The Dallas Cowboys have not made the playoffs since 2009, which was also the last time they posted a winning record. Despite having some talented players on their roster, the Cowboys can’t seem to win when it counts. Tony Romo takes most of the blame for that, but Donovan McNabb and Randy Moss see things a bit differently. The two former NFLers think coaching is the issue.
Under Monte Kiffin last season, the Cowboys allowed a league-worst 415.3 yards per game. They also gave up 27 points per game, which makes the fact that they even won eight games somewhat impressive.
“I think for the Dallas Cowboys it’s much more than just what we see from the defense and offense, I mean, let’s go upstairs,” McNabb said on FOX Sports Live, via The Dallas Morning News. “Let’s talk about the coaching staff. How do you go from Monte Kiffin and Marinelli being a position coach to [Marinelli] now being the defensive coordinator and Kiffin being like a position coach? And it’s the same on the offensive end. You had Jason Garrett calling plays, supposedly, then Callahan.”
Most defensive coordinators would have been fired in a heartbeat given how bad the Cowboys were last season. Kiffin was basically just demoted.
McNabb didn’t let Jason Garrett off the hook, either. He said it makes no sense that Garrett has kept his job while doing worse than Wade Phillips did before him.
“I’m still figuring out how he still has a job at this particular point the way we have continued to see this team just continue to crumble,” McNabb said. “(You played) behind hall of famers and you see how they carry the two-minute offense. He’s run the two-minute offense himself as a starting quarterback. The way that they control their offense in certain games, how can you lead games in the middle of the third quarter and you end up losing the game?”
Moss agreed, though he went much easier on Garrett.
“The thing that’s not really fair to Tony Romo is he really hasn’t had that coaching to be able to bring him along,” Moss said. “I’m not sitting here busting Garrett or trying to call Garrett out, but there has not been nothing steady in Dallas. It’s always coaches come and go.”
Playcalling has been a major issue for the Cowboys in recent years — there’s no debating that. They seem lost at times when playing with a lead, and most of that falls on the coaching staff. If Dallas misses the playoffs again this season, Jerry Jones will have no choice but to move on from Garrett.
