Dallas Cowboys fire coach Wade Phillips after 1-7 start

The 6-2 Giants will not only face a 1-7 Cowboys team that has spiraled out of control, but one that also has a new leader.

Dallas owner Jerry Jones replaced Phillips with his offensive coordinator and assistant head coach, Jason Garrett, a first-time head coach.

Phillips’ dismissal came just 10 months after Jones gave him a two-year contract extension and a day after a 45-7 thumping at Green Bay. It marks Dallas’ first in-season coaching change.

Garrett should be a familiar face to Giants fans; he served as a backup quarterback there from 2000-03. He had a chance to become head coach in Baltimore, Atlanta, and St. Louis, but chose to stay in Dallas, where he became the NFL’s highest paid assistant at $3 million per year.

For Phillips, a defensive genius who has always had his problems running an entire team, it is the end of a less-than-glorious era. He won two division titles in three years, but each ended short of the Super Bowl.

The Cowboys were picked to become the first team to host their own Super Bowl this year, but their season went downhill almost immediately.