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By Jan Hubbard
jhubbard@star-telegram.com
IRVING -- As he prepared to become a head coach in the National Football League, Jason Garrett knew that he would be influenced by a variety of sources.
He did not know that one of them would be his bladder.
Smart men accept insight wherever it is found, however, and Garrett discovered that trips down the hallway past Paul Pasqualoni's office could be educational.
"From where my office is to where the bathroom is, I walk past his office," Garrett said. "Probably a handful of times every day since he's been back, I poke my head in and say, 'Hey, coach, tell me about this?' He'll tell me some Syracuse stories, some scheme things that can help.
"He'll talk about personnel. He's a football guy, has been for a long time. That's his reputation and we're awfully fortunate to have him here on staff running the defense."
Pasqualoni's past few years have been challenging. After three years with the Cowboys, he was hired as defensive coordinator by the Miami Dolphins in 2008. His defense played well the first year, but when it faltered in 2009, he was fired.
He returned to Dallas to coach the defensive line, but when Garrett replaced Wade Phillips on Nov. 8, Pasqualoni was promoted to defensive coordinator.
Players said he is the polar opposite of the soft-spoken and mild-mannered Phillips.
"He bring a lot of energy to our defense," rookie safety Barry Church said. "When he comes into the meeting rooms, he gets everybody's attention. He makes sure nobody is going to fall asleep. He makes sure everybody is paying attention to the defense he is putting in, and I think that energy is what we needed to spark our defense."
Pasqualoni did more than raise his voice, however. Players on opposing teams had been saying for several weeks that the Cowboys had become predictable on defense. When they were aligned a certain way, teams knew a blitz was coming.
Other than playing more zone coverage than man-to-man in passing situations, Pasqualoni changed coverages and blitzed less in the 33-20 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday.
"That's been one of our main points on defense since coach Pasqualoni has taken over is disguising our defense," Church said. "Disguising where we're coming from and disguising the coverages that we make. That way we get a slight advantage to our offense and I think it's been working."
Pasqualoni said his goal was to create confusion for opposing quarterbacks, including New York's Eli Manning, who was intercepted twice Sunday. Bryan McCann returned one for 101 yards and a touchdown.
"In this league, you want to present as many looks as you possibly can for the quarterback," Pasqualoni said. "You'd like for the quarterback to make some decisions after the ball is snapped. So we're trying to do that. We've always tried to do that. We'll keep working on that. It's hard to do. You can't always do it, but as much as we can we'd like to do that."
Pasqualoni is popular among the players, many of whom do imitations of his intense approach. Defensive end Jason Hatcher said linemen were accustomed to Pasqualoni's demanding voice. But others had to get used to it.
"It's definitely been an adjustment," Hatcher said. "Coach P is a live wire. He loves coaching the game of football, so he's real motivated when he's coaching these guys. He wants them to be well-prepared.
"They were kind of shocked the first day when he was coming in and yelling at everybody. But [defensive linemen] were used to it so we were back in the corner giggling.
"Once they settled down, they were like, 'I like this guy. I'm ready to play right now.' I said that's how we do every Sunday. He gives us this speech, he tells us this story -- he's got a story for every Sunday. He gets you going pretty good."
Pasqualoni, 61, said his stories come from 37 years of coaching football, including 19 at Syracuse University.
His approach has always been the same. Pasqualoni said that when he became a teacher in grade school, he developed a philosophy and he's never changed. So that means he brought pro-style intensity to grade school classrooms?
"Absolutely," he said, smiling. "I learned to never take one thing for granted when you're teaching elementary school. And that's a principle that I think carries over very, very well regardless of what level you're at."
In his first week, Pasqualoni injected life into what had become a lifeless defense. He got the point across to defensive players that playing with energy and passion is an elementary part of football success.
jhubbard@star-telegram.com
IRVING -- As he prepared to become a head coach in the National Football League, Jason Garrett knew that he would be influenced by a variety of sources.
He did not know that one of them would be his bladder.
Smart men accept insight wherever it is found, however, and Garrett discovered that trips down the hallway past Paul Pasqualoni's office could be educational.
"From where my office is to where the bathroom is, I walk past his office," Garrett said. "Probably a handful of times every day since he's been back, I poke my head in and say, 'Hey, coach, tell me about this?' He'll tell me some Syracuse stories, some scheme things that can help.
"He'll talk about personnel. He's a football guy, has been for a long time. That's his reputation and we're awfully fortunate to have him here on staff running the defense."
Pasqualoni's past few years have been challenging. After three years with the Cowboys, he was hired as defensive coordinator by the Miami Dolphins in 2008. His defense played well the first year, but when it faltered in 2009, he was fired.
He returned to Dallas to coach the defensive line, but when Garrett replaced Wade Phillips on Nov. 8, Pasqualoni was promoted to defensive coordinator.
Players said he is the polar opposite of the soft-spoken and mild-mannered Phillips.
"He bring a lot of energy to our defense," rookie safety Barry Church said. "When he comes into the meeting rooms, he gets everybody's attention. He makes sure nobody is going to fall asleep. He makes sure everybody is paying attention to the defense he is putting in, and I think that energy is what we needed to spark our defense."
Pasqualoni did more than raise his voice, however. Players on opposing teams had been saying for several weeks that the Cowboys had become predictable on defense. When they were aligned a certain way, teams knew a blitz was coming.
Other than playing more zone coverage than man-to-man in passing situations, Pasqualoni changed coverages and blitzed less in the 33-20 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday.
"That's been one of our main points on defense since coach Pasqualoni has taken over is disguising our defense," Church said. "Disguising where we're coming from and disguising the coverages that we make. That way we get a slight advantage to our offense and I think it's been working."
Pasqualoni said his goal was to create confusion for opposing quarterbacks, including New York's Eli Manning, who was intercepted twice Sunday. Bryan McCann returned one for 101 yards and a touchdown.
"In this league, you want to present as many looks as you possibly can for the quarterback," Pasqualoni said. "You'd like for the quarterback to make some decisions after the ball is snapped. So we're trying to do that. We've always tried to do that. We'll keep working on that. It's hard to do. You can't always do it, but as much as we can we'd like to do that."
Pasqualoni is popular among the players, many of whom do imitations of his intense approach. Defensive end Jason Hatcher said linemen were accustomed to Pasqualoni's demanding voice. But others had to get used to it.
"It's definitely been an adjustment," Hatcher said. "Coach P is a live wire. He loves coaching the game of football, so he's real motivated when he's coaching these guys. He wants them to be well-prepared.
"They were kind of shocked the first day when he was coming in and yelling at everybody. But [defensive linemen] were used to it so we were back in the corner giggling.
"Once they settled down, they were like, 'I like this guy. I'm ready to play right now.' I said that's how we do every Sunday. He gives us this speech, he tells us this story -- he's got a story for every Sunday. He gets you going pretty good."
Pasqualoni, 61, said his stories come from 37 years of coaching football, including 19 at Syracuse University.
His approach has always been the same. Pasqualoni said that when he became a teacher in grade school, he developed a philosophy and he's never changed. So that means he brought pro-style intensity to grade school classrooms?
"Absolutely," he said, smiling. "I learned to never take one thing for granted when you're teaching elementary school. And that's a principle that I think carries over very, very well regardless of what level you're at."
In his first week, Pasqualoni injected life into what had become a lifeless defense. He got the point across to defensive players that playing with energy and passion is an elementary part of football success.