The Cowboys had one of the league's worst defenses last season, but Jerry Jones professed support for coordinator Monte Kiffin right up until demoting him yesterday. Their offense has long been pass-happy, so why not address that by hiring the former offensive coordinator of a similarly constructed team, the Detroit Lions?
That's what passes for offseason moves in Dallas, after yesterday's restructuring. Kiffin has been demoted from defensive coordinator to "assistant head coach/defense," whatever that means, while Rod Marinelli -- the line coach a year ago, and previously the head coach in Detroit -- takes over as coordinator.
Marinelli is best-known for being the head coach in Detroit in 2008, overseeing the league's only 0-16 team. He actually has a solid defensive background, though, working on good defenses in both Tampa Bay in the last '90s and Chicago under Lovie Smith. He ran the Bears defense from 2010 to 2012; it's difficult to see Dallas failing to improve under his watch (it could scarcely be worse; Dallas ranked last in total defense in 2013).
But on offense, the Cowboys have essentially demoted offensive coordinator Bill Callahan in favor of Scott Linehan. "Essentially" because Callahan still holds the title; Linehan's title is "passing game coordinator," plus he'll be calling the plays. How those two coaches will work together remains to be seen; Callahan apparently isn't happy with the new structure, and it's hard to blame him. A coordinator who neither calls the plays nor runs the passing game in a pass-first offense? OK.
Linehan is a fine offensive mind; he's been running Detroit's offense for the last five seasons. It doesn't seem that his arrival will be good news for DeMarco Murray and the Dallas running game, though, since the only team as pass-happy as Dallas the last few years -- moreso two years ago -- was Detroit. Last year Dallas was 14th in passing and 24th in rushing, while Detroit was 3rd in passing, and just 17th in rushing.
Bottom line: the Dallas defense, which has some talent, should be better in 2014. The offense, assuming they can make the Linehan/Callahan relationship work (more likely Callahan departs at some point, one way or another), might be pretty similar.
--Andy Richardson