Dominoes Beginning to Tumble in Dallas

Looks like Jason Garrett will be introduced as the St. Louis Rams’ new Head Coach by tomorrow, and the Cowboys just announced they have canned Brian Stewart. None of this is surprising; however, as I said in previous posts, Jerry wants both Wade and Garrett here, if he loses Garrett, all bets are off on Wade’s job security.

Jerry fired Brian Stewart, not Phillips. Jerry is positioning for something big here, in his eyes he sees the coaching staff crumbling, and its time to make a move for something spectacular. The changes we have asked for are here in full effect. Wade will virtually be the lone coach in Dallas right now, after Garrett is officially gone. I think the Cowboys braintrust are going to move very quickly on a few things. So let’s just make some guesses as to what may happen next.

1. Phillips demotion – the biggest idea floating around is the notion of Phillips getting a raise to remain on after being demoted to the open defensive coordinator position, at which point a new head coach is introduced in Dallas. I don’t see how this would happen, there has to be some ego, and some self respect emotions involved in accepting something like this, but it could happen.
2. Mike Shanahan – let’s just say the above happens, who would take this job? First name to pop up is Mike Shanahan. Shanahan has remained quiet and said he would take two weeks off before deciding what he would do for 2009. The two weeks has just passed, so its time to get back to work in Dallas; however, the Bucs may have their eyes set on him already. Shanahan can take over the team and lead the offense, and Wade can concentrate on the 3-4.
3. Mike Holgrem – this is a longshot, but if Jerry could somehow get Holgrem back on the field, he could lead this team, and bring on Jon Gruden to run the offense, or Mariucci, both worked under Holgrem and run the West Coast offense, an offense Owens is very familiar with and with great success.
4. Jon Gruden – could Gruden be on Jerry’s list all of the sudden? He could be a name to watch here soon. Gruden runs the West Coast offense. Gruden is more known these days for Buc defense, but his coaching expertise is the West Coast which he learned under Holgrem, and installed it in Philly as their coordinator before heading up the job in Oakland.
5. Wade Remains – the other scenario that can come from this is Wade staying on as head coach, and then Jerry finds a capable offensive coordinator, Jon Gruden is out there now, he comes to Dallas and installs the West Coast, Wade runs the defense straightup again. Depending on how the season goes early, Gruden could take over if the team stumbles early. Or Wade is canned at the end of the season, and then Holgrem comes in, and his staff is in place with Gruden having installed his West Coast offense.
6. New Everything – Jerry could see the house folding, and decide to start from scratch and hire any of the above guys, or could interview one of the left over assistants that did not get a job. This could be the worst case scenario and possibly the most disastrous.

We’ll see what Jerry has up his sleeve, I feel a big change coming here in the coming days.