The Dallas Cowboys fired coach Wade Phillips after a 1-7 start to a National Football League season the team intended to end in a home-game Super Bowl.
Phillips, 63, was replaced by offensive coordinator Jason Garrett on an interim basis, team owner Jerry Jones said. Defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni was named defensive coordinator.
“We’re not where we want to be at this time, and that’s an understatement,” Jones said at a televised news conference.
With February’s Super Bowl set to be played at the $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium built by Jones, Dallas entered the season third-favorite to win the title at 15-2 by Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which helps sports books set gambling lines.
Oddsmakers now rate the Cowboys 1,000-1 to win the Super Bowl after five straight losses. Dallas last night tied a team record by giving up at least 35 points for the third consecutive game in a 45-7 loss at the Green Bay Packers.
“I recognized that after the game we just weren’t playing winning football and our best chance was to make a change,” Jones said. “You ought to play like it’s the last play of your life every down. I don’t think we’re having that.”
Midseason Change
Jones never before changed coaches in midseason, and as recently as last week said Phillips’s job was safe for the rest of 2010. After the loss to the Packers, the owner said many people in the organization would “suffer consequences” from the team’s collapse.
The Cowboys allowed 232 points, the second-most in the NFL, this season under Phillips, who has spent much of his career as a defensive coordinator.
Garrett, 44, was hired by the Cowboys for an unspecified position the month before Phillips was brought on in 2007. He became offensive coordinator and in January 2008 was given the title of assistant head coach after turning down offers from the Atlanta Falcons and Baltimore Ravens. He also earned a new contract that paid him around $3 million annually, making him the highest-paid assistant in the NFL, according to ESPN.
Jones today said that Garrett’s future with the team will depend on his performance as interim coach.
‘The Next Eight Games’
“My concern that I have this minute is not about the longer term,” Jones said. “It’s about the next eight games. Jason certainly has been a part of the long-term thinking for the Dallas Cowboys and for me. But what we’re addressing on an interim basis is how we’re playing right now.”
The Cowboys have averaged 20.1 points a game this season to rank 19th in the NFL, while their 359.2 offensive yards a game places them 10th among the NFL’s 32 franchises.
Dallas played its past two games without starting quarterback Tony Romo, who broke his clavicle in an Oct. 25 loss to the New York Giants. He’s likely to need six to eight weeks of recovery time, leaving his return this season in question.
Garrett was an NFL quarterback from 1993 to 2000, playing seven seasons in Dallas before ending his career with the Giants. He played college football at Princeton University and Columbia University.
Phillips, in his fourth season leading Dallas following the retirement of Bill Parcells, went 34-22 with the Cowboys, leading them to a 13-3 record in his first season before a divisional playoff loss to the Giants. Dallas also reached the postseason during the 2009 campaign, going 11-5 and winning one playoff game before falling 34-3 to the Minnesota Vikings.
Phillips, the son of former NFL coach Bum Phillips, also has coached the New Orleans Saints, Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills and Falcons, compiling an 82-61 career record. He’s 1-5 in playoff games.
The Cowboys are tied with the Carolina Panthers for the worst record in the National Football Conference. They next travel to East Rutherford, New Jersey, for a Nov. 14 game against the division-leading Giants (6-2).
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Wade Phillips finally fired!!!
