Coach of the Year? A tough call. Most Valuable Player? Tougher. Rookie of the Year? Hey, how about a category with a clear-cut winner?
Crummiest Executive of 2013?
Take a bow, Dallas owner Jerry Jones. Hope you have room for the trophy on your mantle, already crowded by those you have earned in previous years.
The Cowboys, with all of their resources, have won precisely half their regular-season games since 1997. OK, then maybe they have excelled over that span in the play-offs? Uh, no. One win.
Establishing his credentials for this year’s award, Jones dumped accomplished defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, who has patched up the New Orleans Saints this season, in favour of Monte Kiffin, who had been absent from the league since 2008. The Cowboys’ defence is better than ... nobody’s.
In mid-season, Jones switched play-calling duties from head coach Jason Garrett, a debatable hire in the first place, to offensive coordinator Bill Callahan. Perhaps owing to amnesia, Callahan forgot the running game last Sunday in the team’s epic collapse to Green Bay.
Then maybe fault lies with substandard players? If so, why has the long-time general manager retained his job? Oh, yeah. That is Jones, who never played in the NFL, nor coached anywhere.
Only the Cowboys’ massive stadium is spacious enough to contain Jones’s ego. By now, he should have realised that a football man should be making personnel decisions and providing input on coaching hires.
sports@thenational.ae
