From the Dallas Morning News -
Wade Phillips presides over the most gutless team in franchise history.
That's his legacy.
Forever.
And it should be after Philadelphia stomped the Cowboys, 44-6, in a win-and-you're-in-the-playoffs game Sunday.
But he's keeping his job – even after the worst loss of the Jerry Jones era. Seriously.
It seems to me Jerry needs a psych evaluation. Either he has lost his mind or he thinks the fans in Dallas are so dumb they will fill his new billion-dollar stadium regardless of the product on the field or the man running the team.
This group of arrogant faux stars played with a sense of entitlement, in part, because Phillips provided a plethora of ready-made excuses for their flaws, when he should've been challenging his underachieving players to perform better.
"This is a tough way to end the season, the last two games, is really a shameful way to go out," T.O. said.
What did you expect from this gutless group?
From the Star Telegram -
So embarrassing, so ugly, so pathetic was this latest Cowboy debacle that not even coach Wade Phillips could find a positive spin afterwards.
Apparently Coach Cupcake too has run out of sugar-coating.
“Not much I can say about this. It was a disaster,” he said, his most honest assessment of his team in at least a year, probably since he arrived.
He was talking about the Cowboys' 44-6 loss to Philly. He may as well have been describing this season and this Cowboys team. They were the disaster, a fraud, a collection of underachievers who needed a good, swift kick in the butt that never came.
Of course, that is not how this Cowboy team operates. They are all about finding excuses and assigning blame.
And it is Jason Garrett’s turn.
The RHG is now officially the RHS, or Red-Headed Scapegoat for the Cowboys. T.O. echoed his previous criticisms of The RH-no G to Deion on Sunday, and QB Tony Romo piled on as well. They would have us believe he is why they lost so ugly in Philly.
“Scheme is a major, major part of it,” Romo said. “If you’re put in a really good situation, it really allows your team to be successful a lot. That’s why I think some games, it’s easy to say, ‘Well, he didn't play good.’ A lot of it is scheme.”
T.O. was even less cryptic, noting “I know there needs to be some changes in regards to getting some guys involved, putting guys in position to win. It all starts with guys who are calling the plays.”
Of course, anybody who believes Jason Garrett is the biggest, or only, problem with the Cowboys is as delusional as Owner Jones and as clueless as Coach Cupcake.
Owner Jones has a lot of big decisions looming. And T.O., in his self serving way, volunteered his services, saying “if Jerry needs advice or asks me about anything, I will give him my honest opinion”.
If he’s accepting unsolicited opinions from fools, may I offer my services? I’d love to be in on their secret meetings. And I have a few ideas for Jerry:
¦ Begin by firing your chief enabler, Coach Cupcake himself. Swallow your pride. Back away from last week’s hasty stupidity. Admit you are wrong. He has to go.
¦ Fire Bruce Read, 12 games too late, yet still necessary.
¦ Bid farewell to Pacman and Tank. Talent allows trouble makers to get second chances, but neither has enough to justify their presence.
¦ Say goodbye to T.O., as much as this hurts, because his whining, his private meetings, his silliness has become a distraction. Trust me, your team is better without him.
¦ Call Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren, any and every coach who you think might look you in the face and tell you to go to hell. Keep adding zeroes until one of them says yes.
¦ Bring in a real backup quarterback, with talent and potential, to challenge Romo. He obviously needs a push, from coaches and from a guy vying for his job.
¦ Keep The RH-no G, with a babysitter. Too early to give up on him. Too much evidence to leave him without supervision.
¦ Slap Flozell Adams and Corey Proctor, on general principle.
¦ Did I mention Coach Wade? Because as long as he’s your coach, your team will lack accountability and you will not win.
From Yahoo Sports -
Tony Curtis stopped and sunk his head.
He was defeated, just like his Dallas Cowboys. The first half wasn’t over, but the 44-6 humiliation at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles was assured. The much hyped, Super Bowl-or-bust season would end without even a measly playoff berth.
Curtis had been blocking on a kickoff only to watch return man Pacman Jones foolishly and fruitlessly try to make nothing out of nothing in the final seconds of the first half. Jones was caught along the sideline by half the Eagles team photo. With nowhere to go he should’ve looked to avoid disaster. Instead he courted it, overconfident in his ability. He bopped around in a circle until he fumbled.
Philly recovered, setting up a gift field goal. Curtis showed up on the scene, looked at the pile, looked at the carnage of a play gone bad and a season gone worse and down went that head.
How ‘bout them Cowboys?
The Detroit Lions became the first team to go 0-16 in league history but the most disastrous season in the NFL this year belongs to the Cowboys.
Detroit was supposed to be terrible, the predictable result of letting Matt Millen run the franchise for so long. The Lions’ futility is historic, but what’s the tangible difference between 0-16 and 2-14?
Dallas had 13 Pro Bowlers, a peacock proud owner and a ton of talk about how this was the season for its first Super Bowl since 1996.
Repeated late season collapses – the Cowboys have lost their last nine regular-season finales and have done nothing in the playoffs – are in this team’s DNA. Jones might have added what looked like talent, but the mental toughness and leadership remains elusive.
From the London Free Press -
What a can of worms the Philadelphia Eagles opened up yesterday.
They didn't beat the Dallas Cowboys; they humiliated them. In the aftermath, you can bet Jerry Jones, who has been the picture of restraint while cracks appeared in his expensive toy this season, will be raising hell around Valley Ranch.
When, early in the season, the Cowboys failed to live up to expectations, Jones was quick to put a lid on the concept of wholesale changes. He resisted discussion of firing coach Wade Phillips or throwing any players under the bus.
But after watching this 44-6 butt-kicking by a team that everybody had written off four weeks ago, Jones either will get his broom out, or get some answers to why he shouldn't.