Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says that head coach Wade Phillips’ job is safe for the remainder of the season, according to a report by ESPN.com.

This isn’t surprising news. The Cowboys aren’t lighting the world on fire, but they do have a winning record and there’s no reason to make a dramatic coaching change when it isn’t necessary.

That said, Phillips would be naïve to think that his job is safe past 2009. If he doesn’t get the Cowboys to the playoffs, there’s no way Jones is going to keep him around with Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan and Jon Gruden waiting on the sidelines ready for another opportunity to be head coaches. In fact, just getting to the playoffs might not be enough for Phillips to hold onto his job.

Despite their winning record, the Cowboys are a mess. Jason Garrett’s offense looks like a shell of its former self and Tony Romo has seemingly regressed as a passer. Making matters worse, receiver Roy Williams hasn’t stepped up to fill the void that the team created when it released Terrell Owens this offseason and Marion Barber and Felix Jones can’t stay healthy.

But it isn’t all doom and gloom for Phillips and the Cowboys. The team is on a much-needed bye week and Austin Miles exploded against Kansas City last Sunday. If he can build off that success, he’ll take the pressure off Williams, who doesn’t seem capable of being a No. 1 receiver in this league. Miles has all the physical talent in the world, but had yet to breakout before last week.

This bye week is crucial for Phillips and the Cowboys. If they don’t come out like gangbusters and build some momentum, then chances are they’ll continue to fall further behind the Giants and Eagles in the NFC East. Phillips knows that the next 11 weeks are pivotal to keeping his job.

After his visit to the new Cowboy stadium last Sunday night, Giants’ linebacker Danny Clark wasn’t too impressed by Dallas owner Jerry Jones’ new castle.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Clark told Sirius XM satellite radio that the visiting locker room inside the stadium features few creature comforts.

“There’s not a lot of hot water in there,” Clark said. “[Jones] cut some corners in the bathroom there.”

Clark also was dismissive of the noise factor created by an NFL-record crowd of 105,121.

“It wasn’t as loud as you would think 105,000 people would be,” he said. “And for [good] reason. I mean, we did a decent job of making some plays so they weren’t all over the place, but I played in Michigan [Stadium] where there’s 100,000 people. It wasn’t crazy.

“I played in New Orleans when we reopened the [Super]Dome in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina.

“That place was twice as loud as this new stadium.”

I’m not surprised by the noise. Michigan Stadium may house 100,000 screaming fans, but the noise goes straight up because of the way the stadium was built. So it’s not as loud as one would expect. I’ve never been to the new Cowboy stadium, but maybe the way it’s structured limits the noise.

That said, what Clark said about the bathrooms was freaking hilarious. Hey, Jones had to cut somewhere to get that big ass TV screen in the rafters.

- EPIC CARNIVAL has video of 10 of the best one-punch knockouts ever. And if you like cheerleaders in bikinis (and who doesn’t?), the site also has the Buffalo Jills’ photo shoot for Maxim.

- SPORTS CRACKLE POP has an embarrassing photo of Mark Sanchez from when he was a kid.

- FIVE TOOL TOOL lists five fantasy busts. (For the record, I really like Ray Rice.) The site also has 10 rules for naming your fantasy football team.

- WITH LEATHER reports that Jerry Jones is reluctant to move the giant video screen in his new stadium even though it has been hit by the punter.

While it remains a long shot of happening, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is actually entertaining the idea of bringing back cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones according to a report by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Jones apparently isn’t concerned about Pacman’s off-field issues and is willing to look past the fact that he could be facing more legal problems stemming from an incident in which three men claimed that he hired a hit man to kill them in 2007. (Although to be fair, police have said that they’re not actively investigating the case even though it remains open, so it would appear that Pacman won’t be charged with anything.)

Even if it’s a long shot that the Cowboys bring back Pacman, it’s baffling that Jones is even considering it. Outside of the potential headache that Pacman is off field, the Cowboys have a couple of young corners in Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick that they’re trying to develop. If Pacman were re-signed, Dallas essentially risks stunting the growth of those two players and for what? To have Pacman play until he gets into trouble?

I thought Jones and the Cowboys were trying to move away from some of the locker room issues that they’ve had in the past? They released T.O. because Tony Romo and offensive coordinator Jason Garrett couldn’t work with him and now Jones is ready to bring back another potential distraction. It just doesn’t make any sense.

Pacman can still play. When he wasn’t riding out a suspension last year, he was productive in coverage, was a reliable tackler and showed some big-play potential in returning punts. But it’s not a matter of if he’ll get into trouble off the field – it’s when. The guy fights with everybody (including his own bodyguards) and can’t be trusted.

Jones seemingly can’t resist adding talent at any cost and he can’t help but believe that he can turn a troubled player around. But he needs to take a pass on this one and keep his team moving in the right direction. Nobody said he had to fill his locker room with choir boys, but that doesn’t mean he should take a risk by signing (or re-signing in this case) malcontents either.

Jean-Jacques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News raised the question of whether or not Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is broke in his latest column. Then in the first couple paragraphs, he detailed how Jones wasn’t actually broke, but is just tightening his spending in a bad economy.

Wow, what a concept. I guess a lot of Americans are considered broke in Taylor’s eyes.

Taylor then went on to list examples of Jones being more thrifty than usual, but none hold enough water to suggest that the Dallas owner is actually broke. (Or is making decisions solely based on financial reasons.)

DeMarcus Ware is negotiating an extension with the club that should make him the NFL’s highest-paid defensive player. Albert Haynesworth, who signed with Washington in March, currently owns that title with a seven-year deal that guarantees him $41 million, including $32 million in the first 13 months of the deal.

Ware’s deal will and should surpass that. Maybe, Jerry can’t commit to that type of expenditure right now, which is why negotiations are dragging.

If everyone got a nickel every time negotiations dragged out between a team and a player, then we’d all have beachfront property. It’s not a huge surprise that Ware and the Cowboys have been slow to reach a deal in a bad economy.

Releasing T.O. not only made Tony Romo’s life easier, but now Jerry doesn’t have to pay him the $6.5 million he was scheduled to earn. Miles Austin, who will likely move into the starting lineup, is scheduled to earn $1.5 million.

Yeah, and T.O. was also an amazing pain in the ass and many in the organization wanted to oust him from the locker room. The decision to cut T.O. was more about his cancerous attitude and less about money.

When Greg Ellis is officially released, the Cowboys will cut him a check for $1.5 million instead of having to pay him the $4.1 million he was scheduled to earn this year. Anthony Spencer, who was 72.5 fewer career sacks, is scheduled to earn $480,000 this season.

Ellis is also getting up there in age and the Cowboys want to see what they have in Spencer, who is a former first round pick. Not to mention, Ellis was also another poor locker room guy who often bitched and moaned about his role on the defense. Again, the decision to release him wasn’t all about saving money – there were other factors that were considered.

Then there’s the curious decision the Cowboys made on draft day to drop out of the second round and into the third round, where the contracts are typically shorter and less expensive.

It’s curious that a team would decide to trade back into the third round of a weak draft, instead of reaching for a player in the second? Come on.

Add to that the big deal Jerry made about not wanting to trade into the first round because of the financial risk involved and you’re within your rights to wonder whether he’s making decisions based more on money than winning.

Even if Jones was basing decisions more on money, the above examples that Taylor listed could all be explained for reasons that have nothing to do with money. Plus, the NFL could be without a cap next year, so it would make sense for an owner/GM to try and save as much money as he/they could this year so they’re prepared for next year.

But Taylor failed to even bring up the upcoming uncapped year in his article. Instead, he threw out a couple of weak examples to support a half-baked idea and slapped an eye-catching title on it in order to attract readers. Taylor could have done better than this. (I think.)

Terrell Owens is stating that Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones backed out of a commitment he made to keep the receiver in Dallas.

“You hear all the speculation, and you talk to the owner of the team, and he reassures you, you’re not going anywhere and then, out of left-field … you get blindsided,” Owens, 35, said in an interview with Rogers Sportsnet, to be broadcast tomorrow evening.

“I know whole-heartedly he [Jerry Jones] wanted me there,” Owens said. “There were some people I know who got in his ear that pressured him to make that decision. For that, it’s sad. You let two or three people conspire to get me out of the situation.”

T.O. might have a toxic personality and can be the ultimate pain in the ass, but he’s not stupid. I believe Owens when he says Jones backed out of a commitment to keep him a Cowboy and no doubt had pressure from others inside the organization to release him. In some ways, the release of Owens was a surprise considering one week prior, Jones was essentially telling the media that T.O. wasn’t going anywhere. So quite frankly, I don’t blame Owens for feeling blindsided by the whole ordeal, even though everyone knew that his release this offseason was always a possibility.

Apparently there has been talk recently that Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones would trade Tony Romo for Jay Cutler if he had the opportunity. But Jones recently laughed those rumors off and quickly noted that Romo is still his guy

He ended his 30-minute session by saying, “I wouldn’t trade Tony for anybody.” I think that was in response to some of the fantasy talk about trading Romo for Jay Cutler. Here’s the other stuff Jones said about Romo:

“I’ve always been so amused about any talk of Tony and his focus on football and his work ethic,” Jones said. “Tony’s boring. He won’t talk about anything but football and the Cowboys and how to move the ball and what plays we can run. I don’t know if I’ve been around anybody that’s just that into football. I wish he would talk more about spicy things, but I can’t get him to.”

So other than his desire for Romo to spice up his conversations, Jones seems to feel pretty good about the quarterback. He talked about how pleased he was that wide receiver Roy Williams (remember him?) and Romo have been working out together so much at Valley Ranch. Jones said that Williams showed up for workouts three weeks before the actual voluntary workouts began.

Romo is at a fork in the road. 2009 will mark his fourth season as a starting quarterback and it seems like he sits right at the edge of very good and great. He has been criticized about his overall desire to play the game of football and his personal life has also been attacked. How he responds will be crucial. Is he a Super Bowl caliber quarterback or a signal caller that needs a lot around him in order to win?

After months of speculation regarding whether or not to release or trade him, Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones has decided to hang onto wide receiver Terrell Owens.

Financially, this was a wise move. Cutting T.O. wouldn’t have created much cap space and there’s nobody on the open market outside of T.J. Houshmandzadeh who matches what Owens brings to the field. That said, Jones better realize that he has nobody but himself to blame if Owens turns around and makes a mess of things in the locker room this season.

Something is wrong in Dallas, this much we know. They have more than enough talent on both sides of the ball to compete for a Super Bowl, yet they can’t even make the playoffs in a weak NFC. For the Eagles to make the postseason after looking so bad mid-year, there’s no reason a team composed of Owens, Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Marion Barber and DeMarcus Ware should miss the playoffs. And yes, Barber’s injury hurt the ‘Boys towards the end of the year, but a team as talented as the Cowboys should be able to overcome one player’s absence.

The word that keeps coming up with this team is chemistry. The Cowboys don’t have enough good chemistry to win. If that’s the case, then that hangs on Jones’s shoulders and again, he should be held personally accountable. He put this team together and he’s the one that believes a bunch of malcontents like T.O. and Pacman Jones can survive under one roof.

Jones jettisoned one bad apple (Pacman), but decided to keep another (T.O.). If the decision to keep Owens sours (pardon the apple pun) in the end, then Jones needs to look in the mirror and discover that the main problem is staring him right in the face.

All of the speculation that Terrell Owens won’t be a Cowboy next season might be a moot point after Dallas owner Jerry Jones recently suggested that his wideout will be back in Dallas in 2009.

“You and I both know that the one [player] you’re asking about all the time, if I gave you the answer that you want to hear, then you would have already had it,” Jones said. “So the fact you don’t have it ought to tell you something.”

Jones assumes most of the media members want Owens gone. With some, it’s pretty obvious. So is there any way to interpret Jones’ answer as meaning the Cowboys plan to cut Owens any time soon?
I don’t think so.

And does the optimism that bubbled out of Jones at different times Tuesday afternoon suggest this is a man about to take a $9.6 million salary cap hit to get rid of his best receiver?
I don’t think so.

Jones isn’t going to change his ways now. He’s always been an owner that marches to the beat of his own drummer and that means chemistry always takes a backseat to talent in terms of teams he runs. Jones knows he has a ton of talent, but it just needs to come together. He’s waited for that talent to come together for two years now and he might have to wait longer if he continues to ignore the internal problems that are going on in the Cowboys locker room.

Sometimes when deciding who you’re going to pick at your fantasy football draft, it’s easy to be infatuated with yardage and not with touchdowns, but TDs are really where the points are at. With the 2008 season now over, here is a look at the all-time active NFL leaders are in touchdowns, either rushing or receiving. Some names will not surprise you, but a few others might, but either way, you fantasy geeks can file this article away for when you start your preseason research:

1. Terrell Owens, Dallas Cowboys (141)—T.O. causes trouble everywhere he goes, but on the field he has a knack for finding the end zone, usually after he’s blown past a defender. And the best part for fantasy GMs is that you don’t have to actually interact with the guy like Jerry Jones does.

1. LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers (141)—The scary thing about LT is he’s only 29. The really scary thing, though, is that he’s gone from a league-record 28 rushing scores in 2006 to 15 in 2007 to 11 in 2008. He probably won’t be drafted first overall again in 2009, but LT is still a first rounder.

3. Randy Moss, New England Patriots (136)—Moss has had an up and down career, but the one number you can never ignore is 23—the NFL single-season receiving TD mark he set in 2007 when he and Tom Brady were lighting up scoreboards. And Brady should be back in ’09.

4. Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis Colts (128)—A knee injury ended Harrison’s 2007 season prematurey, and he was not as effective in 2008 usual, scoring only 5 times. Throw in some off the field issues, and while Marvin has put up huge career numbers catching passes from Peyton Manning, you have to believe the end of that career is in sight.

5. Shaun Alexander, free agent (112)—Has anyone seen a running back’s career decline so sharply? Dude broke the NFL record with 27 rushing TDs in 2005, but an injury limited Alexander to only 20 starts since then with two different teams. 112 might stay at 112.

6. Edgerrin James, Arizona Cardinals (91)—James reached double digits in touchdowns four times while playing in Indianapolis. And he’s reached double digits in Arizona too—16 scores, but over three seasons. He showed in the playoffs that he still has some juice left, but on a Cardinals’ team focused on the pass, don’t expect James to reach 100 before 2010.

6. Isaac Bruce, San Francisco 49ers (91)—Fifteen years in the league will give you a chance to put up close to 100 touchdowns, but it’s not like Isaac Bruce doesn’t have skills, even at the ripe old football age of 36.

8. Joey Galloway, Tampa Bay Bucs (83)—Galloway is another guy who has sipped from the fountain of youth, but he missed most of the 2008 season.

9. Tony Gonzalez, Kansas City Chiefs (76)—Gonzalez caught 96 passes for 1058 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2008, one of his best seasons yet, to earn first team All Pro at the age of 32. He may not be back in KC in 2009, but no matter where he lands, he’s always a good fantasy tight end.

10. Clinton Portis, Washington Redskins (76)—With 76 career rushing and receiving touchdowns, Portis is a solid fantasy player, but no LT. Then again, LT is no LT anymore either.

Source: Pro Football Reference