Post by MR COWBOY on Dec 14, 2009 13:56:20 GMT -7
Turner returns as Phillips goes
Buck Harvey
SA sports.com
ARLINGTON — Norv Turner held up his left hand. All that was missing was a Bible for his right one.
“Honestly,” he began, “my family and I have moved way past that.”
Knowing Turner, he would prefer not to come across as vindictive. He chose to contain his satisfaction after beating the same Jerry Jones who had snubbed him before.
But no matter how many times Turner complimented the Cowboys and said they were “well-coached,” what he did Sunday meant more than what he said. Then, he showed with some finality what the Cowboys have been missing.
And what he might have provided had he been hired instead.
Dallas was as close as the 1-yard line. But playoff contenders find a way to get the 1 yard. They also rise to make a defensive stop in the fourth quarter.
The Cowboys haven't under Wade Phillips, even after the players vocally supported their coach last week. They like Phillips because he's loyal and comforting. It was telling, again, that Jones was the one in the postgame locker room giving a speech about overcoming adversity.
This team faces adversity, all right, and this is a real possibility: Phillips will never win another NFL game.
He faces two road games, with one against undefeated New Orleans, and a home finale against Philadelphia. Why believe in him now?
Jones once did. Then he hired Phillips to replace Bill Parcells when there were other candidates. Turner was prominent.
Turner was considered an early favorite, but that never matched up with the past. Then, working for Jones, Turner felt overlooked.
He'd been an accidental hire. Jimmy Johnson had been turned down by a handful of others before he settled on an assistant he didn't know.
The Rams' receivers coach before he came to Dallas, Turner arrived without much standing. His $100,000 salary reflected that.
Jones continued to see him in that light, and Turner said privately then that Jones ignored him. He won't even talk to me, Turner would say.
When Turner wanted a raise after the first Super Bowl, Jones gave him a minor bump. “First chance,” he would say with some profanity laced in, “I'm getting out of here.”
He got out, all right. And, after stints with the Redskins and the Raiders, he was hoping to go back. But Jones passed on him in 2007, and, according to an ESPN report this past week, the rejection stuck with Turner.
“According to people who know him,” the article said, “Turner will possess an enormous urge to demonstrate that he's a better head coach than Phillips, that he's a better offensive game planner and playcaller than Jason Garrett, and that he has developed Philip Rivers into a quarterback who can statistically outperform Tony Romo and win on the Cowboys' field when it really matters.”
All of that came true Sunday, including this detail: Turner's offense knew exactly what Phillips' defense would do. Dallas linebacker Keith Brooking said the Chargers were calling out the Cowboys' blitzes before the Cowboys were.
Jones' opinion of Turner is not inaccurate. Turner works better with one quarterback than he does with the rest of his roster, and he has always struggled with confrontation. He can be overwhelmed by strong personalities, and, as it is with Phillips, he has the charisma of a coordinator.
What he is doing now, then, says something else about him. The Chargers are peaking in December as they always have, with a sense they can beat anyone in their conference.
That is a contrast to Phillips' Cowboys. And so no matter what Turner said Sunday, he couldn't soften what he had done. Turner had likely ended the career of a coach.
Who had gotten the job he wanted.