What a tangled web the Dallas Cowboys weave, beginning with owner Jerry Jones questioning Jason Garrett’s play calling against New England on Sunday.
Following the Cowboys 20-16 loss to the New England Patriots, Jones said he thought Garrett’s play calling was too conservative, particularly in the fourth quarter when Dallas had a chance to ice the game.
But those conservative plays were reportedly the result of Garrett’s distrust in quarterback Tony Romo, who has turned the ball over five times at critical moments in losses to the New York Jets and Detroit Lions.
Regardless where anyone may want to point the finger, everyone in Dallas is getting what they asked for.
For some reason Jones has been enamored with Garrett for years, dating back to his days as a backup to Troy Aikman.
In 2007, Garrett was hired as the Cowboys offensive coordinator after spending one season in Miami as the Dolphins quarterback coach.
Jones made the hire despite the fact that Garrett had no prior experience calling plays. To top it off, Jones basically made Garrett the coach in waiting during Wade Phillips’ tenure with the Cowboys.
But since he arrived in Dallas Garrett’s play calling has consistently been questionable, especially in short yardage and goal line situations.
It makes you wonder if Jones has been paying attention to Garrett’s play calling over the past four seasons.
Against New England, Garrett’s play calling was conservative but it’s hard to fault him given Romo’s propensity to do stupid things.
On the Cowboys first drive of the game, Romo was picked off on a pass only he knows where he was trying to complete it.
It’s those types of mistakes that Romo has become famous for that has apparently made Garrett gun shy about which plays he calls.
And to some extent, you really can’t blame Garrett for not being confident in Romo since the Cowboys’ quarterback hasn’t given him any reason to think otherwise.
With Dallas hanging on to a 16-13 lead with 3:36 left in the game, Garrett called three straight running plays that netted five yards and took only 54 seconds off the clock.
After the Cowboys punted, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady led New England on a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Hernandez with only 22 seconds remaining.
It was a stark contrast between a team like New England with a superior quarterback and head coach that did all the right things to win the game against a Cowboys team that did everything wrong.
Contrary to what he may think, Jones can only blame himself for all of Dallas’ losses this season because he’s the one who hired Garrett and gave Romo a fat contract.
And Jones publicly questioning Garrett’s play calling certainly doesn’t lend itself to an already shaky situation.
Dallas still has a chance to win the NFC East, but if Jones doesn’t have confidence in Garrett and the coach doesn’t have faith in Romo, this could turn out to be another ugly season for the Cowboys.
