New Cowboys boss Garrett absorbed Johnson's coaching philosophy as backup QB - Temple Daily Telegram |
| New Cowboys boss Garrett absorbed Johnson's coaching philosophy as backup QB - Temple Daily Telegram Posted: 17 Nov 2010 09:18 PM PST IRVING - As a third-string quarterback on the 1993 Dallas Cowboys, Jason Garrett tried to absorb every nuance of the game and he especially took note of the way coach Jimmy Johnson ran the club. Johnson set a tone that resonated throughout the locker room and all of team headquarters. The Cowboys were good and knew it. They knew hard work got them from 1-15 to Super Bowl champions and only more hard work would keep them there. Rules were spelled out, consequences, too; only novices or fools tested the boundaries. Practices could be as tough as games. By following Johnson's lead during the week, the Cowboys won on the weekends. Garrett never forgot that. And now that he has Johnson's old job, he is using a similar blueprint to make the franchise a winner again - so far, that is. Garrett is only 1-0 since replacing Wade Phillips last week, but soundly beating the division-leading Giants in New York helped win over a lot of skeptics. On Tuesday, he took a break from planning for the Detroit Lions to let Johnson know his way is back in vogue at Valley Ranch. "Making sure I get the maximum performance from everyone in the organization every day is my No. 1 daily focus," Garrett wrote in a text message to Johnson. Garrett has learned from every coach he's been around, crafting his theories on offense by playing for Norv Turner, Ernie Zampese, Sean Payton and Jon Gruden, and getting more lessons in leadership from Nick Saban in his first stint as an assistant coach. Yet after Garrett's first season as offensive coordinator in Dallas, it was Johnson who Garrett turned to for advice on whether to become head coach of the Atlanta Falcons or the Baltimore Ravens. "We talked at length about those jobs and the alternative of staying in Dallas, about the pluses and minuses and what the risks were," Johnson said. "Then he flew down here to the (Florida) Keys and spent three days with me." Garrett was invited for a guys' weekend of fishing, drinking and talking football. He brought along Troy Aikman and several pages of questions. "I told Troy, 'This guy is wearing me out!'" Johnson said, laughing. "I wanted to drink beer and have fun and all he wanted to do was talk football." It wasn't about strategy. They mostly discussed running a team, how to lead 53 players and a staff of assistant coaches. That was among Johnson's greatest attributes as he took the Cowboys from one win in his first season to Super Bowl champions in his fourth and fifth seasons. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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