By MIKE PIELLUCCI
FOXSportsSouthwest.com
Jan. 27, 2011
Within the Cowboys organization, the appointment of Jason Garrett to head coach was considered a no-brainer.
Not everyone outside of it feels the same way.
Former NFL MVP and new Hall of Fame nominee Marshall Faulk spoke with the NFL Network's television crew covering the Pro Bowl and said he felt Garrett's performance in 2010 didn't merit earning the job on a permanent basis.
"I believe his job this year was not enough," Faulk proclaimed. "What he did in previous years? Yes, give Jason a chance to be a head coach. But I don't think you look at the Cowboys and you can point out and say that anybody on that staff did anything.
"Look at the season that they had. This team was expected to be playing the Super Bowl, in North Dallas, In Jerry's World. I think if you asked him, 'Hey Jason, assess your job. Assess the job that you did.' He'll let you know. 'I didn't do a good job.'"
Garrett's defenders will doubtlessly point out that by the time he got to coach the team himself, the season was already lost after Wade Phillips led the Cowboys to a 1-7 start. Once given the reins, Garrett led the team to a respectable 5-3 finish.
Faulk wasn't impressed, instead pointing to the psychological effect Phillips' firing had on the players as the main cause for the turnaround.
"There's two times when players will decide to play different than they did," Faulk said. "If the quarterback gets changed, if you pull the quarterback, watch the offense play much better with a different quarterback because when you put a new quarterback in now it's on the other 10 guys. They're not going to blame the quarterback anymore.
"Just like a head coach, when you remove the head coach, all the other coaches and everybody else says, 'OK, now we have to step up. We have to show that it was that guy and not us.'"
Suffice it to say that the star running back wasn't impressed.
It's up to Garrett to change his mind in 2011.
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