The Dallas Cowboys may have lost the chance to earn a ticket to the NFL Final Four as it was upset by eventual Super Bowl 51 runner-up Atlanta Falcons during the quarterfinals, but the team had the most remarkable season in the NFL in 2016 following a forgettable 2015.
At the helm of Dallas Cowboys’ resurgence are Head Coach Jason Garrett and two rookies in Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott who helped turn things around for the franchise. Through it all, critics believe that Jason Garett was pretty impressive.
Garrett was at the helm of the Dallas Cowboys during the team’s historic season in 2014. But the wheels fell off in 2015 due to injuries at key positions combined with horrible quarterback play without starting quarterback Tony Romo.
The coach would bounce back in the 2016 season by besting the 2014 campaign, and with two rookies at the helm, no less.
Neither the expected inexperience at the two most important positions in football nor injury could stop Dallas during the regular season, which is why Garrett has been named 2016 NFL Head Coach of the Year.
A hands-down winner
For a while, some observers were saying that the voting for the NFL Head Coach of the Year would be close.
But lo and behold, Jason Garett got 25 votes and the closest competition was Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots, who got 14 votes and who would eventually go on to win the fifth Super Bowl for the Patriots.
Coming in at third is Adam Gase of the Detroit Lions with six votes, Jack Del Rio of the Oakland Raiders with four votes, and Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs with one vote.
Garrett’s ability to get an entire buy-in from all 53 men was remarkable, which included Romo, who could have easily pushed the issue to recover his starting quarterback role.
And then there were the suspensions that could have also derailed the season, but instead became completely inconsequential to their regular season win total, reports 247 Sports.
It was all handled masterfully and the Cowboys rattled off a franchise record 11 straight wins in the process, many of which were gritty and showed Garrett is unafraid to take chances.
Rallying the troops
In a season predicted to be a total loss for the Cowboys after Romo was lost to injury in August, Garrett rallied the troops behind rookies Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott and launched into orbit.
Few NFL head coaches could have matched Garrett’s success this past season if given the same extreme handicaps, particularly under the spotlight that looms over the Dallas Cowboys.
The Cowboys’ 2016 season actually got off to a terrible start when quarterback Tony Romo went down with a back injury in the preseason and it looked like the Cowboys were headed for a repeat of their 4-12 season in 2015.
But the Cowboys were determined not to let the same set of adversities sink another campaign.
Garrett said in October last year that there was a lot for all of them to learn from that experience, referring to the 2015 debacle, and they are still learning.
He said that they were determined to come back in the early part of the offseason, they were determined to build the team that could handle and withstand the adversities that are inevitable in the NFL.
The Cowboys head coach added then that they have tried to do that and will continue to try to do that each and every day. True enough, it was a splendid year for the Dallas Cowboys, details the SB Nation.
The team headed into the 2016 season with a rookie running back, a rookie fourth-round quarterback, a pass rush with no NFL pedigree, and a bunch of no-name players on defense.
Packers beat the Cowboys not the Falcons. How could someone writing about the great Cowboys season forget that incredible game.
Uh… the Cowboys did not play Atlanta in the playoffs. They were beaten by the Green Bay Packers. It was the Packers that played Atlanta.
Please get your facts correct. When you don’t, it detracts from the validity of your article.