The Philadelphia Eagles won their first Super Bowl championship Sunday night with a daring coach who willed his team to victory.
Doug Pederson, who's in his second season as a head coach, already has accomplished something Cowboys' coach Jason Garrett hasn't come close to doing in seven full seasons.
Sean McVay, the NFL's coach of the year, showed the power of innovative coaching in transforming the inept Los Angeles Rams into the league's highest-scoring offense.
Jerry Jones, no matter what you think, is no fool.
He's seen Pederson's impact up close and personal as NFC East rivals with the Eagles. He saw McVay's impact on an October weekend when the Rams scored 35 points and rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit to beat the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.
Now, we're about to find out whether the success Pederson and McVay has changed Jerry's thoughts on Garrett.
It'll be easy to find out.
If the Cowboys don't make a deep playoff then Jerry probably admits Garrett isn't the coach who can ultimately get his team to a championship level. Understand, Jerry's reluctance to fire Garrett makes intellectual sense even if it drives most of y'all crazy.
Jerry has always wanted Garrett to be his Tom Landry. Jerry doesn't want to fire Garrett a year or two early like the Cleveland Browns did with Bill Belichick and watch him blossom elsewhere.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Before you laugh, consider no one in Cleveland knew Belichick was going to become one of the best coaches in NFL history, and neither did anyone else.
Garrett, as we all know, is an intelligent person who moves deliberately. Sometimes, he's so caught up in the micro — a meeting, a practice, a film session — that you wonder if he can see the big picture and understand that time just might be running out on his time in Dallas.
Jerry hired Garrett in 2007 as offensive coordinator before he hired coach Wade Phillips, so in a sense he's always been the golden child. But he was also a first-time head coach at any level, which meant he was destined to make mistakes.
What Jerry's trying to figure out is whether Garrett is a pretty good coach or a dude like Pederson or McVay who can elevate the franchise.
When you watched Super Bowl LII we saw tangible evidence of Pederson helping the Eagles win their title.
We saw it with his fourth-down call at the end of the first half, when he decided to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the New England 1 — when the so-called "smart play" would've been to kick the field goal and take an 18-12 halftime lead.
Instead, Pederson called a time-out and called a reverse pass that resulted in quarterback Nick Foles catching a one-yard touchdown pass while simultaneously sending a message to the Patriots that the Eagles came to win, not just keep the score close.
Pederson also went for it on fourth down from the Philadelphia 45, trailing 33-32, with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles converted and finished the drive with Zack Ertz scoring on an 11-yard touchdown pass that gave the Eagles a 38-33 lead. Pederson set the tone with the first fourth-down call and his team followed his lead.
In today's NFL, the talent is close because of the salary-cap restrictions that the teams with the best coaches have a clear advantage. Ask yourself the last time the Cowboys beat a team with more talent.
Too many times, Garrett puts the Cowboys at a disadvantage on game day.
A few years ago, Jerry hired Phillips because he wanted the players to see the tangible ways their head coach helped them win games. Then, he demanded Garrett give up the play-calling and turn it over to Bill Callahan.
When the offense struggled, Garrett started calling plays again. Prior to the 2014 season, Garrett hired Linehan to call plays as he entered the final year of his contract as a lame duck.
The Cowboys went 12-4 and Garrett received a new five-year deal worth $30 million. As we enter the fourth year of Garrett's current deal, we're left to ask ourselves about his impact.
They don't do that in Philadelphia or New England. They don't wonder what Mike Zimmer does in Minnesota or Sean Payton in New Orleans.
If we have to wonder about Garrett's impact at the end of next season, he won't be around for another year.
