, the future seemed very bright for the Cowboys.
Dallas then went on to go 8-8 for three straight seasons and the “not mediocre but not great either” style of Garrett slowly began to emerge.
Then 2014 happened. Tony Romo looked like an MVP-caliber quarterback, former Oklahoma Sooner running back Demarco Murray emerged as the next great Dallas running back and Dez Bryant was throwing up his signature X in end zones all over the country. Garrett and the Cowboys finally looked poised to break through, until they went to Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Jan. 11, 2014.
Toward the end of a close game, a Dez Bryant catch was ruled not a catch and then, two years later, ruled a catch again. The ruling at the time shocked the football world and ended the Cowboys’ best chance at a NFC Championship Game berth.
If Garrett was to bring the Lombardi Trophy to Dallas, it would have been 2014, because it has been mostly downhill from there.
After a disappointing 2015 season in which Dallas finished 4-12, it looked like it was time for a rebuild. Instead, the Cowboys struck gold when they drafted running back Ezekiel Elliott and quarterback Dak Prescott in the 2015 draft. The duo would become the foundation for the next great Cowboys team as owner Jerry Jones and his staff built one of the best defenses in the league and one of the most talented offensive units over the next few seasons, setting up for what was supposed to be a magical 2019 season.
After getting off to a hot start, winning their first three games and scoring 30-plus points in all three wins, the wheels quickly fell off and the Cowboys came back down to earth. Since that start, the Cowboys have lost six of their last nine games and struggled to compete with top-teir teams.
Perhaps the most troubling part about the season’s struggles is the fact that the losses were all to playoff-caliber football teams.
They fail to compete with the teams that are contenders year-in and year-out, indicating that the Cowboys still haven’t attained the same level.
Under Jason Garrett, the Cowboys avoid mediocrity, rarely finishing under .500, and have success against bottom feeders such as the New York Giants or Miami Dolphins, but struggle to reach that next level and compete with the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints of the world.
I love the term “.500 coach.”
Some coaches just have that “It” factor that can take their team to championships. Coaches such as Jimmy Johnson, Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells have “It.” Then there are those whose teams reflect them, such as the Cowboys and Garrett. While he isn’t necessarily a bad coach, he just is not the guy who is going to lead you to the mountain top and he simply never will be. It all starts from the top, even at the highest level of sports. While I believe some of the blame lies with the owner, Jerry Jones, it is the coach that is responsible for taking the weapons he is given and fielding a winning team.
Throughout his tenure with Dallas, Garrett has failed to do that. Maybe it is time to find someone who can.
Reed Graff is the sports editor for the Snyder Daily News. Comments about his column may be sent to sports@snyderdailynews.com