One of my favorites, Mike Florio of profootballtalk.com came out with a list of ten coaches on the hot seat for The Sporting News.

I understand his reasoning, but things can and do happen.  What if Tony Romo breaks his leg and the team has to win with Brad Johnson as the starting quarterback?

I’m a fan of Wade.  I think he did done a darn good job of getting 13 wins out of last year’s club.  They were learning a new defensive and offensive scheme.

The offense didn’t have it’s #2 wide receiver in Terry Glenn and the defense was never at full strentgh because starting corners Anthony Henry and Terence Newman rarely played together because of injuries.

Unlike Bill Parcells, Wade made sure he got Terrell Owens the football and always tried to make sure it was about the team and not him.

Here is Florio’s take below:

1. Wade Phillips, Cowboys. Coaches from playoff teams aren’t usually on the hot seat. Then again, not many coaches preside over teams that haven’t won a playoff game since 1996, are expected to go to the Super Bowl in 2008 and have the next head coach, Jason Garrett, ready to step in at a moment’s notice.

Wade Phillips has the temperament to withstand the pressure. Besides, he’s no stranger to being fired. But it doesn’t make the pressure any less real.

So if the Cowboys don’t make the postseason, or if they don’t win a game or two once they get there, Wade won’t be back in 2009.

“Yeah, that’s not correct,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said during the Dallas Desperados choke job tonight. “I haven’t expressed any interest there and haven’t evaluated him. That’s just not correct.”

So no 36-year old target for Tony Romo to throw to. 

Cowboys star receiver Terrell Owens missed today’s mini camp practice and will probably miss the whole thing.

The Cowboys said it was a family issue.

I hear T.O.’s father may have some health problems.  I have not been able to confirm it.

Everyone should try to give T.O. some space until we know exactly what it is.

Bottom line, T.O. and Tony Romo have their timing down.  I am not worried about Owens missing mini camp.

It is time for Sam Hurd, Miles Austin, and Isiah Stanback to step up and earn Romo’s trust.

Somewhere along the way “voluntary” Organized Team Activities in the National Football League became a must-attend event for coaches, fans and media.

Sorry, players have lives.

Six years ago, former Cowboys linebacker Darren Hambrick uttered his best line, “What does voluntary mean?”

D-Ham was criticized at the time for not attending the club’s OTAs because he was unhappy with his contract. Players who have contract issues and complaints skip the “voluntary” OTAs. That doesn’t make them bad guys.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson has destroyed his good-guy image with his trade demands and his unnecessary public spat with head coach Marvin Lewis and the organization.

Johnson is not wrong to boycott the OTAs because the players association has a deal with the owners that protects the players from being forced to participate.

Mandatory mini-camps are different. All players must show up.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe players should attend OTAs because it will make their teams better, but guys don’t have to have perfect attendance. I certainly can’t recall who decided not to come to all of last year’s voluntary work at Valley Ranch.

Bullies like Miami Dolphins president Bill Parcells want players to live and train year-round at the team’s complex.

Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Taylor skipped Dolphins workouts to participate on the hit show, Dancing with the Stars, and has angered the Tuna. Taylor’s situation has gotten so bad that he has asked the Dolphins to trade him.

It’s a shame, because Taylor was recently named the NFL’s Man of the Year for his work in South Florida. He’s the kind of player Parcells needs, but because he wants a life in the off-season, he is looked at as not being a team player.

Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye supported Taylor’s dancing on a Sirius NFL radio program this week. Ogunleye said too many NFL players never develop skills outside of football during their off-seasons and end up lost. Cowboys safety Roy Williams is on vacation with his family with the OK of coach Wade Phillips. In the eyes of some people who cover the team, you’d have thought he committed a crime.

There is a lot of speculation about Williams’ comfort and role in the defense, but missing one week of four scheduled weeks of OTAs will not get him cut.

The players don’t get paid for voluntary football practices. Voluntary means of one’s free will.

We should remember that.

Newy Scruggs is the sports director at NBC 5.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones loves to spend money on stars.

Pro Bowl cornerback Terence Newman got a 6-year contract extension.  The deal is reportedly for 50 million and 22.5 million is guaranteed. 

I would be shocked if Newman gets to the end of this deal.   He’s 30 now.  Not many corners are 36 so if the Cowboys get three good years out of the deal they should be happy.

I like T-New.  He is a classy kid and I am happy for him.   Jones took care of him.

Now the deal for Marion Barber, III was not smart in my opinion.  Barber has only started on NFL game and Jones rewarded him with a 7-year contract for 45 million. 

Barber made the Pro Bowl, but geez, he got paid for 16 games as a backup. 

If he is worth 45 million why did they have to use a first round pick on a running back and a fourth round pick on a running back in the April NFL Draft?

Barber will get 21 million in the first three years of the contract.   I sound like a hater, but he’s never gained one thousand yards in the NFL. 

Hey, it ain’t my money.  It’s Jerry Jones’.   Oh yeah, when is T.O. going to get paid.  He is in the final year of his contract.

Bob Ryan writes what he feels.  I had a great talk with him at the Final Four about why it was a mistake for Boston College to leave the Big East for the ACC.

Well the longtime Boston Globe legend brings the heat and truth to why Bill Belichick is hated and why the organization will remain so as long has he is the head coach:

“The sports community now associates the Patriots with cheating. The three Super Bowl championships are, and forever will be, under suspicion. The thought will never go away.”

Ryan does a great job in crafting a piece of why Belichick does what he does:

The rest of the world only knows that Bill Belichick thought he was above the law.

What we have here is a football version of Watergate.

“Bill Belichick is Richard Nixon. Brilliant. Tormented. Paranoid. Controlling. Highly suspicious of the media.

Watergate was overkill. There was no need for it. Like, was Richard Nixon ever really in danger of losing the 1972 election to George McGovern? Spygate was likewise unnecessary. Belichick was, and is, a great football coach. Why did he not trust his own genius to win games honestly, especially after winning his first Super Bowl? Was he that obsessed with victory? Weren’t all those hours staring at tapes enough? Did he think he had a divine right to victory? Clearly, something was churning inside that head.”

Look you have to read this if you love football and good writing.

Allan Peppard of the Dallas Morning News is reporting Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has dumped “singer” Jessica Simpson.   Below it the article he wrote today:

If Jessica Simpson were to call former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith, he’d sing, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.” With conflicting reports in the blogosphere, it’s been hard getting at the truth of the Tony Romo-Jessica Simpson break-up rumors. And until we hear it from Tony and Jessica, anything can happen.

But after taking several oaths not to divulge my sources, two people close to Tony and Jess have told me that the glam couple is over, splitsville, kaput, put a fork in it.

A Tuesday edition of TV’s Extra said the rumors of a breakup were not true. On the show, Jessica said, “I want to be married and have kids. I have a future ahead.”

Also on Tuesday, Access Hollywood reported that a rep from Jessica denied the breakup.

On Saturday, Tony was in Chicago with the boys and the word back from that scene is that he was saying, “Me and Jessica are done.”

The new US Weekly is reporting that the same night, Jessica was throwing down cocktails at L.A.’s Mexicali Cocina with her pal, CaCee Cobb, and CaCee’s boyfriend, Donald Faison. According to US, Jessica is having jealousy pangs that her ex John Mayer, 30, is now experiencing liplock with older Friend Jennifer Aniston, 39. In an interview for the June issue of Glamour, Jessica spoke of her pain from previous relationships, saying portentously, “The article could come out and Tony and I could be broken up, but he still deserves all the accolades for bringing me back to who I am.”

Well, some of you wish for the breakup of Cowboys QB Tony Romo and “singer” Jessica Simpson.

I am not one of the haters.  I have fun with it, but I wish for them to be happy.  In love.  All that jazz.

BUT….the folks at aol.com say the romance could be over.  That Romo had a nice time in Chicago, despite that horrible rendition he sang of “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”.

If rumors are too be believed, Jessica Simpson and Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo are no longer dating.

According to TheseBootsAreMadeforStalking.com, the football player spent a rowdy weekend in Chicago with several college friends where he allegedly admitted that he and Simpson had ended their relationship.

The rest of the story is here.

Cowboys Pro Bowl safety Roy Williams doesn’t like playing in the 3-4 defense.  At least that is what Cowboys linebacker Greg Ellis told Sirius NFL Radio.

The Dallas Morning News Cowboys blog is all over this story.   

“Greg Ellis made some pretty interesting statements about Roy Williams during an appearance on Sirius NFL Radio this afternoon. Ellis said that Williams doesn’t feel like he fits in Wade Phillips’ scheme and has been isolating himself from teammates.

Ellis said Williams first expressed concerns about the Phillips 3-4 during training camp in San Antonio.

“He said, ‘Greg, this defense does not fit me. I don’t fit in well with this defense at all,’” Ellis said. “So when he told me that, I was like, ‘Well, man, it’s still new. Get used to it and it’ll probably be fine for you.’” And obviously I think it came to be true. Just like he said, he doesn’t fit what’s going on here in Dallas right now.

“Now maybe this year, if they decide to keep him for this season, Wade and them will kind of adjust some things to fit him better.”

Todd Archer of the Morning News says it will cost the Cowboys 6.667 million to let him go.  He’s got more.

Of course we wrote this may be Roy’s last year with the Cowboys a few weeks ago on the newdawgblog and for the Star-Telegram.

Ree Hines of MSNBC.com has a story that smells of desperation.   Dallas native Jessica Simpson wants Tony Romo to pop the question.

They have dated six months.  I hope Romo takes it slow.  He is still a young man.   Win a Super Bowl first.  Heck, win a playoff game first.  He’s got plenty of time to get married.

Hines writes: “(Jessica would) love nothing more than to get married before Ashlee,” a source revealed to Star. “It upsets her that her little sister will be married and she won’t. She gets jealous when Ash gets more attention.”

That’s where Jessica’s six-month romance with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo comes in. “She’s been showing him rings in magazines,” the insider said. “She tells him what she likes, and she does it right in front of his friends, too, so it’s really awkward.”

Read the rest here.