See, when T.O. complained about Garrett's offense, we all ignored him.

Now that Tony Romo has publicly criticized Garrett the last two weeks, the offensive coordinator deserves the same scrutiny Wade Phillips, Romo and T.O. have received.

When the quarterback says Philadelphia exposed a fundamental flaw in the Cowboys' offensive scheme during their 44-6 loss to the Eagles, he's ripping Garrett.

Combine those comments with the knowledge that Tony Sparano handled the running game and pass-blocking schemes last year, and Romo's statements have credence.

A week earlier, Romo said it took the Cowboys three quarters to figure out how to attack Baltimore's defense, another indictment of Garrett. Add Ray Lewis' comments about the Cowboys having one of the NFL's most simplistic offenses and Romo's words carry more weight.

To be fair, Indianapolis runs a simplistic offense with little motion, and the Cowboys ran the lead draw nearly 300 times in 1995, when Emmitt Smith won a rushing title.

You can overcome simplicity with execution; the Cowboys didn't.

The offense struggled for the final three months, flaming out in December against some of the league's best defenses. And let's not forget just how much Romo regressed.

Now, we can all come up with a bunch of excuses, ranging from T.O.'s petulant behavior to Roy Williams' foot troubles and questionable practice habits to injuries to key players such as Felix Jones, Marion Barber and Kyle Kosier. But every offense deals with some type of adversity.

The best coordinators overcome it.

That's why we shouldn't expect Garrett to be zig-zagging all over the country interviewing for head coaching jobs this off-season.

Apparently, Detroit has asked for permission to speak with Garrett. If the Lions offer him the job, he should take it.

After all, they were 0-16 and have a pair of first-round picks. Go 8-8 in Detroit, and he'll get the key to the city.

That'll never happen in Dallas, where winning the Super Bowl is the only satisfactory end to a season. Here, the honeymoon is over and players openly question Garrett's tactics.

Frankly, Garrett's biggest failure was not figuring out how to maximize T.O. and Williams.

Houston gets the ball to Andre Johnson. Carolina gets it to Steve Smith. And the Patriots get it to Randy Moss.

T.O. and Williams certainly aren't blameless, but their success is integral to the Cowboys' ability to win given Garrett's offensive philosophy. We know the former quarterback loves throwing.

If T.O. doesn't run a large enough variety of routes, then demand he add others to repertoire. If Williams doesn't consistently practice hard enough, demand that he does.

Here's the deal: You can't have an offense with Romo, T.O., Williams, Jason Witten, Barber, Leonard Davis, Andre Gurode and several other quality players and look as out of whack as the Cowboys did at the end of the season and escape criticism.

We can talk about Romo's propensity for bad decisions, whether it's throwing dumb interceptions or failing to protect the ball when he's scrambling, but that's on Garrett for not coaching Romo harder.

Sometimes you need to jump in a player's face - even if it's out of character - and give him the Bill Parcells treatment. Do it too much and the players stop listening, as they did to Parcells.

Do it every now and then and it makes an impact. Talk to enough players and they'll tell you Garrett gives Romo a free pass in practice and meetings.

Romo and Garrett will disagree. It doesn't matter. Perception is reality. They should know that.

Not enough players believe in Garrett. He's lost their trust. And their confidence.

He must regain it in the off-season. Otherwise, the struggles we saw in December will continue.