“Everybody says he hasn’t won a playoff game,” Bum Phillips said. “Well, I know a lot of guys who haven’t even got to the playoffs. Wade’s won with three teams, and two of them were getting beaten up when he got there. I’d say that’s pretty good.”
Wade Phillips decided to give the players today off from meetings, film watching and conditioning. His decision drew a loud cheer from the locker room after Sunday’s 37-21 win at Atlanta.
Many teams have “Victory Mondays” as the season goes on. It’s a reward for players’ hard work. And a lot of players come into work anyway because they are creatures of habit. They’ll watch the film on their own and work out.
But is the timing of this “Victory Monday,” right? The Cowboys just had their bye. They had eight penalties against Atlanta. They made mistakes. I don’t know that this is a huge deal, but I wonder if you guys think it’s the right thing to do.
I’d feel better about this if it came a few weeks down the road after they have strung some wins together.
From ESPN.com’s Matt Mosley “Who’s stock is rising in the NFC East”
The Dallas Cowboys: I’m serious. Has any team had a better bye week than this team? They sat on their couches and watched as the other three NFC East teams lost. Now, they’re tied with the Eagles at 3-2 and not far behind the 5-1 Giants. It was a great day to not be playing football. No one coaches the bye week like Wade Phillips.
Good News for those who own him in Fantasy.
Austin took the bulk of the snaps with the first-team offense as the Cowboys returned to work Monday after last week’s bye in preparation for Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons.
Williams, who practiced for the first time since injuring his ribs against the Denver Broncos and sitting out the Chiefs game, also worked with the first team. Crayton got most of his work as the third receiver.
I actually think it’s a good move to keep Phillips for the remainder of the season. First, Phillips isn’t only the head coach, he’s the defensive coordinator. And a good one, at that. In fact, Phillips is probably best suited as an NFL defensive coordinator; he has enjoyed success wherever he has run a defense.
Second, the likely replacement for Phillips, at least on an in-season basis, would be offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who once was one of the hottest assistants in the league. But Garrett has come under criticism for his handling of the offense, so making him the head coach does not come without risk.
And third, Jones is most likely to go after a coach like Mike Shanahan on a more permanent basis if he decides to move on from Phillips, who is in the final year of a three-year contract. There’s no way Shanahan would come in mid-season, so it makes sense to just ride it out with Phillips and see what happens from there.
Of course, history doesn’t bode well for the affable Phillips. Even if the Cowboys do make it to the postseason, Phillips would go in with an 0-4 record in the playoffs.”
hmmmmmmm
That’s what Jerry Jones said today on his show on The Fan.
Jones was asked if the Cowboys had lost Sunday would Wade Phillips remain the coach.
“Yes, he would be and without equivocation,” Jones said.
Later Jones said, “Under no circumstances would I make a change. We’ve got a chance to get a lot of things done and we’ve got a lot of football left to play and we’ve got some good people that not only can play it but coach it.”
Jones pointed to the NFC East rival New York Giants as an example of patience paying off.
“Two years ago the Giants were seemingly not in disarray but they were in trouble,” Jones said. “It was also absolutely expected that something was going to happen with the coach, Coughlin. Maybe during the year but something was going to happen and had to go. And of course [Eli] Manning was on the hotseat and would never be a winner. Well, that same year they won the Super Bowl. You’ve got to be mindful that this is a long, long journey so to speak … A lot can happen from the beginning to the end.”
Veteran linebacker Keith Brooking has quickly become a team leader for the Cowboys. He seems to have gained the respect of everyone in the locker room, players and coaches.
Wade Phillips talked about how he was on the sideline Sunday when things were going bad against Kansas City, yelling that, “We’re going to win this game,” and staying positive even when it seemed like everything was going wrong for the Cowboys.
Brooking said expectations for the Cowboys are quite different than when he was in Atlanta. He said there, it was just about winning.
“I think the expectations are very unrealistic [here],” Brooking said. “I’m not talking about within this locker room, but on the outside of this circle. Every game is a brawl. Every game is hold on and find a way to win at the end. Very seldom do you have blowouts in this league. We just have to have that belief. And we believe.
“The only thing that matters is right here inside this circle. I love our fans. I love the attention that we get. That is something that is very exciting to me, but at the same time, when you really get down to the nuts and bolts of it, you have to worry about right here, what’s right here in this locker room and stay together, keep pulling and take care of small things and it will show up on Sunday.”
Cowboys receiver Miles Austin has earned more work following his club-record 250-yard performance against Kansas City.
However, coach Wade Phillips stopped short of saying Austin is a starter.
Austin got his first career start Sunday and responded with 10 catches, including a tackle-shaking 60-yarder in overtime that gave Dallas a 26-20 victory. He made a similar play earlier to get free for a 59-yard touchdown.
Austin started in place of Roy Williams, who was out with a rib injury.
Williams is expected back when Dallas plays again a week from Sunday, so the Cowboys will have to decide which two — or three — receivers to use as starters.
All Phillips would commit to Monday was that Austin would get as many plays as he received Sunday.
Just start him Wade.
