5 Ways to Fix the Cowboys

The Cowboys 2008 season fell apart faster than a Chinese bicycle.  Read on for a list of 5 ways to “fix” the Dallas Cowboys for the future.

5. Fire the Jason Garrett

What?  Surely you mean fire Wade Phillips, right?  No, I don’t.  As I’ve said before, Wade Phillips is a good defensive coach.  He turned the defense around after he took it over from defensive coordinator Brian Stewart (who should also be fired, after all Wade is having to do Stewart’s job, which is distracting him from the overall job he needs to do).  Wade can’t step in on the offense the same way because he doesn’t know offenses.  He needs to be able to depend on his offensive coordinator to keep the offense in sync and working.  Jason Garrett has failed miserably in that job.  His players are unhappy and bickering, he has done nothing to stem the tide of fumbles from Romo and others on the offense, and his play-calling might as well be done with a dart-board.

4. Draft a quarterback

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying get rid of Romo.  I’m saying take a look around the league and see what works for other teams.  Jerry Jones likes to draft defense and pay for offense, but there’s a lot to be said for grooming a quarterback for your system from the start, nurturing him into the QB that the team needs him to be.  I think that there is much to be gained from spending a relatively high draft pick (second round) on a good quarterback.  Think about it.  By drafting a QB, Romo will finally start feeling some pressure to perform.  If he knows he can be benched to give the new guy a try, maybe he’ll be a little more careful with the ball.  If it works, and Romo does improve and stops gift-wrapping the ball for the other team and starts winning games past Thanksgiving, the drafted QB can be traded in a couple-three years for more draft picks, players, etc.  And if it doesn’t work, and Romo continues his rollercoaster style of playing, well, the Cowboys will have another option.

3. Rework the O-line.

The offensive line failed horribly this year in protecting Romo.  They are a large part of why he had the ball stripped so many times and why he tried to force the ball down the field.  He has to scramble too much behind this line.  I know that Kosier was injured early and his backups weren’t up to snuff, but it doesn’t begin and end with the LG.  As important as that position is, it doesn’t all rest on him.  Think about Flozell Adams, whom I refer to affectionately as “False Start Flo”.  He is extremely dependable… if you are depending on him to false start in high-pressure situations.  The entire offensive line needs to be reworked and/or retrained so that next year it will be next to impossible to get past them.  After all, that’s what they’re there for, right?

2. Stop signing/get rid of distractions

This one is self-explanatory.  T.O. and Pacman need to go.  Today.  As talented as they are (arguably, when they don’t have a case of the dropsies), the team can not afford the drama that they bring.  How can you depend on T.O. when he gives up on routes because he is pissed about Witten getting the ball?  How can you depend on Pacman when you don’t know if he’ll be there next week?  Both are talented, T.O. to the extreme, but just look at the problems both caused this team in ’08, and then imagine that instead we had a No. 1 receiver that wasn’t a cry baby and a corner that didn’t even NEED a babysitter.  For the record, people like to lump Tank Johnson in with this crowd, but I don’t see it that way.  Johnson is a good player who admittedly had some trouble with the law, but he hasn’t caused any distractions and seems to have learned his lesson, considering that he hasn’t had any more trouble since joining the Cowboys.  Some people can change.  T.O. and Pacman didn’t and they both need to go.

1. Hire a GM

OK, here we go, this one’s easy and obvious.  It’s also the least likely to happen. Everybody knows this is the one true way to fix the Cowboys.  Everyone except JJ.  Hell, even he probably knows it, but he’s just having too much damn fun, so it won’t happen!  Jerry Jones has failed completely in his job as GM, even while succeeding beyond his wildest dreams as owner.  Jerry has made many bone-headed moves as GM and not very many good decisions.  One of the tenets of good business is to identify what you’re not good at and hire someone that is good at it.  Jerry doesn’t see this one in the same way, so Cowboys fans will have to endure more of the same from him.

Tags: Adam Jones, Brian Stewart, Dallas Cowboys, Flozell Adams, Jason Garrett, Jerry Jones, Kyle Kosier, Offensive Line, Tank Johnson, Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, Wade Phillips

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