The Dez Problem: Why Garrett needs to revamp his offense

If you have tuned into the local radio show that I am a part of in the last year or so, you would notice I really like Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett a lot. I would have to defend him against my fellow co-hosts who think he might be one of the worst head coaches in all of sports. Until last week, I thought they were all crazy. Now, I would be totally in favor of sacking Garrett.

Why the change? This offense has turned into a bland and predictable piece of garbage if someone not named Tony Romo is in at quarterback. Last week’s performance against the New York Giants showed us how bad things really are underneath the surface.

Even with Romo out, it was thought that Dak Prescott would succeed because of all the quality weapons surrounding him.  He had a healthy Dez Bryant, one of the best offensive lines in the league, a young and dynamic running back and a veteran security blanket in Jason Witten.  So how did they manage to score only one touchdown against the Giants?

First off, give the Giants some credit. They spent big money to upgrade their defense and it worked. They were committed to stopping the run and forcing Prescott to beat them through the air. Also, there were times when Bryant and Cole Beasley could have helped the cause by actually catching the football near the end zone. Yet, there was something terribly wrong with the overall game plan and philosophy.

Dez Bryant is your most dynamic weapon and needs to be involved more than just being a decoy. Instead of moving him around the field to create better mismatches, Bryant is mostly lined up to be a deep threat. Here’s a rundown of the type of routes that Bryant ran thanks to Joey Ickes of Blogging the Boys.com.

Final Route #s for Dez full game: pic.twitter.com/k9pNsnyFvQ

— Joey Ickes (@JoeyIckes) September 13, 2016

21 of 44 of Bryant’s routes were Go routes with the next most being 5 a deep over. This is not a winning formula in today’s NFL. The problem is the Cowboys think this is how you have a successful offense. Their philosophy is to allow them to double Dez and then throw to the other weapons on the team. If Dez gets open and makes some game-changing plays, then awesome. If not, they are still moving the ball with their other players.

Problem with that is your other weapons aren’t going to make dynamic plays. Witten and Beasley can move the ball, but they don’t beat the defense effectively. In the end, Bryant has to get more than one catch in the ball game. It is that simple.

So why is this not a problem when Tony is at QB? Mainly because Romo is a seasoned veteran that can adjust the plays at the line of scrimmage and knows how to get the ball to Bryant. Romo has hidden a lot of the warts that Garrett’s offense has. Once Romo leaves the offense, it is clear how predictable it can become.

If Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan don’t change things fast, they might not have their jobs much longer. Romo can’t carry Garrett forever.