And here we are, thinking the days of discussing Jason Garrett talking Dallas Cowboys' football were over. How wrong we were. Talk about a comeback.

The former Cowboys' HC was able to rise the ire of fans once more by sharing his take on Dallas' upcoming season opener versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A quick look at Cowboys Twitter would've had you believe Garrett was right back on the sidelines of America's Team. 

How did this happen? The 2016 Coach of the Year joined NBC Sports during the Thursday Night Football broadcast and shared his thoughts on Sunday's showdown and his keys to winning the game.

It's fair to say, his insight was controversial.

"They have to hand the ball to Zeke Elliott time and time again in the middle of the defense," said Garrett about the Cowboys' offense. "It might not be really productive, but they have to be patient and then make some plays with run after the catch."

I mean, you have got to love how he dropped "it might not be really productive" in the middle of his proposed strategy.

"One thing they can't do," Garrett went on, "is throw it 58 times like they did last year. They have to be balanced. That's the formula against Tampa Bay."

That's quite the take considering passing the ball 58 times is exactly what kept the Cowboys in the game last year. Tom Brady and the Bucs were destroying Dallas' defense with a strong passing game. Prescott was able to respond and elevated the offense to the challenge.

In fact, the Cowboys had a success rate of 57% in pass plays versus a 27% success rate in run plays, per RBSDM.com.

Not to mention, being "balanced" is not about having a 50/50 run-pass ratio. When someone suggests that I can't help reminiscing Mike Leach's words from 2018 when he was the head coach of Washington State.

"If all five (skill positions) are contributing to the offensive effort in a somewhat equal fashion, then that's balanced," said Leach in an all-time head coach rant.  "But this notion that, if you hand it to one guy 50 percent of the time and then you throw it to a combination of two guys the other 50 percent, that you're really balanced… you probably pat yourself on the back and tell yourself that, and people have been doing that for decades. Well, you're delusional."

I don't think you can look at Prescott's passing chart from that night and think the offense wasn't balanced. Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb each went for over 100 yards and combined for three touchdowns. Yet six other players had at least three targets in the game.

Even with a shaky offensive line, the Cowboys shouldn't go out there on Sunday Night and focus on running the football. To win this game, Prescott and company will have to exploit the Bucs' weaknesses in the secondary and over the middle of the field to keep the chains moving.

Playing an old-school brand of football could complicate things on Sunday Night. If they do lean in the running game, hopefully, they keep it creative and it's not "time and time again in the middle of the defense" as Garrett suggests.

Of course, now it's Mike McCarthy and Kellen Moore under the microscope instead. Sunday Night is a chance to cool the temperature of each coach's seats.

Featured image via Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports