FanHouse BrianStewart

Former Cowboys defensive coordinator Brian Stewart has joined the Eagles coaching staff, according to various reports. Stewart spent the last two seasons in Dallas before he was fired following the 2008 season. with one year remaining on his contract.

Stewart did not return a call seeking comment.

In Dallas, Stewart had his play-calling duties taken away from him at midseason and fell out of favor with coach Wade Phillips, whom he considered a close friend. Several players were split about how they felt about Stewart.

The Eagles made this move because of the uncertainty of current defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. Johnson has taken a leave of absence while he undergoes treatment for a cancerous tumor on his spine.

The Cowboys fired Brian Stewart last month, quite possibly because he was earning a defensive coordinator's salary but wasn't actually coordinating the defense.

Head coach Wade Phillips commandeered the play-calling duties from Stewart back in October, and the defense improved -- up till Week 15, anyway; two late-season no-shows against the Ravens and Eagles sealed the team's playoff fate. During a Tuesday presser, however, owner Jerry Jones announced that he wouldn't hire a replacement for Stewart because the current coordinator is already on the payroll. And he loves puffy jackets.

The Cowboys' season ended ingloriously three weeks ago, and yet they remain one of the most talked about teams in the league. I suppose that's what happens when the head coach is perpetually in danger of getting fired, the star wideout could possibly be released, and the offensive coordinator has not only fallen out of the owner's good graces, but doesn't have the respect of said star wideout.

With that as a backdrop, the latest scuttlebutt is hardly surprising: locker room chemistry was, indeed, a big problem, along with "team discipline, commitment and accountability." Perhaps we should applaud the Cowboys for finding a way to win nine games in the face of such adversity.

Somehow, no matter the topic, the conversation always comes back to Terrell Owens. Yesterday, the Cowboys canned defensive coordinator Brian Stewart for Wade Phillips' and Jason Garrett's failings, and today, we're talking about ... T.O. Naturally.

During a Saturday radio interview, former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson said that Owens "... used to be an outstanding player, a great player ... He is still a good player, but you have to weigh the distractions and whether or not he divides the locker room and the problems that he has."

Back in October, after the Cowboys had dropped games to the Cardinals and Rams, and lost Tony Romo for four weeks in the process, head coach Wade Phillips commandeered the play-calling duties from defensive coordinator Brian Stewart.

Coincidence or not, Dallas' defense improved -- at least until the final two weeks of the season, when they disappeared for long stretches in the games that ultimately sealed their fate as January coach potatoes. And Friday, to prove that Jerry Jones means business ... about something, the club fired Stewart.

After a disappointing 9-7 finish, Phillips said there would be changes, and in addition to sending special teams coach Bruce Read on his way, he apparently feels that canning Stewart makes the Cowboys a better team. The Dallas Morning News' Brian Davis makes a keen point, however:

Given how things have unfolded thus far, I fully expect a tornado to deposit the Cowboys' new stadium into the Gulf of Mexico in the coming days. Brief recap: Dallas loses to Arizona in overtime, Tony Romo breaks his pinky and is sidelined for up to four weeks, the team drops its next game to the lowly Rams, and End of Days talk continues. Good news could be on the way, however.

The Dallas Morning News' Tim MacMahon writes that today Wade Phillips has made official what many people just assumed to be the case previously: he'll be taking over play-calling duties from defensive coordinator Brian Stewart. This is also known as "getting Neuheisel-ed."

Or maybe this isn't good news -- as MacMahon points out, "Phillips already had his fingerprints all over the defensive game plan. There hasn't been a single play call this season that went in without his approval" -- but at least nobody got suspended or injured, so it's a start. (Of course, Wade was also the brains behind the "hey, let's bench Doug Flutie for Rob Johnson" disaster in Buffalo last decade, so who knows.)

Unfortunately, Lane Kiffin decided not to make hump day a little more hump-erific, but there's always Chad Javon Ocho Cinco. During his Wednesday conference call with the Dallas-area media, Mr. Ocho Cinco decided to throw down the gauntlet.

Specifically, he's very unhappy about the Bengals' 0-4 start and is apparently willing to do anything to turn things around against the Cowboys this Sunday. Including a pregame, take-the-edge-off beer bong.

Chad Javon Ocho Cinco: I'm not holdin' nothin' back. Man, we 0-4, we pissed off, I'm pissed off, the players over here pissed off, somebody got to pay. I want you to tell (Cowboys defensive coordinator) Brian Stewart, I love him to death, but somebody got to get it.

Q: Are you saying that after an 0-4 start you guys are anxious to do anything and everything to get a win?

There are Cowboys fans still mad at Jerry Jones for firing Tom Landry. Certainly understandable. But much of the hatred directed at the Arkansas Hairpiece has softened over the years, particularly the '90s, when Dallas won three Super Bowls.

Still, fans are suspicious and probably for good reason. So too are the media. In today's Dallas Morning News, Jean-Jacques Taylor writes that the new staff Jones is putting together is more for the team's future head coach, Jason Garrett, than it is for incumbent Wade Phillips.

Taylor points to Dom Capers interviewing with the Cowboys for a spot on the defensive staff as a consultant or linebackers coach. You see, Capers was Garrett's hand-picked selection as his defensive coordinator had he taken the Ravens job. And since Dallas already has a defensive coordinator, Brian Stewart, this move seems fishy, at least according to Taylor. He also adds some other curiosities:

• Jerry has made Garrett the NFL's highest-paid assistant with a salary that's nearly as much, if not equal to what Phillips earns. We all know Phillips is going to spend all next season answering question after question about his future every time the Cowboys lose.

• Jerry hired Hudson Houck, a quality offensive line coach, who has more ties to Garrett than Phillips.

Taylor goes on for a few hundred more words, but you get the point. And i suspect Phillips does too. I don't think anybody will be shocked if when Phillips gets canned in a year's time and Garrett assumes the throne. And just like Marty Schottenheimer and the Chargers, it'll soon be forgotten if the Cowboys win, especially in the playoffs.