Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett congratulates Tony Romo after a first-half touchdown. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)
ARLINGTON — Although Jerry Jones isn’t ready to announce a long-term contract extension for Jason Garrett, the Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager continues to point out the progress being made by the fourth-year head coach.
“I think Jason is going to be a better coach five years from now than he is today, and I think he’s a much better coach today than he was five years ago,” Jones said Tuesday. “He’s a growing, smart, hard-working coach that is really getting some great experience.”
On Sunday, Garrett improved his head-coaching record to 36-30. Dallas’ former backup quarterback is in the final year of his current deal, but Jones said the Cowboys are not currently talking to his agent about a new contract.
“We haven’t agreed, but I will say this: Jason, when we started back in the spring, certainly he’s got a lot more positive attributes,” Jones said. “But he had more last spring than he had the spring before – that’s what you get with him. But it’s one of the logical reasons why you would have a good future in mind for him, especially since we’re having the success we’re having, and we should think about it.”
One of Garrett’s best attributes, according to Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones, is the way he’s able to motivate the players and his coaching staff.
“He just grows every year,” Stephen Jones said. “I still think it’s the messaging, the communication, the verbalizing with the team, I think he’s very strong there. I think he’s got a great way about keeping everybody focused playing together as a team.
“I think he’s become a great manager of his staff. I think he’s certainly better in how we manage a game. I think he certainly steps up and has a big hand in the fact that we utilize our assets, and we run the ball, not to get away from the run when you could get away from the run. I just think he’s overall doing a hell of a job being the head coach of this football team.”
While at times Garrett can be considered easy to work with, Stephen Jones noted that he can also be “very demanding” and even “pushy” at times.
“He doesn’t try to bully,” Stephen Jones quickly responded when asked if he was “pushy” like previous Cowboys head coaches Bill Parcells and Jimmy Johnson.
Occasionally, Garrett will have what Stephen Jones calls a “real good discussion” with the team’s front office.
When is the last time that happened? In July, when the Cowboys cut backup quarterback Kyle Orton. Garrett wanted to be sure the franchise was making the correct decision.
“There were a lot of moving parts to the Orton situation,” Stephen Jones said. “There’s no one who respects Orton more than Jerry or I, but there’s money issues, there’s the fact that – and this hit Jason in the wrong spot – he wasn’t here for any of the activities, which is very important to Coach Garrett.
“I just say that [Garrett's] very smart, to start with, very, very smart. He just really wants to [discuss topics] when there are things that really need to be aired out and discussed at length.”
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