Wade Philips Worthy of Blame for the Dallas Cowboys' Collapse?

It's official—Wade Philips is out as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. This season has been a disappointment for the Cowboys and their fan base (and that is putting it lightly). Last night's embarrassment on national television seemed to be the proverbial straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, but can the Cowboys' fan base really put all the blame on Wade Phillips' shoulders?

The Cowboys have had their share of injuries—most notably Tony Romo. The Cowboys have had their share of bad luck—last night's special teams fumble returned by the Green Bay Packers for a TD was a perfect example. Replay clearly showed McCann's knee to be down, but because the Cowboys were out of timeouts, they couldn't challenge the play. The play happened with 2:04 left in the second quarter. If that play happened five seconds later, the booth would have handled reviews.

This year's Cowboys team was one of the favorites to play in the NFC Championship. With a roster so loaded with talent, the Cowboys should be competing in every game, not rolling over and playing dead.

So why is Dallas struggling? In a word—discipline.

The Dallas Cowboys have shown relaxed discipline this year. They are not executing the basic fundamentals. On defense, their tackling technique is abysmal, their positioning is pathetic and their angles are all wrong. On offense, their line has bad footwork, poor communication (as evidenced on blitz packages last night) and zero push for the run game.

Their running backs seem to be unable to pick up blitzing linebackers. Their wide receivers are dropping easy passes and running lackadaisical routes. These are all basic fundamental skills that should be second nature to all NFL players, but for some reason the Cowboys are struggling to execute them. Last night's game against the Packers exploited all of these weaknesses.

If this was a one-game showing, fans could forget about it and look forward to next week. But this has been a weekly trend. Fans are tired of seeing a half-hearted approach to football.

The million dollar question remains—was this Wade Phillips' fault?

If the main problem is a lack of discipline, then the answer is yes. Wade Phillips lost control of this team. He was seen shaking his head after almost every play last night. To put it bluntly, Wade Phillips looked lost. At his press conference, he said he had no answers to the abysmal weekly showing. 

Lack of discipline has also been evident in the team's lack of unity. Good teams—the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens—play together. Watch them and you will see 11 guys moving together as one. Good teams look like well oiled machines working in concert. Each person has a job, knows his job and executes his job. Watch the Cowboys and you will see 11 guys in a state of confusion. They seem to have no clue what is going on. Hence, Wade Phillips looks on, shaking his head.

Teams that look so confused, that play with so little heart and that give up on so many plays can only point to bad preparation during practice. And that ultimately points to the head coach being ill-prepared or overmatched. The ultimate blame cannot be placed on one person alone. Other variables exist that have led to this horrendous showing by the Cowboys, but the biggest share of the blame must go to Phillips.