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Cowboys must fire Wade Phillips now
Posted at 5:56 PM on Sun., Oct. 31, 2010 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Tim Cowlishaw / Columnist E-mail News tips
Midseason coaching changes don't do much good in the NFL. The last time a team went to the Super Bowl after an in-season change was, well, never.
That doesn't mean Wade Phillips should work at Valley Ranch one day longer after Sunday's humiliating 35-17 loss to Jacksonville at Cowboys Stadium.
Ever since the national media started talking about Jerry Jones making a change when the Cowboys dropped their first two games to Washington and Chicago, I have been consistent in saying it makes no sense. And in terms of getting better for 2010, it still doesn't.
The Cowboys are 1-6, tied with Carolina for the worst record in the NFC. Vince Lombardi, brought down from the Broadway stage or back from the dead, couldn't help this team get to the playoffs.
That's no longer what this situation is all about.
In getting to 1-5, the Cowboys found all kinds of ways to lose. Usually they outgained opponents and committed costly turnovers and penalties although that wasn't always the case. Usually there were a few bright spots, even if Phillips let those silver linings cloud his judgment too much along the way.
Sunday's loss to a Jacksonville team, which has suffered embarrassing losses of its own, was different.
Even with Tony Romo out, the one thing you should be able to count on from Phillips is a solid effort from the defense. You can't demand that the defense plays great. You can demand that the defense tackles and plays hard.
Instead, David Garrard had a career day (17-for-21, 260 yards, 4 TDs) and Maurice Jones-Drew hammered away until exhaustion set in (27 carries, 135 yards).
It was around halftime that CBS analyst Phil Simms said Jaguars coaches had told him they could read the Cowboys' blitzes. Nothing was more obvious to viewers as Garrard beat them with screens and quick passes all day long.
Remember when Phillips replaced Bill Parcells? Remember when the feeling was that Parcell's blitzes out of the 3-4 were too predictable and that Phillips was going to bring all that imagination and those disguises from San Diego?
Where did that creativity go?
But here are the things you have to consider when talking about firing Phillips.
You can't hire someone from the outside. A coach can't arrive in November and install a new system or new schemes. Besides that, you have a much broader field of coaches to choose from in January than you do in November.
So that leaves the option of getting rid of Phillips merely to promote Jason Garrett for the last nine weeks.
It's odd to say, but Garrett's work as coordinator this year hasn't earned him this promotion. At the same time, his future as a head coach shouldn't be evaluated on what he manages these last nine weeks out of Jon Kitna and a team that cannot run the ball.
There shouldn't be any more calls from anyone for the Cowboys to run it more often. They have tried. The line can't block even the poorest of run defenses. Marion Barber is limited. And Felix Jones's stock just continues to fall as we see his inability to make people miss.
A week ago, the Chiefs' Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles ran 35 times for 196 yards and 2 TDs in a blowout of the Jaguars. On Sunday, Barber and Jones carried 17 times for 38 yards.
Promoting Garrett won't do more than send some kind of message to players and fans that the kind of sloppy play the Cowboys produced against the Giants and Jaguars the last seven days won't be tolerated.
A change won't drastically alter this team's place in the standings. The Cowboys are still going to be slotted to pick near the top of the draft order. They're still going to get the 4th-place schedule in the NFC East next year to soften the ride just a bit either for Garrett or whoever is installed in the offseason as head coach.
But whatever chips Phillips earned by getting the defense to play hard and winning a few games in December...those have been cashed in.
This team is poorly prepared and poorly coached, and those facts are obvious to everyone. The only one that can really take the fall for that in midseason is the head coach. The time will come for most of the rest of the staff in January.
The Cowboys are bad and that's not going to change this season. But if Jerry Jones doesn't make a coaching change this week, it tells everyone who bought tickets for Sunday's game or is holding them for the four home games remaining that you might as well just expect more of the same until this season is over.
Trying to sell the fans that this team is still playing hard for Phillips -- not even a master salesman like Jones can sell a lie like that.
Posted at 5:56 PM on Sun., Oct. 31, 2010 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Tim Cowlishaw / Columnist E-mail News tips
Midseason coaching changes don't do much good in the NFL. The last time a team went to the Super Bowl after an in-season change was, well, never.
That doesn't mean Wade Phillips should work at Valley Ranch one day longer after Sunday's humiliating 35-17 loss to Jacksonville at Cowboys Stadium.
Ever since the national media started talking about Jerry Jones making a change when the Cowboys dropped their first two games to Washington and Chicago, I have been consistent in saying it makes no sense. And in terms of getting better for 2010, it still doesn't.
The Cowboys are 1-6, tied with Carolina for the worst record in the NFC. Vince Lombardi, brought down from the Broadway stage or back from the dead, couldn't help this team get to the playoffs.
That's no longer what this situation is all about.
In getting to 1-5, the Cowboys found all kinds of ways to lose. Usually they outgained opponents and committed costly turnovers and penalties although that wasn't always the case. Usually there were a few bright spots, even if Phillips let those silver linings cloud his judgment too much along the way.
Sunday's loss to a Jacksonville team, which has suffered embarrassing losses of its own, was different.
Even with Tony Romo out, the one thing you should be able to count on from Phillips is a solid effort from the defense. You can't demand that the defense plays great. You can demand that the defense tackles and plays hard.
Instead, David Garrard had a career day (17-for-21, 260 yards, 4 TDs) and Maurice Jones-Drew hammered away until exhaustion set in (27 carries, 135 yards).
It was around halftime that CBS analyst Phil Simms said Jaguars coaches had told him they could read the Cowboys' blitzes. Nothing was more obvious to viewers as Garrard beat them with screens and quick passes all day long.
Remember when Phillips replaced Bill Parcells? Remember when the feeling was that Parcell's blitzes out of the 3-4 were too predictable and that Phillips was going to bring all that imagination and those disguises from San Diego?
Where did that creativity go?
But here are the things you have to consider when talking about firing Phillips.
You can't hire someone from the outside. A coach can't arrive in November and install a new system or new schemes. Besides that, you have a much broader field of coaches to choose from in January than you do in November.
So that leaves the option of getting rid of Phillips merely to promote Jason Garrett for the last nine weeks.
It's odd to say, but Garrett's work as coordinator this year hasn't earned him this promotion. At the same time, his future as a head coach shouldn't be evaluated on what he manages these last nine weeks out of Jon Kitna and a team that cannot run the ball.
There shouldn't be any more calls from anyone for the Cowboys to run it more often. They have tried. The line can't block even the poorest of run defenses. Marion Barber is limited. And Felix Jones's stock just continues to fall as we see his inability to make people miss.
A week ago, the Chiefs' Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles ran 35 times for 196 yards and 2 TDs in a blowout of the Jaguars. On Sunday, Barber and Jones carried 17 times for 38 yards.
Promoting Garrett won't do more than send some kind of message to players and fans that the kind of sloppy play the Cowboys produced against the Giants and Jaguars the last seven days won't be tolerated.
A change won't drastically alter this team's place in the standings. The Cowboys are still going to be slotted to pick near the top of the draft order. They're still going to get the 4th-place schedule in the NFC East next year to soften the ride just a bit either for Garrett or whoever is installed in the offseason as head coach.
But whatever chips Phillips earned by getting the defense to play hard and winning a few games in December...those have been cashed in.
This team is poorly prepared and poorly coached, and those facts are obvious to everyone. The only one that can really take the fall for that in midseason is the head coach. The time will come for most of the rest of the staff in January.
The Cowboys are bad and that's not going to change this season. But if Jerry Jones doesn't make a coaching change this week, it tells everyone who bought tickets for Sunday's game or is holding them for the four home games remaining that you might as well just expect more of the same until this season is over.
Trying to sell the fans that this team is still playing hard for Phillips -- not even a master salesman like Jones can sell a lie like that.
