Last year in week 10, Jason Garrett became the Dallas Cowboys head coach, replacing a man in whom owner Jerry Jones no longer had faith.
Now, Jason Garrett is a step closer to becoming that man.
Late in Sunday's game against the Patriots, the Cowboys had chances to put the game away, but opted for a safer, more conservative style that put the ball back in the hands of Tom Brady. See this photo for an idea of how that worked out.
Michael Silver goes through the details here, and passes along some great stuff about how Jones was questioning his head coach from his luxury box, even as things happened.
"They're gonna get at least a field goal," Jones grumbled in his luxury suite after the Cowboys, clinging to a three-point lead with less than three minutes remaining, punted the ball back to the Pats following three consecutive running plays. "We'll be lucky to get to overtime."
They didn't get to overtime. Brady pinpointed a ball to Aaron Hernandez in the endzone, and the Patriots won in regulation. More from Jerry:
"When you get in a situation like that, you've got to go for the kill," Jones told Y! Sports shortly before leaving the Cowboys' locker room. "I felt like we could've been more aggressive. Our defense had been good all day, but you knew Brady had a length-of-the-field drive in him — so it didn't surprise me at all when he took them down at the end."
Given the Cowboys loss and the nature of hindsight, pretty much everyone agrees that Jones is right. And even though there's a case to be made for Garrett's conservative approach -- no one was calling for more aggressive playcalling down the stretch against the Jets or the Lions -- the point here isn't who's right and who's wrong.
Why is Jones so insistent on chopping off his coach's legs in the media? He has a right to his opinion, and as owner, even has a right to make his opinion the right opinion. Couldn't that be done in private, though? Isn't there a way to communicate your thoughts to your head coach without undermining his authority in full view of everyone who can read an online sports column?
Comments like this send the message that Jerry's in charge, and whoever happens to wear the head coach hat is just another of Jerry's toys. The players in the locker room get that message, too. They know who's in charge, and it's not the head coach. It also doesn't help Garrett's confidence if he's on the sideline thinking, "What's Jerry going to think?" before calling every play.
Jerry, when he makes his presence so overbearing, hurts the Cowboys. As long as he's around and still loves to see his name in print, it's always going to be an uphill battle for the Cowboys head coach.
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Shutdown Corner is an NFL blog edited by Doug Farrar. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.
