Turner won't fix what is broken
By Jennifer Floyd Engel
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Norv Turner is going to be named the head coach of the Cowboys on Monday.
Oh, nobody has officially announced this ho-hum news. Nor am I pretending to have an inside pipeline to Owner Jones' brain. It's just a hunch based on what has been happening at Valley Ranch.
Did I mention this is a mistake? On so many levels.
Norv is not a bad guy or a bad coach. Quite the opposite. He is actually a great offensive coordinator, exactly the kind of guy you want tutoring Tony Romo in what may be a defining season for him.
What is slightly confounding is why nobody seems to recognize this is exactly what already-hired offensive coordinator Jason Garrett was touted for. If anything, Norv sounds like an older more scarred version of Garrett.
I mean, seriously, how many gurus does Romo need? And was anybody actually paying attention in December?
If an excess of experts, gurus and possibly faith healers are needed for any Cowboys, look at the 11-plus lost souls on defense. They were the group that absolutely cratered in crunch time, giving up an NFL-worst 152 points in December.
In the words of one Cowboys insider, "This defense is broken." Not irreparable but definitely broken -- in spirit, in scheme and in talent in a few areas.
In my world, a defense in shambles, plus Garrett already employed, equals a strong case for the Cowboys' next coach to be a defensive guy.
But my world is definitely not Jerry's. My perfect world actually has Owner Jones waiting post-Super Bowl to see if prying Lovie Smith from Chicago -- or at least stealing his defensive coordinator, Ron Rivera -- is a possibility.
Neither seems to have much of a chance, which is why Chargers defensive coordinator Wade Phillips is the next-best choice for Owner Jones.
Logic says, when your defense is "broken," you bring in the guy who ran your exact scheme, only better and with results, in San Diego. Especially when you realize Romo is the best thing this team has going at the moment.
Romo-mania needs to be tweaked, not saved.
This is not to say the NFL is not all about the quarterback. It is, but even the best QB going right now, Indy's Peyton Manning, needed defensive help to reach a Super Bowl. Chicago, of course, plays next Sunday almost solely because of its defense.
So, really, it does not matter if Turner, by his presence, molds Romo into Roger Staubach. The Cowboys are not going anywhere with this defense as presently constructed. And Norv is not the guy to handle the overhaul.
This is problematic because Norv is probably going to be the head coach, and nobody has any clue who will be the unlucky fool charged with cleaning up the mess on defense.
Does Norv stay with a Coach Parcells holdover like Todd Bowles or Paul Pasqualoni? Or does he go with somebody he knows like, say, Dave Campo? And is the decision even Norv's to make?
Owner Jones reasserted himself into coaching matters with the Garrett hire and is unlikely to fade quietly back to the spot he occupied during CP's tenure. If so, what he needs to realize is hiring Norv only solves half of the problem, the half that was not the Cowboys' biggest problem, the half that was supposedly fixed by Garrett, the half that is not "broken."
Hiring Norv just means Owner Jones has zero room for error when bringing in somebody to fix the other, uglier half.
Did I mention this is a mistake?
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Norv Turner is going to be named the head coach of the Cowboys on Monday.
Oh, nobody has officially announced this ho-hum news. Nor am I pretending to have an inside pipeline to Owner Jones' brain. It's just a hunch based on what has been happening at Valley Ranch.
Did I mention this is a mistake? On so many levels.
Norv is not a bad guy or a bad coach. Quite the opposite. He is actually a great offensive coordinator, exactly the kind of guy you want tutoring Tony Romo in what may be a defining season for him.
What is slightly confounding is why nobody seems to recognize this is exactly what already-hired offensive coordinator Jason Garrett was touted for. If anything, Norv sounds like an older more scarred version of Garrett.
I mean, seriously, how many gurus does Romo need? And was anybody actually paying attention in December?
If an excess of experts, gurus and possibly faith healers are needed for any Cowboys, look at the 11-plus lost souls on defense. They were the group that absolutely cratered in crunch time, giving up an NFL-worst 152 points in December.
In the words of one Cowboys insider, "This defense is broken." Not irreparable but definitely broken -- in spirit, in scheme and in talent in a few areas.
In my world, a defense in shambles, plus Garrett already employed, equals a strong case for the Cowboys' next coach to be a defensive guy.
But my world is definitely not Jerry's. My perfect world actually has Owner Jones waiting post-Super Bowl to see if prying Lovie Smith from Chicago -- or at least stealing his defensive coordinator, Ron Rivera -- is a possibility.
Neither seems to have much of a chance, which is why Chargers defensive coordinator Wade Phillips is the next-best choice for Owner Jones.
Logic says, when your defense is "broken," you bring in the guy who ran your exact scheme, only better and with results, in San Diego. Especially when you realize Romo is the best thing this team has going at the moment.
Romo-mania needs to be tweaked, not saved.
This is not to say the NFL is not all about the quarterback. It is, but even the best QB going right now, Indy's Peyton Manning, needed defensive help to reach a Super Bowl. Chicago, of course, plays next Sunday almost solely because of its defense.
So, really, it does not matter if Turner, by his presence, molds Romo into Roger Staubach. The Cowboys are not going anywhere with this defense as presently constructed. And Norv is not the guy to handle the overhaul.
This is problematic because Norv is probably going to be the head coach, and nobody has any clue who will be the unlucky fool charged with cleaning up the mess on defense.
Does Norv stay with a Coach Parcells holdover like Todd Bowles or Paul Pasqualoni? Or does he go with somebody he knows like, say, Dave Campo? And is the decision even Norv's to make?
Owner Jones reasserted himself into coaching matters with the Garrett hire and is unlikely to fade quietly back to the spot he occupied during CP's tenure. If so, what he needs to realize is hiring Norv only solves half of the problem, the half that was not the Cowboys' biggest problem, the half that was supposedly fixed by Garrett, the half that is not "broken."
Hiring Norv just means Owner Jones has zero room for error when bringing in somebody to fix the other, uglier half.
Did I mention this is a mistake?
posted by The Gryphon at 9:02 AM
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