The Giants are in agreement: The Cowboys are more dangerous now that they have made a coaching change.
“Definitely,” linebacker Keith Bulluck said. “It’s like they’re getting new life pumped into that team, pumped into that building. They’re going to come out with a different energy, a more positive energy.”
The Cowboys couldn’t have been less dangerous than they have been the past five games for Wade Phillips, losing all five, the last two by a combined 80-24, the last one a 45-7 drubbing in Green Bay that proved to be the death knell on Phillips’ coaching life in Dallas. Owner Jerry Jones finally and mercifully pulled the plug, inserted offensive coordinator Jason Garrett in as the interim head coach and has put everyone on notice as the Cowboys at 1-7 stand alone as the most underachieving team in the NFL.
The Giants would have preferred that Jones stuck with Phillips one more week.
“I’m sure coach Garrett is going to rejuvenate then and have them coming in fighting like the Cowboys team they’re supposed to be,” Bulluck said.
“It’s basically starting over for them at this point,” linebacker Michael Boley said. “You can only go one way, and for them it’s up. You got to watch out for them. Up until this point they’ve put one thing on film but when you get a new coach, it’s time for a change. That means you will see something new. We don’t know what it is, but it will be something new.”
How much can change in one week? The Giants on Sunday at New Meadowlands Stadium are expecting to see some new wrinkles now that Phillips is out, Garrett is running the show and Paul Pasqualoni has been promoted from defensive line coach to defensive coordinator.
Coach Tom Coughlin said his staff already has studied how Pasqualoni ran the defense last season for the Dolphins to get an idea what he might implement with the Cowboys. The Dolphins under Pasqualoni ran a 3-4 defensive front, and that’s the alignment used by the Cowboys, so nothing drastic should be forthcoming.
“He’s been there with Wade, been to all the meetings and probably has some ideas of his own that we may see, but we’ve done a little research on that,” Coughlin said. “Whether or not there will be something we would be surprised by, I’m not sure.”
Eli Manning three weeks ago had no trouble shredding Phillips’ defense in a 41-35 victory at Cowboys Stadium, but said he understands he could see something new.
“They can do some different things,” Manning said. “The 3-4, you can bring some different blitzes, you can have a different mind-set and play a little bit more this coverage. We got to see what their plan is and we’ll have a good plan for it.”
Garrett was the offensive coordinator and will continue to call the plays. It’s doubtful he will make wholesale changes, but you never know.
“It’s been done before,” Coughlin said. “There are a lot of hours in a day. I’m sure they are going to do whatever is in the best interests of their team, regardless of what they’ve done in the past. We’ve got to somehow be ready for all of that.”
Moreso than specific strategic changes, Manning said he is concerned that the Cowboys will have a renewed sense of purpose. He said he spoke to his father, Archie, and other players about the dynamic of an in-season coaching change.
“You feel like you have a new season, everything has been erased, you can start over,” Manning said.
The waiting game also has ended, as speculation as to Phillips’ job security was a weekly accompaniment in Dallas.
“I think in their case a lot of the questions will stop,” Manning said. “They’ve been getting asked about Wade and Wade and Wade; now that will get stopped. It’s an opportunity for them to start over and kind of ‘Hey, we got a new season,’ it’s under a new coach and they’ll be hyped up and ready to play, and we’ve got to match that intensity.”