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Wade Phillips: 'I'm not concerned about the discipline of the team'
Posted at 4:37 PM on Mon., Sep. 20, 2010 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Bill Nichols / Reporter Bio | E-mail | News tips


Several players have complained about a lack of focus during practices. After Sunday's game, veteran cornerback Terence Newman hinted about a lack of discipline, saying ``There are things that the coaches don't know at practice. As players we have to crank down and make sure that some of the stuff that goes on, doesn't go on.''

Coach Wade Phillips got defensive when asked (several times) by reporters about the team's discipline. He said that such comments from players usually stem from the frustration of losing.

"I'm not concerned about the discipline of the team, no," he said.

Phillips admitted that the Cowboys had a poor practice on Friday. Players were making errors in technique that they've been working on since OTAs.

Told that Newman brought up the subject after the loss to Chicago, Phillips said:

``It's their opinion. I told you what I said, that we didn't practice well and we got on them. Saturday morning we got on them about it and I thought Newman was one that reacted well. He didn't make every play perfect and he did miss a tackle, but I thought he played pretty well. In fact, he played real well in the game."

Asked if he planned to discuss the situation with Newman, Phillips said, "He'll talk to me. Those guys will talk to me if they need me. I don't have any problem with that. That's not really an issue at all."

Phillips made one thing clear. He is not going to alter his coaching style:

"I'm not going to change. I'm not going to be the guy that hollers. I don't believe in that. I don't believe you've got to holler at people all the time to get them to do something. If you holler at me, I might not do it at all. It's just philosophy wise and personality wise. They know when I'm unhappy. I think they knew I was unhappy today.

``The people that holler and scream at people are the ones that people perceive as disciplinarians. And I don't think that's the case.''
 
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