SPORTSDAY

Bad news, folks: Cowboys cheerleader Christina Parker graces the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover, right by the S. While the team's official site puts its typical positive spin on the story, everybody knows about the SI cover jinx.

Might as well make that franchise-record playoff win drought an even dozen seasons.

Feel free to comfort yourself by checking out the local gal's SI.com photo gallery. If you wanna see a little more skin, view the beautiful slideshow of her dallascowboys.com photo shoot on the Rivera Maya.

Speaking of blonde babes with Cowboys ties who made memorable trips to Mexican beaches, I look forward to the swimsuit edition that features the future Mrs. Romo in the athletes' wives section.

JOHN F. RHODES / DMN

Unlike Massachusetts native Albert "Einstein" Breer, I'm not thin-skinned, so my feathers aren't ruffled by Jim Fassel's accusations that bloggers cost him the Redskins gig.

Plus, I know that Fassel is right. Bloggers have a whole lot of pull in NFL coaching searches. Look no further than this here blog for proof.

I was on the Wade Phillips bandwagon from the get-go. Jerry held hands with old pal Norv Turner at the Hall of Fame, but he hired Bum's boy based primarily on my advice.

Now, Coach Wade critics might point out that Turner's Chargers played in a conference championship game while the Cowboys had the weekend off. But the Cowboys were the clearly surperior team. Just look at the winning percentages -- Cowboys (13-4, .765); Chargers (13-6, .684).

ESPN.com's Mike Sando, of Hashmarks fame, took notice of our taking notice of his omission of Wade Phillips from his coaching column.

I'd agree wholeheartedly with Mike -- who shares the Hashmarks throne with Cowboys Blog alum Matt Mosley -- that Wade doesn't deserve to be lumped in with the hanging-by-a-thread set of NFL coaches. It's only fair that Phillips gets credit for a four-game improvement over the team's 2006 performance.

But judging by Jerry Jones' actions over the last month, as detailed by our esteemed columnist JJT, I think it's fair to say that an escape route has been paved by ownership that will make a transition to Jason Garrett easy.

Now, Wade's got his shot to make it happen and keep the job. Still, it's important to know that windows of opportunity are short in the NFL, even for a roster as rich as the Cowboys' is now, and Jerry's never been hesistant with his trigger finger. And while the expectations that are carried with being coach of this franchise couldn't be higher, and play into this, it's not just here that successful regular seasons become irrelevant with playoff failure.

In San Diego, it happened last year. Marty Schottenheimer was fired after a 14-2 regular season. This year, the Chargers went 11-5. And a round further in the playoffs. Ask anyone in Chargerland which one they'd rather have, and the response you'll get is the same as it would be in Dallas.

Over at the always entertaining D.C. Sports Bog, Washingtonpost.com's Dan Steinberg chronicles the reasons why Jim Fassel feels he didn't get the Redskins job.

Primary among them is the presence of bloggers.

"When I got the New York Giants job I remember telling my family that, 'You know, you cannot hold the lead in these jobs in major markets,'" Fassel told the John Thompson Show on Sports Talk 980 in Washington. "Because you've got bloggers, and they're saying, 'No, this isn't the right guy, and that ain't the right guy,' and you can't hold the lead, because you are going to take the hit. I mean, when you're the lead dog, you're going to take the hit."

In a nutshell, look at it like this: Fassel believes that the length of the coaching search, and his early entry as a name into it, opened his candidacy to criticism. But if that's the case, wouldn't it be fair to blame the Redskins themselves for waffling? Or maybe the deliberate nature of the search should've told Fassel from the beginning that the Redskins were never sold on him.

Or how about this -- if the Redskins are really listening to/reading all this stuff, and using it as another advisor in the search, aren't they going about it the wrong way anyway? Bottom line: If Fassel's right, then that club needs to seriously evaluate the way it's doing business. I'm off to check if Timmy Tabloid was hurt by these comments, and we'll see if we can get a response posted by him ASAP.

With the Alamodome booked this summer, the Cowboys are close to returning to Oxnard, Calif., for training camp this summer, according to two sources.

From 2004-06, the Cowboys trained at the River Ridge facility in Oxnard adjacent to a Marriott Residence Inn. Ex-coach Bill Parcells loved it there because of the cool weather and the isolation the team had from distractions.

The return will be great news for Cafe Fiore and Winchester's. If you go to training camp, get the lobster bisque at Cafre Fiore and the beer at Winchester's.

The team is scheduled to return to San Antonio in 2009 as part of the five-year deal they signed last year.

The official stance on this here blog is that Jerry shouldn't trade the farm for the right to draft Arkansas RB Darren McFadden. But Jerry has my permission to set an NFL record for quickest pick in the first round if McFadden falls to No. 22.

Hey, it could happen if GMs listen to NFL Network draft guru Mike Mayock. McFadden is missing from Mayock's list of the top 10 players in the draft, which is topped by Boston College QB Matt Ryan.

"I don't touch Darren McFadden in the first 20 picks of the draft," Mayock said.

Also of note from a Cowboys perspective: Troy's Leodis McKelvin, ranked No. 10, was the only cornerback to crack Mayock's list. Good luck getting a consensus opinion on the first-round cornerbacks. I've seen McKelvin, Kansas' Aqib Talib of Richardson Berkner and South Florida's Mike Jenkins all ranked by respected draft experts as the best player at the position.

The Cowboys enter the off-season with five potentially restricted free agents. They are ...

RB Marion Barber
C/G Joe Berger
DE Chris Canty
LS L.P. Ladouceur
RB Tyson Thompson

The Cowboys have until Feb. 28 to place tender offers on those players. Doing so gives Dallas matching rights on each player, and compensation is based on the amount offered. Here are the four tiers of tenders:

$927,000 -- draft-level compensation
$1.47 million -- second-round pick
$2.017 million -- first-round pick
$2.562 million -- first- and third-round picks

Draft-level compensation is defined as a pick corresponding with where each player was originally drafted. That means the $927,000 tender would merit fourth-pick compensation for Barber and Canty, a sixth-round pick for Berger, and no compensation for Ladouceur or Thompson.

Chances are, Barber and Canty will be tendered at the highest level, effectively taking both off the market. If any of the other three are tendered, it would likely be at the lowest level. If they are not tendered, they become unrestricted free agents. Just so we're clear on that.

ESPN.com's Mike Sando has an interesting breakdown of the state of coaching in the NFL. And apparently, he hasn't been listening to all of you.

Category 1 in Sando's piece in "On the hot seat." Leading the way there is Cincinnati's Marvin Lewis, who Sando says is one of just two coaches since 1996 to be given a sixth year on the job without winning playoff game. Two other coaches are in this at-risk group: San Francisco's Mike Nolan and Carolina's John Fox.

Noticeably missing was your own Wade Phillips, who did make the "Second chances pay off" group, though this technically is his third chance. The others in that group, all of whom were fired from previous head coaching jobs: Mike Shanahan, Bill Belichick, Tony Dungy, Tom Coughlin, Dick Jauron and Norv Turner. There are four Super Bowl champions in that group, for the record.

We look at the inside linebacker position as we continue our series, position-by-position, with the Cowboys.

PLAYERS SIGNED THROUGH 2008: Bradie James, Akin Ayodele, Kevin Burnett, Bobby Carpenter

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS: None

RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS: None

TOP NAMES ON FREE AGENT MARKET: Caleb Miller (Bengals), Teddy Lehman (Lions), Tedy Bruschi (Pats), Junior Seau (Pats), Chris Clemons (Raiders)

TOP DRAFT NAMES: Dan Connor (Penn State), Curtis Lofton (Oklahoma), Jerod Mayo (Tennessee), Tavares Gooden (Miami), Beau Bell (UNLV), Vince Hall (Va. Tech), Philip Wheeler (Georgia Tech)

Little Danny Snyder has been collecting stars since he bought the Redskins and what has it gotten him? Nothing. Maybe one day he'll figure out it's all about player development and good drafting. Then you can supplement your roster with free agents. Instead, he fires his coach every other year and wonders why he can't win.

The Washington Post reports that little Danny Snyder is up to his usual off-season tricks, chasing the biggest names that might be available. Big-mouth Bengals WR Chad Johnson tops the list.

Numerous league sources, including some with direct knowledge of conversations between Snyder, Cerrato and recent head coaching candidates, have affirmed that the Redskins have interest in trading for Cincinnati wide receiver Chad Johnson, with two league sources saying Johnson is eager to land a hefty new contract from Washington.

Acquiring an elite receiver is Snyder's top priority, league sources said. The Bengals have said they have no intention of trading Johnson, but his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, is working quietly to broker a deal, the sources said.

Little Danny has this here blog's seal of approval to make a deal for Ocho Cinco. I don't know if acquiring often disruptive Johnson would help or harm the 'Skins, but Ocho Cinco vs. the Original 81 twice a year would be a blog gold mine.