NFL

Visanthe Shiancoe

After their shocking blowout loss to the Vikings on Saturday, Cowboys ILB Keith Brooking called the Vikings’ late fourth-quarter touchdown throw to Visanthe Shiancoe “classless” following Sunday’s playoff game. “I thought it was B.S.,” Brooking added. “Granted, we get paid to stop them, but we had zero timeouts left.

I didn’t think there was any call for that.” Minnesota Vikings DT Kevin Williams responded: “We don’t care what Keith Brooking says. He was about to get his &%# whupped on our sideline over there.” Jerry Jones, who is the Cowboys owner, is perhaps the only person in the world that has more passion for the franchise than Brooking.

After the loss sent shock waves through the sports world, it was expected that the Cowboys would be rebuild, with a new head coach and a number of high priced free agents.

Just one day after their playoff loss, Jones announced that Wade Philips would return as the teams head coach for the 2010 season. Jones realized that under Phillips, the Cowboys won the NFC East and secured their first playoff game in 13 seasons. In addition, Jones also strongly hinted that Phillips’ 2010 option would be picked up and there are reports that an additional year could be tacked onto the deal.

Phillips, who also serves as defensive coordinator, guided the Dallas Cowboys defense to a No. 2 overall ranking in 2009. However, it has yet to be seen if the Cowboys offensive coordinator and primary play caller, Jason Garrett, 43, will return. For a number of years, Garrett has been linked to a number of head coaching vacancies.

In addition to the giving Philips a vow of confidence, it is expected that the core of the Cowboys will be back in 2010, even the temperamental Roy Williams. Asked if he had any plays called for him, Williams replied “No. Hell no.” “I didn’t get a ball today,” he added.

“It pisses me off, especially when we lose and especially when…I got a 5-10 corner (covering me, Antonio Winfield). But hey, you know, I will continue to work hard in the offseason and it will come back around.” For 2010, Williams is guaranteed $9 million and the team also used multiple high round draft picks to quire the WR from Detroit.

For now, it appears that the core of the Cowboys is safe from Jones’ raft. Considering that the long-time owner just invested nearly $1.2 billion of his own money into a new stadium, everyone should only feel safe for one more year.