The Cowboys feel DeMarcus Ware (94) could be one of the most unstoppable players in the NFL. Simon Bruty/SI
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• The Wade Phillips/Garrett/Tony Sparano Option. Phillips was a 3-4 coach who'd been the Chargers' defensive coordinator last season, when they finished fifth in the league in scoring defense, first in sacks with 61, and third in rushing D. The one thing Dallas had struggled with on defense was rushing the passer, even with some reputable rushers. The Cowboys had 34 sacks last fall, below the league average of 36.

Jones liked what Parcells had done in his four years with the team, but he thought the defensive production could be better, and he liked what Phillips said in his interview about molding a defense according to the skills of the players you had. Jones had visions of DeMarcus Ware morphing into a world-class pass-rusher instead of a good one.

On offense, while Jones knew Turner would offer an injection of intelligence for the inconsistent Romo, he also knew the anonymous Sparano had called the plays for the productive Dallas offense last year. Only three teams scored more points than the Cowboys' 425 last year, and it was the most Dallas had scored since 1995, the last time the franchise won a Super Bowl. Jones trusted Garrett to learn from Sparano and to bring in some of his young ideas. Plus, he liked that Garrett was a football lifer, with a dad (Jim) who was a former pro and college coach and former Dallas scout.

How much are you willing to live without?

Jones decided he could live without Turner, because of Sparano's demonstrated ability and Garrett's potential. He could not live without Phillips. So late Wednesday night Jones called Phillips and told him he'd like him to come to Dallas on his private plane to begin negotiations for a contract. He didn't tell him he was hired, because they hadn't talked money yet.

"I felt good about it, but I wanted to talk to him, sort of a second interview,'' Jones said. "The job was never offered until Thursday.'' But when Phillips hung up the phone with Jones shortly before midnight Central time on Wednesday, he was pretty sure he had the job.

"I can't say sometimes what causes me to turn right or turn left,'' Jones said. "What was important here was the process. I wanted to talk with all these people. I wanted to learn from them, and see which was the best direction for the Cowboys. The process was important. I let the process direct me. I hate to make it sound so fragile like that, but you have to be open-minded in a search like this.

"I'd decided to dismiss the personal-friendship part of it [with Turner]. Norv is such a friend of mine. But you're getting married here, make no mistake about it. You better have the ability to work through any problem. How could we best hit the ground running now? We'd committed so many of our draft resources to defense that I thought we just couldn't ignore it here.

"If we hire Norv, I decided we would have had double-coverage on offense because, in the end, I felt comfortable with our offense. And you may not know what you have [with Garrett] until you remove the net. It's like you have a good player on the field with a very good prospect behind him, and you'll never know about the prospect until you put him in the game and take the veteran out. The one player's a good player, and the other player might be a better player. You never will know until you put him out on the field. That's sort of how I felt with Jason.''