Monday, September 28, 2009

PFT: Jerry Jones remains committed to Wade Phillips... per ESPN

Posted by Mike Florio on September 28, 2009 7:08 AM ET

Though Cowboys coach Jerry Jones has in the past committed to certain courses of action that he eventually didn't follow, Jones has consistently stood behind his current head coach, Wade Phillips.

And Jones continues to do so, in a SportsCenter interview with ESPN's Michele Tafoya, who is in Dallas for Monday night's game at the North Texas Football Cathedral.

"I've never thought about not having him as our coach," Jones said regarding Phillips. "He certainly is the man for the job relative to our defense."

(Of course, this implies that he's not the man for the job relative to the Dallas offense, and that maybe Phillips and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett are Dunder Mifflin style co-managers of the team.)

Tafoya also asked whether Phillips, whose contract expires after the season, would remain for 2010.

"I have an option, number one, and don't discuss certainly at this time of the year our coaches' contract, especially the head coach's contract," Jones said. "I'd like for him to win his first Super Bowl as a head coach as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and that might take more years than this year to do it."

The first part of that answer means that Jones can extend the deal into 2010, if he so chooses. The rest of the answer implies that he'll exercise that right.

As to the notion that Garrett might be the successor to Phillips, Jones smiled and said, "Well, he certainly is in the family portrait." (So much for those offseason rumors that Jones was hoping Garrett would get a head-coaching job elsewhere.)

All that said, Jones might feel entirely differently after the current campaign, if the end result is another one-and-done postseason or, even worse, no postseason at all.

For now, we'll tuck Jones' words away and compare them in January to what ultimately transpires.