Wade “Cupcake” Phillips Gives Cowboys Christmas Off
By MBIIIEffect
On Friday, Cowboys receiver Roy Williams will be able to wake up, find coal in his stocking, then relax and enjoy Christmas with his family. Williams will have that leisure because Dallas Cowboys coach Wade Phillips is giving Christmas Day off to his players.
“I think you lose a lot [by practicing] on Christmas Day,” Phillips said. “[They have] families, a lot of them have kiddoes and stuff. You take that away from them, you lose a lot more that way than you would having them be there.”
With this holiday break, fans can start calling Phillips “Fruitcake” instead of “Cupcake” as he continues his trend of taking it easy on players when he should press them and demand more.
The next two games hold a lot for the Cowboys. Two wins and the Cowboys are in the playoffs. Anything less and the future gets fuzzy, except for Phillips departing Dallas.
But it holds a lot more for the fans. No Cowboys fan wants to lose to the Redskins. Take it from me and TLH, who both live in Northern Virginia. We’d never hear the end of it up here.
That being said, this loss should never happen. The Redskins are coming off of a 45-12 beatdown at the hands of the Giants on Monday night. We topped the previously unbeaten Saints on Saturday night. Albert Haynesworth, their best player, is questioning his role in the Redskins defense. DeMarcus Ware, playing hurt, won the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Week honors and clinched the win with a sack/forced fumble.
We have a long week, theirs is short. We’re riding high on emotions, they’re in the pits. Our best player is happy, theirs is grumbling.
This is the kind of game that the Cowboys should win handily. We should run them into the damn ground.
Instead, the Cowboys have Friday off. If the team is flying on Saturday, that means that the team will head into Sunday’s game two days removed from their last practice.
It’s not right. The Cowboys should be practicing on Friday. I’m not saying that those members of the team who want to celebrate Christmas shouldn’t be able to, but there should be a nice, short, concise practice sometime on Friday. Ask the players when they want it. When they leave, tell them “Merry Christmas, Beat the “Skins.”
Even Michael Irvin agrees with me, as he said that the Cowboys need a Christmas practice.
Instead, Phillips is giving his team every opportunity to fail. We can only hope that the Cowboys can pull off a win despite their coach.
I totally agree with coach. Christmas is about family and after a tough season I believe having a day with family will mean more than having a day of practice. Call him “coach cupcake” if you want, but it seems to me he is right on here.
I am convinced this is a team that will get up for Sunday’s game adn will take care of business. GO COWBOYS!
December 23rd, 2009 at 7:53 pmAt this point, the extra rest can have the Cowboys coming into Sunday night with fresh legs and revived energy. It is game 15. If the players cannot be self-motivated and focused for this game, a Christmas practice would not make any difference anyway.
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:31 pmDude, take a chill-pill.
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:59 pmDunno what you and Michael Irvin are doing Christmas Day, but if I don’t HAVE to work on Christmas Day I’m NOT gonna work that day. Phillips is right, it’s a day for the family. If you and Irvin don’t like that response then why don’t you go over to the ’skins fansite and complain over there…maybe you can give THEM enough “motivation” to make it a game.
I just want to point out that D Ware didn’t practice at all last week and had his best game of the season. Saying that their coach is giving them an oppurtunity to fail is crap. Give me a break, they’re going over everything they need to in order to win this game. They’ll spend Christmas with their families and friends and it will all serve as a reminder of why and what they’re playing for. On top of that, because they had a long week, they started work on this game earlier. I’m so sick of people stepping on Wade Phillips’ nuts. He knows what he’s doing and if we lose this Sunday it’s not because of the coach, it’s because the players didn’t execute.
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:06 pmOk, God King. So you don’t want the players to at least have a little 2-hour run through, a little walk through in the middle of the day to make sure that they’re on top of their stuff? What is wrong with that? Give the players the morning off so they can spend it with their families. Give them the early afternoon off, too! Practice from 2-4 so they’ll have continuity practices. I guarantee nobody would have a problem with it and everyone would stay way more focused on Friday. Having two straight days without practice is bad news (Saturday is a travel day). You can have fun with your family on Christmas. You don’t have a Divisional game to win. I’ve worked on the 4th. I’ve worked Memorial Day. I’ve worked on Easter. I’ll probably work for a while on Christmas Eve. There’s a decent CHANCE that I’ll eventually have to work that day. When that day COMES, I’ll be OK with it. Know why? Because I give a damn. If I got asked to work on Christmas, especially for only 2 hours and I were being paid millions of dollars, I’d be ok with it. These guys in the NFL are paid to give a damn too. You’re right, Christmas is a day for family. The Cowboys should think about their extended family of millions that they’ll let down with a stinker against the Redskins.
Snafu, Ware practiced Thursday of last week and he was definitely paying attention on Friday’s run-through. He got the important practices, the ones right before the game. And are you trying to say that everyone on our team can just turn it up like Ware? Don’t be ridiculous. If the players don’t execute against a team like the Redskins, it’s all on the coach.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:03 amAnd don’t give me some overblown, altruistic version of what Cowboys players will do on Christmas. They’re going to do what all of us do on a day off: anything but think about work.
December 24th, 2009 at 1:18 amSo are they going to wake up Saturday, fly to D.C., and then go sight seeing? Don’t you think they’ll meet up and go over the game plan at some point? You’re talking about two hours on a day when some of the players are going to be out of town. It’s not out of the question to think that some of the players will leave after practice on Thursday, head out of town, then come back late Friday. Hell, even Saturday depending on when they need to fly to D.C.. I just think you hate Wade Phillips and since there’s nothing really else to criticize him about you have to pick two hours that YOU think are the most important of the week and then try to make him sound like a soft coach.
December 24th, 2009 at 2:38 amThere will be a meeting or two, but it’s last minute stuff. Practicing on a travel day is a bad idea because you don’t want to tweak an ankle or pull something the day before a game. I don’t buy that lots of people will be heading out of town. If there’s practice, the players will be in town. Don’t you think they have the resources to bring their families to them? And don’t you think most of the players would be bringing their families to them anyway?
Why do I have to stretch the truth to make Wade sound like a soft coach? This is as strong a team as we’ve had, but we’re fading in the stretch again. Sure, the win over New Orleans was nice. But we pissed away a two-game lead in the NFC East. Yeah, we played tough teams, but those losses to Green Bay, San Diego and New York hurt our playoff chances. I just don’t want to see an epic failure like last year. Closing out seasons with two losses when the playoffs on the line is definitely a sign of a soft coach.
December 24th, 2009 at 3:36 amJust like all of the other teams in the league, the Cowboys only had 1 day off. Wade moved it to Christmas instead of Tuesday. How is that “fruitcake”???
They worked the same amount.
Perhaps you’d have Wade do what he did last year, and make them practice on Christmas.
They got blown out the next day.
Stfu about the coaches, my God. Glad you’re not my boss.
December 25th, 2009 at 10:35 pmI just read an article on ESPN Dallas that they will have a practice before they head out to D.C. today (Saturday). I like some of the other articles you have posted but I can’t stand the fact that people are attacking this coach. I hate to bring Tony Dungy into this but, he did lead a team to the super bowl and he’s not the rah, rah, in-your-face type of coach. All of you that want him gone need to understand that there aren’t a lot of coaches out there that run a one-gap, aggressive, 3-4. I think any coach needs about five to six years to get the right personnel for their system and he’s almost there.
December 26th, 2009 at 12:55 pmWhat idiot wrote this piece of trash? I guess he does not understand the very basics of the NFL rules and practice time. What a clown. I guess anyone can post a blog full of crap and some will agree. This may be the worst blog I have ever read.
December 26th, 2009 at 12:57 pmJBond, wow. Your critique of the report was masterfully done. I understood everything you said. The very basics of NFL rules and practice time? The NFL does not control how many practices coaches want to have.
December 26th, 2009 at 5:19 pmSorry LandryHat… But they do.
The NFL requires players be given at least 1 day off. It’s usually on Tuesday, however the Cowboys practiced this Tuesday so they could be off on Christmas.
You’re right, practicing the exact same amount but shuffling around the schedule is so fruitcake! I don’t think the players can focus after having a day off!!
Well I guess you’re partially right, the NFL doesn’t control squat. The PLAYER’S ASSOCIATION does.
JBond’s still an idiot but this coach bashing is ridiculous. Last year we practiced on Christmas and you probably all bitched because we lost. Probably blamed it on Wade then for practicing. Negative and fair weather. A lot of that around here.
December 27th, 2009 at 2:27 amAlso I love your view at this MBIII. When they win, they win DESPITE Wade… When they lose, the lose BECAUSE of Wade.
I said I was glad you’re not my boss but I take that back. I wish you WERE my boss. Zero accountability for the employees (or players)
That’d be great to work for.
December 27th, 2009 at 2:39 amSnafu: I don’t mind coaches like Dungy. Even though he wasn’t a rah-rah coach, he set standards for his team and got them to live up to them. I still bet he was tough in practice. I just see weakness coming from Wade. I want to like him because his defense is genius. I just think that he’d be much better suited as a defensive coordinator.
KD: When did I say that about Wade?
I’m still right. The offense put up 3 points in the second half. We aren’t as sharp as we need to be. That ultimately falls on Wade’s shoulders, but some of the blame can go to Garrett too.
The defense was great last night. It was great because of Wade Phillips. The offense wasn’t great last night. We have to put up more than 17 points in the playoffs and we’re going to have to put up more than 17 points next weekend against the Eagles if we want a win.
Whose blog are you linked to? It’s shit. It looks like your writing on there because your writing on here is shit similar to the shit on that blog.
December 28th, 2009 at 4:21 pmWhen does Wade not set standards for his team? How is he any different than Dungy? You can’t say that the players are carrying this team when the players themselves are saying it’s all on wade. He does hold his team accountable. I think you’re buying in to the media hype and that is what you’re forming your opinions on. The media hates him because he doesn’t give them what they want and he shields his players from the media. When the media wants to crusify a player, they turn to the coach to get that extra juicy source, but Wade doesn’t budge and that pisses them off more then anything. Give the guy a break, he’s doing everything a good coach should do, he’s just having to do it in the media spot light.
December 28th, 2009 at 5:44 pmI think what pisses us off is we don’t ever see the players being held accountable for their mistakes. For example when the players get stupid penalties that cost us a touchdown run. The camera turns to Wade and there is no emotion from him just shakes his head and thats it. You can say well he gets on to them in the film room when cameras are not around. Which I would be fine with, but it happens again and again. I think he could be a great coach and I agree with you saying it is just overblown by the media and him being the Cowboys coach and not just some other teams coach. I would just like the stupid mistakes gone and make players have to fight for a position more. Like Roy Williams I do not like the idea of him getting so many chances he should be bench until he can prove he is better than Crayton,Hurd and Olgtree.
December 28th, 2009 at 6:05 pmI know it’s frustrating but I do think he holds them accountable behind closed doors. Also, the penalties have been down lately. As for posistion battles, I think Wade has his say on every player but one… Roy E Williams. That’s because Jerry Jones spent a fortune on him and he doesn’t want that kind of attention. Having a high priced player that drops important catches is not as juicy as being the Owner/General Manager that looks like a fool for having him benched. I think Romo knows to go to Williams as a last resort, and hey, Willie did have a TD. But I feel your pain bro
December 28th, 2009 at 6:19 pmYea I know he caught a td I just can’t believe he is doing this bad. I was excited about him coming to Dallas just don’t look like he is coming through.
December 28th, 2009 at 6:51 pmTex, you hit the nail on the head for me. Snafu, good points. I’m sure Wade does hold the players accountable behind closed doors. But with Dungy’s teams and the way they played, I kinda get the feeling that he really held them to those standards a bit more than Wade does. This is all speculation and just my gut feeling here, and it goes all the way back to when he started coaching. I hope Wade can get us a dang playoff win more than anything.
December 29th, 2009 at 2:40 am