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Sometimes, longevity isn’t a good intangible to possess. Sometimes, beyond gassing up your resume, it works against you.
In Jason Garrett’s case, it’s a large part of why he’s no longer fit to coach the Dallas Cowboys.
Garrett is in his tenth season as the leader of the Cowboys’ on-field product. A decade after removing his interim title, this is what he’s brought to North Texas: 82 regular-season wins, 63 losses, and a 2-3 mark in the playoffs, never advancing past the Divisional Round across 145 total games as the HC.
On the surface, to the layman, Garrett boasts a winning record and relative consistency; just once have the Cowboys finished below .500 on his watch (4-12 in 2015).
Beneath the surface, to the advanced football observer, his reign has amounted to little more than annual window-dressing. The only constant is Garrett underachieving with a championship-caliber roster.
Men lie. Women lie. Numbers don’t. And the numbers — one specific number, anyway — prove the latter correct.
As unearthed by Ari Temkin of 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Garrett is one of just five head coaches in NFL history to log at least 145 games with the same team and not appear in a conference championship tilt.
Of the group, only failed Bengals coach Marvin Lewis (52%) has a worse career winning percentage than Garrett (56%).
Not the company to keep. Not the right coach for the Cowboys. Not anymore. And arguably not ever.
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Garrett Answers Whether He’s Good at His Job
Addressing the media Wednesday, as his squad attempts to shake off its heartbreaker against Minnesota, embattled lame-duck Garrett was queried on whether he considers himself to be a good “game manager,” a term normally reserved for quarterbacks.
In this instance, let’s presume it means a coach capable of managing all aspects of his team, for all sixty minutes, free of detriment. Like a middling QB would do, he offered his sharpest non-answer.
“That’s something we strive to, as players and coaches, and certainly my role, absolutely you always try to learn from your experiences and do it really at a high level,” said (per The Athletic) Garrett, commander of a ship that was just blindsided by Vikings. “Have we been perfect every time? No. Are we constantly trying to get better at it? Absolutely.”
Dallas’ Week 10 loss is a small sample size and not necessarily indicative of the entire picture. Their opponent gets paid, too, and they happen to be a very strong club. But it was earmarked by everything holding the Cowboys back — the reason why they’re 5-4 rather than 7-2: Coaching. Such as having only 10 defensive players on the field during Dalvin Cook’s 30-yard screen pass, on a drive which resulted in a touchdown, the difference in a 28-24 game.
“Yeah, didn’t do a good enough job getting our communication right to have 11 out there. Obviously, you want to have 11,” Garrett said Wednesday, via the Dallas Morning News. “We didn’t handle that situation well enough.”
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Follow Zack Kelberman on Twitter: @KelbermanNFL
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