Cowboys coach Jason Garrett hasn’t been afraid to wield the one power he has over the Cowboys roster — playing time.
In recent weeks, he’s benched former sixth-overall pick Morris Claiborne, and now it appears 2011 second-rounder Bruce Carter is losing his job to Ernie Sims.
That has owner/G.M. Jerry Jones wondering what went wrong.
“I am disappointed they aren’t playing better,” Jones said, via Rainer Sabin of the Dallas Morning News. “I don’t think I am as disappointed as they are. We think they would play at a higher level, . . . I expect them to — and I think they will – step up their game.”
Both players have been liabilities in pass coverage, despite physical talents that should make them effective in that regard. So coaches have replaced them, despite the inherent edge that comes with draft status.
“I respect what the coaches feel like they need to do to get the most out of our players,” executive vice president and son-of-owner Stephen Jones said. “We certainly respect the decision they’ve made in terms of who is going to start and who is going to play at what. Obviously, we do need accountability. Any time you bench a player who has played well for you, and both of them have, that’s disappointing. But I have every confidence in the world both those gentlemen will respond and respond well.”
Coaches come and coaches go in Dallas, and Garrett was jerked around all offseason over who’d call offensive plays, with that power ultimately taken away from him.
But much of the reason the Cowboys are in a “rut” lies with the personnel department, where it’s hard to expect the same degree of accountability since the names are the same as the ones on the bottom of the checks.
