Former Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson was a guest on Good Morning Texas today. He was promoting responsible drinking for the upcoming holidays, for Crown Royal and talking Cowboys football. When he was done, I asked him what he thought is wrong with the Cowboys offense.
I don't think anything drastic is wrong with the Cowboys offense, I think they may have pulled back a little bit to protect the ball a little bit, Johnson says. They did have a lot more big plays early in the year. Felix Jones was probably a little bit more explosive before the injury, wide receivers were making more big plays, but teams are starting to work on taking Witten away, and they're doing it with more one on one coverage on the wide receivers. Points come out of the passing game. And so if they're going to get points, the wide receivers have got to step up. Guys like Roy Williams, Patrick Crayton and Miles Austin. Notice when you (Dallas) scored big points is when the wide receivers had big days.
For many years, Cowboys secondary coach Dave Campo was an assistant under Johnson, so when Campo and Cornerback Terence Newman had a disagreement on the sidelines this past Sunday, Johnson remember a game against the Redskins.
He's a feisty guy, Johnson says laughing. No, that doesn't surprise me. Campo is as feisty now as he was when he was hollering at the Redskins. I had to call him down one time when we were coming off the field, at the Redskins game up in Washington, He's hollering back and forth with the fans, I said come on Camps, get in the locker-room. Let's correct our mistakes. Don't worry about the fans. That's the same old Campo.
As the head coach, Johnson won two super bowls in Dallas. Fans are always wondering if he would ever consider coming back to coach the Cowboys again, but apparently, the odds are slim.
I love my lifestyle now, Johnson says. I love doing FOX NFL Sunday, and Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan, and Kurt Menefee, we all have a ball on the set and so it's fun. So I enjoy doing that. I enjoy living in the Florida Keys, I live on the ocean as you know, I do a lot of fishing and scuba diving, so I think I m going to stick with my lifestyle that I ve got now.
Would he consider coming back to football, not as the head coach?
You know, I've had that offer before and if I m responsible for something, I m going to be there night and day, Johnson says. So that's really going to consume my whole life and so it didn't make any difference if I was general manager or if I was the head coach. If I was a consultant, if your name is going to be on it, then you want it done the right way. You want to have success, so there is only one way to do it and that's the only way I know. And you know, other coaches, everybody has their own personality. Different people do it different ways. My personality was such that I had to be there all the time. And so I had to have my hands in it all the time and so you can't do that just halfway.
Johnson did pick the Cowboys to go the Super Bowl this season, but there is another side to the story.
Yeah, that was at least one of the segments, I also picked the Eagles, I also picked the Giants, Johnson says laughing. It depends on which segment you're watching. Depends who I m talking to. But I think they're capable. I really think when you look at the NFC, Minnesota has more of a total football team than a lot of teams. Obviously, the Saints are pretty good. I think the NFC East is wide open. I think the Giants game a week from Sunday will be huge up there in New York. If the Cowboys are able to win that ball game, then they can take control of the NFC East.
Johnson will always have lots of fans in Dallas, and as he was leaving, he was asked why he doesn't come to Dallas more often. To which he replied, if he did that, he wouldn't be loved nearly as much.
