I have this feeling that I've already seen the Cowboys' upcoming season. Yes, it's ridiculously premature to go off and start this kind of talk and I have as much insight regarding football as I do any other sport, which is zip, but I have to say it, nevertheless. This nagging premonition is too strong to ignore.As the new season gets underway there is a clearly familiar aspect to it. And it's not something that forebodes great success. The new head coach, Wade Phillips, very much appears to fall in with the ranks of the Switzers, Gaileys and Camposes. That is, none had any air of authority and all were quite willing to be yes-men to Jones. We all know how the years with those coaches at the helm turned out.
Jerry Jones is most likely not a very patient man and I'm thinking he's sick and tired of listening to someone else, only to continually have the long lost object of his desire end up out of his reach. He got so close last season. So, I wager he's thinking he's got one hell of a talented team including one hell of a talented young quarterback - the head coach not being very important at this point.
Jones has never been satisfied to be just the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, he wants to be part of the team itself. He would much prefer to pace along the sidelines, willing his team on to victory rather than sit passively in the owner's suite. Now he sees the opportunity to take his Cowboys all the way - on his terms - head coaches be damned. It will be interesting to see if Phillips can manage to keep him off the sidelines where his appearance is so obviously detrimental that I can't understand how Jones sees it otherwise. But, the man is a control freak, he can't help it. That may be a good trait in business, but it has worked against him in the game of football.
Jerry, Jerry, Jerry... Did you not learn anything from those disastrous years between Johnson and Parcells?
It is not my intention to disparage Wade Phillips as a person, and I have no idea what he's done professionally, but from all appearances the man does not come off as someone who can lead a team to the Super Bowl. In fact, he reminds me of the Pillsbury Doughboy. Totally. This was the first thought that popped into my head the day he was introduced as the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
A jovial and good-guy demeanor may work well for a team player, but not for a head coach. Football players, even the pros, especially the pros, need a tough, no-nonsense coach to keep them in line. This is what they know, what they expect from their coaches, even though some will often grumble about him - it is usually those types who most require the uncompromisingly high expectations of a winning head coach. This is how they got where they are.
Parcells was that kind of a coach and the high-caliber team Phillips has inherited is entirely of his making. Though age and mileage had taken a lot out of The Big Tuna by the time he signed on with the Cowboys, he still was an authoritative figure, a force to be reckoned with, and the players knew it. The results of his tenure speak for themselves. It's a shame Parcells didn't finish his career with one additional Super Bowl win on his record.
I really hate to be saying all this, because Wade Phillips seems like a very nice man and also because he's an honest to goodness, born and bred Texan, but I have serious doubts that a smiley doughboy is going to have the same results as that Yankee curmudgeon. The media love Phillips because he is giving them all the time in the world, unlike Parcells, who usually told them to get stuffed. And why shouldn't he be happy to have the media fawn all over him? Phillips is thrilled just to be where he is - the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys! What happens afterwards is almost secondary. This is the difference between a proven winner like Parcells and one who has yet to reach those heights, especially at an already advanced age.
I'm going by my gut feeling here, so I hope I'm way off and being unduly pessimistic. Maybe there is much more to Wade Phillips than meets this admittedly naive eye. Maybe the team will play to its full potential under this kinder, gentler head coach. Maybe we'll be celebrating a wildly successful season, even a Super Bowl appearance - barring any freak fiascos as occurred in the last ill-fated playoff game. But, if it goes the way I suspect it will, as history is wont to repeat itself, and the Cowboys' performance degenerates into a mere shadow of what was displayed last season - Jerry will have only himself to blame. And I will be thoroughly pissed off. Sometimes it's just no fun at all being right.
Update: Watching the news earlier today. The players are calling training camp - camp cupcake. How nice for them. They could end up calling the season - toast.
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