Dallas Cowboys have finally moved on from head coach Jason Garrett after 10 years without a championship or even an appearance in a conference championship game. Garrett has been a frustrating head coach to endure and his tactics and time management have often been questionable but one thing he has proven capable of is motivate his football team when everyone else has counted them out. Credit Jason Garrett for rallying his team and keeping them mentally strong enough to win the NFC East in 2014 when expectations were low, in 2016 with a rookie 4th round QB, and in 2018 after struggling to a 3-5 start. While it was definitely time to move on, perhaps a little to late if you ask some, there were some brief moments where Jason Garrett surprised us all. Below is the a ranking of Jason Garrett’s top 5 wins (regular season) during his Dallas Cowboys head coaching tenure.
Honourable Mention:
November 13, 2016 – Dallas Cowboys(7-1) 35 @ 30 Pittsburgh Steelers (4-4) (3 pt underdog)
November 5, 2017 – Kansas City Chiefs (6-2) 17 @ Dallas Cowboys (4-3) 28 (2.5 pt favourite)
#5 October 16, 2016, Dallas Cowboys (4-1) @ Green Bay Packers (3-1)
Rookie QB Dak Prescott had become the Dallas Cowboys starting QB after Tony Romo was injured during the preseason. Prescott had started the year with an impressive 4-1 record but faced the biggest challenge of his young career travelling to Lambeau field to take on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. The Cowboys were 5 pt underdogs coming into the game but Dak Prescott overcame throwing his first career INT and Ezekiel Elliott dominated with 157 yards on the ground on route to a Cowboys 30-16 win. That victory was a statement win for Dak Prescott on the road against one of the best QB’s in the game.
#4 December 14, 2014, Dallas Cowboys (9-4) @ Philadelphia Eagles (9-4)
The Eagles and Cowboys were tied atop the NFC east with identical 9-4 records. The Eagles had the upper hand head to head having beaten the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day and were 3 pt favorites at home in this game. Tony Romo and the Cowboys had up until that season been notorious for having a poor record in the month of December. With 1st place in the division at stake the Cowboys came out flying to an early 21-0 lead. They would withstand a Philadelphia comeback to hang on and win 38-27 on the strength of 3 Dez Bryant TD catches. The Cowboys had taken the lead in the NFC East but more importantly exercised Tony Romo’s December demons by finishing a perfect 4-0 in month. That win spring boarded the Cowboys to their first division title in the Jason Garrett era.
#3 November 14, 2010, Dallas Cowboys (1-7) @ New York Giants (6-2)
This was Jason Garrett’s first game as interim coach following the midseason firing of Wade Philips. The New York Giants were heavy 12.5 pt favorites and John Kitna was starting for the Dallas Cowboys in place of the injured Tony Romo. Kitna tossed 3 td passes for the Cowboys in a Decisive 33-20 victory that ushered in the Jason Garret era. Garrett and the Cowboys would go on to finish 5-3 in the remaining games and Jason Garrett was named head coach to start the following season never to relinquish the role since.
#2 October 12, 2014, Dallas Cowboys (4-1) @ Seattle Seahawks (3-1)
The Dallas Cowboys had started hot 4-1 but had to travel to the loudest stadium in the NFL and entered as 9.5 underdogs against the defending Super Bowl Champions. The game did not start out well for the Cowboys as the Seahawks jumped out to a 10 point lead early following a blocked punt but the Cowboys battled back. Garrett and the Cowboys coaching staff did not panic and stuck with their game plan of running the ball with DeMarco Murray. Murray ran for over 100 yards against the legion of Boom and Seattle’s dominant run defense and the Cowboys won the game 30-23.
#1 November 29, 2018, New Orleans Saints (10-1) @ Dallas Cowboys (6-5)
The New Orleans Saints were coming into Dallas on a 10 game win streak and were considered the best team in the NFL. The Saints were 7.5 pt favorites and not many people gave the Dallas Cowboys a chance to win this game. Jason Garret and the Dallas Cowboys shocked the world winning 13-10 and holding the lethal Saints offense to only 10 pts. The Dallas Cowboys defense completely shut down the best offense in the league silencing critics who gave them no chance to compete with Sean Payton’s Saints. After the victory, the Cowboys went on to win the NFC East for a 3rd time in 5 seasons. This was no doubt a great victory but what solidifies this game as #1 on the list of Jason Garrett’s greatest victories is the circumstances surrounding it. Jason Garrett was under immense pressure and was even then coaching for his job every single week. More impressive still is that in this game, Garrett’s team was without key players such as Tyron Smith, Travis Frederick, Connor Williams, Geoff Swaim, Sean Lee and David Irving. Furthermore, the Cowboys had to overcome some key mistakes such as a couple of Randy Gregory penalties and a Dak Prescott late fumble in the redzone. The mental toughness the team showed to overcome these mistakes can only be credited to the often criticized head coach. The Cowboys followed that victory up with an epic O.T victory against the Eagles which propelled them to the playoffs where they handed Russell Wilson and the Seahawks a loss in the wild card round. Although the Cowboys lost in the divisional round once again, the end result was a successful 2018 season. Once again in 2019, Garrett failed to build upon his success and it cost him his job. Either way, love him or hate him, Jason Garrett will go down as a good (but not great) head coach who won more games than he lost and was loved by his players..
All data and statistics obtained and verified from https://www.pro-football-reference.com/
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201811290dal.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201410120sea.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201011140nyg.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201412140phi.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201610160gnb.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201611130pit.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201711050dal.htm
*Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode