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Snap Judgments: Gag order lifted, Phillips reminds why it was there
DANA POINT, Calif. -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we wrap up the NFL's annual meeting with a little table-hopping among the league's head coaching set, and more from the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort...
• Spent part of my morning Wednesday with Cowboys coach Wade Phillips, he of the Jerry Jones-imposed gag order for much of this offseason. And now I can see why they gagged him in the first place. Much of what Phillips offered up at the NFC head coaches media breakfast didn't pass the sniff test.
I understand the need for spouting the company line, but when it came to facing the inevitable questions concerning Terrell Owens, Tony Romo and the Cowboys' much-discussed locker room chemistry issues, Phillips' logic was usually twisted beyond recognition. I didn't see him get a bite of food, because most of the time he was too busy talking out of both sides of his mouth.
Asked what the Bills are getting in Terrell Owens, Phillips did nothing but toss bouquets T.O.'s way, describing him as "all the things you want in a football player,'' and "probably the most productive receiver in the league in the last several years.''
That obviously begged the question, if all that's true, why did the Cowboys feel the need to release him?
"Because we feel like we can go forward with the guys we have,'' Phillips said, referencing the likes of young Dallas receivers Miles Austin, Sam Hurd and Isaiah Stanback. "We've got some emerging players who are going to make a difference.''
Phillips three times answered in the affirmative when asked if Owens' release was a purely football decision, rather than attitude-related. But if that's true, what could Jerry Jones have possibly meant earlier this week when he said not having Owens around would put Romo in a better position to succeed as a quarterback? What could he have been referring to if he wasn't at least tacitly identifying Owens' penchant for being disruptive, and that his club had made your classic addition by subtraction move?
"I think this season is going to be even more of a breakout year for [Romo], just because of experience, not because Terrell is or isn't there,'' Phillips said. "It's just experience and playing the game. And Tony's still 21-8 as a starter the last two years. But I think this is a big year for him.''
So do I, largely because without Owens around, Romo may not have anyone else to absorb some of the blame if the Cowboys fail for the 13th consecutive year to win a playoff game. But this is how Phillips explained the notion of Romo being a better quarterback without Owens on the Cowboys roster:
"It's more him making decisions,'' Phillips said. "Getting better, and those kind of things. With a quarterback -- every position is really about making decisions, but a quarterback certainly makes the most decisions, and I think he's improved in that area over the last two years. But there's more room there, and he works at it as good as anybody.''
Huh? Not having Owens might indeed improve Romo's decision making, but only because he doesn't have to face the always-tricky decision of how often to throw the ball in T.O.'s direction any more. We all know that when things start to go south with Owens around, not getting the ball enough is usually the source of his discontent.
Phillips contends the Cowboys' chemistry issues were "blown out of proportion after the season,'' and I don't completely disagree with him. But undoubtedly there was some validity to the team's chemistry problem, overblown or not, and when I asked Phillips how much of it was fair to look back on, he turned prickly for one of the few times Wednesday morning.
"I'm not even going to discuss that, because that's why I didn't want to talk about it in the first place,'' he said. "Because you begin talking about last year and all these things: this didn't happen; somebody said this. I'm through with that.''
Surprisingly, Jones brought Phillips back after last year's 9-7 debacle in Dallas, but in essence told him to start cracking the whip a bit more on his players. Phillips promised to amend his laid-back ways, but he's not letting us in on any of his changes just yet.
"Obviously, there've been change already,'' said Phillips, alluding to moves that are not quite so obvious to me, unless he means Owens' departure. "Some of it's modification, an adjustment. Everybody's going to say you ought to be a tyrant rather than the person you are, but I have a lot of pride in how I work with players and how they respond to how I coach. There's going to be certainly some things that we do different, but I'm not going to go into any of them. I have a plan for what I want to do and I'm going to do that.''
Even the whole issue of a gag order being imposed on Phillips is now apparently open to interpretation. After saying all offseason that he couldn't talk to the media because Jones wanted to be the one voice speaking for the organization, Phillips this week said he could have talked if he wanted to, making the gag order sound like a bit of his own creation.
As it turns out, Phillips had a lot to say Wednesday morning about all the issues that surround his always-topical Cowboys. It's just that by the time I got up from his table at breakfast, I didn't know what any of it really meant.
DANA POINT, Calif. -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we wrap up the NFL's annual meeting with a little table-hopping among the league's head coaching set, and more from the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort...
• Spent part of my morning Wednesday with Cowboys coach Wade Phillips, he of the Jerry Jones-imposed gag order for much of this offseason. And now I can see why they gagged him in the first place. Much of what Phillips offered up at the NFC head coaches media breakfast didn't pass the sniff test.
I understand the need for spouting the company line, but when it came to facing the inevitable questions concerning Terrell Owens, Tony Romo and the Cowboys' much-discussed locker room chemistry issues, Phillips' logic was usually twisted beyond recognition. I didn't see him get a bite of food, because most of the time he was too busy talking out of both sides of his mouth.
Asked what the Bills are getting in Terrell Owens, Phillips did nothing but toss bouquets T.O.'s way, describing him as "all the things you want in a football player,'' and "probably the most productive receiver in the league in the last several years.''
That obviously begged the question, if all that's true, why did the Cowboys feel the need to release him?
"Because we feel like we can go forward with the guys we have,'' Phillips said, referencing the likes of young Dallas receivers Miles Austin, Sam Hurd and Isaiah Stanback. "We've got some emerging players who are going to make a difference.''
Phillips three times answered in the affirmative when asked if Owens' release was a purely football decision, rather than attitude-related. But if that's true, what could Jerry Jones have possibly meant earlier this week when he said not having Owens around would put Romo in a better position to succeed as a quarterback? What could he have been referring to if he wasn't at least tacitly identifying Owens' penchant for being disruptive, and that his club had made your classic addition by subtraction move?
"I think this season is going to be even more of a breakout year for [Romo], just because of experience, not because Terrell is or isn't there,'' Phillips said. "It's just experience and playing the game. And Tony's still 21-8 as a starter the last two years. But I think this is a big year for him.''
So do I, largely because without Owens around, Romo may not have anyone else to absorb some of the blame if the Cowboys fail for the 13th consecutive year to win a playoff game. But this is how Phillips explained the notion of Romo being a better quarterback without Owens on the Cowboys roster:
"It's more him making decisions,'' Phillips said. "Getting better, and those kind of things. With a quarterback -- every position is really about making decisions, but a quarterback certainly makes the most decisions, and I think he's improved in that area over the last two years. But there's more room there, and he works at it as good as anybody.''
Huh? Not having Owens might indeed improve Romo's decision making, but only because he doesn't have to face the always-tricky decision of how often to throw the ball in T.O.'s direction any more. We all know that when things start to go south with Owens around, not getting the ball enough is usually the source of his discontent.
Phillips contends the Cowboys' chemistry issues were "blown out of proportion after the season,'' and I don't completely disagree with him. But undoubtedly there was some validity to the team's chemistry problem, overblown or not, and when I asked Phillips how much of it was fair to look back on, he turned prickly for one of the few times Wednesday morning.
"I'm not even going to discuss that, because that's why I didn't want to talk about it in the first place,'' he said. "Because you begin talking about last year and all these things: this didn't happen; somebody said this. I'm through with that.''
Surprisingly, Jones brought Phillips back after last year's 9-7 debacle in Dallas, but in essence told him to start cracking the whip a bit more on his players. Phillips promised to amend his laid-back ways, but he's not letting us in on any of his changes just yet.
"Obviously, there've been change already,'' said Phillips, alluding to moves that are not quite so obvious to me, unless he means Owens' departure. "Some of it's modification, an adjustment. Everybody's going to say you ought to be a tyrant rather than the person you are, but I have a lot of pride in how I work with players and how they respond to how I coach. There's going to be certainly some things that we do different, but I'm not going to go into any of them. I have a plan for what I want to do and I'm going to do that.''
Even the whole issue of a gag order being imposed on Phillips is now apparently open to interpretation. After saying all offseason that he couldn't talk to the media because Jones wanted to be the one voice speaking for the organization, Phillips this week said he could have talked if he wanted to, making the gag order sound like a bit of his own creation.
As it turns out, Phillips had a lot to say Wednesday morning about all the issues that surround his always-topical Cowboys. It's just that by the time I got up from his table at breakfast, I didn't know what any of it really meant.
or does any article about the gag order make any one else cringe?
