After nine and a half years manning the helm in Dallas, Jerry Jones has finally decided to move on from Jason Garrett, and what better person to replace him than noted offensive guru Mike McCarthy.
In Garrett's time there the Cowboys went 85-67 (not bad) and 2-3 in the postseason never making it farther than the NFC Divisional Round. He really only had one bad year in 2015 when they went 4-12 but was able to turn it around the next year with a 13-3 record when Dak Prescott emerged as a solid starting quarterback. Overall Garrett has been criticized for not getting close to winning a championship with a talented roster. This year the Cowboys went 8-8 with the fourth ranked offensive line per PFF, a great young quarterback and running back in Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliot, solid wide receivers in Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and slot man Randall Cobb, and a defense that seemed to possess as much talent as the offense.
It was only a matter of time before the Cowboys decided to move on, the big question was, however, who would replace Garrett. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of appealing coaching names that were willing to move. Instead the Cowboys interviewed only two coaches, both who have a history of mediocrity. In his 16 year tenure in Cincinnati, Lewis went an astounding 131-122 making the playoffs seven times and never winning a single game (I think Bengals fans have a lot more riding on Burrow than we all realize). Meanwhile McCarthy had a strong stretch with the Packers making the playoffs eight straight years from 2009-2016, but in large part that was due to having Aaron Rodgers, high quality receivers, and no strong competition from his conference. In 2017 the Packers went 7-9 and finished 3rd in the division and then 4-7-1 before getting fired in week 13 of 2018. McCarthy was mainly criticized for a stagnant offense that he was unwilling to change due to not having the weapons he did at its peak. A personnel man said that the team basically ran the same routes which were basically to "get open" for seven years (Bleacher Report did a nice write up on the break up which I'll link here). In 2010, when the Packers won the Super Bowl, they had Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones, Jordy Nelson, and Aaron Rodgers. 2017, which broke the playoff run, he had Rodgers, Adams, Cobb, a 32-year old Nelson, Allison, and Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams who saw very low rushing attempts or catches due to losing time and touches to Ty Montgomery. Eventually we saw a deteriorating relationship between quarterback and coach that ended anything but gracefully.
Christ Mortensen said that the Cowboys wanted an NFL-experienced head coach because the data on college coaches coming into the NFL was not good. Many thought Lincoln Riley or Matt Rhule, both who currently coach in Texas and might like a nice change to some brighter lights. Instead the team that employed a coach who ridiculously did not use analytics in-game, is now using some "data" that says college coaches aren't ready for the NFL. The Cardinals went 5-10-1 under Kliff Kingsbury this after a 3-13 year (not too shabby). Instead, the Cowboys took the safe route and went with a known quantity in Mike McCarthy.
I could be wrong about McCarthy. Maybe in his year off he was able to reflect on his time in Green Bay and see how NFL offenses are now and adapt a playbook that could compete. Maybe he'll be able to lean more heavily on the run game with Ezekiel Elliot, something he could rarely do in his time in Green Bay. Maybe he'll be the Mike McCarthy that was able to win a Super Bowl, or maybe he'll be the man we all expect to see: the has-been who was unwilling to adapt to modern changes in the game. Whatever happens, we won't see any shortage of drama coming from America's team.
Comments