Jason Garrett cleans up Play Calling Gate

IRVING, Texas - One week after his boss embarrassed him, Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett picked up a shovel, a broom and a mop to clean up the mess that made him look like the second coming of Dave Campo.

On the first day of the Cowboys' mini-camp, Coach Process addressed the play calling situation as best he could. He said the decision to have offensive coordinator Bill Callahan call the plays was made back in late January, but team simply fumbled how it was going to be announced.

Garrett called it a miscomunnication. That's a cute way to say, "Thanks, Jerry."

Garrett would say he's on board with this decision, that he wanted to delegate this responsibility but would not say this decision was a directive by owner/GM Jerry Jones. The perception that Jerry made this decision turned Garrett into a national punchline.

Because I am an incredible sports journa-least, I asked Garrett specifically, "Just to be clear - this was a not a case of your boss saying we want you to delegate this responsibility to somebody else?"

Garrett said: "You hear me say this a lot about collective decisions. We make collective decisions. I talk to the executive part of this organization and to the staff and come up with the decisions that we think are best for the Dallas Cowboys."

That's a non-answer answer.

He may be full of it, and maybe Jerry did tell him to have Callahan call the plays, but I actually believe Garrett. He butchered this story from Day 1, which he took responsibility for, but in terms of the evolution of a coach his thought process makes sense.

He said 28-plus teams have a coordinator call the plays becuase it is a big job. It's too much to do along with being a head coach. He would not say he has veto player over a specific play call, but he does. Ultimately, he is going to have the right of refusal on "Load Left".

"You have to understand the progression of your career; these things happen," Garrett said. "You can't have all the responsibility you always had when you're a coach. Staffs are big, responsibilities are big and it's important to delegate in the right way. We felt it was the right time to do this. We're trying to make a positive change."

Garrett's decision to explain his side of this is a positive for his reputation. He may be full of it, but he did himself a favor by explaining his side of this butchered story.

 

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Jason Garrett has been made into a Muppet

IRVING, Texas - The coach who was going to be the happy medium between the Jimmy Johnson/Bill Parcells types has now been relegated to Dave Campo/Barry Switzer/Wade Phillips status. It is not Jason Garrett's fault, but this is what happens when you coach the Dallas Cowboys.

This is Jerry's team, not yours.

Garrett wants us to believe the reason he didn't tell the world that he would no longer be calling the plays for the Dallas Cowboys is for the "competitive advantage."

So imagine his surprise on Tuesday afternoon when his boss said, and the offensive coordinator confirmed, that Coach Process is no longer the primary play caller for the Dallas Cowboys.

Jerry said offensive assistant Bill Callahan will call the plays for the Cowboys in 2013. He said this before JG addressed the media. And Callahan confirmed it before JG was asked about it.

"There is no real advantage for us to reveal who is calling plays in June," Garrett said Tuesday, after he tried not to comment on this non-story story for months. "We have had a plan in place for a long time."

Think February, but Garrett has doggedly tried not to say who would do what in regards to play calling. Maybe because for years play calling was Garrett's baby, and the reason Jerry hired him away from the Miami Dolphins' staff in 2007.

"He's still involved in the game plans," Callahan said. "It's (Garrett's) offensive system and I'm honored to take on the additional responsibilities of calling plays."

Now we know for sure - Jerry took it away, and handed it to Callahan. This is another chapter of the Great Uncomfortable Offseason of 2013.

For the sake of this offense, and the team, it may be better that Garrett is no longer calling plays. He will have more time to worry about the other two phases of the game.

For the sake of the perception of power and his authority, this looks terrible that Jerry made the announcement.

Garrett was the guy who was going to have total scene control, but now he longer does because this is what happens when you coach the Dallas Cowboys.

Garrett was polite, professional and decent in trying to deflect the questions. Whether he really agreed to this decision is debatable, but he certainly didn't like how Jerry just can't help himself around a microphone (God love him).

"What my job is to proceed in the best interest of the Dallas Cowboys and that's how I answer every question," he said.

I asked him if he was concerned about the perception of his authority being usurped by his owner.

He said, "No. I don't."

I asked him why not, then he got assertive.

He said, "Because I know what I do each and every day in regards to this football team. I know how he and I work together and how this organization works. And how well we communicate and how we come to decisions. I know what I do in the morning, when I come over here and how I coach this football team."

How his power is perceived among the media, or fans, or observers does not matter. What matters is how Garrett's power is perceived among his players and his assistant coaches.

And now they know - it's not his call. It likely never was because it's Jerry's team. 

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Former Cowboys tormentor to retire

The NFL basically said Donovan McNabb retired two years ago, and he is making formal what the rest of us knew a long time ago. He last played a game on Oct. 16, 2011.

McNabb said he plans to officially retire as a Philadelphia Eagle. This is the type of player who should sign a one-day contract with a team. McNabb played elsewhere, but he is an Eagle; he was the face of a good franchise for nearly a decade. 

Maybe he should have done more, but he did a lot. Three NFC title games and a Super Bowl, among many indvidual achievements.

It sounds as if McNabb will do a ceremony when the Eagles host the Kansas City Chiefs in Philly in Week 3 so he can be reunited with his former head coach, Andy Reid, who is now in KC.

When he was in his prime, and before he and Terrell Owens went through their lover's spat, McNabb kicked the living bleep out of the Dallas Cowboys. 

In 20 games against the Cowboys, McNabb was 12-8 with 4,122 yards passing, 26 TDs and 13 Ints. Most of the positive numbers he amassed in the first few years of his career when the Eagles were one of the best teams in the NFL, and the Cowboys one of the worst.

Between 1999 and 2004, McNabb was 8-2 against the Cowboys. In this stretch is arguably the most famous play of McNabb's career: Monday night, November 15, 2004 at Texas Stadium.

  

 

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The position in football that is no longer worth it

IRVING, Texas - Looking at Dallas Cowboys rookie running back Joseph Randle my first thought was, "Switch positions."

It is not his fault, or even any kind of indictment on his ability. Looking at any NFL running back these days is like the tired "dead man walking" cliche.

Randle is a fifth round pick out of Oklahoma State, which is just about the right place to draft a running back these days. 

With the way running backs "die" these days, why would any kid willingly want to play the position? 

"I like to run the rock," Randle told me.

Without any prompting he continued, "All of them (defensive backs) that were taken in the draft early. I thought about it. I was like, 'Man, I should have played defense.' I did think about that."

I don't have a son, but if I did and he wanted to play football I would tell him to play any position but running back.

With the pounding running backs take these days, and the way more teams both in college and in the pros rotate at least two of them, the "safer" long term plays seems to be something other than this position. Punter, perhaps.

Randle said he played running back, cornerback and safety in high school.

This draft was not running back heavy - the highest taken was North Carolina's Giovani Bernard. A total of six running backs were selected in the first three rounds. Sixteen cornerbacks were selected in the first three rounds.

ME: Running backs just seem to die out so fast.
Joseph Randle: Not my kind.

ME: What is your kind?
Joseph Randle: "I can do a lot. If you have more than one good back, like we do, that will help us. I'm a running back and that is the position I wanted to play. I wanted to score touchdown. It's more fun defense. I liked to tackle and hit people, but you can do that on defense. This is what I chose and I'm sticking with it."

 

Godspeed.

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Travis Frederick's beard is worth a first round pick

IRVING, Texas - The first day of Dallas Cowboys' rookie mini-camp commenced on Friday, and here is what you need to know:

* Each rookie thinks he can start by Week 1.
* Each rookie is in awe of the chance to learn from Jason Witten, Dez Bryant, DeMarcus Ware, et all.
* Each rookie has a tremendous upside, but the speed of the NFL is much greater than college.
* The coaching staff is incredible.
* Each rookie impressed his respective position coach with knowledge that is far greater than his experience.
* It's a tremendous jump to play in the National Football League.
* This class is loaded with "steals" and "value picks".
* Each rookie just wants to do whatever it takes to help the team win because they are "team" guys.
* First round pick Travis Frederick's beard is better in real life, and is worth of a top 10 pick.

Look at that thing ... it's amazing.  

Frederick can play center, and his beard will play right guard.

The Cowboys' first round pick out of the University of Wisconsin may be a complete bust, but that beard is headed for Canton and the Professional Football Hall of Fame.

He said that all o-linemen at the University of Wisconsin try to grow beards, and his obviously took. He said it's been growing for the last 10 months. The beard looks like it has its own cell phone.

"I cut it off a little bit and it started back," he said. "I'm attached to it."

He said babies are often scared of it, but "women obviously love it."

And men are in awe of it.

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Dallas Stars could play a game in Cowboys Stadium

This concept is going to need one more season before it becomes a reality, but do not be surprised if in about one year the Dallas Stars announce they will play a home game at Cowboys Stadium. With the roof open, preferably.

The outdoor NHL game has become one of the league's signature events, but mostly those games have been confined to cold weather cities. With the Los Angeles Kings scheduled to play a game at Dodgers Stadium against the Anaheim Ducks, an outdoor game in a non-traditional market may become more frequent.

Talked to Dallas Stars president Jim Lites this morning and he said it's a concept that he has kicked around and believes can happen. Which means it will happen.

"We could do it at the Cotton Bowl but Cowboys Stadium makes more sense because of the cache of the building," Lites said. "You would do it in January or February, and open the roof. You can turn down the temperature of the ice to zero degrees. What we have at the time of year is not really a temperature issue but it's the rain. It's seldom humid at that time of year but it does rain."

The roof must be open. If not, it's just another indoor hockey game only with a giant TV set on top of the ice.

"It would take a lot of advance planning and really we are not in a position to do it this year," Lites said.

Lites said the amount of planning would be akin to hosting an NHL All-Star game, and would require several months of detailed work. 

"Two seasons," he said. "That would be about right."

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Top 5 all time Jerry Jones draft day quotes

So Jerry Jones wants Tony Romo to spend a Peyton Manning amount of time with the Dallas Cowboys in the offseason to make this team better.

You pay a guy who has one career playoff win $1 trillion and you expect certain things. As much fun and as much potential material as Jerry provided with this quote over the draft this previous weekend, this is a nothing compared to some of his previous winners.

I went back to review some of his great comments after certain classes.

Enjoy ...

5. "We are really pleased with not only the way we were able to trade down, but also with the players that we had pinpointed. We could, in this draft, really make a difference on our football team in 1995."
- Jerry on April 23, 1995 when the Cowboys traded down to select Sherman Williams, Kendell Watkins, Shane Hannah and Charlie Williams on the first day of the draft.

4. "I know what we’ve got coming tomorrow. It didn’t look good trading Herschel Walker and doing some things. But you had some information that you knew you were going to get better. While this wasn’t of that magnitude, we’ve got a chance to get some good players. We have a chance to get real extended value because of the early pick in the third round."
- Jerry on April 25, 2009 when the Cowboys had already traded out of the first round to obtain WR Roy Williams and then traded out of the second round in a draft where they selected 11 players, none of whom is currently on the roster.

3. “He was the best player available, and we were fortunate to get him."
- Jerry on April 18, 1999 after the team drafted defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban in the first round.

2. “Not in my wildest dreams."
- Jerry on April 17, 1999, after the Cowboys drafted defensive backs Dwayne Goodrich, Kareem Larrimore and Mario Edwards.

1. “We didn’t want to live with missing him if we bet wrong in the third round . (He’s) a player we may not see the likes again for a couple of years – if even then."
- Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on April 21, 2001 regarding the drafting of quarterback Quincy Carter.

To be fair, you could do this to just about any NFL GM, or coach, on draft day. Everyone misses with the draft. If you hit 50 %, you're a genius.

Jerry has presided over a lot of quality draft picks in his career (DeMarcus Ware, Jay Ratliff, Jason Witten, Troy Aikman, Larry Allen and countless others), but these one liners are just too much fun.

 

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The Dallas Cowboys best draft picks of all time - No. 3

As a celebration of NFL draft week, The Big Mac Blog will look back at the best and worst of the Dallas Cowboys' draft history. We continue with the good. The criteria is simple - the lower the expection, i.e. the selection, and the greater the return, the better pick.

3. Jay Ratliff, DL, Auburn, 2005, 224th selection
This was a case of selecting a pretty good athlete from an SEC school and maybe hoping he might develop into a guy who could contribute. It took a while, and a position move from defensive end to nose tackle, but Ratliff developed into one of the nastiest nose tackles in the NFL.

He saw limited action as a rookie before he began to show signs as a potentially dominant player in 2006 when he had four sacks and three fumble recoveries as a backup.

An injury to starter Jason Ferguson forced the Cowboys to switch Ratliff to nose tackle where he excelled. He has been to four Pro Bowls and has been named an All-Pro once.

Ratliff has "the motor", not to mention one of the meaner streaks in the league. He's not dirty, but he's not pleasant.

He started all 16 games from 2008 to '11. Injuries limited him to just six games last season.

Picked immediately after: Marcus Maxwell, WR, Oregon
Picked immediately ahead of: Paris Warren, WR, Utah

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The Dallas Cowboys best draft picks of all time - No. 4

As a celebration of NFL draft week, The Big Mac Blog will look back at the best and worst of the Dallas Cowboys' draft history. We now continue with the good. The criteria is simple - the lower the expection, i.e. the selection, and the greater the return, the better pick.

4. Dennis Thurman, S, USC, 1978, 306th selection
Thurman began his career as a backup safety but eventually became a reliable starter at corner for four of his nine NFL seasons. He intercepted a total of 36 passes and scored five defensive touchdowns. Thurman never missed a game in his career that covered 137 total games.

In 1981, he was named second team all-NFC by the UPI.

He played his last season with the Cowboys in 1985 and spent one more year with the Cardinals before he retired. 

Picked immediately after: Lacy Brumley, OL, Clemson
Picked immediately ahead of: Willie Brock, C, Colorado

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The Dallas Cowboys best draft picks of all time - No. 5

As a celebration of NFL draft week, The Big Mac Blog will look back at the best and worst of the Dallas Cowboys' draft history. We now continue with the good. The criteria is simple - the lower the expection, i.e. the selection, and the greater the return, the better pick.

5. Larry Brown, CB, TCU, 1991, 320th selection
LB may not have been the world's greatest defensive back, but for a man who was one of the last picks in the 1991 draft he was both productive and valuable on a level few ever see from this spot. 

He played eight NFL seasons, intercepted 14 passes and returned two for touchdowns. Maybe he was the beneficiary of a Cowboys defense that abused so many, but he made plays.

Brown's biggest contribution came in Super Bowl XXX when he intercepted a pair of passes by Pittsburgh Steelers QB Neil O'Donnell in the second half.

The Steelers' trailed 13-7 in the third quarter and were around midfield. On third down, Brown intercepted a pass and returned it 44 yards, which set up an Emmitt Smith touchdown.

The Cowboys led 20-17 with 4:15 remaining in the game when the Steelers had the ball at their own 32. On second down, Brown picked off O'Donnell again and returned it 33 yards to the six-yard-line. Smith scored again to secure the Cowboys last Super Bowl win.

Brown is now one of seven defensive players to be named Super Bowl MVP; the others were Chuck Howley (Cowboys, LB, Super Bowl V), Jake Scott (Dolphins, S, Super Bowl VII), Harvey Martin & Randy White (Cowboys, DL, Super Bowl XII), Richard Dent (Bears, DE, Super Bowl XX), Ray Lewis (Ravens, LB, Super Bowl XXXV).

After this Super Bowl, Brown signed a five-year, $12.5 million contract with the Oakland Raiders that included a signing bonus of $3.5 million. It made him one of the highest paid DBs in the NFL at the time. 

Brown's detractors said those Super Bowl picks were both gifts. They were right, but Brown was in the right place at the right time, didn't drop the ball, and posted big returns to set up two touchdowns that were vital to the win.

It never really clicked with the Raiders, where he was a bit exposed as a guy who wasn't a lock down corner. In two seasons in Oakland, he started just once and played 12 games before he was cut. He returned to the Cowboys in '98 where he played four games. 

Picked immediately after: Rob Luedeke, C, Penn State
Picked immediately ahead of: Mark Drabczak, G, Minnesota

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