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2008-2009 Regular Season: The Red Ball Does Not Fall
Far Enough From The Tree
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- October 22, 2008 At
1:49 PM EST
- By
Eric M. Scharf
Count me among those fans who truly believe that Jason “Red Ball”
Garrett is an extremely bright offensive mind who has a lot to offer
an offense (and, maybe, an entire team) . . . with a completely
intact set of star players. What do Ernie Zampeze, Norv Turner, and
Jason Garrett have in common besides a shared style of offense (and,
if I am correct, Norv having learned from Ernie and Jason having
learned from Norv)?
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- The very moment one of their regular starters
goes down for the count, all three of these guys fall apart. All
three of these guys act like they lost everyone they ever relied on,
rather than one of eleven players. Sure, it is easy to call these
three guys predictable (even though, at one time or another, we all
loved them for what they helped the Cowboys accomplish).
I will take it one step further: these guys are not purposely
predictable; they simply become deer in the headlights. They,
literally, choke on the spot. Consider the following examples, in
the spirit of demanding your players perform at a higher level to
make up for one or two lost starters.
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- 1) It is as if asking the
offensive line to drive-block with a nastier attitude, because
Emmitt Smith is out with an injury, is simply not possible.
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- 2) It
is as if asking the tight ends to grind out a few more tough 5- and
10-yard crossing routes, to make up for the absence of Michael
Irvin, is simply not possible.
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- 3) It is as if asking Romo to resume
his NORMAL style of play and having him roll out as often as he damn
well pleases (because he is one of the most accurate
throw-on-the-run quarterbacks in the league) is simply not possible.
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- 4) And, just to torment our under-performing defense a little more,
it is as if asking Anthony Henry to swallow his wounded pride and
shift over to free safety, allowing the
younger-but-much-faster-and-certainly-promising rookies to man both
outside corner spots, is simply not possible.
What? The rookies do not know the playbook as well as the veterans?
That is just too bad. We are in the age of the salary cap, and you
no longer get to stock pile players and baby them along. Fit the
system to the available talent, as Parcells has both said and done.
Jason is a smart guy, but, maybe he is being too cute, too clever
for his own good, and, maybe, creating the system around the players
will prevent, ehem, that choking problem (that I am determined he
inherited from Uncle Norv).
We love you, Jason. Quit making us look bad, seem completely
ignorant, and feel betrayed. Use the brain that God gave you, use
the players (smart, not-so-smart, healthy, and not-so-healthy) that
Jerry has given you, and get your system (proven through Ernie and
Norv) fitted with more creativity and flexibility than everyone
thinks you currently have in your bag of tricks, Red Ball.
Acknowledge, to yourself, exactly what level of talent and brain
power with which you are being asked to work and add the necessary
"wrinkles" to your playbook that empower-but-do-not-overpower your
players. It can work and it will work, if not this season, maybe
next season.
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