Jason Garrett On The Dan Patrick Show Full Interview | 10/11/23

[Music] [Applause] Jason Garrett will be on the call college football Notre Dame in USC Saturday night coverage begins at 7 Eastern on NBC and peacock also you can see Jason on football night in America 7 Eastern on NBC and peacock ahead of the Giants against the bills what do you see in Caleb Williams right now wow what a player uh you know one of those guys that you start to see on TV and you're like who is this guy and um you know the more you study him he has everything you're looking for in a quarterback you know I've always said this Dan that the number one trait for a quarterback is Instinct feel aptitude for the game and uh all the great ones have that and then they have varying degrees of ability they can run they can throw they have they have this Talent level but uh instinct is first feel is first and he's got that and then he has all the rest of it too and he clearly has a Poise and a composure and a confidence about him that pervades that whole team he's something else Drake May uh have you had a chance to look at him haven't haven't studied him but I've kind of seen him the same way um you know Ju Just by TV I haven't done a deep dive into watching his film but uh equally impressive guy but if you're looking at because we're we're trying to categorize Brock pie now people don't know is Brock pie good is he great is he how did everybody miss on him you know he's the next Montana so so what is it that Brock py has that maybe uh we we don't know how to define I go back to what I said before Instinct feel for the game and what does that entail for a quarterback your ability to see things feel things process things quickly and and for him to be able to do that as a rookie to win all these games that he's won and and and we talked about it the other night on football night there's no doubt it's it's an incredibly uh favorable environment for a quarterback to play in San Francisco they play great defense uh they can run the ball they have weapons all around them it's a fantastic system Kyle's a great play caller all of that but you know Kyle Shanahan's record as as a head coach in the NFL he's won 74% of his games when Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock cier is his quarterback he's won 24% of the games when those guys aren't his quarterback so this idea that we it's a great system we can plug anybody in there I just don't buy it the the player matters and I just think he has so many of those traits we're talking about the Instinct the feel the vision the processing and he's probably underappreciated physically he's a better athlete than people think he throws it better than people think uh he just does all the things that that the Great quarterb backs do now the package isn't overwhelming he doesn't walk in the room 64 220 you know uh rocket arm all of that stuff but he has the most important stuff yeah but Montana didn't walk into the room that way either exactly right and that's why it was a third round pick and people were like H you know pick 199 in 2000 was the same way right it it's it's all that it's all that same stuff so you know the the the question is okay those are intangible qualities and one of the things that we used to always talk about was I get they're intangibles but there's evidence of intangibles in all players you know so what's the evidence of the intangible the Mike linebacker who the coach says loves football but doesn't run to the ball you say well he might like the idea of football but he doesn't love football the evidence is to the contrary right so when you look at a guy like this you say Okay Iowa State what did he do there played for a long time was pretty productive you know everything he did was was positive and so when you start looking for it more and asking the right questions maybe it unearths it but still the eye test for a lot of Scouts and evaluators comes first and uh you know particularly that position so that's why a guy like this gets Overlook but it's fun to see him do so well that's what's you know the beauty of that position is all shapes and sizes all ages you know be successful early uh maybe not so late uh some you know it catches on a little bit later on I still go back to with Brock py I don't know how you you define clutch like how do I see clutch in a player okay it's college but when the game is on the line in the NFL and jobs are on the line and you have to have that clutch Gene there has to be something in there with your EKG like all of a sudden you're like all right I'm good we're good with this yeah that that's it and I think you said it's the low blood pressure thing and someone who who who quietly Embraces those moments H he doesn't get all out of whack he he just kind of is himself and I used to always say this about Tiger Woods certainly Tiger Woods made miraculous golf shots that we all Admire from afar but when he was going he was middle of the Fairway middle of the green two Putt in all the big moments right and then you know he had the chip out and Masters I I get all that he was able to do that that stuff but you know those guys who are the best do what they supposed to do they're the best they're the best version of themselves if you will in those moments uh it's not too big for them and certainly he has that Gene talking to Jason Garrett he'll be on the call USC at Notre Dame coming up on Saturday night also part of football night in America on Sunday ahead of the Giants and the bills we've talked a little bit about David teer the owner the Carolina Panthers and it's an Open Secret that he's involved maybe a little overly involved he wanted Bryce young as his quarterback Frank Wright came out yesterday and sort of hinted at maybe not being on the same page but uh what's it like to be the coach of an owner who gets too involved in a situation you know Dan I think leadership is is is really uh I think it's the most important thing in any successful organization and and and there are different levels of leadership obviously the guy who owns the team is the leader right but but there there are other leaders in the organization as well the general manager the head coach coordinators certain players all of that I always thought a big part of leadership was okay you're leading down if you will if you're the head coach you're leading to your staff to the players all of that but you also have to lead upwards uh you have to be able to create a vision for the decision maker ultimately the owner is the decision maker uh to say okay this is the kind of team I want to build these are the kind of guys I want to bring with me to to to make this Vision that I have come alive and you have to be very compelling making those arguments they have to be consistent they have to be thorough there has to be evidence so this idea that okay we're only leading downward when you're in an organization any organization you have to lead that way too because you're not writing the checks that other guy is so when we were at our best in Dallas like all organizations we were on the same page I made compelling Arguments for the vision we want for the team we we made the decisions that followed that we all got on the same page and and we went forward that's not to say I was always right you're listening to the other people and you're creating this Vision together and you're making sure we're all aligned the biggest issue in the NFL is when there's not alignment among all the different parts of the organization this guy thinks this this guy thinks this we're going to go his way this time your way and then you get this hodg podge of an organization when you get everybody together that's when you have a chance and so you have to do that with owners you have to say okay I get it this is what we're trying to create and this is how this decision fits into that vision and if you do that well and consistently you have a chance set the record straight on draft night with Johnny Manzel um the big overarching story is we wanted to go defense and the guys that we were targeting uh were defensive players Aaron Donald being one of them Ryan shazir being one of them um trying to think who the other one was the linebacker from from UCLA who went to the Vikings Kendricks no uh the bigger guy damn um not Anthony Bar Anthony Bar okay Anthony bar so those are the guys we're targeting we had we had to get better on defense so I think bar goes 11 Aaron Donal goes 13 shazir goes 14 it's like boom boom boom you know oh get the you know that kind of a thing and uh and so the big blinking light on our board was Zach Martin Zack Martin is up there highest graded guy we love him to death we're still not there with our offensive line H but we have taken Tyron Smith and Travis Frederick and two out of the previous three years so we're getting there to me that's the key to to building our team it's why Philadelphia and is so successful they got really good linemen and their skill comes alive so we were making that argument but we felt like if we can get some of these defensive guys we gotta play defense too so when those guys go off the board Zack Martin's sitting there um but you know Jerry Jones rightfully so values the quarterback and he felt like we had Tony Romo at the time and and getting a guy like Johnny Manzel could be someone who uh could provide that transition you know the great organizations like green GRE Bay went from Favre to Aaron Rogers and you know you want to make sure you have a succession plan if you will but did he ask the room what do you think of Johnny Manzo we had a lot of great discussions that night no no no no did he have did he openly say you don't work for Jerry anymore did he openly say what do you guys think of Johnny Manel oh absolutely okay what was your response I think we should take Zach Martin just like that yeah no oh yeah no doubt and that was the consensus in the room but Jerry wanted Johnny Manzel he certainly was enamored with the with having a quarterback wow transition wow and and so and he'd be the first to tell you he's he's glad it it went the way that it did I mean Zach's been in nine Pro bowls he's going to be a Hall of Famer he's one of the great players ever to play for the Cowboys yeah so it worked out well starting a rookie quarterback is tricky we've seen CJ strout he looks pretty good Bryce young I'm not quite sure uh and then Anthony Richardson's been banged up we haven't seen will Levis yet but your thoughts on starting a rookie quarterback in today's NFL well you know we started Dak Prescott you know he was a fourth round pick for us and Tony Romo got hurt in the third preseason game and we didn't have intentions to start Dak we we felt like he could be the next quarterback of the Cowboys but you know when Tony got hurt and Kell Moore was our backup both those guys go down and all of a sudden Dak is playing and you know he ends up we lose the first game we wi 11 in a row we end up going 13 and three so um it's not easy to do uh you have to create an environment for the guy to be successful we had a good team we had good lineman we had a good runner we had a good defense and and Dak went in and did what he what he needed to do he wasn't just a system guy he made a ton of plays for us and really was made a very positive difference for us that year uh but I think that's the exception Ben rothberger started as a rookie on a really good team uh Dan Marino started as a rookie on a team that had gone to the Super Bowl the year before sometimes what happens uh now is that everybody wants it right now and and hey we drafted them play them and it's hard to do the environment better be right uh I always think about Troy Aman you know 0 and 11 as a rookie pton Manning breaks the interception record as a rookie I mean these are the alltime great players to ever play in the NFL John Elway lining up under the guard as a rookie you know all of those those things that happen Aaron Rogers doesn't play until year four so this idea that hey play him put him in right now and oh by the way he's got to be really good I think our standard gets a little out of whack even though there are these exceptions like Prescott and others um you know it's it's a challenge I think the Bryce young transition is the norm when they get better around him you'll start seeing the Bryce young that we saw at Alabama um CJ stj Stout has been good for a bad team well a team that was in position to be able to take him so high in the draft he yeah he's been fantastic and and and it's been really impressive uh what he's done and and again I don't think that's the norm and and and I do think for me the what Tom BR Tom has impacted the game in so many ways impacted lives so many ways coaches players all of that one of the things that I think he's done that's been amazing is he plays till he's 45 Drew Brees plays into his 40s Philip Rivers Aaron Rodgers all these guys playing as long as they've played the runway for a quarterback is longer now so this idea that we got to play him now put him in he better be good or discard him I I don't think that's the the right way to think about it and if you do think about it that way I love what San Francisco did let's go get Sam darnold he's been in two bad situations he's still a young guy hopefully he's not beaten up too much mentally there's something here and and he can play for a while it's not like the running back you know career in into his mid to late 20s he's done these guys are playing to their late 30s so allowing for their growth over time I I think it's something that that needs consideration and I think the smart people are doing that yeah I think that's a great Point uh but you have coaches whose jobs hang in the balance and they don't get that long Runway like quarterbacks do that they they need that guy to come in and help because we were bad the previous year and there there are coaches who very famously at times go into an organization and say I recognize this I'm not going to let this whole organization hinge on the play of a rookie quarterback we're going to go get a veteran and play him we might not even draft the quarterback we're going to get better on our team because that's what's going to allow me the time to build this the way I want to others say you get a chance to draft the guy let's build the whole thing around him so it's a different approach you better be right you better be right good stuff Jason have fun this week and you'll be busy and uh we appreciate when when I come on usually will ferals on what happened I mean don't do this together that was pretty good will there with us in Dublin was fantastic yeah not bad not bad uh thank you Jay always great seeing you that's Jason Garrett he'll be on football night in America on Sunday he'll be on the call with Notre Dame hosting USC on Saturday night