Week 2 of the Garrett Era Only Gets Tougher

Last week was the easy week for Jason Garrett. Sure, there was absolute chaos around Valley Ranch for a few days after Wade Phillips was fired and Garrett was named interim head coach. But the players were all ready for a change and they were dying to embrace the renewed accountability and structure that Jason Garrett gave to them.

But now that the Cowboys have beaten the "mighty" New York Giants in convincing fashion it has become apparent once again that the Cowboys are actually a talented team. They can beat any team in the NFL when they play good football. But if the team falls back into the trap of relying solely on talent to win games we are going to see the team revert back to the struggles of the first eight games.

Jason Garrett has to make sure that the players don't start believing that all of their problems have magically been solved. Watching film of the Giants game should include endless corrections by the coaches. In all honesty, the Giants did not play a good game and they made a lot of careless errors. The Cowboys got away with another sub-par defensive game and an inconsistent offensive performance. And I really don't even need to mention the play of the kicker.

Before the Giants game the players all knew there were big problems that needed to be corrected. But the team history this year shows that once the Cowboys win a game they take their foot off the gas pedal and fall back into their relaxed mode. It is up to Jason Garrett to not only keep the pedal to the metal but to actually work the team even harder this week in preparation for the Detroit Lions.

The good news is that if Jason Garrett can keep the team moving back in the right direction there is a great opportunity to really establish some momentum with a win against the Lions. But, like Jason Garrett keeps saying, that is only going to happen if they can have a great day of preparation on Wednesday followed by a great Thursday and then a great Friday. I'm becoming a big believer in Jason Garrett but this week will tell us if last week was a mirage or a sign of good things to come.