ESPN

IRVING, Texas – The NFL’s release of the schedule has me back to wondering, so we break out an offseason version of Five Wonders, Cowboys’ schedule style.

I wonder if the Cowboys told the league they were a bit tired of starting the year on the road. In 2011 and ’12, the Cowboys played their first two games on the road. This year’s opener vs. the Giants marks only the third time in 11 years the Cowboys have opened at home. The last came in 2007 when they beat the Giants, 45-35, in Wade Phillips’ debut. Before that it was Bill Parcells’ debut in 2003 vs. Atlanta. At least recently the schedule has had to factor in the Cowboys’ Arlington neighbors, the Rangers. With Ron Washington’s crew out of town, the Cowboys open on Sunday Night Football against the Giants. And that’s not necessarily a good thing. They are 0-4 vs. New York at Cowboys Stadium.

I wonder if the Cowboys told the league they were a bit tired of ending the year on the road. This year’s finale vs. Philadelphia marks only the fourth time in 11 years they have closed the year at home. The Cowboys are 1-9 in their last 10 season-enders. The win? Against the Eagles in 2009. So that’s a good thing. Perhaps.

PODCAST
ESPN's Ed Werder joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the upcoming NFL draft and the best strategy for the Cowboys. Listen

If you wondered when the last time the Cowboys had a bye this late in the year, I’ve got your back. You have to go back to 1990 when the Cowboys had a later bye week than the one they have this year. That came Dec. 9, 1990, which was Jimmy Johnson’s second season. This year’s bye comes Nov. 17, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing with the 10-day break coming after Thanksgiving. That time off will allow the Cowboys time to heal up if necessary. And health is as important as just about anything late in a season.

I wonder if other teams told the league that the Cowboys need to play on the road entering their Thanksgiving Day game. I’ve always felt it was unfair that most of the time recently the Cowboys were able to play at home before the Thursday game and other teams had to travel. This year, the Cowboys are at the Giants leading into the holiday game against Oakland. With a 3:25 p.m. kickoff at MetLife Stadium, the Cowboys are looking at an early-morning landing home. The short-week advantage is at least mitigated some with the road game.

I wonder if the Cowboys will ever lose their national appeal. They have four games in prime time: three on NBC (NY Giants, Washington, New Orleans) and a Monday Night Football matchup at Chicago. All for a team that has missed the playoffs in four of the last five seasons. And the Cowboys will not play on NFL Network for the second straight year and Jerry Jones is the chairman of the NFL Network Committee. Seems weird.

PHOENIX -- The Cowboys will play the Miami Dolphins in the Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 4, it was announced Tuesday morning.

PODCAST
ESPNDallas.com's Calvin Watkins joins Galloway & Company to discuss the latest from the NFL owners meetings, Tony Romo's contract situation and much more. Listen

The Cowboys have played in the Hall of Fame Game four times, with the last appearance coming in 2010, when they earned a 16-7 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

There are some positives and negatives with playing in this game:

It's a chance for the Cowboys and their fans to honor former Cowboys offensive lineman Larry Allen, who will be inducted with the Class of 2013. Former Cowboys coach and Dolphins executive Bill Parcells also is a member of this year's Hall class.

Because they'll now have five preseason games, it'll allow starters to become familiar with the new 4-3 defense. On the offensive side, it'll allow players to get used to a new playcaller (Bill Callahan?), if the Cowboys decide to go that direction.

The Cowboys can now open training camp early because of the Hall of Fame Game. Because you can start at least 15 days before the first preseason game, the Cowboys can kick off camp July 21 in Oxnard, Calif.

Traveling to play in five preseason games can be an emotional and physical drain. The Cowboys most likely will open camp in Oxnard, then travel to Canton for the first preseason game. The Cowboys could then return to Oxnard for another week of camp and play a road preseason game on the West Coast against San Diego, Oakland or even Seattle. After the second preseason game, the Cowboys can break camp and come back to Dallas to finish the rest of the preseason. Lots of airline miles and hotel nights in July and August.

Having that extra preseason game should help some players recovering from injuries to get two or possibly three preseason games of work. Injured players such as Barry Church (Achilles), Jay Ratliff (sports hernia), DeMarcus Ware (shoulder) Sean Lee (toe) and others might not be cleared to participate in the first preseason game but could be ready to go for the second.

IRVING, Texas – Rather quietly this week, Shawne Merriman announced his retirement after eight seasons with San Diego and Buffalo.

There was a time when people wondered if the Cowboys made the right decision in drafting DeMarcus Ware over Merriman.

For this, you can -- wait for it -- thank Jerry Jones.

It's easy to bash Jones for everything that has gone wrong with the Cowboys, but the decision to draft Ware with the 11th overall pick in 2005 was his. When the Cowboys came to work for the first round of the draft that year, many inside the building thought Merriman would have been the Cowboys' pick.

Bill Parcells always liked guys from bigger schools, and Maryland is just a little bigger than Ware’s Troy.

But Jones went with Ware, even after Parcells said he would rather take Marcus Spears with the 11th pick. Parcells was not exactly pleased at the time, but then the Cowboys got Spears with the 20th pick and the coach’s mood brightened.

This isn’t to say Parcells didn’t want or didn’t like Ware. In his first comments after the selection he compared Ware to Lawrence Taylor, and throwing around compliments was not exactly something Parcells did a lot.

Merriman was named the NFL’s rookie of the year in 2005 and led the league with 17 sacks in 2006, but he was suspended four games for violating the banned substance policy. He added another 12.5 sacks in 2007 but would have only six the rest of his career, in large part because of injuries.

Ware, meanwhile has been named to the Pro Bowl seven straight years, is the team’s official all-time leader in sacks (111) and should close in on the unofficial record (114)in 2013. Ware has been the consummate professional throughout his career, not missing a game and playing hurt.

He's coming back from shoulder surgery and switching to defensive end as the Cowboys move to the 4-3 in 2013.

You didn’t need to hear about Merriman’s retirement this week to know the Cowboys made the right decision in 2005.

Larry Allen and Bill Parcells have been selected as part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2013.

The committee discussed Parcells for close to an hour, Rick Gosselin of Sports Illustrated told NFL Network.

Charles Haley, a member of the Cowboys from 1992-96, was among the final 10 candidates.

Allen played for Dallas from 1994-2005 and San Francisco from 2006-07. He was named a first-team All-Pro seven straight years.

Parcells coached the Cowboys from 2003-06. Took four teams to the playoffs, winning two Super Bowls with the New York Giants.

The class also includes receiver Cris Carter, defensive tackle Curley Culp, tackle Jonathan Ogden, linebacker Dave Robinson and defensive tackle Warren Sapp.

Stay tuned to ESPN.com for continuing coverage.

IRVING, Texas -- Just a few days after the Dallas Cowboys' season ended, it was clear that Jason Garrett's days as a play-caller were going to come to an end.

When we talked to Garrett the day after the regular-season finale, the coach said he anticipated the status quo when it came to the calling of plays in 2013. The next day on KRLD-FM, owner and general Jerry Jones said everything was up for discussion and then Garrett told the station he would be open to giving up the duties.

PODCAST
Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas.com joins Galloway & Company to discuss Jerry Jones hinting that Jason Garrett will not be calling offensive plays for the Dallas Cowboys next season. Listen

Funny how that stuff works, isn't it? Remember when Garrett said the team would look at other kick returners early in the season only to be followed the next day by Jones saying Felix Jones would remain the kick returner? Well, what do you know, Felix Jones remained the kick returner. It's the same sort of deal here, and it's a reminder that this is and will always be the Jerry Jones Show, especially if coaches don't win.

He was happy to stand to the side for a few years when Bill Parcells came on board but then got itchy. And when the team didn't win a playoff game in Parcells' four seasons, Jones did not try to talk Parcells out of retirement. It gave Jones the chance to say, "Hey, I tried it your way and it didn't work, so we're going back to my way."

Garrett had two full seasons to do it his way, so to speak, and produced a 16-16 record. Now Jones is showing he's in charge.

Which is why Bill Callahan looks to be the next play-caller if you want to read between the lines on Jones' comments from the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.

Yes, the move would neuter Garrett, to a degree, but it'd actually be the best of a worst-case scenario for Garrett.

Should the Cowboys go outside the Valley Ranch surroundings for a new play-caller -- someone like Norv Turner, Pete Carmichael or Hue Jackson -- Garrett would be further muted as head coach.

Garrett would have had no say over the offense if an outsider had come on board.

Turner would've run the same offense, but he would've been all-powerful when it came to the game-day specifics. With Carmichael or Jackson -- or any other coach outside the building -- Garrett would not have had the background in the new offense.

And if the Cowboys want to go that route, then Jones just needs to put an end to the Garrett Era.

If Callahan is the choice, Garrett will be able to keep his thumbprint on the offense. The plays will largely be the same the Cowboys have run since Garrett joined the team in 2007. Callahan was not in the passing game meetings last year; Garrett ran those. Callahan does not have the depth of knowledge in Garrett's passing game as he does in a West Coast scheme. And they will not be making a seismic shift to the West Coast offense with Tony Romo as the quarterback.

If they do that and make a seismic shift on defense from a 3-4 scheme to a 4-3 scheme, then this team will not compete in 2013. It might not be able to compete anyway, but two gigantic changes would make Garrett's job even more impossible.

With Callahan calling plays, Garrett could be in Callahan's ear and offer suggestions that can be viewed as commands.

When Sean Payton and Tony Sparano called plays for the Cowboys, they ran Parcells' offense. Parcells did not let either coach go off on their own when it came to calling the plays. He kept a strong hand on top of them -- which some of you might remember more as a bad thing than a good thing -- and would intervene at times.

Jones will attempt to spin the move as a positive for Garrett, but it's not. Would Jones the general manager be happy if somebody came in to make the draft decisions? Of course not. And that will never happen, as we all know.

But, for Garrett, the move to Callahan would give him some chance to maintain a sliver of offensive control.

It would be up to him to use it as he sees fits, but I can't imagine he would just goes quietly into that good night during the week and during the games.

IRVING, Texas -- From 1996 to 2008, Monte Kiffin ran one of the best defenses in the NFL, finishing in the top 10 in total defense in 11 of his 13 years.

PODCAST
Galloway & Company discuss the possibility of Monte Kiffin replacing Rob Ryan as the Cowboys defensive coordinator. Listen

The Buccaneers’ trademark was the ability to make game-changing plays with game-changing players, like Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp, John Lynch, Simeon Rice and Ronde Barber.

In Kiffin’s 13 years as Tampa's defensive coordinator, the Buccaneers averaged 39 sacks, 19 interceptions and 12 fumble recoveries a season.

Since Jerry Jones took over the Cowboys in 1989, the Cowboys have had only three seasons in which they had more than 19 picks, five seasons in which they had more than 12 fumble recoveries and six seasons in which they had more than 39 sacks. Four of those sack seasons came after the switch to the 3-4 and the arrival of DeMarcus Ware.

For far too long, the Cowboys have not been able to take the ball away on defense, regardless of who the coordinator was. They didn’t do it under Rob Ryan and couldn’t do it under Wade Phillips or Bill Parcells.

Turnovers and sacks change games.

Points matter most.

The Bucs allowed more than 300 points in a season three times with Kiffin as coordinator (and that’s taking into account returns for touchdowns). Since Jones took over the Cowboys, they have allowed more than 300 points in a season 15 times.

Kiffin has not coordinated an NFL defense in four years. He will be 73 in February.

If he turns out to be the Cowboys' next defensive coordinator, the only numbers Jones will care about will be interceptions, fumbles and sacks and points allowed; not age.

IRVING, Texas -- In the interests of covering our backsides, let’s look at possible 3-4 candidates should the Cowboys stick with that scheme but employ a different look.

Arizona defensive coordinator Ray Horton was on Jason Garrett’s radar as a secondary coach two years ago -- not coordinator -- but he has become a head coaching candidate in two years of running the Cardinals defense. He learned from Hall of Famer Dick LeBeau, Pittsburgh’s zone-blitz architect, and would have pieces in place to run that style here.

Romeo Crennel comes from the Bill Parcells coaching tree. He has Super Bowl experience. Players love playing for him and he keeps the scheme interesting. He has had two tries as a head coach and it hasn’t worked out, but his style might fit well with Garrett.

Could the Cowboys look to the college ranks for a coordinator? Garrett worked with Todd Grantham, Georgia’s defensive coordinator, when Grantham coached the Cowboys' defensive line under Wade Phillips. Grantham has an attacking style and has a defense that is filled with NFL-ready players. Given his SEC ties, he could provide good insight on players in the draft. He also has NFL coordinator experience (Cleveland) and, like Garrett, worked for Nick Saban.

IRVING, Texas – Last week we broached the possibility of the Cowboys moving to a 4-3 as part of the “unconventional move,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones alluded to on his KRLD-FM radio show.

Now comes word from Jason Garrett in a statement regarding Rob Ryan’s dismissal about a “move forward in a different direction philosophically on defense,” which seems to indicate the Cowboys will be moving to a 4-3 base defense.

So where do the Cowboys turn for their next defensive coordinator if they move to a 4-3?

Monte Kiffin resigned at Southern Cal last month with the hopes of returning to the NFL. He is a 4-3 master, using the Tampa-2 scheme that has been used all over the league. He had a tremendous run in Tampa Bay with players such as Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp, Ronde Barber and John Lynch.

Dave Wannstedt was Buffalo’s defensive coordinator last season. He was not helped by a turnover-prone offense and an ineffective Mario Williams. There are obvious ties to the Cowboys from his time with Jimmy Johnson in the early 1990s. He helped direct some top defenses in Miami as well that featured aggressive cornerback play.

Lovie Smith learned from Kiffin, coordinated a Super Bowl defense in St. Louis and had a long run in Chicago. The Bears defenses forced a ton of turnovers in his tenure, including five Tony Romo interceptions last October. He is a head coaching candidate in Philadelphia and possibly San Diego.

The Cowboys have been a base 3-4 team since 2005 but have not abandoned the 4-3 with their sub package work either under Bill Parcells, Wade Phillips or Ryan.

As noted last week, a move to a 4-3 might not be too difficult and might be necessary if the Cowboys cannot afford to keep outside linebacker Anthony Spencer. DeMarcus Ware would simply be in a three-point stance all the time (as could Spencer if they kept him). Jay Ratliff could move to defensive tackle with Jason Hatcher. They like Tyrone Crawford’s potential.

At linebacker, Sean Lee can play middle and Bruce Carter can play the weak side. They would need a strong-side linebacker but perhaps Alex Albright could get in the mix there as well.

IRVING, Texas – There are a lot of things to wonder about as the Cowboys prepare for Pittsburgh on Sunday, but we’ll stick with our five.

Away we go:

** I wonder if those who believe Jason Garrett is too robotic and does not show enough emotion to be the leader of the Cowboys have changed their minds. Too often the public face a coach or player puts on is seen as the only face of the coach or a player. The supposition goes that if Garrett is that boring in front of the media, then he is that boring in front of the players. It’s just not true. Before this tragedy, players have spoken about Garrett’s stirring speeches to lead off a practice week or before a game as edge-of-your-seat amazing. In training camp, Garrett was more relaxed and forthcoming publicly. When the season started, he reverted back to his day to day mantras. His job is not to be glib with the media. It’s to win football games and lead players. Would he receive more public benefit if he showed more of the Garrett we’ve seen in the last three days? Absolutely. But he’s not in it to win public relations’ points. The leadership Garrett has shown since the death of Jerry Brown has revealed just what type of person he is, more than a coach. He cares about his players more than just what they can do on the field. He wants them to be successful in life, too.

** I wonder why it took until Week 14 of the season for the Cowboys to start this right tackle rotation with Doug Free and Jermey Parnell. Well, not really. Until the Thanksgiving game against Washington, the Cowboys didn’t know what they had in Parnell. They still don’t have concrete answers, but Parnell played well enough at left tackle against the Redskins to warrant more consideration. Free has struggled for most of the season, but coaches will tend to lean to the devil they know than to the devil they don’t. Parnell played sparingly in three tight-end sets and truthfully did not do that well early in the season. He didn’t earn more playing time. But with Tyron Smith unable to play against the Redskins, the Cowboys had no choice. Parnell was OK against Cincinnati. Free was better than he was against Philadelphia. The Cowboys will continue the rotation, but they took too long to get to it.

** I wonder what’s in the water near where Jason Witten and Gerald Sensabaugh grew up in Tennessee. Seriously. There are not too tougher players on the team. They play through injuries. They do not complain. They show up on Sundays, as Bill Parcells would say. The common thread: they love football. We all know about Witten’s pain tolerance and ability to play through injuries. In back to back weeks he has taken big shots down the seam and came up a little gimpy but didn’t miss a snap. On Sunday, he took a shot to the thigh. Sensabaugh is the same way. He just doesn’t miss games. The latest sign for him was a hip injury that slowed him against the Bengals. It didn’t slow him enough to break up a touchdown pass to Jermaine Gresham. He was slow to get up but stayed in the game. And he has this curious habit: he’s always the first defender to sprint on the field after change of possessions.

** I wonder how Rob Ryan can preach to his players to have poise when things get tough when he can’t keep his emotions in check. The penalty Ryan got on Sunday for unsportsmanlike conduct was embarrassing and unnecessary. So what if Bengals tackle Andre Smith was chirping at the bench after getting away with a holding call? Ryan’s actions were childish. You just can’t do those things. It got so discombobulated on the sideline that the defense became unglued. Two plays later they had a 12-men on the field penalty. That came after they had to call a timeout for having only 10 guys on the field in the first half. Ryan has said he wants to be a head coach one day, but that penalty is not going to help his resume.

** The Cowboys say they are not going to look at other punters despite Brian Moorman’s poor day in Cincinnati, and I wonder why. What would it hurt to check out some guys? Overall, Moorman has done a good job since signing with the team as Chris Jones’ replacement. But in his last six punts he has had one returned 98 yards for a score when he should have kicked it out of bounds late against Philadelphia, and had punts of 23, 39 (which was tipped), 27 and 27 yards against Cincinnati. Could he have been that freaked out by the possibility of Adam Jones returning one that he was trying to be too perfect? Maybe, but with a hurting defense field position in the final three games takes on a greater importance. I wonder if the Cowboys are taking a chance here.

IRVING, Texas -- Former Dallas Cowboys guard Larry Allen is among six first-year eligible candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2013 it was announced on Friday.

Joining Allen, who played for the Cowboys from 1994-to-2005, among the first-year eligible candidates are kicker Morten Andersen, safety John Lynch, tackle Jonathan Ogden, defensive tackle Warren Sapp and defensive end Michael Strahan.

There were also 27 semifinalists named including former Cowboys pass rusher Charles Haley. Haley has been eligible for the Hall of Fame for eight years and named a finalist three times. He played with Dallas from 1992-to-1996.

Former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells is also a semifinalist for the second time. Parcells coached New England, New York Jets and Giants and the Cowboys during his career. He coached Dallas from 2003-to-2006.

The 27 semifinalists will be reduced to 15 modern-era finalists. That list increases to 17 finalist nominees with the inclusion of the two candidates from the seniors committee.

The results of the modern-era vote to 15 finalists will be announced in January.

IRVING, Texas -- Jason Witten remembers the first catch of his career.

It came in the fourth quarter of his first game on Sept. 7, 2003, against the Atlanta Falcons, a sliding catch in front of linebacker Matt Stewart that led Dallas Cowboys' radio play-by-play legend Brad Sham to say, "It's the tight end Jason Witten, making his first NFL reception, a gain of 13."

"It's one of those deals, you catch it, get up and it's normal. It's football. This is what you do," Witten said Wednesday. "Seems like yesterday, you know? But you never get caught up in any of that and your expectations get higher and higher. You raise the bar for yourself and you're having this conversation."

Since, Witten has added 746 more receptions and "this conversation" is about becoming the Cowboys' all-time leading receiver. Witten needs four catches Sunday at Atlanta to surpass Hall of Famer Michael Irvin.

Just talking about the upcoming achievement made Witten uncomfortable.

"You're so focused on winning and you guys know me well enough that that's the most important thing," Witten said. "But talking about a guy like this [Irvin], it's special because he was one of the greatest. Just to be mentioned with Michael Irvin is special and hopefully we'll have a good discussion after a big win about it."

Hear from Irvin, Bill Parcells and Tony Gonzalez here.

IRVING, Texas -- Ron Rivera was among the final candidates to interview for the Cowboys’ head coaching vacancy in 2007 when Bill Parcells decided to retire.

PODCAST
ESPNDallas.com's Jean-Jacques Taylor and Tim MacMahon join Ben and Skin for an entertaining and informative Dallas Cowboys think tank. Listen

Now in his second season with Carolina, Rivera gets to coach against the Cowboys for the first time, but he has fond memories of his interview with owner and general manager Jerry Jones and executive vice president Stephen Jones.

“When you get an opportunity to sit down and visit with people and you really get to express yourself, I think that’s a good thing,” he said.

Of all the interviews he had before getting the Panthers job, Rivera said the longest was with the Cowboys.

Jones named Wade Phillips as head coach and Rivera eventually took over a San Diego defense that Phillips had run.

“His insights into how he runs a team and what he’s expecting, I thought were outstanding,” Rivera said. “I really enjoyed it. And his son, Stephen, I thought the two of them really make a dynamic pair as far as what they’re trying to do and what they want accomplished. Believe me, he wants the Cowboys to be great. He really does. And that was one of the things I took away from my interview with them.”

Jones is the only NFL owner to win a Super Bowl and earn a national championship as a player. The man Rivera works for now, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, became the first NFL owner since George Halas to have played in the NFL. He caught a pass from Johnny Unitas in the 1959 NFL championship game for Baltimore.

“There are certain things that (Richardson) sees and understands, and I think that as a player they give you a different perspective,” Rivera said. “It doesn’t mean you’re any better than anybody. It just gives you a different perspective. ... When I talk about things with him he sees things from a player’s perspective as well as an owner’s perspective.”

IRVING, Texas -- In his first 29 games, the best coach in the Dallas Cowboys' illustrious history went 5-21-3. In his first 29 games, the second-best coach in franchise history went 7-22.

Oh, the nasty things folks said about Tom Landry in the early '60s and about Jimmy Johnson after he replaced Landry in 1989. Of course, at the time, fans had no clue about the legacy each man would leave.

When Landry was criticized early in his tenure, Tex Schramm responded by giving him a 10-year contract. When Jimmy came under scrutiny, Jerry Jones gave him a long-term extension.

If Jerry still believes in Jason Garrett, his hand-picked coach, then the owner should let the players, fans and media know he has no reservations whatsoever about the long-term direction of his franchise.

He should give Garrett, 15-14 in his first 29 games, a five-year extension.

Right now.

That's right, Jerry should lock up Red J for the foreseeable future before the month ends.

Learn the reasons why here.

IRVING, Texas – A stat pack to complement Todd Archer’s tearjerker about Tony Romo’s last trip to Seattle:

9: Current Cowboys who were on the roster for that game: Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Marcus Spears, DeMarcus Ware, Miles Austin, Jason Hatcher, Jay Ratliff, L.P. Ladouceur, Kenyon Coleman. Romo, Witten, Spears and Ware are the only current Cowboys who started in that game. Coleman left Dallas after that season and returned after four years.

112: Yards rushing on 22 carries by Julius Jones against the Seahawks that night, including a 35-yard run to set up the infamous botched field goal.

189: Passing yards by Tony Romo, who completed 17 of 29 passes with one touchdown and no interceptions. Coach Bill Parcells protected the first-year starting QB with a conservative game plan despite facing a Seattle secondary that was so depleted the ex-Cowboy Pete Hunter, who was working as a loan officer in Dallas, was signed that week and played in the nickel package.

93: Yards on a kickoff return for a touchdown by Miles Austin, then an undrafted, unknown rookie.

50: Yards on the field goal Martin Gramatica made in the first quarter

2: Catches by Terrell Owens for 26 yards.

2: Touchdowns for Seattle tight end Jerramy Stevens

2: Points for the Seahawks on the safety that resulted from Terry Glenn’s fumble in the fourth quarter, when the ball bounced out of the end zone. It was a critical play in the game that’s largely forgotten because the Cowboys had a chance to win on the field goal with 1:19 remaining.

1: Tackle by DeMarcus Ware, who did not have a sack.

20: Yards gained by Seattle’s Shaun Alexander off left tackle on the snap after the hold slipped through Romo’s hands. That run essentially sealed the win for the Seahawks. The Cowboys otherwise did an outstanding job against Alexander, holding him to 69 yards on 24 carries.

0-2: Parcells' record in playoff games with the Cowboys, his only stop as a head coach where he failed to get a postseason win.

IRVING, Texas -- As Todd Archer reminds Cowboys fans, quarterback Tony Romo is returning to Seattle for the first time since the 2006 NFC playoffs.

In that wild-card game, Romo fumbled the snap on a potential game-winning field goal attempt, and the Cowboys lost 21-20 to Seattle.

Afterward, then-coach Bill Parcells retired.

If the Cowboys had won that game, would Parcells have continued on?

"I always had a good understanding and a good feel to where Bill was, relative to his motivation, relative to his clock if you will," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "So his decision to not coach anymore wasn’t a shock to me. I wanted him to continue if he wanted to continue. I knew a time frame that he was looking to when he took the job. I didn’t anticipate anything, but just was not shocked."

Parcells rebuilt the Cowboys after three consecutive 5-11 seasons under Dave Campo. Several players from the Parcells era remain as major contributors -- Jason Witten, Marcus Spears, DeMarcus Ware, Jay Ratliff, Jason Hatcher, Miles Austin and Romo.

Since the Seattle loss, the Cowboys have won the NFC East twice, earned their first playoff victory since 1996, were a No. 1 seed and have had two coaching changes.

"When you think about a team, especially all the guys coming together, you grow each year from that adversity," Ware said. "You build character from that, and it's where we are right now. We're the veterans of the team, and all those little adverse times from when we were younger has molded us to where we are right now. We're a much more mature team."

Are the Cowboys a better team after the 2006 playoff loss?

Maybe. You can look at the 2007 season, when they finished 13-3 and were the NFC top seed -- only to lose in the divisional round to the New York Giants at home -- as maybe the high-point of the Parcells era.

Yes, Wade Phillips was coaching that team. But it was mainly Parcells' players that fueled the season.

Romo, meanwhile, is still judged on that 2006 bobbled snap and, despite a Pro Bowl season (36 TDs, 4,211 yards) a 2007 loss to the Giants after a trip to Cabo during the playoff bye week. Both still upset Cowboys fans.

"I think you have some, in his case, a person and player who is continuing striving for ways to get better," Jones said of Romo. "It’s one of his best qualities. He never sits still or thinks in the now. He’s always trying to think ahead, get better in different circumstances (and) how it can help him be a better player and better for the Cowboys."

Parcells helped the Cowboys get better, but you have to wonder: If not for the fumble, what might have been?