Jerry Jones Won’t Fire Phillips Until End Of Season

Added on Oct 17, 2010 by Jason Kearney in

NFL

As the Dallas Cowboys’ season continues to head south following an uninspired loss to Minnesota on Sunday, head coach Wade Phillips would be justified in trying to find a good real estate agent. At least he’s got some time–despite Dallas dropping to 1-4 owner Jerry Jones said Sunday evening that he wouldn’t fire a coach midseason. That was about the only thing he said that could be the least bit encouraging to Phillips, who is clearly hanging from a thread if not already gone at the end of the year.

Phillips has a repreive for the rest of the season, but only because Jones values tradition and he’s never fired a coach midseason as he reminded reporters:

“I would never consider doing that during the season.”

While some of that may be based in tradition, there’s plenty of practical reasons to wait–not the least of which is a better idea of the marketplace for potential replacements. If Phillips was hoping for a ‘pep talk’ from his owner it wasn’t forthcoming:

“I’m not [optimistic]. I’m very disappointed. I realize the challenge that we’ve got, and we’re not playing well enough to get it done right now. We’re running out of the opportunity to make this season what we meant it to be.”

Phillips doesn’t really have a good scapegoat–he’s had some injuries but the Cowboys’ biggest problem has been disorganized play, penalties and an overall lack of discipline. Dallas was flagged 11 times for 91 yards against Minnesota, including a call that negated a long touchdown pass. Phillips doesn’t dodge responsibility for this problem:

“Obviously, it’s coaching. We’re going to keep working on it until we get it right.”

Whether they’ll ‘get it right’ in time to save Phillips’ job is very doubtful. Dallas does have a pair of home games on deck, hosting the New York Giants and Jacksonville.