With his team riding high on a two game winning streak and an 8-3 overall record (1st place NFC East), Cowboys owner Jerry Jones expects wins and nothing else down the stretch run. So much so, that he fired a shot across the bow of head coach Wade Phillips earlier today, making it crystal clear that Phillips’ job security is heavily dependent on how well Dallas plays in the final five weeks of the season.

The Cowboys have been atrocious in recent years during the month of December, and while a lot of the blame has been laid at the feet of several departed players who sowed discord throughout the locker room, sooner or later there comes a time when Phillips will be asked to fall on his sword if he can’t get the job done headed into the postseason.

“I don’t know that it’s any more so for Wade than it is for anybody else on this team. You’re in coaching and then there’s a lot of pressure to win, so that’s there. But what we do here and how we get into these playoffs and get in with an advantage — have a game here, get a bye — all of those are things that look good for Wade.”

– Dallas owner Jerry Jones

For his part, Phillips defended his record when told of Jones’ comments, and fully expects that he will be coaching in Dallas next season regardless of how the team performs in the playoffs. But there is little doubt that Jones has an itchy trigger finger right now and is quietly lining up potential candidates to replace Phillips in the off-season if the Cowboys play poorly once again this month.

“That’s up to someone else. It isn’t up to me. The parts that are up to me, that I can do something about, is do as well as I can [and] try and win as many games as I can.All I do is try to do the best I can as a coach. I work hard at that. And I don’t think I get a lot of respect for that, but that’s the way it goes.”

– Dallas head coach Wade Phillips

One of the more intriguing possibilities for Phillips’ successor would be former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan, who would undoubtedly love to get back into the game with a team that is as talented as the Cowboys are right now. Whether he could coexist with Jones or not is definitely a question that would have to addressed, but it stands to reason that Shanahan would trade control over the team for a quick shot at a Super Bowl championship and personal redemption in the process.

Either way, things are beginning to take shape for what promises to be one of the more interesting off-seasons in recent memory. As always, NFLNR will have it covered, so keep it locked right here all season long.