It's not every day that an NFL coach makes you think about Alexander Haig, but that's just what Wade Phillips did on Monday.
As those with long memories or a taste for history surely know, Haig, then Secretary of State, asserted that he was in control of the United States in the wake of the 1981 attempt on the life of President Reagan. It was factually incorrect as there are several other people ahead of the Secretary of State in the order of succession, and turned Haig's long career in Washington into a punchline as a result.
The reason Haig is on my mind is because of the way Phillips stood in front of the media on Monday and asserted that the buck stopped with him when it came to all matters of the Cowboys, including the offense. That surely comes as news to Jason Garrett, who was all but anointed co-head coach when Jerry Jones started paying him like one. Phillips reiterated that he was responsible for the monumental brain fart at the end of the first half on Sunday night and said that as head coach he had the ultimate authority over the franchise.
"I have the right to do anything I want to do," Phillips said. "Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't."
If you don't do it, Wade, it doesn't much matter that you have the right to do it. It's great that he stands in front of the media and says that he's responsible for everything that goes wrong, but it is much more telling that he routinely refuses to step in and make sure that such mea culpas aren't necessary after the final gun.
"I need to interject more and I didn't do it," Phillips said. "That was the problem."
When you're the boss, you demand, overrule and lay down the law because you are in total control. Right now, Alexander Haig has about as much control over the Cowboys as Phillips. That's the problem.
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