NBC Sports: Attitude of Cowboys' coach didn't do the team any favors

[Concord]

Attitude of Cowboys' coach didn't do the team any favors

Dallas' loss should come as no real surprise

By Tom Curran
NBCSports.com

http://www.nbcsports.com/portal/sit...110VgnVCM100000dc032c03RCRD&vgnextfmt=default



IRVING, Texas -- "13-3. No. 1 seed. Did a lot of good things this year. 13-3. Playoff game at home. Feel good about our regular season. 13-3. Best record team's ever had ... 13-3 ... 13-3 ... 13-3."

It can't be pretty inside the head of Dallas coach Wade Phillips right now. After spending weeks insisting all was well with his slumping Cowboys, his team crashed and burned Sunday at Texas Stadium.

In losing to the Giants, 21-17, they become the first No. 1 seed from the NFC to lose its opening playoff game since the NFL playoffs expanded in 1990. Phillips' playoff record as a head coach dips to an unimpressive 0-4 (we're not going to count the bye week as a win, as Phillips said a few weeks back that he does).

And if Ol' Wade wants to hit the panic button now, it's buried under the charred remains of his team's season.

Stunning development? About as surprising as sunrise. The Cowboys have been an average-to-bad team since Nov. 29, right after they claimed a 27-10 lead over the Packers and sent Brett Favre from the game. After that, for some reason, they thought they'd accomplished great things.

Sometimes teams do that. Head coaches are around to make sure they don't believe it. But not Wade Phillips. While the Cowboys were in freefall, he groped aimlessly for the ripcord until the whole team went splat Sunday in a loss for the ages.

His team was outscored 115-87 from the time it took that 17-point lead over the Packers until their season ended Sunday.

This loss has nothing to do with Tony Romo's Mexican Vacation last week or Patrick Crayton's pregame gum-flapping or assistant coaches Tony Sparano and Jason Garrett being courted by teams for head coaching positions.

This had to do with the message sent by Phillips that the status quo was going to be status cool. The velvet glove does not work.

When the head coach tsks-tsks about his team playing as poorly as the Cowboys did in the season finale at Washington then trots out a stat that the last three NFC teams that went to the Super Bowl played poorly in their regular season finales, you have a head coach sending the wrong message.

And his team paid the price for it.

The Cowboys gave off a strong whiff of disarray in the second half. Their first drive after the break ended with a field goal, but on third-and-7 from the Giants 11, Flozell Adams took a false start penalty to back it up to a less makeable third-and-12.


On their next drive, Dallas found itself in a third-and-13 hole after an unnecessary roughness penalty on Leonard Davis wiped out a first down and Crayton dropped an easy pass for first down yardage.

Next drive? Penalty on Justin Rogers on the punt return starts the drive at the Dallas 13, and breakdowns in blitz pickup resulted in a sack and a hurry.

Next drive? Illegal formation turning a third-and-4 into a third-and-9, then, after they picked it up anyway, Romo got whacked for intentional grounding, flinging a pass out of bounds with no receiver in the area.

Then on the final drive, Marc Colombo took a false start just for good measure before Romo got picked by R.W. McQuarters in the end zone.

So much for playoff focus.

The much ballyhooed assistants in line for head jobs -- offensive line coach Tony Sparano and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett -- didn't drape themselves in glory in this one either. The Cowboys offensive line was its weakest link in the second half, allowing pressure on Romo that kept him from getting comfortable. As for the playcalling, on the third-and-20 following the Romo intentional grounding, Garrett called for every wideout to go long with no apparent underneath receiver. The 60-yard throw Romo needed to make traveled only 59 yards and fell incomplete. Why no outlet man?

When asked if the Cowboys' regular season was rendered meaningless, Phillips answered, "No, the regular season was what it was. We advanced to the divisional round by playing as well as we did during the regular season."

Great. And the Cowboys single, solitary playoff game was what it was as well. A preventable defeat that came because the man in charge confused regular-season success with real accomplishment.

 

[chinch]

well written article.

wade's gotta go jerry

 

[CATCH17]

Attitude of Cowboys' coach didn't do the team any favors

Dallas' loss should come as no real surprise

By Tom Curran
NBCSports.com

http://www.nbcsports.com/portal/sit...110VgnVCM100000dc032c03RCRD&vgnextfmt=default



IRVING, Texas -- "13-3. No. 1 seed. Did a lot of good things this year. 13-3. Playoff game at home. Feel good about our regular season. 13-3. Best record team's ever had ... 13-3 ... 13-3 ... 13-3."

It can't be pretty inside the head of Dallas coach Wade Phillips right now. After spending weeks insisting all was well with his slumping Cowboys, his team crashed and burned Sunday at Texas Stadium.

In losing to the Giants, 21-17, they become the first No. 1 seed from the NFC to lose its opening playoff game since the NFL playoffs expanded in 1990. Phillips' playoff record as a head coach dips to an unimpressive 0-4 (we're not going to count the bye week as a win, as Phillips said a few weeks back that he does).

And if Ol' Wade wants to hit the panic button now, it's buried under the charred remains of his team's season.

Stunning development? About as surprising as sunrise. The Cowboys have been an average-to-bad team since Nov. 29, right after they claimed a 27-10 lead over the Packers and sent Brett Favre from the game. After that, for some reason, they thought they'd accomplished great things.

Sometimes teams do that. Head coaches are around to make sure they don't believe it. But not Wade Phillips. While the Cowboys were in freefall, he groped aimlessly for the ripcord until the whole team went splat Sunday in a loss for the ages.

His team was outscored 115-87 from the time it took that 17-point lead over the Packers until their season ended Sunday.

This loss has nothing to do with Tony Romo's Mexican Vacation last week or Patrick Crayton's pregame gum-flapping or assistant coaches Tony Sparano and Jason Garrett being courted by teams for head coaching positions.

This had to do with the message sent by Phillips that the status quo was going to be status cool. The velvet glove does not work.

When the head coach tsks-tsks about his team playing as poorly as the Cowboys did in the season finale at Washington then trots out a stat that the last three NFC teams that went to the Super Bowl played poorly in their regular season finales, you have a head coach sending the wrong message.

And his team paid the price for it.

The Cowboys gave off a strong whiff of disarray in the second half. Their first drive after the break ended with a field goal, but on third-and-7 from the Giants 11, Flozell Adams took a false start penalty to back it up to a less makeable third-and-12.


On their next drive, Dallas found itself in a third-and-13 hole after an unnecessary roughness penalty on Leonard Davis wiped out a first down and Crayton dropped an easy pass for first down yardage.

Next drive? Penalty on Justin Rogers on the punt return starts the drive at the Dallas 13, and breakdowns in blitz pickup resulted in a sack and a hurry.

Next drive? Illegal formation turning a third-and-4 into a third-and-9, then, after they picked it up anyway, Romo got whacked for intentional grounding, flinging a pass out of bounds with no receiver in the area.

Then on the final drive, Marc Colombo took a false start just for good measure before Romo got picked by R.W. McQuarters in the end zone.

So much for playoff focus.

The much ballyhooed assistants in line for head jobs -- offensive line coach Tony Sparano and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett -- didn't drape themselves in glory in this one either. The Cowboys offensive line was its weakest link in the second half, allowing pressure on Romo that kept him from getting comfortable. As for the playcalling, on the third-and-20 following the Romo intentional grounding, Garrett called for every wideout to go long with no apparent underneath receiver. The 60-yard throw Romo needed to make traveled only 59 yards and fell incomplete. Why no outlet man?

When asked if the Cowboys' regular season was rendered meaningless, Phillips answered, "No, the regular season was what it was. We advanced to the divisional round by playing as well as we did during the regular season."

Great. And the Cowboys single, solitary playoff game was what it was as well. A preventable defeat that came because the man in charge confused regular-season success with real accomplishment.

Really? That was the reason we lost huh?

Man football just has nothing to do with what goes on during the game anymore I guess.

Oh well our players allowed the seeds to be sprinkled.

Now they are going to grow like a fungus.

 

[CATCH17]

well written article.

wade's gotta go jerry

Starting to bloom. People are dumb enough to buy into it. Oh brother.

 

[Boysboy]

Starting to bloom. People are dumb enough to buy into it. Oh brother.

This article is GARBAGE. I believe this is also the same writer who PRAISED Phillips for his "laid back" approach(as well as many others).

Now all of a sudden it's just the contrary?

 

[Nexx]

good coaches coach according to the situation. his laid back approach was great to begin the season, not so much when we started to struggle late in the season. he had zero sense of urgency when we needed to fix problems instead of playing them off like he did. i promise you if Jimmy had been coaching this team knowing the team had zero success in recent times in the playoffs he would have been all over the players and coaches trying to fix the problems. hell i wouldnt have been surprised to see them game plan and play washington like it meant something just to get the team back on track and if that didnt work he would have busted their ***** in full pads during the bye week. laid back worked until the team needed a kick in the butt.

 

[InmanRoshi]

Our players don't need a hard arse and a discplinarian. They need someone who trusts them to do the right thing and will treat them like grown men. We know this, because they told us this themselves all offseason to anyone within earshot. You'll see ... everything will be different. Last year's underachievers will be this year's world beaters. We won't fade down the stretch this year, because we have an upbeat, positive phiilosophy now instead of a dark cloud hanging around us all year that wore us down.

And when they told us this, the general consensus was "Okay, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt. But no more excuses this time. No more blaming the coach for your failures"

So they fail again and choke when all the stakes are down yet again ... and, of course, it's still the coach's fault.

 

[Boysboy]

good coaches coach according to the situation. his laid back approach was great to begin the season, not so much when we started to struggle late in the season. he had zero sense of urgency when we needed to fix problems instead of playing them off like he did. i promise you if Jimmy had been coaching this team knowing the team had zero success in recent times in the playoffs he would have been all over the players and coaches trying to fix the problems. hell i wouldnt have been surprised to see them game plan and play washington like it meant something just to get the team back on track and if that didnt work he would have busted their ***** in full pads during the bye week. laid back worked until the team needed a kick in the butt.

Obviously-you've missed the Andy Reid years in Philly-we all know he has a VERY laid back approach, his game management AND clock management skills are lukewarm(at best), and he treats his franchise player like his own adopted son.

Why has he been very successful? You tell me.

And now, all of a sudden, we're making all these accusations on Wade?

 

[CATCH17]

Our players don't need a hard arse and a discplinarian. They need someone who trusts them to do the right thing and will treat them like grown men. We know this, because they told us this themselves all offseason to anyone within earshot.

And when they told us this, the general consensus was "Okay, we're bringing in someone different this time, but no more excuses this time. No more blaming the coach for your failures"

So they fail again and choke when all the stakes are down yet again ... and, of course, it's still the coach's fault.

Thank you!

 

[WV Cowboy]

I agree with some of this article.

I have coached for 16 yrs, and found that you can NEVER let a team feel satisfied.

When we put on white shirts and hats after winning the East, .. I said uh-oh.

After that, they were never the same team that beat teams by double figures, that put up 30 + pts in a game.

That's why the Pats keep scoring every time they can. You can't stop to relax or pat yourself on the back, and then try to go back out and be the same team.

If Wade only made one mistake all year, that was it.

 

[chinch]

Amen. did anyone ever remember Landry or Belichick saying we have a GREAT OFFENSE mid-way thru a season. ROTFLMAO.

good coaches coach according to the situation. his laid back approach was great to begin the season, not so much when we started to struggle late in the season. he had zero sense of urgency when we needed to fix problems instead of playing them off like he did. i promise you if Jimmy had been coaching this team knowing the team had zero success in recent times in the playoffs he would have been all over the players and coaches trying to fix the problems. hell i wouldnt have been surprised to see them game plan and play washington like it meant something just to get the team back on track and if that didnt work he would have busted their ***** in full pads during the bye week. laid back worked until the team needed a kick in the butt.

 

[mmohican29]

Personally, I kind of think the way Wade handled the Cowboys poor play late in the season was the right approach for a team with a fragile psyche- like the Cowboys.

Parcells' heavy handed approach certainly didn't do them any favors last season late. This team just lacks championship heart currently.

Sometimes it takes a few years to develop the killer instinct. But you have to have BOTH talent and heart to win in the NFL. Case in Point: last year's Chicago Bears. All kinds of heart. Defense with championship mettle. But they were undone by lack of talent on the other side of the ball.

We're actually better off than Chicago- we are immensely talented. BUT: Until someone- and I mean a player- on both offense and defense stands up and takes responsibility for this team's ON FIELD play it won't matter what coach is here. We will win our 10-11 games and be home well before Super Bowl kickoff. Leadership on the sidelines can only carry you so far.

"Big Time Players make Big Time Plays". This year we made more than last. Let's hope that trend continues and we grow a spine for when the games count most. If we don't develop that, then yes make moves but that includes players we have known to grow and love.... I'm not going to point fingers here but... for all the big plays we sure come up short when it counts.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

I agree with some of this article.

I have coached for 16 yrs, and found that you can NEVER let a team feel satisfied.

When we put on white shirts and hats after winning the East, .. I said uh-oh.

After that, they were never the same team that beat teams by double figures, that put up 30 + pts in a game.

That's why the Pats keep scoring every time they can. You can't stop to relax or pat yourself on the back, and then try to go back out and be the same team.

If Wade only made one mistake all year, that was it.

Man I could not agree more. We believed we were so good we went on cruise control. Fell asleep at the wheel and hit a brick wall.

 

[Bach]

IRVING, Texas -- "13-3. No. 1 seed. Did a lot of good things this year. 13-3. Playoff game at home. Feel good about our regular season. 13-3. Best record team's ever had ... 13-3 ... 13-3 ... 13-3."

When the head coach tsks-tsks about his team playing as poorly as the Cowboys did in the season finale at Washington then trots out a stat that the last three NFC teams that went to the Super Bowl played poorly in their regular season finales, you have a head coach sending the wrong message.

Wade sounds like he'd fit in well around here.

 

[Deep_South]

I think I would like to give Wade a chance to build a defense here in Dallas before he moves on.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

With all due respect, how does this mediot from nbc sports know if Wade was all that laid back? Did he attend practices? Did he attend coaches meetings?
Wade's easy going with the press, but how does he truly know?

Fact is, he doesn't.

 

[40Bates40]

The ABSOLUTE best article written on Fat Wade and that should scare us all. Wade is a Buffoon.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

The ABSOLUTE best article written on Fat Wade and that should scare us all. Wade is a Buffoon.