Former Cowboys Claim Jason Garrett Sabotaged Wade Phillips; Tricked Everyone

Aug 29, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Houston Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips (left) talks with Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett before the game at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Former Dallas Cowboys wide receivers Patrick Crayton and Jesse Holley revealed possible treachery done by current Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett in a recent radio interview. The two former players shared their insights about the dysfunctional relationship between Garrett and his predecessor, Wade Phillips on 105.3 The Fan’s Ben and Skin Show. And they claimed Garrett manipulated his way into coaching America’s Team four years ago.

In the interview, Holley described a situation where it appears that Garrett, then offensive coordinator for Dallas. allegedly tanked part of the 2010 NFL season in order to get Phillips fired as head coach of the Cowboys:

"“When we came out of the preseason and we began the season…we looked around the room. We’re saying: ‘why are we still running the stuff that we were running in preseason in week one?’ And it continued throughout the season. And you can look at the offensive production. There were times I’d be standing on the sidelines and the defenders would be literally calling out our routes. And it wasn’t like they were guessing. There were times when the DB’s would literally back-off and go to where we would be going.”"

That season, the Cowboys started the year 1-7. In that same span, the offense averaged 20.1 points per game. After Garrett took over as head coach in Week 10, the Dallas offense averaged 29.1 points per game and finished the season going 5-3. Holley went on to explain that Garrett handed out new offensive playbooks in a team meeting right after it was announced Phillips was fired.

"“Literally, we looked around the room asking: ‘What is this?…we had whole new plays. We were going downfield. We were taking more chances…we were like ‘whoa’, where was this?..It was different, it was more explosive. The things that we wanted to do all year, we got a chance to do…The next game we scored like 40 points.”"

The interview and discussion was sparked by a tweet sent out by Phillips late last  week:

"“Jason Garrett is tied with Wade Phillips for 56 games as the @dallascowboys head coach. Phillips: 34 – 22; Garrett: 29 -27. #suprisesMe”"

Phillips followed that tweet up three hours later with a quick explanation:

"“My surprise was that Jason and I had coached the same number of games. Not the record – time passes quickly -I wish Jason & Cowboys well”"

Both players were actually happy that Phillips had finally taken a jab at Garrett, after the former Cowboys head coach had to endure the humiliation of being fired in front of his own son. Crayton believed the tweet was also a shot at Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones. And that Phillips’ firing was a mistake on Jones’ part.

Both players also described an awkward separation between the Cowboys offense, led by Garrett, and a defense led by Phillips. They stressed how utterly divided they were in what they did for the team. Even so far to say Garrett reported directly to Jerry Jones, and not Phillips, at times. Crayton also described an incident where Phillips ordered the players to be released from practice and Garrett override him. He said the incident made Garrett visibly upset and he turned as ‘red as the hair on his head’. Crayton went on to claim Garrett purposely divided the team while he was offensive coordinator under Phillips.

When asked if he believed Garrett held back his offense that season, Crayton replied:

"“He tricked the hell out of everybody.”"

Listen to the entire provocative interview here. Special thanks goes out to our friend DCFanatic for posting this.