After playing too conservative for far too long, Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett finally took some chances in the team’s Week 2 win
Well, it worked once and failed miserably once. Still, the good news is Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett finally seemed to be willing to take some risks. And it’s be foolish to say it didn’t aid the Cowboys in defeating the rival Washington Redskins on Sunday.
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In Week 1 Dallas played an ultra-conservative game against the New York Giants and lost, 20-19. This game plan was nearly identical to the one they employed throughout their 4-12 campaign in 2015.
This “plan” consisted of a high dose of running the ball and short, safe passes to tight end Jason Witten and slot receiver Cole Beasley. Doing this, in effect, made wideout Dez Bryant one of the highest paid decoys in the entire NFL.
It also made Dallas a very beatable team. Playing the safe approach led to a lot of close games in which a single mistake could ruin an entire game. Last Sunday, that happened when receiver Terrance Williams didn’t get out of bounds on the final play of the game. He messed up, the clock ran out, and the team lost. One mistake cost them the whole thing.
That’s what happens when you leave a game to chance like Garrett has been doing in every single contest without Tony Romo. Their Week 2 game against the Washington Redskins, however, went a little different.
Sure, the game still came down to the wire as Washington had a chance with a Hail Mary throw with eight seconds to go. But Dallas at least showed some signs of life in the confidence and risk taking department.
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The first risk paid off big time. With a fourth-and-one at the Redskins 300yard line Dallas was about to do what they did against the Giants the week before, kick a second-straight field goal. Doing so in Week 1 was a killer as Dallas controlled the clock but were down 7-6 after only a short drive from New York. All their hard work was erased on a 93-second drive that covered 75 yards with just four plays.
Head coach Jason Garrett decided to put his super-conservative play-calling book in his back pocket this time and decided they could convert on this short yardage play. The result was a 28-yard completion to tight end Geoff Swaim. Dallas then capitalized with a touchdown run by Ezekiel Elliott and a 10-0 lead.
Washington then headed right down the field and scored, yet this time it didn’t sting as bad. The home team had some momentum, but unlike the week before, Dallas still had the lead. They kept the lead at three and headed to the half 13-10.
Washington was able to jump on top the next half with a touchdown but Dallas answered with rookie quarterback Dak Prescott‘s first career touchdown run.
With a 20-17 lead, Dallas again looked like a changed team. Garrett saw something in the kick coverage he liked and a surprise onside kick ensued. The kick was pretty abysmal and safety Barry Church was flagged for an illegal touch. This risk didn’t work, but it sure fired the team up.
From this point on Dallas shut Washington down. Dallas’ maligned defense held Washington to a field goal following the short field from the onside attempt. Later when Washington looked to take control late, Barry Church stepped up with an interception in the end zone.
Dallas later had a blunder as Elliott fumbled the ball away. Again Washington had a short field and it looked like a solid offensive game plan was out the window because of one mistake. This time though, the defense rose to the occasion and again held the opponent to a field goal.
Then as fate would have it, former Redskins running back Alfred Morris punched in what proved to be the game winner. He did his patented home run celebration on the field he once called home and gets the last laugh as the team who passed on him this offseason was dealt a loss.
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Maybe it was just luck, or perhaps it was the team gaining confidence from a coach finally trusting his players. He trusted Prescott to push the ball downfield to Dez Bryant. Thanks to that, Bryant had 102 yards receiving. He trusted the defense to come up with a stop if the onside kick failed, and they did.
In the end, Garrett looked for ways to win; and that’s exactly what they finally did.