What the Rangers and Cowboys Have in Common

Dec 15, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett calls a play during the second quarter of the game against the Green Bay Packers at AT

The Dallas Cowboys coaching staff did a terrible job trying to close out the win against the Green Bay Packers this past weekend. Jason Garrett is no longer the offensive coordinator, but he is the head coach, and he has proven to be a bad in game manager.

This seems to be a trend in the DFW area. The biggest complaint over the last few seasons about the Texas Rangers is that the manager Ron Washington is a terrible in game manager. He mis-handles the bull pen and the pitching staff in general. If you think about it, the Cowboys coach and the Texas Rangers manager have very similar managing styles.

Both guys are former players in their respective sport. Both guys are known as a players manager/coach. Both guys profess to much trust in players that are having a bad stretch or even a bad season. Both of them are not very exciting when talking to the media. And both guys have talented rosters. But there is a major difference in my opinion. Only one of them has played for a championship in his sport.

Ron Washington managed the Texas Rangers to back to back World Series (2010, 2011) and three straight playoff appearances. The Texas Rangers pulled a Cowboys last season by losing a winner take all game, something the Cowboys are headed for again this season. Washington is a good manager in my opinion, but I think his job may be in jeopardy this coming season if they don’t have a good season. There are only so many times you can keep running a pitcher or a player out there when they are not being productive, or leave a productive player on the bench. Washington seems to differ in opinion often with personal moves that Jon Daniels makes, like Jurickson Profar in 2011. Ron was also criticized for overplaying his starters that same year. It seems to me that these two gentlemen receive a lot of the same criticism.

I don’t know if I believe that this is a make or break year for Ron Washington, but it could be. It’ll be interesting to see how 2014 unfolds and how long or short of a leash the Texas Rangers front office put Ron Washington on. I think that Jason Garrett’s leash is feeling very, very short at the moment.