After rampant speculation that began Sunday night following the Cowboys’ 45-7 loss to Green Bay, the firing of Wade Phillips was made official on Monday afternoon. As we mentioned earlier, Jerry Jones has never fired a coach in the middle of the season. However, Jones has never owned a team that starts out 1-7 after many experts picked them as a Super Bowl contender before the season started.
Apparently Phillips expected Jones to live up to his reputation of letting guys finish out the year. According to a Jay Glazer tweet, those who spoke to Wade said he was “visibly upset” and that he “believed he was safe (Monday) morning.” Phillips must have been putting a significant amount of stock into the reputation if he thought he would be spared even after Jerry’s “a lot of people will suffer the consequences” comments after Sunday night’s loss.
Another interesting tweet comes from FanHouse’s Dan Graziano, who is saying Jason Garrett is a candidate for the Cowboys head coaching position after this season. Even before Tony Romo’s injury, one of the Cowboys’ many issues was a stale offense. You could even argue that one of the reasons Phillips ended up getting canned was a lack of effective play calling. Maybe Jones just wants Garrett to believe he’s a candidate so he gives it his all for the remainder of the year. Whatever the case, I don’t think that would be a smart hire. This is a team that clearly needs to make changes beyond just a head coaching switch.
