Well, we don't like to use the word regret.
Actually, that's Jason Garrett who doesn't, but the Cowboys' head coach seemed a little unlike himself by fessing up to a couple errors he believes he made in calling Sunday's game.
It wasn't necessarily uncharacteristic of Garrett to admit mistakes, but he doesn't often hold himself accountable in the media. Few coaches do. The offensive play-caller for any team is bound to be criticized, and in a way it's refreshing to hear Garrett admit being hard on himself in that way, too. He's always said he and the staff analyze their performance in each game, and Monday's press conference was sort of a vocalization of that.
First, Garrett seemed to say he might've had a part in one or both of Jon Kitna's interceptions, because he didn't allow the Cowboys' backup to ease into the flow of the game.
"A couple of times he was aggressive with throws," Garrett said. "I take some responsibility for that. Sometimes you have to make sure you're calling stuff that helps him get settled into the game. I think I could've done a better job with that . . . We have a real comfort level of him playing. The team certainly responds to him and has a lot of confidence in him."
Potentially just as costly was the Cowboys' final play from scrimmage in regulaton, a little option flip to Miles Austin off left tackle, on which the wide receiver lost two yards, fumbled and hurt himself. Bad all around.
"To be honest with you, I don't like the call," Garrett said. "I say it every week, there are about 10 calls throughout the week that I don't really like. Conceptually, it was a good idea for that situation. We wanted to run the ball there. We've run similar-type runs from that three wide receiver set in the drive, so we wanted to do something different . . . In hindsight I would've run a different play.
"Sometimes you make mistakes in the game. In hindsight you go back and evaluate and say, hmm, maybe we should've done something different."
For the armchair offensive coordinators out there, maybe Garrett admitting he was wrong will be a consolation.
