For Phillips, Cowboys willing to go extra mile
Jaime Aron covers the Dallas Cowboys
Associated Press
IRVING - Be honest. Are you more likely to do something because: A.) someone tells you to do it, or B.) because you want to do it?
Now think how this relates to responding to your boss.
Do you prefer orders as: A.) demands, or B.) requests?
If both your answers were "A," you would have loved playing for Bill Parcells.
If both your answers were "B," you would be like a lot of members of the Dallas Cowboys. You'd love playing for Wade Phillips.
While this is a drastic oversimplification, it helps illustrate the 180-degree change in the leadership styles of the previous and current Cowboys coaches.
The Parcells-to-Phillips transition might seem like a tired storyline, but it's actually fresher than ever. Because now there are tangible results that can be traced to this new approach, and it goes beyond Dallas' 3-0 record.
Actually, it's all about how the Cowboys have gotten to 3-0.
They've lived up to every team's vow not to make excuses, ignoring injuries that have essentially wiped out four key players and not getting rattled by penalties, bad calls by the officials and other bad breaks that have happened at critical moments in every game.
The Cowboys have yet to be ahead in a first quarter but have yet to trail in the fourth.
They haven't scored a first-quarter touchdown, but lead the league in scoring.
And they've won by an average of 17 points despite halftime scores that had them leading by one, trailing by four and being tied.
Call it spunk, resilience or an ability to overcome adversity. Whatever it is, all winning teams have it, and so far the Cowboys have shown plenty since going from the frowning coach who growled and glared at them after mistakes to a perpetually smiling coach who says mistakes are his fault.
"These guys amaze me every week," Phillips said, continuing the positive reinforcement that was a rarity in these parts the past four years.
Parcells and his tough tactics were exactly what a broken franchise needed when he arrived in 2003. He got immediate results, too, taking Dallas from three years of 5-11 to 10-6 and into the playoffs.
The Cowboys never won more than nine games in his following three seasons. The team's fade last December and January showed he'd worn out his players mentally and physically.
Still, Parcells established a winning attitude and laid the foundation for the current success by bringing in so many of the key players. And when he walked away, Jerry Jones was smart enough to follow the oldest trick in the owner's handbook, going from a crabby coach to a player's coach.
Defensive captain Bradie James smiles as he calls Phillips "so different from what we had."
"His thing is, mistakes during the game are on him, so don't worry about it," James said. "We make the corrections [during the week], and we can play loosely. We can go out there and just have fun. That's what we've been doing."
James went on to say something about "trying to win no matter what," a sentiment that could easily be taken out of context. His point was that Phillips wants his teams to keep attacking, whereas Parcells tried managing games, hoping to keep things close so his team could pull things out at the end.
That brings us to another multiple-choice question.
Would you prefer playing football as: A.) a battle or attrition, or B.) by going all-out all the time?
Consider the evidence that's already mounting for "B" Phillips' way.
Phillips trusts his offense so much that he's already sent them out for five fourth downs. While several teams have tried that many, and one has six, none has as many conversions as Dallas' four, a success rate that excites the defense as much as the offense.
In turn, the defense has ingratiated itself to the offense by coming up with a league-leading 10 takeaways - eight interceptions, which is two more than any other team, and two fumble recoveries.
Nine of those turnovers have come in the last two games. During the 64-game Parcells era, Dallas never had more than eight turnovers over consecutive games.
Results like those are obviously the easiest way to bring a team together. But perhaps good chemistry yields those results.
"That's what I want to instill," Phillips said. "I want them to want to be good and want to work together and be accountable to each other."
Parcells tried getting players to go the extra mile by using his New Jersey tough-guy approach. There were signs around the locker room basically chiding players not to be sissies. He even messed with the temperature in the training room so it would be uncomfortable in there. The message was clear: Be a team player - or else.
With Phillips, players want to make him happy because he's keeping them happy. A perfect example is the story he told Monday about flight attendants on the team plane being amazed at how much the players were studying their playbooks. And no one told them to do it.
"I think he respects us as adults and individuals. You just give him that same respect," said Tony Romo.
Associated Press
IRVING - Be honest. Are you more likely to do something because: A.) someone tells you to do it, or B.) because you want to do it?
Now think how this relates to responding to your boss.
Do you prefer orders as: A.) demands, or B.) requests?
If both your answers were "A," you would have loved playing for Bill Parcells.
If both your answers were "B," you would be like a lot of members of the Dallas Cowboys. You'd love playing for Wade Phillips.
While this is a drastic oversimplification, it helps illustrate the 180-degree change in the leadership styles of the previous and current Cowboys coaches.
The Parcells-to-Phillips transition might seem like a tired storyline, but it's actually fresher than ever. Because now there are tangible results that can be traced to this new approach, and it goes beyond Dallas' 3-0 record.
Actually, it's all about how the Cowboys have gotten to 3-0.
They've lived up to every team's vow not to make excuses, ignoring injuries that have essentially wiped out four key players and not getting rattled by penalties, bad calls by the officials and other bad breaks that have happened at critical moments in every game.
The Cowboys have yet to be ahead in a first quarter but have yet to trail in the fourth.
They haven't scored a first-quarter touchdown, but lead the league in scoring.
And they've won by an average of 17 points despite halftime scores that had them leading by one, trailing by four and being tied.
Call it spunk, resilience or an ability to overcome adversity. Whatever it is, all winning teams have it, and so far the Cowboys have shown plenty since going from the frowning coach who growled and glared at them after mistakes to a perpetually smiling coach who says mistakes are his fault.
"These guys amaze me every week," Phillips said, continuing the positive reinforcement that was a rarity in these parts the past four years.
Parcells and his tough tactics were exactly what a broken franchise needed when he arrived in 2003. He got immediate results, too, taking Dallas from three years of 5-11 to 10-6 and into the playoffs.
The Cowboys never won more than nine games in his following three seasons. The team's fade last December and January showed he'd worn out his players mentally and physically.
Still, Parcells established a winning attitude and laid the foundation for the current success by bringing in so many of the key players. And when he walked away, Jerry Jones was smart enough to follow the oldest trick in the owner's handbook, going from a crabby coach to a player's coach.
Defensive captain Bradie James smiles as he calls Phillips "so different from what we had."
"His thing is, mistakes during the game are on him, so don't worry about it," James said. "We make the corrections [during the week], and we can play loosely. We can go out there and just have fun. That's what we've been doing."
James went on to say something about "trying to win no matter what," a sentiment that could easily be taken out of context. His point was that Phillips wants his teams to keep attacking, whereas Parcells tried managing games, hoping to keep things close so his team could pull things out at the end.
That brings us to another multiple-choice question.
Would you prefer playing football as: A.) a battle or attrition, or B.) by going all-out all the time?
Consider the evidence that's already mounting for "B" Phillips' way.
Phillips trusts his offense so much that he's already sent them out for five fourth downs. While several teams have tried that many, and one has six, none has as many conversions as Dallas' four, a success rate that excites the defense as much as the offense.
In turn, the defense has ingratiated itself to the offense by coming up with a league-leading 10 takeaways - eight interceptions, which is two more than any other team, and two fumble recoveries.
Nine of those turnovers have come in the last two games. During the 64-game Parcells era, Dallas never had more than eight turnovers over consecutive games.
Results like those are obviously the easiest way to bring a team together. But perhaps good chemistry yields those results.
"That's what I want to instill," Phillips said. "I want them to want to be good and want to work together and be accountable to each other."
Parcells tried getting players to go the extra mile by using his New Jersey tough-guy approach. There were signs around the locker room basically chiding players not to be sissies. He even messed with the temperature in the training room so it would be uncomfortable in there. The message was clear: Be a team player - or else.
With Phillips, players want to make him happy because he's keeping them happy. A perfect example is the story he told Monday about flight attendants on the team plane being amazed at how much the players were studying their playbooks. And no one told them to do it.
"I think he respects us as adults and individuals. You just give him that same respect," said Tony Romo.
posted by The Gryphon at 8:01 AM
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