News: A Long Conversation With Wade Phillips

[WoodysGirl]

By: Ryan Glasspiegel and Jason Lisk19 hours ago

RG: Prior to this season you’d been working in football pretty much non-stop since 1969, and in the NFL since 1976. There was just one year off in-between. How much football are you watching this season?

WP: Pretty much every chance I get. Of course I’m probably watching more college football, too. I watch all the games. My wife goes crazy when I watch all eight of them at once. She has to go in the other room.

RG: So you’re watching the DirecTV Game Mix channel? Or, do you watch Red Zone?

WP: I’ll do both. I also go on the other channels and watch the games themselves. And I record some of the games, and go back in case I want to see the Texans, Cowboys, or Commanders — teams I’m interested in — I’ll record their games and look at them again.

RG: How often do you see announcers say something that you think is incorrect?

WP: Most of the time. Quite a bit, really. They don’t know a whole lot about it. They really don’t know zones from man-to-man. I’m talking about defenses. Some of the offensive stuff is pretty clear, but even then I’ll see a lot of mistakes as far as what they’re seeing, what’s happening, who’s fault it is — all those things.

JL: We saw you tweet a couple weeks ago from the upper deck of Jerryworld when you were watching your son coach for Washington. How did you get such plush seats?

WP: The visiting team always gets those. We were sitting way out there in Houston when Washington played the Texans as well. That’s just the seats you get.

JL: So you don’t call up Bob McNair or Jerry Jones and try to pull rank there?

WP: Nope.

JL: Tony Romo seems to get a lot more grief than he deserves. I don’t know if it’s because he’s in Dallas or what, but do you perceive that to be the case?

WP: When we were in Denver, a lot of people said the same thing about Elway. He hadn’t won it all, so people wondered how great he was. In my experience with Tony, we went 34-22 when I was there. He didn’t play in I think 5-6 of those losses, so I think his record there was pretty darn good. Plus, we had two playoff appearances and one playoff win. He had a pretty good run.

Read more: http://thebiglead.com/2014/11/12/a-long-conversation-with-wade-phillips/#sthash.elFtKYK7.uxfs

 

[WoodysGirl]

Regardless of your opinion of his head coaching tenure, this is really good read from a coaching veteran.

 

[The Natural]

Very enjoyable read, thanks for posting. Interesting the Houston contingent was 50/50 on Watt, I wonder who else they would have taken at that spot? Personally I always liked Wade, may have been a little too happy go lucky for that bunch but its a shame the team quit on him.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Fixed it for you.

JL: Tony Romo seems to get a lot more grief than he deserves. I don’t know if it’s because he’s in Dallas or what, but do you perceive that to be the case?

WP: Plus, we had three playoff appearances and two playoff wins. He had a pretty good run.

 

[The Natural]

Fixed it for you.

No he had it right, 3 playoff games but only 2 playoff appearances.

 

[atlantacowboy]

If Wade's pressers had been this interesting, i would have liked him more. He is a good DC. I wish we could get some candid questions asked and answered about his tenure in Dallas and how it ended. But I doubt he would answer since he's still looking for a job.

 

[Idgit]

I like Wade. I think he's right that he gets a bum rap, generally.

This quote was probably interesting to people who think Jason Garrett tanked to cost Wade his job:

WP: I took over in Denver for Dan Reeves, and then he hired me again in Atlanta later on. I didn’t take his job. The job was there, and they gave it to me. That’s the way coaching is. It’s not like somebody stabbing someone else in the back to get their job or that kind of thing. That’s what happens. As I said, Dan hired me after I had taken over for him, and to me that showed a lot of class that he didn’t take what happened in Denver personally. As a matter of fact, we beat Green Bay at Lambeau in the playoffs that year. I think you remember that, Ryan.

Also interesting that there was a lot of talk about JJ Watt and Bruce Smith, but not so much about Demarcus Ware in his prime...

 

[Hostile]

Regardless of your opinion of his head coaching tenure, this is really good read from a coaching veteran.

I wish he'd been asked more about his Dad and his son. I still like Wade a lot.

 

[CowboyManDan]

I wish he'd been asked more about his Dad and his son. I still like Wade a lot.

So do I. Maybe he lost the team, or maybe the team just was over-matched, or maybe the team had some bad eggs who have since been cast off. Eitherway I was not on board with his firing at the time.

 

[jobberone]

Regardless of your opinion of his head coaching tenure, this is really good read from a coaching veteran.

This guy is a great coach and even better human being.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

No he had it right, 3 playoff games but only 2 playoff appearances.

No. He left it out lol

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

Regardless of your opinion of his head coaching tenure, this is really good read from a coaching veteran.

That was a good read. Thnx for posting.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

I like Wade. I think he's right that he gets a bum rap, generally.

wouldnt a Bum rap be good in his case?

 

[Zman5]

If JJ would have let him hire Dan Reeves as the offensive consultant to help JG, we would have won many more playoff games with Wade as HC.

 

[Big D]

I wish he'd been asked more about his Dad and his son. I still like Wade a lot.

Same here. I've always liked them. I thought the players, and Garrett to a degree, did him wrong while he was here but the way things are rolling now it's hard to be mad at it.

 

[mrmojo]

Likeable guy but was glad when he left. We never improved. The 2007 season was there for the taking...should have at the least made it to the super bowl. Had same results in Denver and Buffalo just never had that oooomph to get his teams to that next level. Great defensive coordinator though.