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- 2019-2020 Regular Season: Lincoln Riley And GM Jerry?
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This edition of "The Tortured
Cowboys Fan" has also been published by the fine folks at
Sports TalkLine.
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October 20,
2019 At 5:00 AM CST
By Eric M. Scharf-
- While “Cowboys Nation” both
myopically dismisses and pessimistically stresses over the results
of the pending Sunday evening game between “America’s Team” and the
Philadelphia Eagles, there is another story brewing in the
background . . . regardless of whether – by season’s end – Jason
Garrett’s Cowboys’ career has recovered or unceremoniously drowned.
There is one constant that has stubbornly kept this narrative alive
and – as fans rage with every disappointing turn of the page – it
continues to read like pejorative jive.
The righteous desire by fans to see the Dallas Cowboys led by a
truly qualified head coach reaches all the way back to the last days
of Jimmy Johnson’s star-studded tenure and (perhaps with the
exception of a four-year “Big Tuna” blip) this unending (?)
challenge remains a(n unacknowledged) ribbon of shame surgically
affixed to GM Jerry’s hip. And yet – no matter how many people (from
retired Hall of Fame coaches to respected former NFL players to
informed network television prognosticators to educated fanatics
tweeting from their parents’ attics) publicly and privately
recommend that (READ “plead with”) the owner of the Dallas Cowboys
to hire with his forward-thinking mind instead of continuing
ego-blind, GM Jerry insists on leaving his team and his (preferred)
legacy in an uninspiring, yes-man bind.
Ever since Jimmy Johnson dismissively exposed GM Jerry (at the time)
of merely being “the one who signs the checks,” the owner of the
Cowboys has been on a “Homey don’t play that” tear which –
with year after year of talent-heavy, scheme-stifled, and
ultimately, (coaching) leadership-lite teams – only serves to vex.
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GM Jerry desperately wants Al Davis-like praise, comparable
to Davis’ AFL “Coach of the Year” days. GM Jerry would gladly (?)
toss all the well-earned Hall of Fame executive acknowledgement to
the side if abundant team-building and game day recognition were
resoundingly supplied. While others of his ilk would kill to be
known as someone (perhaps the only one?) who has truly, undeniably
revolutionized the global marketing possibilities and network
television deals of the NFL, GM Jerry being satisfied with such a
label is regularly met with “Go to hell!” Among the expert
credit he so badly craves the most . . . is almighty applause for
hand-picking a capable-yet-respectful head coach who flexibly (and,
in turn, consistently) delivers far better results than his current
ginger toast.
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“What is so incredibly wrong with a capable-yet-respectful head
coach? That person would be beyond reproach!” you state so
accurately. The 25-year head-coaching journey upon which Odysseus,
err, GM Jerry has kept the Cowboys steered is because he deems
“capable” far less important than “respectfully.” His
well-documented – and privately (?) insistent – preference for a
“yes, Yes, YES” man has prevented Cowboys Nation from enjoying
what otherwise might be a consistently winning plan.
“The Tortured Cowboys Fan” sees no realistic redress to the oddness
(?) with which GM Jerry continues spinning that he is ALL ABOUT
WINNING (as long as that success puts a premium on his morose
fixation with gobs of YES but not enough coaching flexibility
to correct his team’s X-and-O mess).
"Disloyalty . . . I couldn't handle the disloyalty. Whether it was
right or not, by every measurement you can go, I had paid so many
times a higher price to get to be there than he had paid, it was
unbelievable I'd rather have won that one with Barry 10 times more
than doing the same thing with Jimmy, a thousand times more than
having done the same thing with Jimmy. Just simply because I guess I
am still that damn frustrated with the way everything happened with
Jimmy." – Jerry “The Truth” Jones (on why the ending for his first,
wildly-successful head coaching hire was so dire).
GM Jerry was jealous, err, incredulous over Jimmy Johnson’s
understandable unwillingness to perform a blatant edit to the
historical construction of a(n at the time) back-to-back Super Bowl
champion (even though the roster-building and team-coaching was
almost entirely to Johnson’s credit)? Now fans know where
Christopher Nolan may have gotten his inspiration for John Daggett
and Bane . . . and the two-and-a-half decades of Gotham crime, err,
head-coaching pain.
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GM Jerry continues to insist that Jason Garrett has evolved and
would be a handsome prize if allowed to hit the open market to help
another organization get their head-coaching and postseason problems
solved. And yet, there is one constant that has stubbornly kept this
me-first narrative alive and – as fans rage with every disappointing
turn of the page – it continues to read like pejorative jive.
"It's like holding two handfuls of Jell-O and trying to keep it all
in those two hands. I think Jason has done that. He's very
effectively held the Jell-O and is keeping it and moving it
forward." – GM Jerry (regarding how Jason Garrett is balancing the
team and the owner’s ego-centric theme).
“Even with Jerry’s me, Me, ME syndrome, hasn’t he – with Will
McClay’s personnel guidance – gifted Garrett with the talented
roster he needs to finally stop appearing to be just a walk-around
head-coaching imposter?” you reasonably inquire. Absolutely and for
several years now, but the talent amassed continues to be
intermittently miscast by a head coach married to a system (that
even with once “magical” misdirection is) still too rigidly tied to
the past (making the entire team collectively ill-equipped to
withstand a deeper postseason fire). When your players are quite
literally forced to overcome an unforgiving scheme (through
near-perfect execution on raw talent and hustle alone), that
bludgeoning so repeated and predictable (with scavenging opponents
made to feel so inconceivably invincible) eventually cuts right down
to the bone. Still, GM Jerry swears he has the right man and – until
he is forced (by Father Time?) to wave the white flag – Garrett gets
to follow his age-old plan (which – without a recovery so sublime –
could be a major drag).
What If?
Lincoln Riley – current head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners – has
been hailed as an offensive mastermind and head coach du jour by NFL
swooners. There are a few others – to be sure – but Riley is the
only one for whom regular attempts continue to be made to tie him to
Dallas . . . and that fantasy relationship is only granted more
potential with every failure by Jason Garrett to get GM Jerry’s team
another Super Bowl chalice.
Lincoln earned from OU a five-year, $32.5M contract extension in
January of this year, in (small?) part out of flight from
college-to-the-NFL fear. If Riley chooses to exit his arrangement
with OU following 2019 season, 22.5% (approximately $4.6M) of his
remaining guaranteed money would need to be relinquished to ensure
his college career was officially (but not permanently?)
extinguished.
GM Jerry – as much as any owner in the NFL – would not hesitate to
buy out a college coach’s deal if his skills had pro head-coaching
appeal. “Spare no expense.” Just like John Hammond – owner of
“Jurassic Park” – Jerry Jones would do “almost anything” to restore the
Dallas Cowboys’ bite and bark . . . with, of course, the “kiss my
ring” caveat so dark. And in the same vein, OU’s Board of Regents
could be expected to proactively offer to further enrich Riley’s
current deal to stave off new coaching search pain.
Nonetheless, if Riley leaves OU for the NFL, what is the guarantee
he goes to North Texas to help GM Jerry lift so, soooo many years of
postseason hexes? There is only potential with slim (?) possibility
that Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Houston, and Jacksonville also prove
tempting landing spots so eventual.
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And yet, there is one constant (so devastatingly unique to America’s
Team) that stubbornly keeps a selfish narrative alive and may very
well convince someone as capable-yet-respectful as Lincoln Riley
that (under a team owner with such a me-first drive) there is
absolutely no way he could truly thrive.
What if? When someone like Riley decides he needs and (GASP)
deserves his professional space from a talented check-writer who
will always be in his face, that will most-assuredly send “someone”
over the cliff. And being leery of “involvement” by GM Jerry does
not even take into account the ever-present Nick Saban
(college-to-pro-to-college) result. The thought of leaving a very
comfortable, successful OU setting for the higher-risk,
higher-reward NFL can be comparatively unsettling, possibly causing
even the seemingly-ready Riley to revolt.
One thing seems relatively certain as Jerry Jones potentially inches
closer to drawing back the head-coaching candidate curtain. Whether
it is Lincoln Riley or Baylor University's Matt Rhule, fans should
(perhaps) expect that the next Cowboys head coach will be no
starry-eyed fool, so eager to rush to the NFL to be some jealous
guy’s tool.
Will They Or Won’t They?
NFC East games continue to break seemingly logical performance
frames (with incredible early-season attrition not necessarily
impacting competition).
The 3-3 Dallas Cowboys host the Philadelphia Eagles, who fly in with
their own underwhelming 3-3 mark. The loser of the contest (unless
stunted by officiating so negating) will have little room to
protest. The winner will be in sole possession of first place in the
division, with one or more people perhaps avoiding excision. While
both teams resemble “The Walking Dead,” it seems that certain
members of the Cowboys’ walking wounded are determined to limp past
their apparent limitations and man their starting lineup stations.
Will those critically key players (Amari Cooper, Randall Cobb, Tyron
Smith, and La’el Collins) require performance prayers, or will they
be able to ignore their thresholds of pain to help their anxious
teammates turn the equally-desperate Eagles into a grid iron stain?
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Will the rest of the team wait to be rescued by those injured
saviors or will they actively look to change their own competitive
behaviors? Will the coaching staff pull out all the stops (that a
limited system can allow) or will the players have to – once again –
add their own toppings to vanilla and how?
Will Jason Garrett – the “master motivator” – be able to marshal his
“right kind of guys” to ensure Philly never flies? And if the Dallas
Cowboys’ players fail to overcome (perhaps) more play calls so dumb,
will Garrett be that much closer to the same fate as the “Son of
Bum?”
We shall see. We always do.
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