Tag: John Fassel

‘Expecting to make every kick’: Brett Maher embracing latest ride with Cowboys

Cut in 2019 over accuracy issues, Brett Maher has hit all his field goal tries so far this season, all from 50-plus and one a game-winner. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Many in Cowboys Nation were dubious when the club opted to head into the regular season with Brett Maher as their kicker. Things, after all, had ended badly toward the end of the 2019 season, when Maher was released due to a sudden lack of accuracy.

But the Nebraska native, now 32, was brought back to Dallas for this summer’s training camp and won the job over undrafted rookie Jonathan Garibay and ex-CFL star Lirim Hajrullahu. He’s been nothing sort of perfect after two games, sinking all three of his field goal attempts thus far, including the game-winner on Sunday versus Cincinnati.

“You do go out there expecting to make every kick,” Maher told media members after securing the Week 2 victory. “I feel like I’m in a good rhythm right now. Jake [McQuaide, long snapper] and Bryan [Anger, punter/holder] are absolutely money on the operation, gave me a great look at it. It’s just a really fun group to be a part of. That whole last sequence was awesome: Bryan pinning them deep with a punt, the defense getting a stop, getting a good punt return, and then getting in position and coming through. That was a very fun moment to be a part of.”

Maher’s 50-yard make is, incredibly, his shortest field goal of the young season so far; he hit one from 54 earlier in the Bengals game and was good from 51 in the season opener versus Tampa Bay.

The Cowboys’ special teams coordinator said his big-legged specialist would have been given the greenlight from even further away.

“We said 45-yard line. That was our goal,” said John Fassel on Monday. “There’s always a little bit of fudging if there’s [weather] conditions involved. But that big line is a nice target for the offense to think, ‘Let’s get past that big line of the 45,’ and then we feel good about a decision to potentially kick if it’s a walk-off. If there’s 10 or more seconds- just in case of a miss- then [the opponents] get a shot at it. So for end of half, end of game, walk-off kick, make that big line at the 45 our target for Brett, in our stadium. It could change in a road stadium that’s outdoors.”

Trying from the 45 would have made it a 63-yarder, equaling Maher’s career-best and the current franchise record. But long-distance bombs haven’t been Maher’s issue.

He’s responsible for four of the five longest field goals ever from a Cowboys kicker, and when the team cut him loose in 2019, Maher had booted two field goals from beyond 60 yards in back-to-back games about six weeks prior. But he had made only one of five from 40 to 49 yards out.

To be sure, Cowboys fans will let Maher hear it when he eventually pushes one wide or hooks a PAT. But for now, the new and improved Maher is making the most of his scoring chances… and is making the most of what is technically his third stint with the organization.

He was first on the Dallas practice squad briefly during the 2013 preseason as Dan Bailey rehabbed an injury. He was brought back in 2018 and outkicked Bailey for the starting job prior to that season.

But the fact that he’s back in the building again to prove himself to a new coaching staff doesn’t necessarily make this latest clutch kick any more rewarding, he says.

“Every opportunity is rewarding to be honest with you,” Maher confessed. “I’m happy to do my part with this group. The guys in the locker room are awesome. This whole game was a ton of fun to be a part of. This whole locker room is a ton of fun to be a part of. I’m embracing the ride and doing my part.”

And his coordinator is loving the comeback story, even if he’s just getting to know Maher for the first time.

“I was as happy as I could be. I’ve known Brett since he came out of college and kind of followed his career, like most guys, even if I haven’t coached them,” Fassel told reporters. “I wouldn’t say he’s exceeded my expectations because I thought he was always a really, really good kicker, but just his mental toughness and poise has been really cool to witness, because you don’t really get to know somebody like that until you’re coaching them. He’s a pro kicker, you know? Ups and downs and ups and downs.”

So far this time around with the Cowboys, it’s been all ups for Maher.

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‘The secret’s out’; Cowboys look for KaVontae Turpin to have ‘Devin Hester Effect’

Special teams coordinator John Fassel hoped that his undrafted rookie return man would be a surprise for opposing teams in 2022. Nope. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The element of surprise is a huge part of special teams play, and something that Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel loves to save for gameday, to unleash in just the right situation, against just the right opponent.

So he admits he was perhaps just a little disheartened when late-spring signee and undrafted free agent KaVontae Turpin electrifyingly took two long returns to the house in the team’s second preseason game versus Los Angeles.

“He broke it and I was like, ‘Yeah, great for him!'” Fassel recalled for reporters this week. “But then, immediately, I thought, ‘Ugh, teams are going to be on him now.'”

Turpin may have been flying under the radar since leaving TCU in 2019. But the cat is now out of the bag: the USFL’s MVP sure looks like he can play in this league, too.

“You sign a guy in the middle of training camp, I don’t know maybe if I was just hoping that there was going to be a secret with him. Maybe there wouldn’t have been,” Fassel said. “The secret’s out, and I think he’s going to be really good.”

Turpin surely won’t be a surprise when he makes his NFL regular-season debut in Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What no one knows quite yet, though, is how willingly opposing teams will test him in punt and kickoff situations.

“I think when we’re on kickoff return, there’s probably not much we can do about having them put the ball in play,” the coordinator explained. “That’ll be a decision that the opponent will make. We’ll have a decision about how far back we want to move him back to return kickoffs, whether it’s on the goal line [or] a couple yards deep. The situation could call for being aggressive compared to being smart. On the punt, I think there’s ways to force the opponent to put the ball in play. We’re working on that right now. Because obviously anybody that goes against a Turpin- including us if he was on another team- you’re looking at, ‘How can we force this guy to make fair catches, or [do we] punt the ball out of bounds?’ I think that will be the mindset a lot of teams will have.”

Whether or not the 26-year-old Turpin becomes a perennial and consistent return threat or simply had the game of his life at SoFi Stadium remains to be seen, of course. But the fact that he’s capable of breaking one every single time could be enough all by itself to give the Cowboys’ third phase a big boost.

“We’ve talked about the ‘Devin Hester Effect’ quite a few times that Chicago had. Their blockers knew they had somebody that could score every time they touched the ball. The guys that were blocking for Hester: we’ve watched a ton of the tape, we’ve watched all of his touchdown returns, and you could just see the relentless approach that those blockers had. It’s quite a relationship between returner and blocker when they each feed off each other and have confidence in one another,” Fassel said.

“There’s just that little bit extra when the blockers, they’ve got somebody back there like Turp.”

Turpin himself is all about giving a little bit extra, too. After bouncing around the IFL, the Fan Controlled Football League, the Spring League, the European League, and the USFL… all in the span of three years, he’s looking to make the most of his late break at the NFL level.

“He’s out there catching balls pre-practice every day,” Fassel offered. “So all the things that you love to know about somebody’s work ethic, personality around the guys, that checks the box times a hundred.”

And thanks to a thinned-out corps of pass-catchers currently in Dallas, Turpin expects to get some game reps at wide receiver, too. Real routes and everything, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore promises, not just the obligatory end-around or occasional trick-play reverse.

“It’s been really cool to watch him become a receiver,” Moore said. “I think that’s the coolest thing: as other guys, as the season and training camp progresses, other guys might be out a day and he can just hop in there and start taking advantage of plays and opportunities. We see him as a receiver, and I think he’s going to play a role that’s a receiver and not just a gadget guy, so to speak.”

“We’ll balance that,” agreed Fassel. “There’s not going to be such a thing as probably too much work for Turpin. That’s my hope.”

From a relative unknown to six different leagues over two years to MVP of one of them to, suddenly, a highlight-reel phenom starting for America’s Team, it’s safe to say the 5-foot-7-inch speedster isn’t a surprise any longer.

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‘Huge aspirations for him’: Cowboys special teams guru raves about newcomer KaVontae Turpin

The USFL MVP has made big waves in just a week at camp, and seems to be the leading candidate to return punts for the club in 2022. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The thing about lightning in a bottle is, it’s still lightning. It’s awfully hard to predict when it’s going to strike or where it’s going to come from.

Even as the Cowboys assembled in southern California for training camp the last week of July, it seemed, to outside observers, that their 91-man summer roster was set.

And then KaVontae Turpin happened.

After helping his New Jersey Generals team to a 9-1 record, the MVP of the USFL’s comeback season this past spring inked a three-year deal with the team. In just over a week’s time, the 5-foot-9-inch, 158-pound speedster (some outlets list him even smaller) has made a huge impression on coaches.

“I think there’s probably been a lot of proof of a lot of little guys that are really, really good,” special teams coordinator John Fassel told the media this week in Oxnard. “Eric Metcalf- I don’t know his size. Dante Hall- maybe a little bit thicker, but Turp’s probably a little bit quicker. So I think there’s a lot; Tyreek [Hill]- obviously, he may be a little but thicker. I just know when we practice against the little guys and play against the little guys, they’re really hard to see behind blockers. And then if you can ever see them, it’s really hard to get a clean shot on them. So for those little, quick, fast guys, you’ve got to populate-tackle them, and if you don’t, you don’t ever really get clean shots. I think it’s a little bit overrated- the impact of a little guy taking big body blows- because they just don’t seem to take those. I’m excited to see what he does.”

In fact, “Bones” was so juiced at the prospect of the Cowboys acquiring the former local college star that he offered to cut his family vacation short to help oversee Turpin’s workout with the club.

“I was actually, when we worked him out back in Dallas, I was with my family in Idaho,” Fassel explained, “and I texted Will [McClay, vice president of player personnel]. I said, ‘Will, if you want me to come back for this workout, I’ll come back.'”

Fassel was told to remain with his family, but his wheels were already turning over a player he was quite familiar with.

“He’s been on my radar since 2018. Clearly at TCU, I watched every single one of his returns, but then keeping an eye on him over the course of his Fan [Controlled] Football league and Spring League and then USFL. I’ve seen all of that work. When we found out he was on our radar, I was very hopeful, and obviously when we signed him, super excited. He’s got a long ways to go to compete, but I think this is a team that has a potential role for him, and I hope he exploits it.”

So far, so good.

“I have huge aspirations for him,” Fassel made it clear.

But the 26-year-old rookie has also shown impressive hands and toughness as he drills with the depleted Cowboys receiving corps. He even took snaps at running back on Thursday, with the team down several rushers.

His clearest path to the regular-season roster, though, may be as a return man. While Turpin led the USFL in receiving yards this past season, he also had the league’s only kick return for a touchdown. Collegiately with the Horned Frogs, he had two more kick returns for touchdowns, and he scored on a punt return in each of his four seasons.

With CeeDee Lamb now serving as WR1 in Dallas, there’s an opportunity for a punt return specialist. Third-round draft pick Jalen Tolbert has done a bit of work there this camp, but Turpin seems to have emerged as the frontrunner for the gig.

Fassel and the Cowboys are hoping that Turpin can uncork that lightning in a bottle several times this season and provide a big-time spark on a unit where making a splash is the name of the game.

“Every year we get the rookies and it seems like none of them played special teams in college, and if they did it was three years ago when they were a freshman,” Fassel told reporters. “So honestly, my funnest challenge in training camp is to take these guys who maybe don’t know this is going to be their role- even though that’s what it’s going to be- and to make them really, really damn good at it because that’s what their role is going to be and they really don’t know how to do it. … Part of my thing, too, is to make special teams attractive. Like, this is your role and this is a great way to instill yourself in the National Football League.”

KaVontae Turpin is well on his way, just a week into his NFL career.

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Cowboys’ Fassel doubles down on Zuerlein confidence: ‘I’m going to be right’

John Fassel opened up about Greg Zuerlein’s inconsistency, but backed up his kicker with playoff pressure around the corner for Dallas. | From @CDBurnett7

The Dallas Cowboys fell to the Arizona Cardinals by three points in Week 17. Late in the first quarter, kicker Greg Zuerlein missed a 43-yard field goal. While missing out on three points is just one of several factors contributing to Dallas’ loss, blown opportunities in the kicking game isn’t anything new for the club. Zuerlein has missed a career-high six PAT’s and tied a career-high of 12 total misses over his 15 games played.

He’s missed a field goal in three of the Cowboys’ five losses and all were decided by three or less points. This includes a pair of misses against Tampa Bay in the season opener, another game that had enormous seeding implications by the end of the regular season. Even in Saturday’s win Zuerlein missed an extra point, but despite his season-long woes, special teams coordinator John Fassel has his back. On Monday, Fassel doubled down on his support.

Prior the game, Fassel spoke of his continued confidence in Zuerlein’s ability to make the big kick and to figure out what’s causing the misses. When asked if he had wavered, he responded “If I’m wrong, then I’ll be wrong. But I really think I’m going to be right. I guess we’ll see,” per USA Today’s Jori Epstein.

“I love Greg, I believe in Greg and I’m not supporting him just because of my experience with him over the alt 10 years,” Cowboys ST John Fassel told us. “This is a production business. When we stop producing, things change. But I have full faith in Greg. I do.”

After the backlash Fassel faced for special teams conundrums in 2020, the unit has been a bright spot for Dallas in 2021, but Zuerlein’s inconsistency has stuck out like a sore thumb.

If a missed field goal costs the Cowboys in the playoffs, Fassel seems willing to fall on his sword for Zuerlein.

Later in the press conference, which was a long one for Fassel, he made a comparison to golf legend Tiger Woods and opened up about Zuerlein’s shaky season. Fassel admitted his fear, but didn’t back down about his kicker.

Dallas had Lirim Hajrullahu on roster and could’ve called Kai Forbath back up after his perfect stint with the team in 2019, but it’s stayed stern and the result of their decision truly begins Sunday against the 49ers in the wild-card round and Fassel’s reputation may hang in the balance.

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Cowboys’ John Fassel deflects criticism for terrible punt block call

Fassel was unapologetic in explaining his decision to bring the house at an odd time Sunday; even Jerry Jones suggested it was too risky. | From @ToddBrock24f7

In the end, it cost the Cowboys nothing more than some time. Granted, with a little more time in that situation, maybe Dak Prescott puts together a touchdown drive to close out the half. Maybe the nail-biting back-and-forth at the end and the sketchy clock management and the 56-yard field goal wouldn’t have been necessary; who can say?

But, man, if that botched blocked punt attempt didn’t feel like a bad idea in the moment. Even now, days after the game and despite sneaking out of Los Angeles with a win, the various reactions and explanations for the odd play call aren’t sitting well with fans. Or the team owner.

Special teams coordinator John Fassel may have been the architect behind last season’s famous “watermelon” kick, but head-scratchers like last Thanksgiving’s abysmal fake punt and Sunday’s penalty-inducing punt block are making many in Cowboys Nation wonder how long the team can survive letting “Bones” roll recklessly unchecked in the Dallas gameplan.

The Chargers had gotten to the Dallas 36 with three minutes to play before the end of the first half. An offensive holding call backed them up 10. Keanu Neal stopped a shot pass for a one-yard loss. Leighton Vander Esch sacked Justin Herbert for seven more yards. It was suddenly 4th down and 20, with the ball just a few yards past the midfield stripe. Big win for the defense.

Dallas was about to get the ball back with two minutes to go, two timeouts for Prescott and Co. to work with, and a golden opportunity to add to a three-point lead going into intermission.

When John Fassel decided to bring the house.

Afterward, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy reviewed the various options for that or any punt play.

“Is it a punt block, is it a punt rush, or is it a return?” McCarthy explained after the game. “Sometimes you have calls that have a combination of both. We had a pick stunt on there, and the object was to drive the personal protector into the punter, because the way they were picking it up.”

But it was rookie defensive end Azur Kamara that ended up in punter Ty Long’s lap, drawing a yellow flag. Los Angeles retained possession, earned a new set of downs, and gained 15 yards.

Thankfully, they went on to miss a field goal attempt nine plays later. The Cowboys had only three seconds left, only time enough for one valiant-but-failed desperation play. No harm, no foul.

Except there had been a foul. A silly one that kept the game closer than it might have been otherwise, caused by a risk that didn’t need to be taken.

And Fassel’s explanation for it during a Monday press conference was downright surreal.

“The thought process was: I think Cowboys fans aren’t the play-it-safe type. So I was going to give them what they wanted, come after their ass on the punt rush. So I hope they’re happy with it.”

That simply can’t be what Fassel meant in a literal sense. Obviously he’s not the play-it-safe-type, but it would be the ultimate negligence for a 47-year-old veteran coordinator to call actual plays in the middle of an NFL game according to what he thinks the fans might like to see.

Fassel didn’t crack so much as a smile when he said it. It’s quite possible he believed the fanbase would truly rally around his decision to bring a Sherman tank to a spitwad fight.

“I think the only way to block a punt is to rush the punt,” he explained. “There’s been a few times, you rough them.”

Fassel has a reputation for being quirky. Just look at his super-detailed vasectomy talk with players during Hard Knocks. He emcees a team-bonding game of Jeopardy! during training camp. He has a somewhat awkward way about him, he likes to tell goofy stories, he loves the guys he loves on his special teams units… and he is unafraid to pull out a drawn-up-in-the-dirt schoolyard play at apparently any given moment.

But even team owner and famed wildcatter Jerry Jones didn’t sound like he was on board with that 4th-and-20 jailbreak rush when he spoke on-air with 105.3 The Fan Tuesday morning.

“To be very candid with you, I’m a little more conservative,” Jones said. “I really like to choose my spots on taking those kind of risks. You take a risk every time you try to block a punt.”

Fassel agreed with that sentiment, at least.

“Anytime you rush the punt, there’s a risk,” he admitted. “But last week, Pittsburgh was up by three points in the fourth quarter, and they rushed the punt and blocked it and ran it in for a touchdown. So the reward is high; the risk is high.”

Fassel reiterated to reporters that being aggressive was part of the plan going into the contest. Then he argued in almost the same breath that the flag thrown on Kamara should have been picked up.

“We came after him,” Fassel said. “It was kind of the mindset going into the game: we’re going to come after this football. And you can sure debate everything, but I’m still not so sure we actually roughed him.”

“I didn’t get an actual jersey number because it was a train wreck right there at the block spot,” Fassel continued. “But what I got on film was that their No. 40 hooked Kamara and pulled him back into the punter. You could make a great case it was holding, or that the punter hit his own blocker. But there was a lot of bodies in that pile. Our goal was to come after him.”

“I think, going into the game, you’ve got a game plan and you never anticipate that, ‘Oh, I didn’t want to pull the trigger because I’m worried about roughing the punter,'” Fassel went on. “Anytime you rush, you’re coming after the football. I could go to the tape and we could sit down and watch it and tell me if it’s roughing. I’m biased. But I think the TV copy shows a pretty good picture of maybe something else.”

Fassel told media members that he planned to have the league review the call.

“Yeah, I’ll be interested to see what they say. But like I said, there was a lot of bodies there.”

Fassel may have a point; the penalty looks plenty questionable. What doesn’t sit well, though, is not whether officials should have waved off the penalty, but whether someone on the Cowboys sideline should have waved off the play call to swarm the punter in the first place. Fassel says ordering the punt rush was his decision alone, and he believes McCarthy was comfortable with Fassel rolling the dice in that situation.

“That’s a good question. I think I would say yes… with an asterisk,” he answered. “I think he was okay with us following the game plan and coming after him. He was probably upset that we roughed them, or that they called roughing.”

But Fassel makes no apologies for the aggressive play.

“Our goal was to come after it, and you could absolutely second-guess it, and I’m okay with that. But part of our game plan was to come after them with a real aggressive mindset, give the Cowboys fans some of what they were looking for.”

Had he been able to stop and take a poll in the moment, what most Cowboys fans would have been looking for on 4th-and-20 was putting the ball back in Prescott’s hands with two minutes to play and a pair of timeouts in his pocket.

Fassel’s blind allegiance to trying wacky special teams plays out of nowhere has become part of his schtick. But McCarthy’s blind allegiance to letting his special teams coordinator go rogue is definitely wearing on the fans that Fassel claims to be trying to please.

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Winners and Losers: Connor McGovern shows he’s ready, Cowboys’ McCarthy blows opportunity

The Cowboys certainly outperformed expectations on Thursday night, but the coaching staff did have a couple blunders which cost them. | From @NoHuddle

The Dallas Cowboys are winless in 2021. They lost last year’s season finale. They lost four preseason games. Now they’ve lost on the NFL’s opening night. That’s six losses in a row for a team that prides itself on a history of winning. The team that took the field on Thursday night, however, is much different than the previous iterations.

To be clear, moral victories do not count in the NFL. They do not get a club closer to the playoffs. If there ever was one, though, it took place when Cowboys fell 31-29 to the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team didn’t come out smelling like roses in the end, and in fact, some aspects reeked. But the team also has the ultimate de-odorizer.

Cowboys set out to improve special teams in 2020 and continue the work in 2021

After a disastrous 2019 on special teams, it took just two off-season’s to rebuild the Dallas Cowboys units under John Fassel.

There was work to do to improve all areas for the Dallas Cowboys when Mike McCarthy arrived in January of last year. The offense was good but needed some fresh insight and the defense was regressing. The area that needed the most work, however, may have been the special teams units. It had been in decline for years and finishing 2019 as one of the worst units in the league, change was absolutely necessary.

In came one of the best teams coaches in the NFL, John Fassel who brought with him a commitment to improving all facets of the unit. Change was needed, both in approach and innovation, which Fassel provided. Under the guru, the Cowboys showed they were on the right path.

Dallas wasn’t resting on their laurels and continued to overhaul their special teams. It took just two offseasons to remake the units and the Cowboys now have a drastically different look than they did before McCarthy and Fassel took over.

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The process began with bringing in kicker Greg Zuerlein to stabilize that phase after the team released Dan Bailey. Zuerlein came in as a Fassel favorite and he had a lot of success in his first season with the Cowboys. The veteran made 34 of 41 kicks, but six of his seven misses were on kicks from beyond 50-yards out and he nailed every kick shorter than 40 yards. On the flip side, he missed three extra points. Zuerlein needs to be more consistent there, but he was the only major change in the kicking units at the beginning of last year.

Much to team observers’ dismay, Dallas held onto incumbent punter Chris Jones to start the 2020 season. A core muscle injury to Jones changed that proposition and forced the Cowboys to look outside the organization, where they eventually found Hunter Niswander. Dallas got much better results from Niswander and he’ll now compete with recently signed Bryan Anger for punting duties in 2021.

The other major roster shakeup was the franchise choosing to not re-sign their longest-tenured player, long snapper L.P. Ladouceur. It was a shock to see the organization walk away from a player who had never missed a game in his 16 seasons with the Cowboys, nor did he ever have an errant snap.

To replace Ladouceur, Dallas signed LS Jake McQuaide, who played for Fassel with the Los Angeles Rams. McQuaide has also never missed a game and has two Pro Bowls on his resume.

The exit of Ladouceur this offseason meant the Cowboys have replaced all three of their main special teams parts, the team replaced its kicker, punter and long snapper in the span of 16 months.

Dallas also made key signings to keep the special teams moving in the right direction. Coverage unit ace C.J. Goodwin was brought back as one of the best players on the unit and the Cowboys added safety Jayron Kearse to give the coverage teams a bump as well. The 2021 draft also brought forth many players who should further boost the overall speed and athleticism of both the coverage and return units. Towering speedster Simi Fehoko (6-foot-4, 227 pounds, 4.44 40-yard time) immediately come to mind.

(AP Photo/Roger Steinman)

Last season, Fassel’s influence helped transform running back Tony Pollard from an unsure, hesitant return man to one of the league’s most electric options as he finally capitalized on the skills that make him a talented change of pace option.

Pollard’s timidity was still present early in the year, but by midseason he was breaking off big gains. From Week 7 on he had three different returns of at least 60 yards and improved his kickoff return average from 17.5 in 2020 to 23.9 in 2021.

Tavon Austin led the club in punt returns in 2019 with 17, averaging just 4.9 per return. Rookie CeeDee Lamb had 24 returns and averaged 7.2 per jaunt.

These are now the baselines for the competitions heading into 2021 training camp and Fassel’s technique coaching along with blocking schemes are to thank for the steps up.

Aside from the turnover in players to improve the units, Fassel has also brought in a new philosophy.

The Cowboys tried several trick plays on special teams, which came with a moderate amount of success. They didn’t all work, the Thanksgiving fake punt debacle is hard to forget, but there were several attempts that did work.

Zuerlein’s watermelon on-sides kick helped the Cowboys beat the Atlanta Falcons and the throwback punt return against the Pittsburgh Steelers was successful and well executed to the tune of a 73-yard explosion.

McCarthy and Fassel’s willingness to be aggressive and to force opponents to prepare for every situation was a different approach from the previous regime.

It only took one year, and two off-seasons, to change the direction of the Cowboys’ special teams. It’s a vastly different group now and the hope is that Dallas continues to improve from year one to year two.

The rebuild on special teams were needed and the Cowboys are in much better shape now than they were before the duo of McCarthy and Fassel arrived.

You can chat with or follow Ben on twitter @BenGrimaldi.

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Eagles go different direction at HC: Moore, Fassel to stay with Cowboys

The Cowboys had to sweat it out a bit, but they will still have their OC and ST coordinator in tow for the 2021 season.

There was a possibility, albeit remote, that the Dallas Cowboys were going to be replacing three of the four major decision makers under head coach Mike McCarthy. With Dan Quinn taking over for Mike Nolan after one year of ineptitude, the defense assuredly was going to be led differently. The unfortunate passing of Markus Paul during the season led to the interim title of strength and conditioning coach to be lifted and Harold Nash, Jr. was given the job outright on Wednesday.

However both offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, he of a new three-year contract, and special teams coach John Fassel were under consideration to be poached by division rival Philadelphia. Moore interviewed earlier in the week and Fassel was said to be of interest. However the Eagles have settled on their replacement for the fired Doug Pederson and their choice is Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni.

Sirianni’s primary job will be to resurrect the career of quarterback Carson Wentz, who went from a huge contract extension in 2019 to being one of the league’s worst signal callers in 2020. That’s likely one of the reasons why Moore was of interest to Philly brass, for his work with Wentz’ draft-class mate Dak Prescott.

Prescott now gets to continue to work within Moore’s offense. The two have been together in some capacity since Prescott’s rookie season. Moore was a backup quarterback whose injury opened the door for Prescott to fill in for Tony Romo when the franchise QB suffered a broken back in the preseason. Prescott started every regular season game since until he incurred a compound fracture in his leg in Week 5.

Following being a backup to Prescott in 2017, Moore ascended to be his QB coach in 2018 and has been the offensive coordinator and play caller the last two seasons; one final year under Jason Garrett and this most recent season under McCarthy.

McCarthy brought Fassel over to coach the downtrodden special teams’ unit after being let go from the Los Angeles Rams and improved Dallas’ crew from the bottom of the league to No. 11 this past season.

With only Houston remaining as a head coaching vacancy, outside of one of their position coaches being tapped for a coordinator role with the Texans, it is now likely that additional disruptions to the coaching staff for the Cowboys is off the table.

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Report: Cowboys’ Moore not alone, Eagles eye ST coach Fassel as well

John Fassel is the latest name to pop up on the Philadelphia Eagles head coaching radar.

The affection from the Philadelphia Eagles for members of the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff continues. According to an NFL source, Philadelphia is interested in interviewing Cowboys special teams coach John “Bones” Fassel.

Fassel came onto the Cowboys staff as a Mike McCarthy hire in 2020. His coaching experience began in 2005 as assistant special teams coach for the Baltimore Ravens. After three years  in Baltimore, Fassel spent four years as the ST coordinator with the Oakland raiders. He was then hired by the St. Louis Rams, where he worked under head coach Jeff Fisher. Fassel was promoted to interim head coach after Fisher’s firing in 2016 (now as the Los Angeles Rams), but the following year resumed his role as special teams coordinator under the new coaching regime with Sean McVay.

Despite the club’s 6-10 record, Fassel’s special teams unit ranked No. 11 in the NFL. This was a massive jump from 2019 where the Cowboys ranked No. 31.

Fassel is highly respected amongst the Cowboys players and would be another hole to fill on the coaching staff if he is hired by Philadelphia.

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Report: Eagles have interest in interviewing Cowboys special teams coach John Fassel

Eagles have interest in interviewing Cowboys special teams coach John Fassel

The Eagles are doing their due diligence on every available coaching candidate and according to Marcus Hayes of The Inquirer, the Eagles have interest in interviewing Cowboys special teams coach, John Fassel.

Fassel is the son of former Giants head coach, Jim Fassel.

Fassel, 47, spent eight seasons as the Rams’ special teams coordinator under Jeff Fisher and Sean McVay before moving on to Dallas under Mike McCarthy in 2020.

One of the league’s best special teams coordinators, Fassel could take the John Harbaugh road to head coaching prominence and the Eagles have the knowledge of knowing the Ravens once made a similar move with a coach on their staff.

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