Todd Archer helps to solve a little mystery I've been wondering about - what's going to happen on offense this year? The Cowboys offense was one of the most productive units in the league last year, but yet we ended up with only one holdover coach from that unit, Tony Sparano. Archer's article doesn't get into the specifics yet of what a Jason Garrett/Tony Sparano offense will look like, but he does give you a few clues. What I didn't know is that Garrett and Sparano have some history together from the mid-90's.
"I think it's important he and I speak the same language," Sparano said. "We've been together before, and our paths have crossed."
For the last month, Garrett and Sparano have been locked in their offices at Valley Ranch, mapping out their vision for the offense.
So far, so good.
"One of the things my son [offensive quality control coach] Wesley said was, 'It looks like those guys have been working together for a long time, listening to them and talking to them about what they want to do and how they want to do it,'" coach Wade Phillips said. "That's the way you want it."
The basic plan is that the Cowboy's run offense will remain pretty much the same under Sparano's guidance but the passing game is going to get an infusion of ideas from Garrett. They are also working on the terminology and suggested that they may keep most of the old stuff so the players won't have to learn a new vocabulary, but Garrett will.
Wade Phillips did his presser today at the NFL Combine. The transcript can be found here at DC.com. A couple of interesting items:
Phillips: Just the one and the one I had with Drew [Rosenhaus]. A lot of the players I have had at least a conversation with and/or they come into my office. Except for Romo, he has been in there all the time. I think he is my best friend now. But anyway they are excited. The players I talked to are excited about starting new.
Nice. I told you Tony Romo was a smart QB, he knows to suck-up to the new boss right away!
Phillips: Bill Parcells told me to utilize him at any time. To give him a call if I needed anything. If something came up I wouldn't hesitate to do it. He obviously did a lot for our program. He set the time on the right track. We are going to continue where he started.
Better watch out Wade. Parcells is now part of the evil media, so if you ask him about something it might end up being on the news the next day. It is ESPN after all, and there's nothing more they like than talking about the Cowboys.