Dallas Cowboys: Don’t repeat past mistakes with Rod Marinelli
By Randy Gurzi
With Rod Marinelli mulling retirement, the Dallas Cowboys may want to push him out the door to avoid losing a talented assistant like they have before.
In 2005, the Dallas Cowboys had one of the brightest young assistant coaches in the NFL. Sean Payton was an offensive coordinator under head coach Bill Parcells. The Big Tuna had the name that people recognized, but Payton had the bright future. That offseason, Parcells started mulling retirement and, for some reason, the Cowboys acted like they absolutely had to have him back for one more season.
This short-sighted thinking led to Payton leaving for New Orleans Saints, where he’s still coaching and trying for his second Super Bowl run. As for Parcells, he had a subpar season with the team and they have still been struggling to get close to the success Payton has had with the team he took over.
Fast forward to now and something similar is happening with the defensive coaches. Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli has been mediocre at coaching, but we have all been fed a ton of excuses. His players aren’t good enough and he has had troubled guys like defensive ends Randy Gregory and Greg Hardy and linebacker Rolando McClain — the only coach to ever have such players, right?
After the team went 9-7 in 2017, Marinelli is reportedly mulling retirement. Much like in 2006, owner Jerry Jones wants the old guy to return. In doing so, they could lose an up and coming assistant in Matt Eberflus who reportedly is getting attention around the league as a future defensive coordinator.
The Cowboys simply can’t let this happen. It’s time to stop accepting excuses for falling short. Marinelli has been here since 2013 and his results have been below average. Instead of accountability he gets endless praise.
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That needs to stop now, and the team needs to convince Marinelli that this retirement notion is a great idea and promote Eberflus. If they don’t, we all will look back in a few years wondering why the Cowboys let another talented one get away while trying to cling desperately to a coach that has more name than game.