He became emotional when he talked about what the Cowboys haven't done over the last 10 years, rapping the podium with his knuckles and talking about obligation. "We lead with our chins around here," owner Jerry Jones said, "and don't back up."
Jones isn't about to back up now. Four years in Bill Parcells' shadow, four years of subjugating his public profile to help right the franchise, is enough.
It didn't take long for Jones to re-assert himself. The owner made it clear he was back in charge by hiring Jason Garrett to the staff weeks before settling on Wade Phillips as head coach. Now he will join the former defensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers to try to end the longest playoff victory drought in franchise history.
"He's Mr. Jones when he's the owner, but he's Jerry when he's podna-ring with me on getting this team ready," Phillips said. "And that's the way we do it.
"We're in Texas. I didn't say partner. I said podna-ring to try to get this team to where it has been."
Many will say the hiring of Phillips signals a return to the active, hands-on owner Jones was with Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey and Dave Campo. They will say he's ready to flex his muscles again now that Parcells is gone.
That's partly true. Listen to what Jones said in the days leading up to and after the Seattle playoff loss and you got the sense the dynamic between these two, strong men was about to change.
Jones had done what almost everyone wanted him to do. He stepped into the background and turned control of the team over to Parcells.
But by the end of this season, Parcells had used up his public good will. The football man had come in, done it his way and still not won a playoff game.
Jones understood that Parcells was vulnerable in the public eye. If the coach had stayed, there's a good chance Jones would have assumed a more active role. He likely would have challenged the authority he had given Parcells in a way he wasn't willing to do the previous four years.
That's no longer an issue. When asked his emotions about this job, Phillips talked about the frog who dreamed about being a king.
Jones had to talk Parcells out of retirement to do him a favor. This is a job Phillips never thought he'd get. The relationship is much different.
But don't confuse active with interfering.
If you accept that Parcells was a different animal – in more ways than one – Gailey was the last Cowboys coach to fit the Phillips profile.
"Different people have different management styles," Gailey said. "There's never a question that Jerry is trying to find what works and what will be successful.
"He's hands on. There might be some days when he was out of town that we wouldn't talk. But we would talk, the best I can remember, just about every day. He would stop by my office for 30 minutes or he would walk out to practice and talk while we were on the sidelines.
"I would call it consistent communication. It was talking about injuries, talking about planning, if he can't play do we need to bring somebody in. It was more general manager to head coach."
Did Gailey ever consider it intrusive or disruptive?
"Never," he said.
VERNON BRYANT/DMN
Jerry Jones escorts new head coach Wade Phillips around the locker at the Cowboys' headquarters in Irving.
Was it supportive?
"Always," Gailey said. "I know what some people think, but he's not calling the plays."
Jones won't be calling the plays for Phillips. But he will return to being the active, public force he was before he hired Parcells. With one proviso.
"As a general manager, I think I will be a different style," Jones said. "I recognize the areas I have been criticized in.
"I will do an A-plus job of not undermining our head coach."
