IRVING, Texas — OK, I'm convinced. Uncle Wade needs to stay.

The last two games did it for me. Watching the Dallas Cowboys' defense throttle the Pittsburgh Steelers on their own frozen turf, followed by Sunday night's eight-sack defensive masterpiece against the New York Giants provided all the evidence Jerry Jones should need.

Don't fire Wade Phillips, Jerry.

Hire him as your defensive coordinator for 2009.

The man may be too soft, too nice, too Sheriff Andy-like—plenty of yucks but no gun—to be a head coach in the NFL, but it's become obvious that he can coach up a defense with the best of them.

Seriously, that's clearly his niche.

Nobody pestering him about disciplining the players and calling him Coach Cupcake. That's the head coach's job.

No dealing with the infernal media on a daily basis, where he regularly runs the risk of being drawn into a battle of wits (and I hate seeing an unarmed man skewered like that). No more turning defensive in front of that mob and seeing his insecurities exposed for all the world to see.

No being held responsible for whatever failures the offense might endure. No more having to explain why his quarterback threw that late fourth-quarter interception to lose the game.

Just coach up the defense. It's what Uncle Wade does best.

Would he swallow his pride and take the job?

Maybe. Maybe not.

One Cowboys insider says there's no way, that Phillips, despite all his accomplishments in professional football, is still far too insecure to be able to handle the idea of a demotion in the same organization where he once was supreme ruler (next to Jerry, of course). And what if he found himself working for Jason Garrett, instead of the other way around?

Yes, that could be sticky.

Me? I think it's definitely something Wade might consider if Jerry talked sweet enough and backed up his words with enough money and made him the highest-paid defensive coordinator in the NFL, as he once made Garrett the league's highest-paid offensive coordinator.

Who knows until that moment comes? What we do know, for the moment at least, is that Mr. Fix-It has done it again. He's fixed this Dallas defense and he's done it his way, with pressure coming from every angle. He has the Cowboys leading the NFL with 53 sacks (the Giants were the league leaders last year with 53 in 16 games) and peaking at the right time.

"We went through those tough games there where the defense had to play, had to play well to stay in the game, and we didn't in a couple of those games," Phillips noted at his regular Monday press briefing. "But we had to get mentally tougher and they found out that, 'Hey, we may have to win games.'

"This team was dependent on the offense for a good while here, probably before I got here. I think the defense at some point this season has stepped to another level and said, 'Hey, we can win games, we can do be just as good as the offense,' and that's a big step."

We know, because he told us so, that Phillips has been calling the defensive signals for at least the last few weeks. When the defense was struggling, it was Brian Stewart. Now that it's hit its stride, it's guess who? But that's kind of petty and irrelevant, really. We all knew that Wade was ultimately responsible for the defense, no matter who he said was making the calls.

It's how the defense is playing now that really matters, because a defense playing like this is fully capable of carrying a team deep into the playoffs.

"We had a good defensive team last year, but I think we've improved and we're getting better," Phillips said. "We made a big step the year before and it looks like we're making another step. That's important for us."

This Cowboys defense has turned into a typical Phillips' 3-4 defense, and if your next question is to wonder how many Super Bowls a Wade Phillips defense has won, you probably already know the answer: zero.

That's because defenses built around pressure are usually vulnerable to the big play. On the other hand, Phillips has the Cowboys shutting down the run first, then bringing the heat.

"We've just established that the other team's not going to run the football pretty early in the game," he said.

"Once you realize they're not going to be able to run the football on you, you can take more chances, you can attack more, you can go up the field more, make calls where they're pass rushing and reacting to the run rather than the regular run recognition and reacting to the pass."

That the Cowboys' defense is beginning to come into its own doesn't seem to particularly surprise Phillips. The way he sees it, it was only a matter of time.

"I just think if you keep the same coaches, the same defense, (then) the coaches get to know the players, the players get to know the system, it just helps," Phillips said. "If you keep changing every year or two, it's a problem and you don't get better. I'd rather just keep the coaches myself.

"Look at Pittsburgh, their defensive coordinator's been there for a long, long time. Tampa, (the coordinator's been there) for a long, long time. It's not whether it's the 3-4 or the 4-3. A lot of it is the continuity."

It may have been totally self-serving, but I couldn't agree more. Keep the coach.

Just give him a new title.