Rams DC Wade Phillips says Jason Garrett is a better Cowboys head coach than he was

Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said Saturday’s NFC divisional playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys is a revenge game for him.

The Cowboys fired him as head coach midway through the 2010 season after three and a half seasons so they automatically go on the wall-of-revenge when he faces them as does the 10 other teams he worked for.

But Phillips no longer has any animosity toward Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, his former offensive coordinator who replaced him as head coach in 2010, nor owner Jerry Jones, who fired him.

“Jason Garrett has done a tremendous job there,” Phillips said. “He’s a better head coach than I was and [has] done better. They’ve got a really good football team, so we know that. He’s done better than I have and he would’ve done better. So, I understand that.

“As far as Jerry Jones, if you work for Jerry Jones, you’re part of the family. I keep telling him not to send us Christmas gifts, but he does. Seriously. I owe a debt to him that I’ll never repay. When my dad passed away, he flew Wes (Phillips), my son, and his family down to the funeral, paid for the meals and so forth. I’ll never repay him for that. I’ll always appreciate that.”

Phillips won a Super Bowl title as defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos in 2015 and has been with the Rams for the past two seasons. He said he did the best he could with the Cowboys and has moved on.

Of course, he can never get away from Jones, who continues to send him Christmas gifts year and after year.

“The same gift I’m sure they give a lot of people, through different years, different things,” Phillips said. “I know they gave us a ball to hang on the tree with a picture of Jerry, not really. A hand-painted – one of those things that I’m sure is very expensive. Not as expensive as that boat he just bought, which I’m hoping to get a ride on some time. But, usually their Christmas gift they give to their family and friends. For the last I don’t know four or five years, we say, ‘Please don’t do that,’ but they did anyway. Like I said, the guy, I’ll never repay him for what he did.”

Phillips didn’t like getting fired one year after leading the Cowboys to their first playoff win since 1996 but said his time in Dallas was special because of Jones and his family.

He won two division titles with the Cowboys and had them on the brink of history his first year in 2007. They finished with a league-best 13-3 record and were a Super Bowl favorite before losing in the first playoff game to the eventual champions New York Giants.

“Most cherished moment was when I got the job. Least cherished, when I got fired,” Phillips said with a laugh. “As any head coaching job in the league, it’s special. I think Dallas is that way because of the owner. Again, he makes you part of his family. (Wife of Jerry Jones) Gene Jones is one of the great people in the world. Their whole family is special to me, so that made it special there because we were close to them. It’s still a revenge game for me, just like the other 10 teams that I have coached for.”

This story was originally published January 10, 2019 at 7:30 AM.