In 1989 a college football coach named Jimmy Johnson was recruited by his old teammate from Arkansas State to coach the most recognisable team in world sport, the Dallas Cowboys.
Jimmy ‘Jumpup’ Johnson, so nicknamed because as a player he refused to stay down, replaced the legendary Cowboys coach Tom Landry, who had coached the Cowboys since 1960.
JJ’s first season was a disaster. The Cowboys won 1 and lost 15. Ouch! But he rebuilt the franchise and won Superbowls in 1992 and 1993. His post-season play offs record remains the envy of coaches worldwide.
The turning point was his ‘Go for it’ game against the Washington Redskins in the 1991 season.
Coming into the game against the undefeated Washington Redskins the Cowboys were 6 and 5, and in danger of missing the play-offs.
The Dallas team shocked the NFL world by beating the Redskins 24-21 on the back of Johnson’s game plan. Johnson employed two high-risk, high-reward tactics. The onside kick (which looks remarkably like the Waratahs’ kick offs this year) and the fourth-down run play.
For those not familiar with American Football, a team gets four downs (plays) to move forward 10 yards. If they do so they get another four downs. Generally if a team hasn’t reached the 10 yards required by the end of the third down they bring on their punter and hoof the ball as far downfield as possible, a lot like the fifth tackle kick in rugby league.
If you don’t kick and you fail to get the 10 yards on the fourth down you hand over the ball to your opponents at the point on the field you took that play from. In a game of territory, where giant men in helmets battle for every inch, giving your opponent field position is heresy.
Traditionally, teams who took a fourth down option only did so when they were desperate, again a lot like teams running the ball on the fifth tackle in rugby league.
Johnson rewrote the coaching manual that day in 1991. He instructed his team, in a hurry-up offence, to take the fourth down run option. The Cowboys, despite losing their starting quarterback, the mercurial Troy Aikman, to injury early in the second half, won the unwinnable game against the eventual Superbowl Champions and Jimmy Jones stamped himself as an innovator.
For the next two seasons Johnson’s Cowboys were unstoppable. Every team that played them watched, reacted, responded but never set the agenda. That was Jimmy Johnson’s genius.
If the hubris of victory hadn’t ruined the relationship between Johnson and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Johnson would have become the first coach in NFL history to win three Superbowls in a row. But that’s another story.
So what’s my point? With the advent of professionalism in rugby we have seen a lack of innovation.
Almost every rule introduced in the last 20 years has reduced the contest for the ball. Watch a game from the 1980s. The scrums, line-outs, rucks and mauls were a lottery. Teams actually used back-row moves from scrums.
Where does that leave the modern coach? Well a lack of innovation is not often rewarded. The safe option is to get the basics right and retain possession for great swathes of time in the hope that your forwards, hitting it up from a standing start immediately adjacent to the breakdown, will eventually tire out your opposition.
Under the circumstances I doubt you will see too many Super Rugby or Test coaches taking chances. Not when their job depends on it. So who has the opportunity?
The NRC is not just a showcase of player talent, it is an opportunity for ambitious coaches to show their wares. So far we’ve seen lots of tries but we haven’t seen innovation from coaches.
There are myriad opportunities under the new laws to trial special plays, but all I see are teams playing the same game, albeit without taking shots at penalty goal.
In 1975 a great innovator and soon to be Wallaby coach invented the ‘up the jumper’ move, which gave the NSW Country team a last-minute victory over their city cousins.
The next Daryl Haberech is out there somewhere. He just needs to go for it!
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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