After seeing Super Bowl hopes fizzle into a 9-7 season that wasn’t good enough to make the playoffs, team owner Jerry Jones has vowed to bring back Phillips, and Phillips vowed Monday to do things differently.
“We know things must improve. The only way is to change things,” Phillips said. “To get to the standard we want, I don’t see any other way.”
This was Phillips’ second season in Dallas and his second straight devastating finish.
The Cowboys went 13-3 last year and owned the No. 1 seed in the NFC, only to lose their first playoff game; the fact it was at home a week after Tony Romo, some teammates and their significant others went to a resort in Mexico only made it worse. This time, Dallas overcame injuries and infighting to have a chance to make the playoffs by winning the finale, only to come out emotionless and error-prone in a 44-6 road loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
“You can’t say, ‘Well, OK, everything’s going to be all right,’ because it’s not going to be all right if you do the same thing - and I’m talking about myself,” Phillips said. “I have to look at myself from how I deal with things, from how we have training camp, how we have practices, whatever.”
Phillips said he and Jones already “talked man to man” about what went wrong and what needs to be done about it. All he’s decided so far is that he needs a plan; he’s only started putting it together. However, he expects both coordinators and all the star players to return.
The big change Phillips seems to be talking about is getting tough, a la previous Dallas coaches Bill Parcells and Jimmy Johnson. That would be quite a change for Phillips, 61, whose reputation as a players’ coach has been forged during 32 seasons in the NFL.
“If it means being more demanding, more whatever, I have to get it done,” he said.
Asked how he can do that while being true to himself, he said: “My personality is probably not going to change as much as what you ask them to do. My personality of looking like I’m laid back all the time, that’s not going to change.”
Phillips said he’s been through similar, successful “changes” by the boss when he was an assistant at Buffalo under Marv Levy and at San Diego under Marty Schottenheimer. He plans to get advice from them and from another former boss, Dan Reeves. While all are respected, none won a Super Bowl.
One change Phillips already made was opting not to address the team Monday. Players met with position coaches, cleaned out their lockers, tied up other loose ends and were free to go.
Linebacker Bradie James, a defensive team captain, didn’t like that change.
“I don’t want to just end this thing and be in the dark,” James said.
Here’s something that hasn’t changed: soap opera side stories. The only reason James spoke to reporters was to clear up an incident he just had with a fan who was standing outside the driveway into team headquarters wearing a sandwich board that read “Our team has no heart” on the front and “Wade is an embarrassment to the star” on the back.
James tore the sign off the man, breaking his sunglasses. James then went to his locker, got a pair of expensive shades he’d been given and returned with an apology, a handshake and a gift. Police came and left without taking any action.
“He was like, ‘Why you guys didn’t have that fire last night?’ You should’ve showed that much heart last night!’ So the next thing you know I’m just ripping that sign off of him,” James said.
Linebacker Zach Thomas finished his 13th NFL season and said he’ll be healthy enough to return for No. 14, although not necessarily in Dallas.
“We didn’t really get to our full potential,” he said. “We were inconsistent all year. I don’t understand it. Something’s missing. I’m hoping they find out because Jerry Jones deserves it, Wade deserves it.”
Receiver Roy Williams caught only 19 passes for 198 yards and a touchdown in 10 games after being acquired from the Detroit Lions for three draft picks, including Dallas’ first-rounder (20th overall). He and Romo never got in sync, including an interception on a ball thrown his way Sunday.
NOTES: Among the things Phillips said must change are penalties (Dallas had the most in the NFL, second-most in yards) and turnovers (second in NFL). Romo had 21 turnovers in 13 games. “We’ve got to get a plan to help him,” said Phillips, who added that Romo injured rib cartilage Sunday and that a flare-up of the pain caused him to collapse in the shower afterward.
