By Dwain Price, NDG Sports
FRISCO – Someone had to pay dearly for the Dallas Cowboys missing out on the Super Bowl for an unprecedented 23rd consecutive season. So far, that someone is offensive coordinator Scott Linehan.
Not long after the Cowboy’ season abruptly ended with a 30-22 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football Conference semifinals, the team parted ways with Linehan, who was under fire for most of this season for his suspect play-calling. Still, despite releasing Linehan, coach Jason Garrett defended the job Linehan performed this season.
“This was not an easy decision because of how highly we regard Scott Linehan as a football coach and as a person,” Garrett said in a prepared statement. “He and I had some really positive, substantive and open discussions which took place in the latter part of this week and we ultimately agreed that it would be in the best interest of all of the parties involved if we were to make a change at this (offensive coordinator) position.
“This was very much a mutual decision, and there was a great deal of common ground and shared understanding between both of us during our meetings. Scott has had an incredibly positive impact on our football team. He has been instrumental in the development and success of a significant number of our veteran and younger players. He is an outstanding football coach, a great friend and we wish him and his family nothing but the absolute best moving forward.”
The Cowboys’ offensive coordinator the past four seasons, Linehan expressed in his own statement on how his career with the Cowboys had come to a distressful end.
“At the end, we resolved that a fresh start was probably best for both of us,” Linehan said of his meeting with Garrett. “The Dallas Cowboys have been nothing but great to me — first class all the way.
“There’s a reason that they are the most valuable sports franchise on the planet. And I’ll always respect Jason as a coach and I consider him a good friend. I’ll miss my fellow coaches and my players a great deal, but life is about change and growth, and I very much look forward to my next challenge.”
While the Cowboys have washed their hands of Linehan, they haven’t yet reached out and announced whether they plan on offering contract extensions to Garrett or quarterback Dak Prescott this offseason. Garrett only has one more year remaining on his contract, while this is the first offseason Prescott is eligible for a long-term contract.
As Garrett’s job status seemingly has been in limbo forever, Prescott had a star-crossed season this year as he completed 356-of-526 passes for 3,885 yards and 22 touchdowns. He also threw eight interceptions, missed several wide open receivers and appeared to have the same recurring issues with his footwork and mechanics.
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Meanwhile, the Cowboys also look forward to their next challenge, which comes next season when they’ll again probably think they’ll have all the necessary tools to win a Super Bowl for the first time since 1996. Right guard Zack Martin acknowledged the opinion of many in Cowboys Nation in that this was a season of missed opportunities, particularly in the season-ended against the Rams.
“I think we have a team that can win a championship, and I think everyone believes that in that locker room,” Martin said. “That’s what makes this loss so hard, because we know we have the team to do that.
“We just didn’t put it all together (against the Rams).”
Still, running back Ezekiel Elliott likes the resiliency the Cowboys played with this season after they buckled up their chinstraps and fought back from a horrible 3-5 start to win eight of their final 10 games. That includes winning a wild card playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks, 24-22.
“We dealt with a lot of adversity this season and I think we did a great job handling it,” said Elliott, who led the NFL in rushing this season with 1,434 yards. “We started off 3-5 and nobody ever would have thought that we would have been here.
“We came up short (against the Rams), but I’m proud of these guys.”
The Cowboys had problems scoring before the midseason trade that brought wide receiver Amari Cooper over from the Oakland Raiders. However, if the season doesn’t conclude with a victory in the Super Bowl, for the Cowboys that’s a season of sheer disappointment.
“We had our backs against the wall, really, since the middle of the season,” safety Jeff Heath said. “The way this team kind of responded after the slow start, we stuck together and we kept playing hard and won a lot of really close games, and I think it’s just something to be proud of.
“But obviously right now it’s tough to kind of think that way.”
It’s tough for the Cowboys to think that way, because they wired differently than most teams. In the Cowboys’ world, it’s Super Bowl or bust. Thus, from the Cowboys’ perspective, this season was a bust.
“You have to remember these feelings when you stand in these locker rooms when you have disappointment,” Garrett said. “It has to continue to drive you, and we have the kind of guys who do that well.”
For the Cowboys, that drive will continue in earnest with obviously more offseason changes to come.
“We took some steps, but we really didn’t accomplish what we wanted to,” linebacker Damien Wilson said. “We only had one goal and I guess we’ll be back shooting at the same goal next year.”
