Orsborn: Phillips has what Parcells always wanted

by Tom Orsborn
San Antonio.com

VENTURA, Calif. - Without even trying, Wade Phillips has something Bill Parcells always wanted - a team with fierce competitors on both sides of the ball.

Thanks to Jerry Jones' willingness to take on troubled players, the Cowboys have two of the top competitors in the game going at each other during every practice.

Terrell Owens vs. Pacman Jones: It's even got Phillips buzzing.

"That's what the real good playerswhat they want to do," Phillips said Sunday after watching Owens get the best of Jones. "The reason they're good is they're competitors. And so if they think someone is the best or someone is good, they're going to try to meet the challenge rather than dodge the challenge. That's what makes them good players besides talent. They're a lot of talented guys, but they're not great competitors. Terrell wants to go against Pac, too. It goes both ways with our team."

And it's rubbing off on the other guys. Patrick Crayton vs. Terence Newman is another all-out battle each day.

"You notice Crayton goes against Newman or one of our top guys almost every time," Phillips said. "I like competitive guys. I think it makes all of us better. I heard Terrell talk about that going off the field. Someone said, yeah, it was a great play (Owens' TD on a post against Jones), but (Owens) said, "That's good to against people like that. That makes me better."

In the end, it will make the Cowboys better, too.