Cowboys To Fire Wade Phillips After Playoffs? Sportsbooks Taking Bets

NFL News - January 7th, 2010 - Written by John

When it appeared the Dallas Cowboys were on their way another long off-season, losing two-straight games in early December, Wade Phillips was firmly seated in a pot of hot water and appeared to be booking a one-way ticket out of town.

Since then, he has been nothing short of splendid in getting his team out of a historic rut, winning the last three games of the regular season, and drawing up an impressive game plan against the Philadelphia Eagles in the finale.

Afterwards, owner Jerry Jones wasted little time saying he was pleased with Phillips' demeanor and ability to turn things around, and indications are that he will bring him back for another few years. Although his intentions have not been announced, Jones said a decision on Phillips' future will be made quickly after the season is over.

"It's not something I wanted to talk about here a month ago when the issue was more about, well, changing, that was kind of the tenor where the energy was," Jones said.

"I didn't want to talk about it then and I don't want to talk about it now. What I have said is to give you insight into the thinking that's going on, but as I've mentioned and it's not being trite, but it's not as though you had technical work to do here. Something is in place."

The Cowboys are currently one of the hottest teams in the league after miraculously winning the NFC East, but losing in the first round of the 2009 Playoffs Saturday night may bring things to a screeching halt.

And so, Bodog has recently floated a prop bet asking whether or note Phillips will be canned if Dallas flounders in a rematch with the Eagles. The payout is -130 if he is an even if he is not. The Cowboys must lose in the wild card round, and Phillips has to be out by next year's opener for the answer to be yes.

Phillips may have already secured his job for another year, of course. But the NFL is a league of knee-jerk reactions, cased by the recent treatment of Philadelphia, who won six-straight games before the finale, and are now considered a heavy underdog.

Winning the division crown is one thing, but that was the goal all along. Dallas hasn't reached the second round of the playoffs since 1996, and an inability to break through to new goals is something that may frustrate Jones to a point that he may start looking in another direction.