Interim No More

The hiring of Jason Garrett (above) gives this Cowboys' team hope to compete next season. (AP Photo/Miles Kennedy)

As bad as the Dallas Cowboys were this season (and they were outlandishly bad), interim head coach Jason Garrett took over mid-season and rallied a beaten and demoralized team to a strong finish. In the midst of the toughest stretch of the season, the eighth coach in Cowboys history guided his team to a 5-3 record -- coaxing the type of team-wide effort from the players that was lacking through the first eight games when Dallas started a dismal 1-7.

His reward? A freshly minted four-year contract, signed late last week, along with a guarantee from owner/gm Jerry Jones of "final say" on all roster moves and each member of Garrett's coaching staff.

"Ultimately, we're going to feel good about the decisions we make as an organization," Garrett said in his introductory press conference as the Cowboys' head coach. "We'll communicate, we have very similar football values and we'll come to the right conclusions together."

This marks a stark contrast to the way Jones has done business as the general manager of this team for the majority of his time as owner/gm of the Cowboys. Jones not only realizes it's time for a change on his part, but the value of Garrett -- and here's why:


Even with starting quarterback Tony Romo on the shelf for the entirety of his eight game stretch coaching the Cowboys -- and fielding, statistically, the worst defense in Cowboys' history -- Garrett managed to win five games against seven teams that finished the season with a combined 68-60 record. Four of those teams finished at least 10-6 on the season, while three made the playoffs compared to only two such teams over the first half of the season.

Garrett's three losses as interim coach came by a combined 7 points.

"You can dream that this thing is in place long term because of his age and, frankly, his background and experience," Jones said.

What Garrett proved at the helm for Dallas was the ability to take a group of underachievers and turn them into a playoff-caliber football team just by introducing a novel approach: accountability. As quickly as Wade Phillips lost this team to open up the season and, seemingly just as easily, Garrett got them back with his no-nonsense attitude.

If Jerry really is giving Garrett the reigns in terms of roster moves, this is a step in the right direction. Now the Cowboys' head coach must turn his attention to free agency and the draft as Dallas has holes to fill on both sides of the ball.

Luckily for the Cowboys, so does every other team in football judging by the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Every road team won last weekend aside from the New Orleans Saints, who were taking on the Seattle Seahawks -- the only team in NFL history to win it's division and make the playoffs with a losing record.

Gotta love parity!

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)