Wade Phillips, who was fired as Dallas Cowboys coach in early November after the team's 1-7 start, has emerged as a candidate to become the Houston Texans' defensive coordinator, according to several league sources. The sources indicated Wednesday they are picking up signals that coach Gary Kubiak could end up keeping his job with the Texans despite their 5-10 record, which includes losing eight of their past nine games. If Kubiak does stay, Phillips would be a front-runner to take over the defense, which ranks last against the pass (277.1 yards per game) and 29th overall (380.6 yards per game) this season under coordinator Frank Bush. Former Oilers coach Bum Phillips -- Wade Phillips' 87-year-old father -- and ex-Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini attended Wednesday's practice and urged Texans owner Bob McNair to retain Kubiak despite the team's nosedive this season. Phillips also might have put in a good word for his son, whom he said is eager to land another job. "Wade doesn't know how to enjoy anything but football," said Bum Phillips, who had lunch with McNair and Texans general manager Rick Smith after practice. "A lot of people, if they don't have football, they play golf or they gamble a lot, or go fishing. He doesn't care about any of that. All he cares about is football. As long as he feels that way, I'm sure he'll stay in it." Source: NFL.com
