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Judge Dallas by record in playoffs
Friday, Sep 26, 2008 - 12:07 AM
By PAUL WOODY
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST
When Jim Zorn looks at the Dallas Cowboys, he comes away impressed.
Too impressed, maybe.
"They do what they want," Zorn said.
They do what they want? Who are these Cowboys, the Pittsburgh Steelers of their Steel Curtain days?
Those Steelers won four Super Bowls in a six-year span. There was a team that did what it wanted.
The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game since 1996.
The 2008 Cowboys are good. No one disputes that. They're 3-0. They also gave up 37 points, at home, to the Philadelphia Eagles two weeks ago.
They do what they want?
It's understandable that Zorn would say that. Zorn is the coach of the Washington Redskins, and his team plays in Dallas on Sunday.
Zorn also is one of the most forthright, plain-talking coaches in the NFL. If he says the Cowboys do what they want, a piece of him buys that.
Zorn knows how the Cowboys have played this season. They overpowered Cleveland, outscored Philadelphia and used their running game and defense to beat Green Bay.
They do what they want.
Maybe.
The Cowboys had 13 players in the Pro Bowl last season, an impressive number. The Cowboys also lost their first-round playoff game, at home. That number of Pro Bowl players, which included two alternates, was excessive.
It did establish the Cowboys as the team to beat in the NFC this season.
And as soon as the New England Patriots lost quarterback Tom Brady for the year, the Cowboys moved into the role of Super Bowl favorite.
Seems a little premature.
Before the Cowboys are anointed as the next big thing, they need to win a game when it counts. And the only thing that counts in Dallas, in the NFL for that matter, are playoff games.
The playoffs are months away.
"We're not even a quarter of the way through the season," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said.
Phillips is the perfect regular-season coach for the Cowboys and an imperfect postseason coach for anybody. He's 0-4 in the playoffs.
But Phillips is unflappable no matter what is swirling around him. And in Dallas, something always is swirling around the Cowboys.
The Tony Romo-Jessica Simpson romance is constant fodder for the tabloids and celebrity magazines.
Terrell Owens might implode at any moment.
Adam Jones, the cornerback formerly known as Pacman, is a one-man crime spree waiting to happen. He was suspended from the NFL for the entire 2007 season.
Tank Johnson spent two months in jail in the spring of 2007 and served an eight-game NFL suspension during the 2007 season.
To Phillips, those players aren't problems. Well, Phillips isn't naive. He realizes Owens, Jones and Johnson have more than just carry-on baggage.
"The common denominator with those guys is that they are smart and work hard," Phillips said. "Those are the kind of guys I want on my team."
Those are the kind of guys who often think they can do whatever they want.
Ah. Maybe that's what Zorn meant.
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