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Mike Shanahan to Dallas?


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Case for Shanahan sporting a Cowboys hat

By Jason Cole, Yahoo! Sports

 

Immediately before Mike Shanahan turned the Denver Broncos into back-to-back Super Bowl champions in the late 1990s and then proceeded to spend 14 years nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the Broncos were coached by a laid-back, good-natured man who had made his reputation as a strong defensive coordinator.

 

Once again, Wade Phillips should be worried.

 

With Shanahan hitting the streets Tuesday after Broncos owner Pat Bowlen fired him, you have to think that the ears of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones perked up more than the year he had plastic surgery.

 

Word around the NFL is that Shanahan will have another job soon and might have set up something before Bowlen dropped the axe. The Rocky Mountain News reported that Shanahan forced Bowlen's hand by refusing to fire defensive coordinator Bob Slowik.

 

It's odd given that Shanahan has treated defensive coordinators like Kleenex in recent years (three in the past three seasons) and lends credence to the notion that Shanahan has another option.

 

Meanwhile, Jones has told anyone who will listen that he's not changing coaches. He has said it more than once, including before the end of the season and again after it. Furthermore, neither of the other high-priced coaches on the market, Bill Cowher and Mike Holmgren, fit for Jones and the Cowboys.

 

But it doesn't take long to realize that Shanahan is a perfect fit for what ails the football team from the other D city that celebrates the ranching life.

 

It's time for Jones to cowboy up and herd in the stray bronco. Or else Jones can sit back and watch hundreds of millions of dollars he has spent on players and the new palace they play in go to waste.

 

While there are plenty of Shanahan detractors who claim that he has been nothing special since John Elway was his quarterback, those people don't get the big picture. Here's a quick list of why Shanahan should be so compelling:

 

He's a disciplinarian

 

In just about every tangible way, Shanahan is the anti-Phillips. Shanahan is uptight and combative, almost to a fault. He doesn't tolerate fools. In that way, he can rein in the many egos that have run over Phillips. Just as important, Phillips is kidding himself with the idea that he'll regain control of the locker room.

 

On Monday, Phillips told Dallas media: "If it means being more demanding, more whatever, I have to get it done." The follow-up question to that was how Phillips can do that while being true to himself.

 

"My personality is probably not going to change as much as what you ask them to do ... My personality of looking like I'm laid back all the time, that's not going to change," Phillips said.

 

Unfortunately, it doesn't take an MBA from Harvard to understand that it's hard for any manager to control employees once they know you're not a tough guy. Phillips can ask for anything he wants. He's just not going to get it when he really needs it.

 

Shanahan will. Or he'll put his foot somewhere way up somebody's backside until he does.

 

Shanahan is a larger than life personality

 

During Jones' 20 years with the Cowboys, his best success has come with the likes of Jimmy Johnson or Bill Parcells riding herd over the collection of stars that Jones likes to assemble.

 

Shanahan is cut from the same cloth as Johnson and Parcells, bowing to no one. In Phillips, the Cowboys have a guy who didn't command as much respect as offensive coordinator Jason Garrett when HBO's "Hard Knocks" was taping the team in training camp.

 

Shanahan already has Terrell Owens' respect

 

When Owens was on the open market in 2006, the Broncos were the only team that brought him in for a look. That was after Shanahan expressed interest. Ultimately, Shanahan refused to pay the price Owens got from Dallas, but Shanahan at least paid his respect to Owens. That will go a long way with getting Owens to be on the same page as Shanahan. While it might not work over the long term (nothing usually does with Owens), it certainly could work in the next season or two when Dallas needs to win or risk wasting the talent Jones has collected.

 

Shanahan knows offense

 

Be it Owens, quarterback Tony Romo, tight end Jason Witten or whoever, none of them can question Shanahan's ability to game-plan or call plays. Even with the limited squad Shanahan had to work with this season in Denver, he could run plays and put pressure on opposing teams.

 

Furthermore, when Shanahan is at his best, he's a run-first play-caller, and the Cowboys have a run-first team. Armed with backs Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice running behind that big offensive line featuring Flozell Adams and Leonard Davis, Shanahan has a good mix of players to operate his type of game. Yes, the pass blocking is suspect, but Shanahan has the ideas and the tools to cover that up.

 

Shanahan can't ask for control over personnel

 

Unlike Cowher and Holmgren, who both want to buy the groceries, Shanahan can't do that right now. Shanahan's biggest problem as a coach was Shanahan the general manager. He botched the draft and self-destructed in free agency. Shanahan also mangled his defense year after year by changing coordinators at the drop of a hat.

 

In that way, he fits with Jones, who refuses to give up control over personnel. Not that Jones has been brilliant with the draft or free agency (he has yet to win a playoff game since Johnson was picking the players), but there's no question that the Cowboys are a talented bunch. This is the same team that went 13-3 in 2007 and looked like it could roll to the Super Bowl before being upset by the New York Giants.

 

In other words, even if Shanahan wanted to be in charge of players, there isn't much for him to do. Dallas is ready-made to win.

 

And as Shanahan showed in the late 1990s, he can win with a good team.

 

Even if he has to run over Phillips to get the gig.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=jc-s...o&type=lgns

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it sounds good to me but Jones has stated many times Wade will return. now who's to say he won't persuade Shanahan to hire on as a coordinator with the promise of the head job next year. they've already given permission to other teams to talk with Garrett and with a little luck maybe someone will hire him out of Dallas then there you go give Shanahan the offensive coordinators job. i'm sure it would be hard for him to step down as a head coach for a year but who knows. just a thought.

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It makes way too much sense for any of us to believe it could actually occur.

 

One would think that Jerry would take a step back and ask himself a simple question:

 

Is Wade Phillips a better fit for this team (not organization) than a Shanahan, Holmgren, Cowher, etc.? In other words, is Wade better than anyone else he could persuade to come to Dallas?

 

If considered in that manner, he couldn't possibly decide to keep Phillips and not seek the services of those I've listed.

 

Oh well, we can dream can't we?

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Shanahan's an intriguing choice. He does wonders with offensive linemen and runningbacks.

 

The problem is if we brought him in, we'd be trading Shanahan's problems for Wade's. Shanahan has a .500 record in the last five years; the reason why is he doesn't seem to have a clue about defense.

 

Not letting him have free reign with the draft would help; I'd hate to wreck the pass rush we have to get him. Main question would be who he'd bring to run a 3-4 defense, and I don't think there's anyone associated with him that sounds like a good choice.

 

 

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Shanahan's an intriguing choice. He does wonders with offensive linemen and runningbacks.

 

The problem is if we brought him in, we'd be trading Shanahan's problems for Wade's. Shanahan has a .500 record in the last five years; the reason why is he doesn't seem to have a clue about defense.

 

Not letting him have free reign with the draft would help; I'd hate to wreck the pass rush we have to get him. Main question would be who he'd bring to run a 3-4 defense, and I don't think there's anyone associated with him that sounds like a good choice.

 

Shanahan doesn't have the quality teams like he did back when he had Elway, Terrell Davis, Shannon Sharpe etc.

 

If at all possible, I'd like to see Garrett maybe take the job and have Shanahan as an OC. Then when Wade retires, promote the OC (Shanahan) to HC.

 

 

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i bet Jerry is having some 2nd thoughts right now but i doubt he will back track on what he said about keeping Phillips.

 

did Phillips and Shanahan ever coach together? i was trying to remember if Phillips coached at Denver with him. i remember him being with San Diego and Buffalo.

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i bet Jerry is having some 2nd thoughts right now but i doubt he will back track on what he said about keeping Phillips.

 

did Phillips and Shanahan ever coach together? i was trying to remember if Phillips coached at Denver with him. i remember him being with San Diego and Buffalo.

 

Shanahan replaced Phillips at Denver.

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No. Looking at it from a distance, it would be an all or nothing fix to solve an offense that may sort itself out; Garrett's playcalling last season was spot on most times. Getting healthy players back next year may go a long way to helping in that category.

 

Getting Shanahan would mean completely redoing the offensive line. We can't do that in the near future due to the salary cap.

 

We would leave the NFL's best pass rush with no cordinator proficient in the Phillips 3-4. One gap 3-4 defensive guys that are any good at it already have jobs; we would have to hire a first time guy.

 

That leaves taking the defense back to a two gap Fairbanks scheme. There's no gurantee our blitzing pass rush would translate over.

 

There's too many reasons against doing it. Far better to concentrate on shoring up our deficiencies, like safety, linebacker, and nose tackle. Shanahan isn't going to do that.

 

 

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Makes sense... except for Garrett's play calling being spot on. I completely disagree there.

 

Yeah...

 

It's brutally awful. I also question the guy's leadership and head coaching capability

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