A couple days ago ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that the Cowboys could be in the Mike Shanahan business. If not this offseason, then a year from now, when Jerry Jones will announce that he can no longer stand the sight of Wade Phillips in his puffy coat.
Last spring, the job was Jason Garrett's to lose and, well, that sounds like what he's done. Despite T.O., Witten, Williams, Barber, Romo et al, the Cowboys' offense was inconsistent and often out-schemed. And that let to ESPN's Mike & Mike having the following conversation during this morning's radio show (via DMN's Sports Media Blog):
Mike: "To me the biggest surprise and I don't mean this critically...that after the way their season ended Wade Phillips is the coach of the Cowboys."
Other Mike: "...I also thought that Jason Garrett was the heir apparent yet he was given permission to talk to the Detroit Lions. You know to give your heir apparent permission to talk to another team..."
Interrupted by Mike: "I can tell you who the heir apparent is in Dallas, it's Mike Shanahan. Mike Shanahan will be the coach of the Cowboys a year from now if not sooner."
Now, I have no idea if Jones wants Shanahan for 2009 or beyond, but one of the Mikes make an interesting point: for all the trouble Jerry went through to keep Garrett in Dallas, you'd think he'd do everything in his power to keep him around. Of course, maybe Jones thinks that there's no way Garrett takes the Lions job; it's where once-promising careers go to die, after all.
Whatever, with all the potential big names looking for work in a year's time -- Shanahan, Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren -- Phillips will probably need to win the Super Bowl to keep his job. And I'm not even sure if that'll be enough.
ESPN Continues to Think Mike Shanahan Will End Up in Dallas originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:15:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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