Is this the Man that Will Save the Cowboys' Season?

Dallas Cowboys interim head coach Jason Garrett

The answer to the above question is two-fold. Maybe, but only if he actually takes over for Jon Kitna at quarterback. And, even then, probably not, considering the 1-7 Dallas Cowboys are so far out of the playoff race Big D has turned into a small dot in the distance relative to their NFC East rivals. When the dysfunctional family that is the Washington Redskins is a full three games up on you, times are bad to say the least.

And if the Redskins with their coaching tandem of Mike and Kyle Shanahan are the epitome of dysfunction, the Cowboys, who just let go of Wade Phillips on Monday, are a broken home, broken beyond all recognition relative to the team they were that won the division last year, relative to the dynasty that has won five Super Bowls in its history. Think some twisted version of Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, with Tony Romo being the glass and all the other players in this production making up all the different characters you would come to expect in the comedy of errors this tragedy has become: 

Owner Jerry Jones can play the part of a philandering husband, who lies through his teeth when asked if are any other women in his life, giving his wife (Phillips) a kiss of death in the process, saying that "you've always been the only one for me", only to eventually reveal that he's fallen out of love with her. Garrett is the young son pushed into taking on more responsibility as the team's new interim coach. And the Cowboys cheerleaders? They're just the window dressing to help distract passing-by neighbours from realizing that there's an actual problem. I know it's wrong to objectify women, but, in my defense, they make it really hard not to.

So bad has it gotten that even the team's marketing department can't even do the simplest thing right, like keep the team's website operational. The day before Phillips's firing was announced, the DallasCowboys.com domain was left unrenewed prompting visitors to the site the day of to see something like this instead of the team's home page:

It's as if the team just decided that avoiding the issue of Phillips's termination altogether was the best way to approach it... all the while hoping that the problem would disappear. In a way, Phillips's leaving does just that, with Garrett having waited in the wings since the end of the 2007 season, when Jones gave him a $3-million-per-year contract to prevent him from pursuing head-coaching opportunities elsewhere.

With Phillips riding into the proverbial sunset, his time has finally come, and it couldn't have come soon enough... up until the point the Cowboys decided to make this season a total disaster.

Romo Goes Down, and with Him Dallas' Super Bowl Hopes

Heading into this season, the Dallas Cowboys were expected to have a real chance at playing hosts to and playing in the Super Bowl, but, barring some miracle taken straight out of the Old Testament, quarterback Tony Romo's injury on Monday night at the hands of New York Giants linebacker Michael Boley has dashed those hopes along with those of the team even making the playoffs. The Cowboys are now 1-5 on the season with 10 games remaining. Mathematically they're still in it, but isn't everybody just six games into the year?

As for owner Jerry Jones stating in an ESPN interview this past weekend that he has the utmost confidence in head coach Wade Phillips, he`s either delusional, been sipping the Kool-Aid Phillips has been serving him, or he`s actually  preparing to give Phillips the ol`heave ho, but just doesn`t want to give him the heads-up through the media, denying, denying, and denying some more, as is common in interviews of that nature. Here`s one quote of what he had to say in that interview:

`This requires experiences to address being down 1-4 and have the focus and have the ability to show players I have seen this happen before, turnarounds. And so if I`m in this situation [he is] and the Cowboys are [they are], I want the experience of a Wade Phillips [notice he added the 'a' as if there are replacements available... hmmm] to give us what he's got to help us to start winning."

"Just what experience?" you might ask. Well, for the record, Phillips has once in his head-coaching career been down 1-4. He was actually down 0-4 as the head coach of the Denver Broncos in 1994 and went on to lead the team to a 7-9 finish.

He was fired after that season. He also was at the helm of the Buffalo Bills in 1998 when they were down 0-3 and he actually led them to the playoffs, before they lost in the first round to the Miami Dolphins. Unfortunately, unless Cowboys back-up QB Jon Kitna turns into Doug Flutie overnight (and based on his performance on Monday, that is the furthest thing from possible), lightning won't strike twice.

So, to sum up: Wade Phillips has never successfully gotten a 1-4 team into the playoffs, Jerry Jones will likely can his ass as possible, as overrated as Tony Romo is, Jon Kitna wishes he was in his shoes, sidelined with a broken collarbone with no pressure on his shoulders whatsoever, and the Dallas Cowboys are screwed.