With A Super Bowl Victory, Phillips Can Exhale As Dallas Cowboys Coach Read
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
 

Irving, TX., Sunday, September 12, 2010. When linebacker Keith Brooking playfully ripped the proverbial monkey off Wade Phillips' back after the Dallas Cowboys' wild-card playoff victory against the Philadelphia Eagles last January, it was considered a moment for Phillips to exhale.

No longer would he have to answer questions about never winning a playoff game. Even more, the questions about his job security were rendered moot as the win paved the way for a two-year contract extension.

But then came the fine print that suggested another larger primate in owner Jerry Jones' much-talked-about goal of the Cowboys not only playing in, but winning the Super Bowl in their home stadium was lurking in the shadows.

So just a few months after dispatching a monkey, Phillips heads into today's season opener against the Washington Redskins carrying King Kong.

Phillips, the son of legendary Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips and an NFL coaching veteran of 33 years, wants no sympathy.

"It's a gorilla on your back if you're a head coach in the NFL," Phillips said. "That's the way it is. There's not a comfort level for any coach, I don't think. Maybe the guy who won the Super Bowl last year.... But people forget. Everybody forgets. It's a year-to-year job."

Phillips also knows the questions about him will return as soon as the Cowboys lose a game.

"If we lose one, that will come up," Phillips said.

His focus is on the team and getting the Cowboys ready to take that next step.

Remember, Phillips' first playoff win was also the first for the Cowboys in 13 years. And the team hasn't won the Super Bowl since January 1996.

If the Cowboys achieve Jones' goal, much of the credit should go to the under-appreciated and lightly regarded Phillips, whose 33-15 regular-season record is the best winning percentage (.688) ever for a Cowboys coach, including Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells.

Jones said Phillips has grown so much since replacing Parcells in 2007 that it can truly be called Phillips' team.

"What I do sense is our football team's confidence in Wade," Jones said. "I just think that they believe not only in what he's doing technically, which would be his involvement with the defense, but with leadership.

"The biggest thing that happened here is how these players believe in him and look up to him as their head coach. That is something that is earned over a period of time, but he's earned it. This team has his stamp all over it."

His stamp, according to the players, is being fair, being consistent and treating them like men.

"Be consistent," Brooking said. "Regardless of your position in this league, I think it's one of the most important ingredients for any player, for any coach, for anyone, personnel department, whoever it is. Be consistent. Consistency gives you longevity, and I think Wade is just consistent in his approach every day. He never gets too high; he never really gets too low. He's very steady. That's very key in this league."

Of course, to outside observers, that comes across as soft, especially when compared to Parcells' dictatorial style. However, Jones said that's far from the truth, as is the notion that Phillips is a "yes man" to him.

"If anybody thinks that he won't bite, if anybody thinks that he will go along with an idea when he thinks there's a better way to do it, they're wrong about his style," Jones said.

"I'm 40 feet away, as you well know, so you're going to have the perception that that's got to be a yes man, that's got to be someone that will walk on eggshells. That is not the case. That has never been the case."

Phillips doesn't deny that he has made a few changes since 2007 that has benefited himself and the team.

He pointed to the staff changes he made before last season and how he managed the team down the stretch as they made their playoff run.

King Kong or not, Phillips said the team is ready to take the next step.

"That's what we're trying to do with this football team," Phillips said. "We have a lot of starters back and we had success, but it doesn't guarantee anything.

"It's a new team every year. How they play together, how they execute together and the schedule has a lot to do with it."


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