Wade Phillips - Cupcake from Hell

when does football start.. Good write up JV, but man the season can’t get here fast enough!

I hope Wade stays in Dallas and Hopefully jerry forks up the money to keep him as our DC….

to make a tough decision after the season.

If Sensabaugh is so good, why was he available? Don’t get me wrong, I want him to be good… I’m just not counting on it.

Brooking? Stop-Gap at best. Here’s hoping he can squeeze one more good year out of a body that’s given him an excellent career. I’m hoping the Williams kid can get up to speed quickly.

I’ve heard a lot of talk about a special feeling about the upcoming season. I’m not seeing it.

Our O-Line is thin and penalty prone. Our LB corps is thin as well. Our QB depth has improved dramatically though.

I’m seeing an 8-8 or 9-7 season ahead. Sorry for the buzz-kill.

I don’t see anything in either Wade’s nature or his professional history that suggests to me that he has the ability (at his advanced age) or desire to reinvent himself into a type A personality. Maybe I am wrong. I hope, for all of our sakes, I am wrong. But to me, Wade still appears to me to be a Defensive Coordinator in Head Coach’s clothing.

The biggest thing Wade will always struggle with here in Dallas is that he didn’t pick his coordinators. I think Jason Garrett casts a long shadow over the team and Wade’s tenuous future with Dallas will always be marked by the fact that the staff wasn’t HIS staff.

One more thing; I’ve never believed that Ratliff was tailor made for NT in Wade’s defense. Wade has always had significantly heavier guys who can root in and occupy double teams to play that spot. Jamal Williams is a perfect example. I had dinner with him a couple of years ago and he’s 350 if he’s an ounce.

First off, a new Wade Phillips? Seriously? How many 60 year olds change their ways? People don’t change. He may attempt to be more demonstrative, but eventually he will fall back in line with who he really is. He’s a good Defensive Coordinator, but he’s not a head coach. Barry Switzer is 10x times the leader of men that Wade Phillips is and will ever be.

Ratliff a tailor made NT in the Phillips 3-4? I believe you are talking about the motor. He has a great motor and he’s a disruptor in the backfield. Those attributes are tailor made for the role. But, truth be told, someone tailor made for that position would weigh a good 30 – 40 lbs more than Jay Ratliff.

I see a lot of talk about Brooking being an upgrade over Zach Thomas, and I just don’t see it. Look at his statistics last season compared to the rest of his career and they are way down. I read an Atlanta Falcons forum after he was let go and those fans loved him, but were ok with him leaving the team because he wasnt the player they were used to seeing. This is a guy who is from Atlanta, went to school at Georgia Tech, was selected in the first round by Atlanta, has led that team defensively for a decade, and is a pillar of that community. Yet, the fans wanted him gone because he couldnt make all the plays anymore. He’s lost a step and I doubt he will be an upgrade over Thomas or even Ayodele.

Sensabaugh should be a step up from Thong. I’ve seen some positive remarks from Jags fans about him. He had the best vertical jump at the combine the year he came out, and the Jags at one point tried him at Cornerback – so we know he’s an athelete. The reasons he didnt re-sign with them was money, a desire to start, and he had some off-field issues. He’s not goign to challenge for a Pro Bowl, but should be and upgrade.

just to clarify.. I’m not suggesting Wade is going to alter his personality, just that he will be more hands on with the defense this year and that will make our defense better throughout the season. In my opinion. I said he will seem like the Cupcake from Hell to opposing OCs who have to deal with the defense. Barry Switzer is a leader of men? Did you hear that from Aikman?

You were correct as far as Rat. He’s got a motor and he’s disruptive in the backfield…just what Phillips likes for his defense. I didn’t say JR was the prototypical size.

Brooking may not have the pursuit skills that he had but I think he’s an upgrade over ZT because Zach was getting bounced around like a ping pong ball out there. I’m hoping (I agree it’s yet to be seen) that KB can hold his ground better than ZT.

But I don’t want to be wearing rose-colored glasses on this defense. Sensabaugh has the potential to be an upgrade but is a largely unknown quantity at this point, and I think it’s a stretch to call Brooking an upgrade. Best case, he probably maintains our status quo, which is fine at the ILB spot, we were solid there last year. As with most NFL teams, we’ve got some positions we are noticeably thin at (CB, NT, OLB), and a poorly timed injury at the wrong position could really damage us. But that could be said about most units in the league, and there’s probably not much that can be done about it.

I think we’ve got a very solid defense that should at least be talented enough to deliver the same performance last year’s did from Weeks 9 – 15, when they were the league’s top performing unit. And Wade calling the plays should put them in position to do that.

I imagine we will net out at a top 10 defense at the end of this season— I think the key difference in translating it to more wins this year will be situational D, which we lacked in a bit last year, giving up big plays at key moments late in the Baltimore game, the Pittsburgh game, etc. Consistency has been this group’s big problem for some time now.

so we’re thin at cb and olb? i thought we just drafted some guys for those positions. we have 3 good cbs. what team has more than that? olb we have 1 awesome(ware), 1 pretty good(ellis), and 1 maybe(spencer). we also drafted some olbs so we can’t be too thin. you can’t have all pros for backups.

It seems like Roy was supposed to be a better for Phillips’s 3-4 than Parcells.