The Cowboys end the regular season in familiar fashion. A win/in or lose/go home scenario. Once again for the Cowboys, they lose on a Romo interception and go home. At this point what can you say that has not already been spoken, written or at least thought about. There are the Romo haters and the Romo lovers, both have valid points. There are the Jerry Haters (I don't think there are any Jerry Lovers) and they certainly have their justifiable and historical data points. There are the Jason Garret haters and lovers.
As with most problems I don't think there is a one magic bullet theory. I think there are issues to be corrected in each of these areas. Regarding the Romo problem - sure if you could have Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or one of the two hot new QBs Luck and RGIII of course you would trade Romo, but those are not options (well at least not now, Jerry probably could've coaxed Peyton here during his whistle stop tour of franchises last spring). So you have Romo who is a very good QB. Not a great QB, but he definitely is better than a lot of the QBs in the league and always helps the team win 3-4 regular season games. So you keep Romo, you begin an earnest search for his replacement as he is now 33 years old, and you build a team concept that doesn't rely 100% on Romo, which now the Cowboys obviously do. You do that by beefing up your defensive line to lower the score of opposing teams and thereby letting Romo know that he doesn't have to score 35 points to win. You do substantial work in upgrading the offensive line so that:
1. To take pressure off Romo so he won't be rushed into stupid mistakes as often.
2. An upgraded Offensive line will help an obviously good running back DeMarco Murray run the ball more efficiently which will also take pressure off Romo.
The Jerry problem, nothing you can do about this. His stamp is all over this team, and because of this there may not be anything that anyone can do. His dysfunction may ruin this team regardless of any changes made.
Jason Garrett problem. I for one, believe that in today's world, instant success is expected too often in pro coaching. However, with the player parity in the league, I also see that Coaching is probably more important now more than ever. With that said, I think JG should be allowed more time to establish his players and establish his environment. Now this may be impossible with Jerry Jones running around the premises and getting into fights with Ratliff in the locker room, but I think JG should be given more time. However, I do think he needs to bring in an Offensive Playcaller. Being the head coach and offensive play caller is too much for one individual. You may be able to do both well, but there is no way you can be great at both. There is no doubt in my mind that this is why JG appears to have problems with time management in some games, it's because he's thinking about the next play to call. There should be two separate people with these duties. With Norv Turner and Tony Sporano now on the streets, there is no excuse for JG not hiring an Offensive Coordinator/Play Caller and relieving himself of playcalling duties.
So while everyone has their theories and ideas, I think if you addressed two of these three problems as outlined above (I say two, because the third one - Jerry Jones problem, there is nothing that can be done about that one), then the Cowboys will at least have a chance at the Playoffs next year.
The most frustrating thing though is to have to write this type of essay year after year.
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