RECAP: Wade Phillips Press Conference - 06/08/07

Recap by theogt from a sports forum:

Is there any special way you've reached out to Terrell Owens or is that even necessary?
No, I reach out to all the players the same way I think. As a football coach, one player isn't more special than the others. Certainly some players are important as far as what they can do for the team, but I'm involved in the team aspect, and I like to treat all players with respect, including the guys that might not make it. I think that's the way you treat people. So Terrell or the 3rd team backup linebacker -- I try to treat them the way I'd like to be treated as a player.

Ellis said he wanted to be traded or released?
Those situations always come up in football. This is my 31st year, so I've seen it a few times. It's a situation between the GM and the player. I'm not involved in contract and all of us know that. Usually the things work out. Especially with goo people involved. Greg Ellis is one of the best guys that I've been around. I haven't been around him that long, but you can tell his character is really top notch. As a coach I want him to play and do well, and I think he will.

Do you see him -- assuming his ankle his healthy -- do you see him as the starter?
Yeah, I think we've said that all along. We're banking on him being there.

How do you make sure that division between a GM and a player doesn't translate to play on the field?
Really, we're not getting into my area, so to speak. Jerry's been in it a while too, so he's worked those things out before. Like I say, I probably shouldn't even be talking too much about it, because I'm not really involved in that part of it.

When you have this many OTAs, what is your expectation in terms of participation?
Well, as much as they can. I like for them to be as exposed to as much as they can. You know, we've had not only the OTAs and the camps, but in April we went every Tuesday and Thursday all the way through April, so we've had a lot of partcipation, and I feel good about it. We've had outstanding participation overall in the whole group and that's what I'm looking for and that's what we've got.

How difficult is it not to make judgments about players?
I think you get into -- I've been in the league a long time -- when we started, we didn't have all the gusy that lived in the area, and all the off-season programs that we have, but when we started the offseason programs I can remember guys that were in town that if they didn't show, we got mad at them. But the guys that were out of town, we didn't do anything about it. But it's progressed now where most of the players are in town, so certainly you expect them to be there, but they have lives, they have things to do. They've got a list of things that they need to accomplish and that we need to accomplish, and in this case learning a new offense, defense, and S/T, and that's what I want. I want them to be in shape. They've still go 16 week offseason program and this part of that process. They have to be at their playing weight and we expect them to be mentally and physically ready to play.

You hear "player's coach" -- somehow there's this perception that you're the permissive parent -- how do you deal with that?
Everybody has their own judgment about who does what and how they do it. I think you're going to see the team works hard, plays hard, and doesn't make a whole lot of mistakes. That's what I try to preach -- to not make many mistakes. That's what you're looking for. The final say-so is whether we're disciplined or not. There are always going to say that because i like players and relate to them, that I'm soft, but that's not necessarily the case. You can talk to players that I've coached, and they'll give you a different view as to whether I'm soft.

Is there an "angry Wade"?
I don't know about that. I just tell them what expect, and I expect them to live up to that. I don't anymore of them than what they expect of themselves. Most of the guys want to be good and do well. There are a few that you have to push a little. You have to know who those people are, but most of them work hard and have a great work ethic and great attitude and want to do well. That's not hard to coach.

Is participation more important this offseason because of the new offense?
We like participation every year. You'll see it coaching wise in training camp, that we won't have to start where did back in April. We can now start when we finish this mini-camp, pretty close to where we are now. We've installed 60-65% of the thigns that we're going to do. We don't have to start at the beginning and be at 65% in two weeks at training camp. Now in two weeks we can get to 100%.

Did you do that in the Tuesday/Thursday sessions or did you do that in the OTAs?
All of it.

How much behind are TO and Terry?
It's different with different players. Guys that have played -- it's easier for them to learn the things they need to learn. It's all on an individual basis.

Having 3 starters missing, does that set you back a lot?
I don't know that they've missed a lot. Missed a lot compared to what? They've been through meetings. They're not making mistakes. They understand what we're doing. In fact, they're making plays. And they're not going to miss TC. They're going to be there and they're going to practice as long as they're healthy. I don't worry about those things as much with veteran players. But I don't want to say that, because I want them to be here as much as they can -- all of my veterans.

Flo given an excused absence today?
Yeah, he's recovering.

Some of the injured guys were here, though.
Again, none of this is mandatory. There's certainly a fine line. I know you can say, "you can make them do it," but I just don't believe that way. I'd rather them want to do it.

Rivera, was that a situation where his back just wasn't going to last?
Well, certainly that was a concern, but we assessed the situation and it just didn't look like he was going to be able to help us this year.

Did you get the impression that he wants to do whatever he can to keep playing?
I didn't really discuss that part with him. He was more talking about rehab and how much rehab he had to do to be able to play.

How much would you say this offense was at a jumping off point from last season to be a really strong offense this season?
Each team is different. I've been with a lot of different teams. We've had offense that would be really good one year and not do as well the next. And vice versa, so it is a little similar to when I went to San Diego a few years ago. They were coming off a good year, at least in numbers, offensively, and that's a similar situation to what we had here. They had good numbers offensively. When you score a lot of points, that's what you're looking for. That's what you want and they did that, so we're hoping we can build on that.

How do you keep that going?
Coaching. And players. This is part of the process. Evaluating what we did. Keeping Tony Sparano was a key in that. I thought he was key on the offense last year, with the running game and the pass protection, and those kind of things. With him coaching the same guys, and being the Assistant Head Coach has really helped Jason and helped all of us. So, I think that's been a key for us.

What is your observation when you look at the Commissioner?
I like the Commissioner, I think he's great. [laughter] They made a wonderful choice. [laughter]

Do you like that he brings the hammer?
Well, the NFL has always been a leader on doing the right thing. And I think he's doing the right thing.

How is Jason progressing in terms of being the coordinator and calling the plays?
I think he can do the job. I don't know his progression. It's kinda like when I was a first time coordinator as New Orleans. I felt like I could do the job or I wouldn't have been given the job. It's the same thing with Jason. And we ended up leading the league in several categories there. Hopefully the same thing will happen to Jason.

As your relationship with him grows, what sort of things do you like about him?
I don't like that he went to Princeton and he's that smart. [laughter] No, he has a real feel -- even those he's a smart guy. There's a lot of smart people without a lot of common sense. But he's got a feel about him, that he can relate real well to all of us "other" people. He gets his point over well. I think a great thing about him, and especially with guys that have played the game before, is they tend to hold the players accountable. They tend to get that over the players, and he does that really well.

What do you expect out of Leonard Davis?
Well, Leonard's -- the great thing when we signed him was that we knew he could start at a lot of different positions. And then we re-signed Colombo, which was important for us. Flozell had the knee thing but he'll be back. So that gave us the chance to put Leonard at guard. He's a strong man. I don't know that he needed that tractor to pull that horse out. I think he could have just walked in there and pulled him out. He's doing real well. His participation and everything has been outstanding. I don't know that he's missed anything at all. And he's come in extra. As has our QB. Not only doing all these things. Tony Romo has come in countless times -- after practices, after the Tuesday/Thursday deals. I'm proud of a lot of our guys. They were supposed to be here four days a week, but a lot of them are here 5 days a week. That's impressive.

How does Romo get all that in with his busy social calendar?
Well, he must put us on the calendar somewhere. It's what it's important him. Football is obviously important to him. He spent a lot of time here in the offseason. And he likes the competition. He likes being out there and going through these things and seeing what he can do. He had a great morning if you were out there. He had a great practice.

Do you wonder whether all that's going on will affect what he does on the field?
Well, I look at what he does, and he's here all the time. He's here extra. All of them have their own life. He's a grown man, but I see him here more than anybody we have. That's commitment.

Brad Johnson?
I think Brad's shown that he's the veteran QB that we're looking for. He's ready to do things. He's been in a lot of different schemes. He can relate to what we've done so far.

Can he hold a snap?
He does a good job, so he's our #1 holder. He's done it before.

Anybody you're worried about not being physically ready for training camp?
A couple of our coaches and me, but that's about it. [laughter] I think everyone else will be ready.

Flozell will be ready?
Yeah, I think he'll be ready. Isaiah will be ready. Greg will be ready. From what the doctors and Brett tell me as far as rehab, most of our guys will be ready.

With Flo gone, what have you seen from McQuistan?
He's athletic. We knew that about him. He showed some things last year. And again, that's the great thing about having Tony Sparano still working with him. He knew what weaknesses he had and what he needed to work on so he's got him in the right direction. Any time a vet isn't in there it gives a young guy the opportunity to hone his skills. And he's done a pretty good job, especially in pass protection. And again, without pads, the running game is hard to tell without pads. But he's athletic enough to play LT, which can't say about everybody in this league.

You guys wanted to get McQuistan in at LG. With Flo's injury, did you guys not want to get the rookies out there too early?
Yeah, that was part of it. I think he can play either. We wanted to give him an opportunity at LT. Again, it's hard to find LTs.

Will he be back at guard at training camp?
I think he'll do both and that's what we're looking for. His versatility should be good enough to play both.

Is he your primary backup across the line other than center?
We don't have -- we've told them all right now, part of the process is just learning. We're just trying to get them started into this offense, defense, and S/T as quickly as we can. And we'll decide later on, when we play pre-season -- and it is how they play in the games, cause you're not necessarily a football player because you move around in shorts pretty good, so we'll wait to see them in pads and let them prove in a game where they can play and how much they can play.

How has the coaching staff come together?
Well, that's what I do. I get them on the same page. That's part of being the head coach -- making sure the staff -- and part of it was that I picked the right guys, the kind of guys that have worked on different staffs, and have been the top guys on their staff. We have meetings, organized this and organized that. That's what the head coach tries to do, make sure everbody's organized and knows what they're doing and knows how to work well together. And we've had no problems.