Jerry Jones: Jason Garrett's job not in jeopardy, even if Cowboys miss playoffs Jerry Jones: Jason Garrett's job not in jeopardy, ev...
Jerry Jones: Jason Garrett's job not in jeopardy, even if Cowboys miss playoffs
The Cowboys have missed the playoffs during five of Garrett's seven full seasons as coach
- @jadubin5
- • 3 min read
Jason Garrett has been the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys since midway through th e 2010 season. During that time, his team has compiled a 67-53 record. Garrett went 5-3 down the stretch of his interim season as coach, then followed that up with three consecutive 8-8 campaigns during which the Cowboys were knocked out of the playoff hunt in Week 17 each time.
The Cowboys finally broke out with a 12-4 campaign in 2014, but lost in the playoffs when Aaron Rodgers tore up their defense in the second half of a divisional round game. They responded to that season by going 4-12 the following year as Tony Romo missed much of the season due to injury. Romo was injured again during the 2016 preseason, but Dak Prescott stepped up and led the Cowboys to a 13-3 campaign that nevertheless ended with a loss to the Packers in the divisional round once again. The Cowboys followed that up with an up-and-down 9-7 season that resulted in their missing the playoffs for the sixth time in Garrett's eight seasons.
And yet, his job is not on the line entering the 2018 season, according to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. "No. That's the best answer I can give, and the fairest," Jones said when asked on Wednesday if Garrett was coaching for his job, per the team's official website.
Garrett has gotten an incredibly long leash compared to other Cowboys coaches during Jones' tenure. Jimmy Johnson was Jerry's first coach, and he lasted just five seasons despite winning back-to-back Super Bowls and setting the team up for consistent success in the future.
Barry Switzer went 40-24 across four seasons and won a Super Bowl, but was fired after a 6-10 season in 1997 -- his first time missing the playoffs. Chan Gailey lasted just two years with the Cowboys, getting fired after an 8-8 season even though the Cowboys made the playoffs during both of his seasons. Dave Campo was the team's coach for three years, and he was fired after going 5-11 in each of those seasons. Bill Parcells was given four years before being f ired after a 9-7 season that ended with a playoff berth. Wade Phillips lasted 3.5 seasons, making the playoffs twice and posting a winning record in each of his three full years before getting off to a 1-7 start in 2010 when Romo suffered an injury.
In other words, Jones cycled through six coaches in 22 seasons, firing each of them after four seasons or less, even though that group of six coaches missed the playoffs a total of nine times. (And the first two were Johnson's first two seasons, when the Cowboys were beginning their rebuild.) Garrett has missed the playoffs five times in seven full seasons and is somehow in no danger of losing his job. And Garrett's win-loss record is probably the best argument for keeping him.
His actual game management has been dreadful over the years -- including during the Cowboys' playoff losses to the Packers in 2014 and 2016. He no longer calls plays on offense and his defenses have routinely been amon g the worst in the league, so it's not as though his leadership has transferred to the opposite side of the ball. In other words, it's incredibly tough to produce any evidence that Garrett is having a positive impact in his role as head coach. And yet, Jones continues to insist that he is a valuable asset.
"I'd say our coach and our coaching staff are the No. 1 reason that I'm excited about what we have ahead of us this year," Jones said. He also noted, "As you well know, you've heard me say many times on a personal basis, if I may be so bold, I'd say he's a lot better coach today than he was last year or the year before that or the year before that. That's the way it works when you are driven and motivated."
We'll see whether Jones is proven correct by the Cowboys' performance in 2018, but based on the team's past performance and other available evidence, it's likely that, if the Cowboys do make the playoffs, it will be in spite of Garrett's coaching rather than because of it.
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Jared Dubin CBS Sports Writer followJared Dubin is a New York lawyer and writer. He joined CBSSports.com in 2014 and has since spent far too much of his time watching film and working in spreadsheets. Full Bio
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