Be honest: Before the season did you think, even for a moment, that on Week #12 the WFT would be the playoff-eligible squad versus a suffering Dallas team? It’s OK to say, “No way.” That’s how unpredictable the juxtaposition has been. Last season the Cowboys rode a wave of home victories to a 12-5 record. That matched the 12-5 record the year before…which matched the 12-5 record the year before that. Every home game in 2023 was a victory. That is, until the playoffs. Green Bay came into town and destroyed the silver and blue. Dallas got some late points to make the score look more respectable. But, they got boat raced. How bad has the Dallas season been? They misspelled legendary coach Tom Landry‘s name on the video board during a salute to his military service.
Fast forward to now and the team has not won a single home game. Whatever poison was let loose on the team in that playoff game has not been metabolized. The same scenario has played out time and again: The opposition goes up big early. Then Dak Prescott would get hot late to make the score respectable. Then Dak suffered a season-ending injury. Without him Dallas has not been able to make the final score less unsavory. On the other hand Washington has flushed the stench of the previous owner. The reinvigorated team has done quite well all things considered. Who would have thunk it?
Some History
As Andrew Lang pointed out in his “Dallas Week” article, Oil Man Clint Murchison was the money behind the inception of the Cowboys. But, the story goes to another level. In 1959 another Oil Man, Lamar Hunt wanted to bring a team to Dallas. Unable to purchase the then Chicago Cardinals Hunt had a bold idea; a new league. Football-crazy Texas was without a professional team. Hunt not only got the league off the ground, he put at team in Dallas known as the “Texans.”
The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.
Lamar Hunt
The NFL didn’t want to cede Texas silently. The whole sports world was in a bit of flux at the time. Major League Baseball had an emerging rival in the “Continental League.” When the Washington Senators fled DC for Minnesota MLB immediately replaced them with an expansion team. This was a pre-emptive move to keep the Continental League from establishing itself in Washington. Similarly the NFL expanded into Dallas and Minnesota to thwart the AFL. Dallas would never be able to support two teams. So the League made sure the Cowboys would be the survivors. Placing them into the Eastern Conference meant that the major TV markets on the I-95 corridor would see plenty of the Cowboys. One tactic was to put Dallas home games on the 4pm window. With the Giants, Eagles, or Washington on the tube the audience numbers were sure to be large back East. It worked like a charm.
With NFL revenue sharing dollars coming into the Cowboys’ coffers the hardscrabble AFL could not compete within the same second-tier city. It didn’t take but three seasons for Lamar Hunt to see the writing on the wall. He moved the team to Kansas City rebranding them as the “Chiefs.” The American Football Conference Championship trophy honors his name.
Sudden Success
One of the more over-worked phrases in the Organizational Management Lexicon is “Change Agent.” It is someone who comes into the fold, ditches the current paradigms, and relentlessly sells a vision for improved performance. By definition a new Head Coach should be a change agent. After all, he was hired in all but the rarest cases to improve a losing team in crisis mode. Washington’s football team was certainly all that and more at the end of last year. The team had lost eight straight games. Draft picks had not worked out. The 2023 #1 pick was a bust. Another first-rounder had been sent packing for a third-round pick. A dearth of talent was on full display. Sometimes an organization has to hit rock bottom before it can start recovery. The WFT was certainly there.
Dan Quinn is noted for his boundless positive energy. The key word is “boundless.” It takes all that to turn a rudderless ship into a fighting vessel. For those on the roster who survived the maelstrom Quinn was a shock to the system. Ben Standig in THE ATHLETIC has a piece out this week where various players waxed poetic about Quinn and his leadership style. There’s the usual praise for his personal connection to players as individuals; how he doesn’t rush players back from injury at the expense of long-term health; and plenty about that boundless positivism. But, Noah Brown mentioned that Dan would have one-on-one meetings with lots of eye contact.
MGT 101
Brown’s comments are fascinating. Eye Contact is a powerful tool at the base level for establishing connections. Somehow Noah found the fact that Quinn uses it as being noteworthy. Perhaps it is because such a thing is unusual within the NFL system. It would not be a shock. In January THE ATHLETIC ran a 2400+ word expose about how the 49’ers actually drafted a Vision Statement. The glowing piece looked upon this as a marvel of ingenuity. An organization aligned to a vision that it formed on paper is standard business Organization and Management fodder. Apparently that isn’t true in the NFL micro universe. This was viewed as some sort of transcendent breakthrough. Helping the panache was the facilitator happened to be a Stanford professor. Oooooh! Look, there are thousands of people qualified and experienced in facilitating the exercise. Find a consulting firm. They have folks that can do it. They just charge less than the professor.
It afforded a rare view into the workings of the NFL teams; Multi-million dollar operations functioning with Fred Flintstone’s Slate Rock and Gravel Company management techniques. It’s an anachronism.
Enter Dan Quinn. He speaks to identity and vision. Bet your boots he has a written version in his notebook for self-improvement. And, then bet something else that the players know it well. It’s not surprising that the team aligned around it quickly. Helping things along were more imported change agents in the Locker Room; Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu to name two.
Bumps in the Road
We knew adversity would come. It just does. That’s our game. That’s why we love it so much.
Dan Quinn
A problem with fantasy-type seasons is that reality isn’t always accommodating. The games with Pittsburgh and Philly were a reminder that this burgeoning team is still far from complete. The primary job of a Head Coach in the NFL is to be a leader of men. Dan Quinn is being challenged to do just that right now more than ever so far this year. A two-game slide against top competition is hardly an earth-shattering development. Turning that into a three-game slide by losing to the hapless Cowboys would be. Standing at the fork in the road one sign says, “Loss.” It leads to some treacherous territory. It would be a very good idea for the team to select the alternative.
Dallas @ Washington 1:00PM
FOX
Joe Davis and Greg Olsen (Pam Oliver)
