For the record, Wade's easygoing style adding up just fine

A liberal dose
November 15, 2007

Whatever anyone else wants to say, publicly or privately, about Wade Phillips, allow me to fix it right now for Mr. Fix-It:

He's an 8-and-1 coach.

That's some good Wade-local media humor right there, and certainly a few fans have picked up on it during Phillips' daily Valley Ranch briefing with reporters.

Let there be doubting questions about the work of one of his players -- say, Roy Williams -- and Wade's answer will be:

'Roy Williams is 8-and-1.'

Since Roy is very touchy these days about how he's portrayed in the media ('You don't know what you're watching'), I assure you this is merely an example of Wade's wit, and not an indictment of Jeremy Shockey being that wide open in the end zone.

Speaking of the Giants game, which was the finest moment of a fine season for both the Cowboys and their head coach, Phillips was personally lit-up by Fox-TV commentator Jimmy Johnson at halftime.

Jimmy saw what we all saw, some undisciplined brainlock by a couple of players, who drew stupid penalties, contributing to 10 points for the Giants.

The Fox people pay the Jimster, Howie and Terry huge sums of money to give strong opinions, and since Johnson was always fanatical about his teams playing with discipline, Jimmy was not going to let that go.

He called out by name, linebackers Bradie James and Kevin Burnett, but the tirade was actually aimed at Phillips, who was not mentioned.

'What would Bill Parcells think? You can't have a relaxed-type atmosphere,' Jimmy roared to a national audience, firing a verbal shot right at the head coach.

Phillips, of course, has created just that at Valley Ranch. The Cowboys have 'relaxed' their way to 8-and-1, and at the moment, no one around here cares what Big Bill thinks.

Because of the record, Wade has won over a national media that initially hooted at his hiring last winter. The same goes for me, and anyone else locally who doubted Jerry Jones on this move.

But the comment from Jimmy was the first public hint at what some around the league have been saying privately most of this season. Despite the current record, there are those in the NFL who think Phillips is building a football house of straw.

This theory says Wade is gambling on an 'anti-Parcells' approach to motivate players, and is attempting to ride a golly-gee-whiz personality, and, yes, a 'relaxed atmosphere,' right into the playoffs and beyond.

If that's the case, then so far, so good.

But if the NFL doubters are right, the Cowboys will eventually be undone by the loosey-goosey attitude of the head coach. An undisciplined team eventually gets itself beat at the wrong time. Meaning, in this case, early in the playoffs.

Then again, there were two sides and two halves of football involved in that Giants game. Yes, stupid and costly penalties happened in the first half. No, Wade Phillips admittedly did not verbally undress his team at intermission, which was an interesting decision, to say the least.

Is there a coach at any level, seventh grade on up, in any sport, who wouldn't have gone ballistic on his/her team at halftime? Probably not.

But in the second half of that game, the Cowboys played with machine-like precision and took apart the Giants on both sides of the ball.

Wade Phillips is an 8-and-1 coach.

For starters, Wade can thank Tony Romo.

In an interview last week in a New York newspaper, Bill Parcells talked of this current Cowboys team, and was very complimentary in all areas, while also claiming he wanted no credit, nor deserved any, for putting all the pieces in place.

Yet, the one kicker quote from Big Bill was:

'None of this would be happening without Romo.'

Any team with a quarterback playing this consistent and this good is not only a serious threat to get to the Super Bowl, but maybe even win it -- forgive me, Bill Belichick.

Of course, other factors have to be in place, including a team being smart enough not to give away points and games with undisciplined play.

As one Cowboys official said Sunday in the Giants Stadium press box at halftime, 'This crap [stupid penalties] has got to stop. It's been hurting us all year.' By the way, he wasn't talking about a .500 team. The Cowboys were soon to be 8-and-1 on that day.

As Phillips has said since Sunday, he needs to fix that. And on Wednesday at Valley Ranch, he reportedly was adamant with the players that the 'stupidity' must end, although Wade never used that exact word. He did, however, have the players voluntarily sign a pledge saying they would be held accountable to teammates, for post-play penalties.

Valley Ranch is not Wade's cave. He hears, he sees.

Meanwhile, Phillips was hired to also fix the defense.

He called himself 'Mr. Fix-It,' then became upset when the media poked fun at that name, and ever since has poked fun at himself for being sensitive.

But the Giants game was his ultimate Mr. Fix-It moment of the season.

In the first week, way back in September, Wade's defense was shredded by the Giants. In the 10th week, that defense shredded the same Giants, totally snuffing the long-ball threat of Plaxico Burress (six catches, 144 yards and three TDs in the first game) and turning the other receiver, Amani Toomer, into a spectator (nine catches, 91 yards in the first game.)

Shockey got loose Sunday on the Cowboys, but he's no threat to outscore Romo and Co.

The Monday morning trashing of Eli Manning, in comparison to Romo, was extremely severe in the New York newspapers.

But the bottom line of the game was the Phillips' 3-4 'fixing it' from Week 1 to Week 10.

The Jimster didn't say anything Sunday that others in the NFL aren't thinking. The doubters are still out there on the golly-gee-whiz head coach.

For the record, however, Wade Phillips is 8-and-1.

Randy Galloway's Galloway & Co. can be heard 3-6 p.m. weekdays on ESPN/103.3 FM.