We’ve talked a lot in the first few weeks of the offseason about the still unrevealed identity of the coach who will be calling plays on offense for the Cowboys next season.
Head coach Jason Garrett, who has been calling the plays, and offensive coordinator Bill Callahan, who owner Jerry Jones said he wants calling the plays, both downplayed the magnitude of the decision last week, saying that game plans will be a collaborative effort regardless of who is the guy picking each individual play. Tight end Jason Witten also thinks that it’s a lot of sound and fury over nothing because the problem with the Cowboys offense was one of execution.
“I think more’s been made of that than probably needs to be as far as a player’s perspective just because it’s all about execution for us,” Witten said, via Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “We’ve got to execute those plans better. We’ve got good plays, and we’ve got some good players, but we’ve got to do a good enough job of executing time and time again. That’s where focus is on as players, I think, and that’s where it needs to be moving forward.”
The debate about who calls the plays took on a life of its own when Jones said he wanted someone else calling the plays, but Witten’s comments are a useful reminder that the greatest playbook in the history of football wouldn’t be worth much if the players can’t execute it. Whoever relays the signals next season will only be as successful as Witten and his teammates make him.