Jason Garrett sees the writing on the wall but chooses to look the other way. Ignorance is bliss to the Cowboys’ head man, who’s mastered the art of coach-speak during his decade-long reign in Dallas.
Reporters know better by now than to expect a straightforward answer from Garrett. Yet they prod and push and don’t allow the 53-year-old to compartmentalize his tenuous status with the organization.
Does Garrett feel like he’s coaching for his job over the final month of the regular season?
“We’re just focused on having a great Thursday,” he said on 105.3 The Fan on Monday, via The Athletic, referring to Dallas’ Week 14 matchup at Chicago, slated for Thursday night. “That’s always been my approach whenever I’ve been involved in anything as a player or coach in this league. … We got to have a great day today.”
There may be something to the countless memes which refer to Garrett as a robot, unable to display emotion save for the occasional clapping. He offered a similarly preprogrammed explanation — hitting on the requisite buzzwords — after last week’s no-show against the Buffalo Bills.
“You just have to get back to work,” Garrett said, per ESPN.com. “That’s the nature of the National Football League. It’s hard every week. You are going to deal with adversities over the course of the year. You’re going to have to deal with the successes over the course of the year. You have to learn from them and move on and get ready for the next challenge.”
The 6-6 Cowboys’ next challenge is a primetime road date with the 6-6 Bears, who also played on Thanksgiving, defeating the Detroit Lions, 24-20.
Win or lose, however, Garrett will continue spouting fruitless statements. That is, until he’s no longer in the position to do so.
Tick, tock.
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”Chippy” Sunday Practice Takes Place
Sort of unconventionally, Dallas began its preparations for the Bears on Sunday, holding practice ahead of the Week 14 meeting. The session went about as you’d expect from a club which has dropped three of its last four games.
“Guys were on their stuff,” running back Ezekiel Elliott said, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Guys had a little stuff in their neck. It was a little chippy. Ready to go. …That’s what you expect.”
Although no fights broke out, Elliott classified the squad as “angry” following the Bills loss. He painted the picture of his vexed teammates’ frustration boiling over, emotion that, Zeke hopes, converts to motivation for the season’s stretch run.
“Angry we’re not where we expected ourselves to be,” Elliott said. “Just angry that things haven’t been going the way we want them to go. We’ve got to channel that the right way.”
Damning New Report Emerges on Garrett’s Future
Publicly, the Cowboys insist they’re holding out the last bit of hope for Garrett. Privately, it’s a different matter. A source tells Newy Scruggs of NBC 5 that “no one is in [Garrett’s] corner” and, with his contract set to expire after the season, the Cowboys are “done with him.”
“The Cowboys will have a new head coach in 2020,” Scruggs adds.
Obviously, this flies in the face of Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones and team vice president Stephen Jones, both of whom have thrown a modicum of support behind the beleaguered Garrett, whose coaching deficiencies contributed to a postgame locker-room screaming match on Turkey Day.
“This is not the time for me,” Jones said Thursday evening with tears in his eyes, per ESPN.com. “I’m looking ahead at another ballgame. I’m looking ahead at winning four or five straight and helping write a story they will talk about, how it looks like you’re down and out. And I mean that. That’s the way that I’m operating. Every decision that I make over the next month will be with an eye in mind to get us in the Super Bowl now.”
Seeing as how the Cowboys have an aversion to executing in-season dismissals, it makes sense to retain Garrett while they’re still competitive, hanging onto a narrow lead atop the NFC East. If the team was, say, 3-9 instead of 6-6, it likely would have forced Jones’ hand.
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Jason Garrett Sidesteps Question About Future as Cowboys’ Head Coach