Rams & Cowboys Struggles: Coaching Issues & Team Chemistry

What do you think is wrong with the Rams, Coach? You know, that's a hard, hard question because he's a terrific coach. I think the world of him. But there's something wrong there. And usually there's something going on in the locker room. The locker room, Tony LaRussa and I used to talk about this all the time. The most important aspect of any team is the locker room. And a lot of problems get solved without you knowing it when you have a real strong locker room. And, Dan, you know that. And you've got a good locker room like that. I don't know what's going on, but they're just not playing up to snuff. The other thing that's missing with them is they just don't have any explosives down the field in the passing game. They just don't have it. They've got this great quarterback, but there's something going on. I don't know what it is. You know, I'm befuddled when I look at them. I know they're doing good stuff, but they just don't score points. They don't get the ball down the field. They're just kind of in a daze, so to speak, and I don't know why. Coach, I'm going to throw this at you. You tell me, too many mercenaries on the team? And what I mean by that is you've got all these stars and you don't really have guys that... Go back and look how the New England Patriots were built with Belichick. Those were all dudes that Bill picked personally put them on the roster. And you look at the superstars on that team, there weren't really Edelman, Amendola. I mean, those guys were just guys that Bill picked. And then you look at the guys like the Colts, they had Reggie Wayne, they had Marvin Harrison, they had all those players. And yet sometimes when you look at the mercenaries that you bring in, these guys are all on an island by themselves. You know, they're not homegrown guys. Could that be affecting the locker room a little bit, too, that guys are just in there? I mean, you bring in a guy from Kansas City, you bring in Miles Garrett, you bring in all these other guys. Are you really a team? Well, that's why I was talking about the locker room. I think you hit the nail on the head, absolutely. And I think what it becomes is a bunch of independent contractors. And I think when you look at the Cowboys over the years, they've had all this talent. Uh, for a number of years, there was a, like a two or three year stretch here every now and then where they'd be very talented, couldn't win. And it's that independent contractor mentality. There's just a lack of leadership there in the locker room. And that's really difficult to deal with. You know, when I was at the Rams or we had that crew, those great receivers, you never heard those guys, uh, promote themselves ever about anything. You never saw their face actually in commercials And they didn't do any of that stuff. You know, at the core of every great team, I don't care what sport it is, every great team is unselfishness, and they play for each other, and they get excited about each other's success on the field, and they don't toot their own horn, and, you know, I guess that's old school, but at the heart of it, that's where the real satisfaction, when you win, you win and you enjoy it with your buddies that you're playing with, your brothers, so to speak. When you don't have that camaraderie, it's hard to compete at the highest level because you've got different pistons firing at different times. And it's just... That's why I say the locker room may be a problem because I just don't see the leadership and the fire in there. They just don't have that pizzazz that you like to see out of really good football teams. Coach, I'll say it to your face, and I think I've said it to you before. I think you're one of the great play designers and one of the great offensive coordinating minds that the game has ever had. And, you know, I go to, I go to Dallas and I see Brian Schottenheimer, I get the last name and I loved his dad, Marty, but, you know, he self-proclaimed himself as being a great play designer, a great play caller. And coach, I'm still waiting to see this. I mean, I really, I mean, I just don't see it. Do you think I'm wrong when I'm making the comment? I think that what they do is good. I think they do a lot of good stuff. Great. I don't know if it's great, but it's good enough. I think the toughness and lack of discipline. Isn't there? And this is like we're talking about that incident in practice. The receiver's not run full speed. You know, I've seen the receiver sometimes during games cut out. I can't imagine that happening in the NFL. A guy just choking it down because he didn't think he was getting the ball. You see that with them a little bit. But their biggest issue is all on the other side of the ball. I mean, they're good enough on offense to be a decent team. But, man, I tell you, defensively, they're a disaster.