Post by scorpion42 on Dec 3, 2009 9:00:24 GMT -7
Dallas Cowboys' Phillips defends record after Jones' comments
04:44 AM CST on Thursday, December 3, 2009
Column by DAVID MOORE / The Dallas Morning News | dmoore@dallasnews.com
IRVING – Wade Phillips removed the "kick me" sign critics have attached to his Cowboys tenure and launched into a spirited defense of his credentials Wednesday afternoon.
Hours after owner Jerry Jones responded to a question about his coach's future, Phillips wondered aloud how many coaches have won more games than him since the start of the 2007 season. The answer is one – New England's Bill Belichick.
There's more. It became clear the more Phillips talked that he believes he hasn't received the respect he deserves. He acknowledged his inability to win in the playoffs factors into the slight, but stated that winning in the regular season breeds winning in the playoffs, and he's confident that will happen.
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Phillips said he has given no thought to his future with the Cowboys heading into Sunday's game with the New York Giants.
"Like I've said before, that's up to someone else," Phillips said. "It isn't up to me. The part that is up to me, that I can do something about, is to do as well as I can, to try to win as many games as I can.
"And we have won some games here. I don't know if people realize that."
The Cowboys enter December with an 8-3 record and are 30-13 since Phillips took over as head coach. His predecessor, Bill Parcells, was 23-20 in his first 43 games as Cowboys coach.
Yet, the public perception of the two couldn't be more different. A big part of this has to do with the two Super Bowl trophies Parcells won with the Giants. Phillips owns an 0-4 playoff record in stops with Denver, Buffalo and the Cowboys.
Phillips is in the final year of his contract with a club option for 2010. Jones has not exercised that option, and Phillips said Wednesday that the two have not discussed his status. But this is what Jones said earlier in the day when asked if it was important for Phillips that the Cowboys finish strong:
"I don't know that it's any more so for Wade than it is for anybody else on this team," Jones said. "You're in coaching and then there's a lot of pressure to win, so that's there. But what we do here and how we get into these playoffs and get in with an advantage, have a game here [Cowboys Stadium], get a bye, all of those are things that look good for Wade."
Phillips laughed when asked if what the team did from this point forward could determine his future.
"If you want to go on records," he said before pausing.
"I don't know what the determining factor is, I've never known. I didn't know when I was in Buffalo and we were 29-19 in three years that I was going to get fired. I thought I did a heck of a job.
"All I do is try to do the best I can as a coach. I work hard at that. I don't think I get a lot of respect for that, but that's the way it goes."
Why not?
"I don't know," Phillips said. "I don't. I've won 75 games [not counting three more wins as an interim] as a head coach so far in eight years. That's not bad compared to a lot of other people.
"Now, I understand the playoffs and so forth. I understand all that. But I think – I think, and it's my opinion – that winning breeds winning. If you're a winner, you're going to come out fine whether it's regular season or playoffs sooner or later.
"If you learn to coach and win games, then you're going to do well. And I'm confident we're going to do that."
Phillips has handled periodic speculation about his job status with little display of emotion this season. But he bordered on defiant at times this day, at one point saying, "a lot of guys who have won 30 games in three years, they're not talking about their future."
A few moments later, he brought up Belichick's first tour of duty as a head coach.
"I mean Belichick in Cleveland couldn't win the big one," Phillips said of the man who has won three Super Bowl titles with the Patriots. "He had trouble winning. He's a great coach, but it took awhile to show it. I think he's a winner, and it showed."
Will it show with Phillips before all is said and done?
"Sure," he said.
"Like I say, we're going to win."
04:44 AM CST on Thursday, December 3, 2009
Column by DAVID MOORE / The Dallas Morning News | dmoore@dallasnews.com
IRVING – Wade Phillips removed the "kick me" sign critics have attached to his Cowboys tenure and launched into a spirited defense of his credentials Wednesday afternoon.
Hours after owner Jerry Jones responded to a question about his coach's future, Phillips wondered aloud how many coaches have won more games than him since the start of the 2007 season. The answer is one – New England's Bill Belichick.
There's more. It became clear the more Phillips talked that he believes he hasn't received the respect he deserves. He acknowledged his inability to win in the playoffs factors into the slight, but stated that winning in the regular season breeds winning in the playoffs, and he's confident that will happen.
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Phillips said he has given no thought to his future with the Cowboys heading into Sunday's game with the New York Giants.
"Like I've said before, that's up to someone else," Phillips said. "It isn't up to me. The part that is up to me, that I can do something about, is to do as well as I can, to try to win as many games as I can.
"And we have won some games here. I don't know if people realize that."
The Cowboys enter December with an 8-3 record and are 30-13 since Phillips took over as head coach. His predecessor, Bill Parcells, was 23-20 in his first 43 games as Cowboys coach.
Yet, the public perception of the two couldn't be more different. A big part of this has to do with the two Super Bowl trophies Parcells won with the Giants. Phillips owns an 0-4 playoff record in stops with Denver, Buffalo and the Cowboys.
Phillips is in the final year of his contract with a club option for 2010. Jones has not exercised that option, and Phillips said Wednesday that the two have not discussed his status. But this is what Jones said earlier in the day when asked if it was important for Phillips that the Cowboys finish strong:
"I don't know that it's any more so for Wade than it is for anybody else on this team," Jones said. "You're in coaching and then there's a lot of pressure to win, so that's there. But what we do here and how we get into these playoffs and get in with an advantage, have a game here [Cowboys Stadium], get a bye, all of those are things that look good for Wade."
Phillips laughed when asked if what the team did from this point forward could determine his future.
"If you want to go on records," he said before pausing.
"I don't know what the determining factor is, I've never known. I didn't know when I was in Buffalo and we were 29-19 in three years that I was going to get fired. I thought I did a heck of a job.
"All I do is try to do the best I can as a coach. I work hard at that. I don't think I get a lot of respect for that, but that's the way it goes."
Why not?
"I don't know," Phillips said. "I don't. I've won 75 games [not counting three more wins as an interim] as a head coach so far in eight years. That's not bad compared to a lot of other people.
"Now, I understand the playoffs and so forth. I understand all that. But I think – I think, and it's my opinion – that winning breeds winning. If you're a winner, you're going to come out fine whether it's regular season or playoffs sooner or later.
"If you learn to coach and win games, then you're going to do well. And I'm confident we're going to do that."
Phillips has handled periodic speculation about his job status with little display of emotion this season. But he bordered on defiant at times this day, at one point saying, "a lot of guys who have won 30 games in three years, they're not talking about their future."
A few moments later, he brought up Belichick's first tour of duty as a head coach.
"I mean Belichick in Cleveland couldn't win the big one," Phillips said of the man who has won three Super Bowl titles with the Patriots. "He had trouble winning. He's a great coach, but it took awhile to show it. I think he's a winner, and it showed."
Will it show with Phillips before all is said and done?
"Sure," he said.
"Like I say, we're going to win."