Cowboy Logic

The hiring of Wade Phillips as Cowboy coach has come under a lot of scrutiny. People wonder why Jerry Jones didn't have more of a plan in place for replacing Bill Parcells when everyone knew there was a good chance he wouldn't be back. They wonder why he didn't just give the head coaching job to Jason Garrett, instead of working from the inside out and making Garrett the offensive coordinator before hiring a coach and they wonder if this isn't all just a prelude to making a play for Bill Cowher next season.

That final option is a bit far-fetched, even for Jones, but the reason why you'd bring Wade Phillips in is unclear to most people outside of Jerry Jones's ego, superego and id. He's got a hot tamale of a daughter and experience running the 3-4 defense but is that going to be enough for a guy who didn't set the world on fire in two previous gigs as a head coach? The fellas at Blogging the Boys certainly think so and Peter King joins them in today's MMQB at SI.com. He spoke with Jones "for 50 minutes," like a shrink appointment only without bringing up what Peter's mother did to him, and came out of the session feeling like Phillips was a million dollar choice. The decision came down to Norv Turner and Phillips and with Garrett and holdover Tony Sparano in house for the offense, Jones opted for a defensive choice. He convinced King.

In the end, the Phillips hire makes sense to me. There's a good chance he'll add some pass-rushing teeth to a defense with talent. It also makes sense that the Cowboys hired Garrett when they could, and paired him with a smart but unknown play-caller in Sporano -- even before Jones knew who he'd hire as coach. The one thing we can't know for sure is whether Phillips' laissez-faire style, so different from the in-your-face Parcells way, will work here. That said, I still think Dallas enters the offseason in pretty good shape to be an 11-win team in 2007.

I have to agree with the Sports Frog here and say that King's an easier sell than a drunk in a tattoo parlor. Give him a bit of access and you get the full Brett Favre treatment of sunshine and happy jacks every time. There's no analysis going on, just King spitting back what Jones said to him about his decision which is all well and good but nothing that a college student couldn't provide. This hire smacks of an owner who wants a coach who will let him micromanage every step of the way and of a coach so desperate for another top job that he's willing to let it happen.

Comments

[nfn]

is that a photoshopped pic of jerry jones or did he and diana ross just go to the same makeup artist?

[deadissue]

I think Phillips is as good a choice as any. Who says Cowher could win in Dallas anyhow?

I'm just thinking back to when my neighbor and every single football fan I know was giving me shit for saying Herm Edwards was a good coach, that he'd do something in KC and got a bad rap in NY...

It's a big deal, who is head coach, but when you've got a guy like Phillips who has a track record of winning, then you're lucky it came down to that! Lucky you weren't deciding between Steve Mariucci and Dennis Green...the playoff record of a guy who's coached in what(?) three playoff games...shoot, Parcels is supposedly the coaching God that walks among us, and even he couldn't win a playoff game this go around.

Chucky was the second coming of Christ, and what does his team look like now?

The punditry of coaching analysis is full of shit most of the time. And Bill Cowher is suddenly a genius because he won a superbowl...after having the best team however many other times and blowing it.

I'll take Wade Phillips over Bill Cowher.

[The Feed]

NFN - No photoshop on my end. I think that's the work of Dr. Jellyfinger himself.

DI - I'd take Wade Phillips over the idea of maybe getting Bill Cowher one day myself. I think the question for any team is who is getting the players, who is making the decisions on who starts and who gets cut and who is making the gameplans. If Jerry Jones is doing the first two of those things it isn't a good thing for the Boys. Since I know they are your club, it wouldn't be any better if Bob Kraft was doing it for the Pats.
As for Herm Edwards, I respectfully disagree with your assertion that he's a good coach. The Jets should have beaten the Steelers a few years back in the Doug Brien game but, as it usually did, Herm's pucker tightened up and he didn't go for the jugular. He played for the tie all too often and refused to rake the risks you need to take if you want to win games in the NFL. He did it again this year against Indy. I don't know that the Chiefs had a route to a victory but they certainly weren't going to get there with Edwards calling the same play expecting a different result.
Phillips wouldn't have been my choice but I don't have any great problem with it. The logic of hiring him wasn't evident to me in anything Jones said and I just felt King was whacking him off as thanks for access. I think Jones picked a guy who would give him an in with the personnel decisions.

[deadissue]

Oh, I think that's crap...KC's offense wasn't prevented from getting a single first down in about an entire half of football because of the plays they were calling. Trent Green was horrible, and the offensive line couldn't block anyone.

I don't care how talented the RB is, if the QB can't make a single completion, you're not going to beat Indy...they still had it in their sights I suppose, seeing as how KC's defense played a better game than I've seen from them in at least 6-7 years.

How can KC's defense from the past few years keep coming out onto the field after 3-out for 3 quarters and keep the game close?

Got to give Edwards credit for getting that unit up to par this past year, and making the playoffs when there didn't seem to be a chance in hell of it happening all the way up until Denver lost to the 49ers in week 17!