The hiring of Mike McCarthy as the new Dallas Cowboys head coach has brought other changes throughout the coaching staff. One is on the offensive line, with longtime NFL coach Joe Philbin now coming in to replace Marc Colombo.
Colombo has held the job since the middle of the 2018 season, when he rose from an assistant position after Dallas fired Paul Alexander. The line play immediately improved under Colombo and he deserves credit for La’el Collins’ breakout performance last year.
While Marc certainly deserved to stay, Mike McCarthy has a long history with Philbin. They were together from 2006-2011 and again in 2018 with the Packers. Philbin was the offensive coordinator when Green Bay won the Super Bowl in 2010.
Joe’s background with offensive line coaching is extensive. He worked from the late 80s through 2002 with various college programs. He joined the Packers in 2003 and was retained as the offensive line coach in 2006 when McCarthy first arrived. Philbin eventually moved up to offensive coordinator.
Philbin was head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2012-2015 and did not have much success. He then worked as an assistant with the Indianapolis Colts for a few years before rejoining the Packers as offensive coordinator in 2018.
When McCarthy was fired by Green Bay in the middle of that season, Philbin served as the interim head coach. He spent the last year away from football, much like McCarthy.
The shift to Philbin from Colombo for Dallas bring some natural questions about how this will affect their offense. Does it indicate that McCarthy plans to use Ezekiel Elliott in different ways, or put Dak Prescott on the move more than the last regime? Are our offensive linemen going to be asked to do some different things?
One thing we do know is that the partnership between MIke McCarthy and Joe Philbin produced a Super Bowl in the past. We certainly hope that they can repeat that success with the Cowboys.
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