StevenOtero
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By Johnette Howard
NBCSports.com
What I’m about to say is a bit unusual. I should begin by pointing out that although I’m a rabid NFL fan, I come from Pittsburgh, which usually means I care about the Dallas Cowboys about as much as I care about the migratory patterns of trout or how to change the air filter on my car. The Steelers are my team. But after two years of the loud and persistent yelping surrounding the Cowboys — everything from Wade Phillips’ docile personality to Tony Romo’s streakiness to, lately, Roy Williams’ alleged sloth — I have just one thing to say:
For ***’s sake, let the Cowboys win something already.
Anything to make it stop.
I haven’t spoken one-on-one with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for what seems like at least a couple of facelifts. But if I were to run into the man, I’d tell him that he’d be doing everyone a favor if he made it all go away.
Sunday’s game between Dallas and Philadelphia is shaping up as a great, great game. Both teams are hot. The NFC East title is at stake. The conference’s No. 2 playoff seed could be won, too. The problem is, we haven’t been able to watch the Cowboys without being held hostage by the same worn-out storylines: Which way is Jones leaning regarding Phillips’ future? Is offensive coordinator Jason Garrett’s stock spiking up or down? Is Romo just overhyped, or one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the NFL, a guy who has finally licked his tendency to fold under pressure?
The next few weeks should answer a lot, including Phillips’ status. (Thank the Lord.) As we all know by now because it’s been driven into our brains with a diamond-bit drill, the Cowboys haven’t won a playoff game since 1996, back when dinosaurs such as Nate Newton roamed the earth. Jones holds a club option to bring Phillips back for a fourth season in 2010, which means we could be repeating the exact same storylines next year if, *** forbid, Phillips is brought back without an extension.
Jones did say earlier this week that he doesn’t want to make a coaching change, for what that’s worth. (Is a little voice in your head screaming, “Nothing!”? Me too!)
Jones’ show of support hasn’t stopped the usual rants: Phillips is some rube who’s been given a Rolls Royce but keeps grinding the clutch; Phillips is a weak leader who doesn’t demand enough from his players; Phillips’ teams can’t win big games. The shrieks were whitecapping at an especially high level when the Cowboys marched off to face then-unbeaten New Orleans two weekends ago, following losses to the Giants and streaking Chargers. From the bleak mood around Dallas, you’d have thought pigs had a better chance of flying than the Cowboys did of beating the Saints.
Except the Cowboys won.
That’s not a typo.
They won in December, they did.
An almost cosmic chain of events has thrown the entire NFC into an unexpected muddle ever since. Frontrunner New Orleans lost again, this time to ***-awful Tampa Bay. The Vikings lost for the third time in four games Monday, in Chicago. Now the Eagles and Cowboys look like the NFC’s hottest teams, and Romo is playing the best ball of his career.
Yet the talk right up to kickoff before the Saints’ game — Phillips’ chance of getting fired — has only dialed back some. It hasn’t disappeared completely.
The new “if-then” criterion is Phillips must win at least one playoff game. And there are a lot of reasons to root for Phillips to pull it off.
Nobody this side of the Commanders’ Jim Zorn has had to put up with more than Phillips has in his three seasons in Dallas, let alone succeeded as much in such a hothouse atmosphere. His boss, Jones, is a publicity-seeking micromanager. Jones’ decision to install Garrett at $3-million-a-year as his offensive coordinator and head coach-in-waiting before he even hired Phillips left Phillips as — well, what? — Head Coach for Now?
Phillips’ authority was undermined from the start. As if that weren’t enough, Jones also gave Phillips a fractious roster last season featuring troublemakers such as Terrell Owens, Tank Johnson and “Pacman” Jones. Predictably, the locker room was drama-filled and poisonous as another December nosedive played out. It was no coincidence all three players were among those gone this season.
Phillips’ acceptance of the myriad special conditions and humiliations that come with working for Jones is often hoisted up as proof of Phillips’ spinelessness. The possibility that it could instead be a sign of Phillips’ pragmatism or strength of character doesn’t get much consideration.
Did you know Phillips has a 32-16 record with the Cowboys, winning more games since the start of the 2007 season than any coach other than the Patriots’ Bill Belichick? A Dallas victory Sunday would give Phillips his second NFC East title in three seasons. In addition to having the sort of asbestos personality needed to co-exist with Jones, Phillips has weathered the Cowboys’ overheated fan base’s clamoring and his fickle, often-confrontational treatment by a Dallas-Fort Worth media that has often led the calls for his head.
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The only pro coaching gig that’s more freighted is manager of the Yankees.
Phillips will be back if the Cowboys keep winning.
Already, Romo has credited Phillips’ “even keel” for the Cowboys’ ability to evolve into a team nobody wants to play right now.
That hasn’t been enough to smother the old storylines, either.
Time to root like hell for a new story.
Let the damn Cowboys win something already.
