Coming into training camp, the Dallas Cowboys didn’t lack headlines.

Damien Wilson had been arrested, Ezekiel Elliott had been accused of breaking a DJ’s nose, Lucky Whitehead had his dog stolen then returned, and Terrance Williams was racing people outside a strip club in Dallas.

All of these events led Stephen Jones, Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett to be bombarded with character questions during the state of team press conference to open camp in Oxnard.

That left the Cowboys searching for a scapegoat. They had to send a message and that scapegoat didn’t take long to find. As the first training camp walk-through was taking place, it was reported that Lucky Whitehead had been arrested in June for shoplifting.

Lucky told multiple media outlets it wasn’t him, he told his coach it wasn’t him. His agent told the same story.

At 5:30 pm on Monday, it was reported that Lucky had been cut by the cowboys. Message sent, right? Not so fast.

On Tuesday, Virginia police had released a statement confirming Lucky’s story. It wasn’t him. Lucky had been wrongly accused.

After the 2nd walk-through of Cowboys training camp, Jason Garrett held his daily press conference where he answered nine questions over a three minute period with the same response. Garrett didn’t apologize or take ownership, he instead answered all nine questions with the following response.

“We made a decision that we deemed to be in the best interest of the Dallas Cowboys.”

Garrett is heading into his seventh full season as cowboys head coach, he has posted a record 59-48 record, including the postseason where is he is 1-2. That is a record that has been significantly enhanced by 12-4 and 13-3 seasons the last three seasons, his only two winning seasons as head coach.

Year	Record	Win %	Finish
2010	5-3	.625	3rd In NFC East
2011	8-8	.500	3rd in NFC East
2012	8-8	.500	3rd in NFC East
2013	8-8	.500	2nd in NFC East
2014	12-4	.750	1st in NFC East
2015	4-12	.250	4th in NFC East
2016	13-3	.813	1st in NFC East

After the 2013 season, Garrett was stripped of his play calling duties to focus solely on running the entire football team.

Garrett has made some strides since he took over the job for Wade Phillips in 2010, but the two biggest questions remain, his ability to manage the clock and the ability to have his team prepared in big games.

The 2016 season ended at home against the Green Bay Packers where both of those things reared their ugly head.

The Cowboys looking severely unprepared to start that game, fell behind 21-3 midway through the 2nd quarter. On the packers first touchdown drive, the cowboys were called for a too many men on the field penalty on 3rd and 5 then followed that up with having to call a timeout; both due to the packers hurry up offense. Something they preached all week about, that, to me, falls on coaching and lack of preparation.

From a clock management standpoint, late in that game after the cowboys had fought all the way back, trailing 31-28 and the cowboys with the football, a decision was made to spike the football with 49 seconds left on first down, which ultimately led to Aaron Rodgers getting the ball back and leading his team down the field for a game winning FG as time expired.

Former GM Michael Lombardi on Jason Garrett as head coach.

“He should be in the prime of his head coaching career. Instead, he’s made two playoffs. I mean he goes 12-4. Then he goes 13-3 last year and he loses at home to a bad Green Bay defense.”

It’s time for Jason Garrett to step up and be the head coach that leads this franchise back to the top, which the Jones family desperately wants. The 2017 Cowboys have the talent, do they have their leader?

Stay tuned.