Getty Jason Garrett
Another decade at the helm in Dallas? Jason Garrett isn’t ruling it out. He’s not ruling it in, either.
Pressed earlier this month during an appearance on 105.3 The Fan, the Cowboys‘ longtime head coach was noncommittal on how much longer he prefers to hold the position.
“I love doing what I’m doing. I feel so fortunate to be able to do this,” Garrett said on Nov. 5, per The Athletic. “I wake up every day and I can’t get into work fast enough. I don’t look very far into how long I’m gonna do something, I just focus on today.”
Working the final year of the $30 million extension he signed in 2015, Garrett has logged an 83-63 record in ten seasons on the job. The Cowboys started 3-0 for the first time in his tenure before suffering consecutive defeats. They’re presently 6-4, winners of two of their last three, and face a playoff-implicating tilt Sunday at 9-1 New England.
Here’s the rub, though: Garrett’s playoff teams have never advanced past the Divisional Round and often, like in their brutal Week 6 loss to the Jets, severely underachieve with a Super Bowl-caliber roster.
The Cowboys appeared ready to part with Garrett earlier this season when they were mired in a three-game skid. It likely wouldn’t have happened at the Week 8 bye, but it was a no-brainer that he’d be shown the door at year’s end.
However, due in part to Dallas thoroughly whipping the rival Philadelphia Eagles on national television before the bye, combined with the Joneses’ aversion to in-season dismissals, the incumbent was welcomed back — for the long haul, potentially.
“I am looking for reasons. I’m looking for reasons to keep him,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said on Oct. 21, per Pro Football Talk. “It’s merited here. It’s hard to get an effective coach and get it locked in with all you have to do retool and redo. I’m comfortable. We have established some security apart from the won-loss. He represents the organization well on and off the field. You don’t have to wake up in the morning reading about it.”
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Giants Reporter Calls for Big Blue to Hire Garrett
If this proves to be Garrett’s swan song in the Lone Star State, he should change NFC East hats and take his talents to the Big Apple. This, the esteemed opinion of NJ.com reporter Darryl Slater, who penned a column earlier this month urging the Giants to replace hot seat resident HC Pat Shurmur with Garrett, if he becomes available.
Slater wrote:
As a pending coaching free agent, Garrett could also choose to leave Dallas, though it seems unlikely he would bolt for the Giants if the Cowboys wanted him back. Dallas is a better situation right now. So if Jones wants Garrett, then Garrett surely returns in 2020.
But even in this case — and barring a Garrett contract extension before season’s end — Mara needs to take a serious run at Garrett … and make him say no. What’s the harm in trying?
Say Shurmur gets canned and Garrett is available. Then Garrett should be Mara’s first call. He would be one of the best coaching candidates available next offseason — if not the best.
There are plenty of up-and-coming candidates the Giants could pursue to replace Shurmur. But Garrett would give the Giants a proven, offensive-minded head coach who is used to thriving in a high-pressure setting.
Look, he’s not a Super Bowl-winning coach. But he’d be a great option.
Jerry Tells Story of Nearly Landing Belichick as Coach
Hindsight hurts, if only because it reminds the Cowboys’ czar that he could have boasted Bill Belichick as his head coach. In a painstaking admission, Jones stated Tuesday that he came thisclose to the scenario materializing.
Appearing on 105.3 The Fan, Jones anecdotally explained the one-off chance to hire Belichick following his 1995 firing as the Cleveland Browns’ head coach. The decision to forgo the now-legendary Patriots mastermind, who approached Jones about a job, seems to be regretted to this day.
Per The Athletic’s Jon Machota:
After Bill Belichick was fired by the Cleveland Browns in the mid-90s, he ran into Jerry Jones at a ski resort. Jones said Bill told the Cowboys owner not to forget about him if he had an opening in the future. Jones says he still thinks about that from time to time.
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