The rollercoaster ride that has been Jason Garrett's coaching career with the Dallas Cowboys started nearly a decade ago in 2010 when he took over as interim Head Coach after the firing of Wade Phillips. In his first three full seasons, he had the Cowboys playing for the NFC East crown in the final game of the season. Unfortunately, the Cowboys lost all three (once to each division opponent) which started to raise the question of could Garrett lead this organization to postseason success.
The last half-decade has been as inconsistent as ever as the Cowboys have alternated playoff appearances every season since 2014. Even with the team coming off it's third NFC East title during Garrett's tenure as head coach Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones made his frustrations clear in an interview just a few weeks after losing to the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs last season when asked if his coach will get a contract extension.
“None of that is anything that I would talk about in this forum in any way, and so we won't get there,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan. “I think I've made clear how I feel about Jason in terms of where he is right now as far as our ability to help us win football games. I think if you look at what we've done over the last few years, you'll see a pretty good winning record there. But it's not enough, not enough.”
Not the normal tone of Jones when speaking on his head coach that we've become accustomed to which made it obvious that the 2019 season was the most vital of the Garrett era with no extension in place.
The Cowboys went into Metlife Stadium in Week 6 to take on the 0-4 New York Jets in what looked like an opportunity to right the ship after two consecutive losses. On paper that seemed to be the case, but on the field, the Cowboys fell behind 21-3 and came up short in their comeback attempt losing by two 24-22.
Talking to reporters postgame, Jones had this to say about where his team was after a third consecutive loss.
“Now, ultimately, if you're one of the really top teams, which we're not, we are not … I hope that someday this season we could be one of the top teams. We certainly were not tonight. I hope that we can do better than just win our division, although I'll take that right now in this circumstance. But I hope that we can get out there and get a little special positioning in the playoffs.”
When the Cowboys were 4-3 and on their bye week Jones made his weekly appearance on 105.3 The Fan's Shan & RJ and again voiced his displeasure of how the team was performing.
“I thought our record would be better,” Jones said. “We didn't think the Jets game would have the outcome that it did. I had hoped we'd be better than this.”
So far through nine games this season the Cowboys are 5-4 and have been the definition of inconsistency. They have multiple winning streaks of two games or more, however, they also have a three-game losing streak mixed in there as well.
Just days after losing to the Minnesota Vikings Jones talked about his current mood towards this team.
“I don't know that I have too many weeks regarding the Cowboys that's I'm not disturbed,” Jones said.
“It's like holding two handfuls full of Jell-O. And about the time that you stop it from coming out the middle finger, over by the forefinger, about the time you start it over there then it starts coming out of the other side. And that's what makes this game so great. That's what makes the challenge so great. You think you got it figured out, and two games later the defense you face will have had it figured out for you.”
Jones has expressed several times that he isn't happy with the current state of affairs since last season ended. If Garrett wants to get a contract extension for the foreseeable future, I feel he'll have to get this team past the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1995.
