IRVING, Texas -- Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett will not take over as the offensive play-caller with six games remaining in the season, but he has been more involved with the offense of late than he was earlier in the year.
"I was down there a little bit more the last couple of days," Garrett said, referring to the Cowboys' practices last week and on Monday coming off the bye week.
Garrett said last week that if he wanted to take over play-calling duties he could, but that offensive coordinator Bill Callahan would continue to handle the job during games.
Instead of bouncing around to other areas during the portion of practice open to the media, Garrett has been with the offense more. He's offered more individual and group instruction as well.
Garrett said it has nothing to do with any bye-week mandates sent from owner and general manager Jerry Jones or from him to the rest of the coaching staff.
"I typically move all over the practice field and just dive in and coach, help out, do what I can do to make our team better," Garrett said.
The Cowboys are fifth in the NFL in scoring (27.4 points per game) but rank 17th in yards per game.
Dallas is 28th in third-down efficiency and is coming off a 49-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints in which it did not convert on third down in nine tries.
"I thought the practice on Wednesday was really, really good," Garrett said. "Guys came out and were focused, practiced hard, practiced fast. There was some crispness to it, and that's the way you want to practice. That's the way you get better."
Garrett said the coaches had discussions about changing their game-day positioning, with Callahan moving from the coaches' booth to the field. But Garrett said he did not anticipate any changes going into Sunday's game against the New York Giants.