Cowboys' Garrett to decide who calls plays

Published Feb. 13, 2013 2:44 p.m. ET

foxsports

Many believed that Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett would use his news conference Wednesday to reveal who would be calling the team's offensive plays going forward, with offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Bill Callahan being the likely choice.

Garrett, who has called plays the last six years, addressed the topic but didn't give a firm answer, instead, saying the final decision didn't need to be made until the Cowboys played their first preseason game in August.

"As we go, we'll work through it," Garrett said. "We trust the process and we're pretty confident we'll get it right."

One thing Garrett did confirm is that he will make the final decision on who calls the plays.

"It's a collective process," he said. "We game plan together. It's not like everyone sits around and I come up with the game plan. That's not how we operate. We have never operated that way. I think it's stupid to operate that way. When you have great resources on your staff, you try to rely on those resources during the week and during the ballgame.

"That's always how we've done it. It's worked pretty well for us."

In regards to Callahan, Garrett discussed how the former Oakland Raiders head coach has more familiarity with the team now that he's entering his second season with the club. Callahan was responsible for coordinating the Cowboys' run game last season.

Before being promoted to head coach in Oakland, Callahan called plays from 1998-2001.

"Bill wouldn't be on the staff if we didn't have shared values," Garrett said. "My respect level for him as a coach and as a person is off the charts."

So why would Garrett want to give up play-calling? After all, he says the offense is on the right track and he's quick to rattle off impressive stats that have been accumulated during his time with the team.

"Well, because there are a lot of responsibilities that you have as head coach," Garrett responded. "You want to make sure you give the offense, defense and kicking game equal amount of time, equal amount of attention to address those things. And there are a ton of personnel issues that come up and a lot of other issues that you have.

"And there are only 24 hours in day. You want to make sure you're doing justice to everything as you go forward."

Follow Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota