Dallas Cowboy Fans Can Breathe Easy

After looking into two coaching jobs, Jason Garrett decided to remain offensive coordinator of the Cowboys after Dallas made him the highest-paid assistant coach in the NFL. The Cowboys promoted Garrett to assistant head coach and gave him a new contract that will pay him in the ballpark of $3 million per year.

Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips' salary is also in the $3 million range. There is no word on whether the team plans to adjust Phillips' salary.

Garrett went through second interviews in Baltimore and Atlanta earlier this week, then returned to Dallas to meet with team owner Jerry Jones.

This was a good move by Jason Garrett primarily because after looking at his other options, there simply wasn't much room for choice. The Baltimore Ravens had a horrible collapse and they have such a poor offense that I don't think any coach could revive them. As far as the Atlanta Falcons, why would anyone want to try to clean up that mess? Good move sticking with the Cowboys, who will have many more winning seasons.

Jones, who hired Garrett last year before hiring Wade Phillips, apparently convinced him his future was just as bright with the Cowboys, who are coming off a 13-3 regular season with eight of his offensive players going to the Pro Bowl.

Although Jones can't formally promise Garrett he'll be the next coach of the Cowboys, that's been the going theory since he joined the club roughly this time last year. Speculation that Jones would push aside Phillips and promote Garrett rather than risk losing him to another club was so strong last week that Jones held a news conference in part to deny it. He denied it again Sunday, after Dallas' season-ending loss to the New York Giants.

Bad News For The New York Giants

Remember in a previous article I wrote that if Terrell Owens plays this Sunday, the New York Giants have no chance of beating the Dallas Cowboys? Remember my whole rant about how much of a playmaker and difference maker Terrell Owens is? Well, Terrell Owens warmed up for practice Friday, then went to see a trainer about his injured ankle.

Owens felt so good he wanted the protective tape he'd been wearing cut off. Then he ran to join his teammates who were lined up to stretch, slapping hands and practically doing a victory lap on his way to his spot, complete with waving his right index finger.

"I'm good,'' Owens said later, at his locker. "See you Sunday.''

The team's official report listed his participation in practice as limited and his game status as questionable. Coach Wade Phillips was more hopeful about having his All-Pro receiver in the lineup Sunday against the New York Giants. Phillips added that if Owens can play, he'll start.

"Terrell said he's going to play and I believe him. I think he will attempt to play and we will let him,'' Phillips said. "To what degree, at what level, remains to be seen in the game. Unless something unforeseen happens, I think he probably will [play].''

Owens was the last player out of the locker room and onto the practice field, then did some warm-up steps going forward and sideways. Once he felt comfortable, he joined the receivers catching lobs. He was striding slowly and without a hitch before stopping for the tape removal.

After stretching, Owens moved as quickly as anyone on his way back to join the receivers. Reporters weren't allowed to watch anything after that.

"He did good, he looked good -- he's ready to go Sunday,'' fellow receiver Sam Hurd said. "Especially when running, he looked good.''

More Good News For Giants: TO Game-time Decision

Terrell Owens was limping on his sprained ankle today and his status for the Dallas Cowboys' playoff game against the New York Giants next weekend is uncertain. Coach Wade Phillips stated, "It looks to me that it's going to be a game-time decision on him...He probably couldn't have played today." Owens has a high ankle sprain and was limited in a light workout earlier today. This is good news for the Giants since Owens has an NFC-high 15 touchdowns with 81 catches for 1,355 yards. If he proves to be unable to play next weekend, the Cowboys' offense will be short a key weapon for quarterback Tony Romo. This will be a huge advantage for the Giants who have a relatively weak secondary. If TO sits out, expect the Giants to blitz early in the game to force Romo to make passes to less spectacular backup receivers. This places the Giants in a strong position defensively against the offensive-powerhouse Cowboys. And if Eli Manning continues to play like he has for the last two games, expect the Giants to pull off a major upset.

Terrell Owens Finally Speaks Up....At Keyshaun Johnson

Terrell Owens, unusually quiet this season, but never at a loss for words when the occasion required it, responded forcefully Wednesday to comments made last weekend by former Dallas Cowboys receiver Keyshawn Johnson now an analyst on ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown."

Before I continue any further let me address an issue right there. I loved Monday Night Football when John Madden and Al Michaels were commentating. Their is something grandfatherly and comforting about those guys. They were never bias and always tried to find good no matter how bad a team was playing. I'm pleased they are still on the air, even if its Sunday Night instead of Monday Night Football. Now, those on ESPN who bring us the Monday Night broadcast, aside from the entire show which has become more of a circus for entertainment other than solely for a football game, are extremely harsh and critical and they annoy me to listen to them. So, it wouldn't surprise me if members of ESPN said something controversial.

On the show, Johnson said he believed former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells -- now also an analyst with ESPN -- deserves credit for what the Dallas team looks like now, with a 12-1 record.

In Dallas, Owens sharply criticized Johnson for defending Parcells, saying, "I challenge him to come down here and take my job. ESPN producers, let him go."

Actually....Johnson is right. Parcells deserves every bit of credit for Dallas' season this year because he assembled the team that is the Dallas Cowboys today before he stepped out the door. Perhaps a different coach may have not saw the potential in Tony Romo or didn't want to waste their time with Terrell Owens, but Parcells did. So, I defend Keyshaun with that statement.

Asked in the locker room why Johnson would take the position he did Sunday, Owens said: "I'm probably the reason he's in the booth now. He's going to be a hater and throw me under the bus because he has to defend Bill. He won a Super Bowl and all, but you'd have to check the roster to know he was even on the team.

"We came out in the same year. He was a first-rounder and I was a third. Go compare our stats. He couldn't come down here now and be a third or fourth receiver on this team. Just compare our stats."

Owens swung between addressing the Cowboys-as-built-by-Parcells theory and responding to Johnson's comments.

"It's not a matter of me giving or not giving Bill credit," Owens said, according to The Dallas Morning News. "Everybody wants to make a big deal, that this is the team he built. It doesn't matter. ... My thing is give credit to Wade [Phillips]. The difference between Wade and Parcells is this: Parcells, he didn't use me as a playmaker; Wade, he got the staff, and that's what I'm being used as.

Now, I agree with Terrell Owens. Though Owens may not be the sole reason Keyshaun is in the booth, he is certainly a much better player this year than Keyshaun would ever be and Keyshaun knows and resents that. However, Keyshaun never meant to attack Terrell in the first place. His statements were made towards Parcells, not Owens. Therefore, Owens' comments about how Keyshaun resents him were unnecessary. Also, perhaps Parcells didn't use Owens as a playmaker last year because he led the league in dropped passes!

And then back to delivering a verbal barrage at Johnson:

"Those guys are probably talking about me, chopping it up, drinking coffee," Owens said. "They can have their little pity party and talk about me all day long. It doesn't bother me. There's a lot of people on the ESPN panel and across the country that has observed what has happened this year versus last year. And there's a lot of people that just don't want to give credit for what Wade has done and what wasn't done last year. That's it. I'm not trying to be negative."

You can obviously tell a radical difference in this year's Cowboys compared to last year's and such a difference can not come about unless the team changes coaching strategies. Look at the Chargers: They ran the ball all year with LT last year and it worked. This year, the Chargers brought in a new coach and for the first half of the season, LT didn't run for half the amount of time he did last year, and they were losing as a result of that. Therefore, I do give credit to Bill Parcells for assembling the Dallas Cowboys, but I give Wade Phillips the credit for different style of coaching and practice he has the players do.