Scout.com > Dallas Phillips' Post-game Press Conference Story URL: http://dal.scout.com/2/825286.html Staff Report TheRanchReport.com Dec 28, 2008 Wade Phillips spoke with reporters after his team's 44-6 loss to Philadelphia. OVERALL THOUGHTS: "There's not much I can say about this one. It was a disaster from the opening kickoff, from kicking the ball out of bounds, to two 80 or 90-yard plays to start off the second half when we had a chance to get it back to 21-17 or something like that. We had everything to play for. I think that the turnovers that haunted us all season ended up really hurting us in terms of not getting enough turnovers on defense and giving up too many offensively. We got by with it a lot of the year and won a lot of games, but we were minus 1 or 2 in the turnover ratio and that ended up getting us. It obviously wasn't penalties, it was turnovers." EMOTIONAL LIFT OF PLAYING FOR THE PLAYOFFS FOR PHILADELPHIA: "Well obviously we didn't play well enough. They played well and I expected them to play well, but I expected them to play like that no matter what. Obviously, I expected us to play better." PERSPECTIVE OF THE SEASON: "It's hard right now. We had everything riding on this and we didn't step up to the plate. It's hard to look at the whole season right now." NOT MAKING THE PLAYOFFS: "Well, I mean that's where we are right now. There wasn't a player or coach in there that thought we weren't going to win that game, but we didn't." WHY THE TEAM DIDN'T STEP UP: "If I had an answer, we wouldn't have done that. We started out kicking the ball out of bounds on the first kickoff and it hurt us position wise. The 10 points to start the half were big and those two turnovers really put us out of reach. And then of course the two touchdowns in the first two series of the second half where we got down inside the 20 yard line both times. I can't explain those." ON TURNOVERS BY TONY ROMO: "Well, they made the plays and we didn't. We didn't make their quarterback do those things, so I think it was both parties." MESSAGE TO THE TEAM AFTERWARDS: "There's not much you can say after a game like this. The season's over obviously. We will meet tomorrow, but it's an utter disappointment. That's all you can think about right now." ON PRACTICE LEADING UP TO THE GAME: "I thought that we practiced well. We did some good things. We practiced like we have been practicing and I thought a little better as far as their enthusiasm." UNEXPECTED THINGS ON DEFENSE FROM PHILADELPHIA? "No, we worked a lot on their blitz stuff and we had an extra day that we worked completely on blitzes, so we thought we were ready for everything." PLAYERS LET DOWN COACHES OR VICE-VERSA? "It's always the coach first. It's always me first." ON WHETHER JERRY JONES WILL RE-HIRE HIM AS HEAD COACH: "I haven't thought about that and it's too early to think about that." ON WHETHER HE FEELS HE IS THE RIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB: "Sure. I don't feel like anything right now, except for a team that lost an opportunity and didn't take advantage of our opportunity, so I'm disappointed." ON WHETHER ROMO WILL REBOUND DURING THE OFFSEASON: "I think Tony will come back. He's a trooper. He still has a lot of wins. He didn't play three games this year, so his record overall is still a good record. I think he is a really good quarterback and I think he will bounce back. I think next year he will have an even better year." ON TEAM CHEMISTRY ISSUES: "Obviously, there is something missing. We didn't make our goal, which was to make the playoffs first and we didn't do that." ON OVERALL TEAM LEADERSHIP: "Well, I thought all along that we had good leaders. We have guys that say and do the right things and work hard. This team gave a lot of hard work thoughout the year and never backed down, so I appreciate that from them." ROMO'S INJURY STILL BOTHERING HIM? "I thought he was alright. He was sick a little bit this week, but other than that I think he was alright. He could've played the rest of the game obviously, but we took him out. He told me he wasn't hurt or anything." Copyright © Scout.com and TheRanchReport.com