There's a formula for an NFL franchise coming out of the shadow from an iron-fisted coach. Go hire a guy who's going to put the players first, coaching by exhorting his players rather than intimidating them.

So that explains Wade Phillips' presence down in Dallas where he was handed the reins after Bill Parcells abdicated the saddle. Phillips is a pat on the back where Parcells was a cold stare.

There are people who swear by Phillips. Players generally like him, and he's the kind of coach that reporters refer to as a great guy. But during his teleconference with Seattle media on Tuesday morning, he sounded a little like the guy from "King of the Hill" and he was ... well ... it was kind of a mind-numbing interview.

Actual questions and answers follow. The italicized asides are my commentary on the interview.

Q: How are you guys preparing for this short week? What's the tack you're taking?

Phillips: Well, do a lot in a short amount of time, you know. That's the way you have to do it.

Smart-aleck aside: A long way to go and a short time to get there? Weren't those the Smokey and the Bandit lyrics? Ol' Wade's gonna do what they say can't be done.

Well, at least you have experience with it that there is a way to get this done, right?

Phillips: Well, you don't want to cut back too much. And you don't want to do exactly what you did the week before. It's a lot of mental preparation certainly more than physical, but we practiced yesterday and we're practicing today and we'll practice tomorrow to try and get ready.

Smart-aleck aside: Practice? We're talking about three straight days of practice? Somewhere Allen Iverson just cringed.

Q: Do you worry about giving them too much, practicing three days with games on either end?

Phillips: Well, now, we're not practicing full speed. A lot of it is walk through and those sort of things. It's all football. And it's more mental than physical like I said.

Smart-aleck aside: It's great to hear that everything will be football in the practices. Certainly seems like TiddlyWinks form wouldn't be too much help in this situation.

If this were a movie, you could hit the fast-forward. Since, this is a blog, let's skip the next few questions about Tony Romo, Tony Romo's finger and Terrell Owens' opportunities after the trade for Roy Williams. That brings us to Julius Jones, who was phased out over his final year in Dallas though he remained the nominal starter.

Q: Coach I know it got a lot of pub last year, but can you talk about the way things ended with Julius Jones out there?

Phillips: Well, Julius did a great job for us while he was here certainly. And Marion Barber we felt like was going to be the featured back this year so that's the way it went.

Q: What changed with Julius that made that decision?

Phillips: Nothing with Julius. Julius was a good back. It's just that Marion made the Pro Bowl last year. I think he showed what he could do, and it was just hard to keep him out of the game. So we started using more and more as the year went along and he had 130 or 140 yards in the playoff game.

Smart-aleck aside: 129 yards, but who's counting?

Q: What did you tell Julius at the end? What were the conversations with him as the season wound down?

Phillips: Well, once we made a commitment to Marion, money-wise, I think you couldn't keep both backs and so that was more of it than anything. We'd like to have Julius, but there wasn't any way we could keep him.

Smart-aleck aside: One nagging detail here. Barber didn't sign his seven-year contract until May, which was fully two months after Jones touched down in Seattle.

Q: Did you personally talk to him about that?

Phillips: No, he was a free agent. He knew that, and the free agents are going to do what's best for them, and I think it's worked out well for him, too?

Q: What did Marion give you that maybe Julius didn't have?

Phillips: Well, I said Marion made the Pro Bowl last year. Everybody recognized I think what a strong runner he is, and a strong player. If you had to pick one, that's the guy we picked.

Smart-aleck aside: Got it. Pro Bowl. You judge your running backs by a popularity contest. Now, anyone who watches Barber knows how hard the man runs. And you can't fault the Cowboys for choosing Barber over Jones, but if you choose Barber over Jones because of a Pro Bowl selection ... well ... that's not quite the best qualification.