IRVING, Texas — Bill Parcells sure picked a strange time to leave the Dallas Cowboys.

Four years after taking over a broken franchise, Parcells did such a great recovery job that folks were disappointed by a 9-7 record and a wild-card berth last season. More was expected then — and a lot more is expected now considering they have almost the same lineup.

Dallas returns 10 offensive starters from the unit that scored the third-most points in the NFL last season. The only change is an upgrade at right guard — unless you count a new, happy attitude from Terrell Owens. On defense, the personnel hasn't changed much, but the scheme has, going with a formula that's been a big hit everywhere else it's been used.

Oh, yeah. There is that one big switch, in head coaches.

Wade Phillips is the architect of the defense and the new mood-setter. His life-is-good approach has allowed optimism to flourish.

"I think we have every right to think that we will be a better team than we were last year," said team owner Jerry Jones, who has sworn off bold preseason prognostications since some wild misses in the pre-Parcells era.

Phillips brings impeccable credentials as a coordinator and a winning record as a head coach. He's even got deep roots in the Lone Star State. The only thing his resume lacks is the one thing the Cowboys need most: playoff success.

Dallas hasn't won a postseason game since 1996. Phillips has never won a playoff game in five years as a head coach. In fact, the new coach and his club could compare psychological scars to see who had the most painful postseason loss: Phillips' Bills on the "Music City Miracle" in 1999, or the Cowboys in Seattle a few months ago when Tony Romo botched the hold on a short go-ahead field goal in the final minutes.

Romo has bounced back just fine from his teary locker-room mea culpa. Playing in the Pro Bowl, judging the Miss Universe pageant and teeing off in a celebrity golf tournament would speed anyone's recovery.

It also helps that Romo came back as the unquestioned starter. (And, he's no longer the holder; new backup Brad Johnson has the job.)

Dallas could have drafted Brady Quinn, and maybe even should have, considering the expected top 10 pick was available at No. 22. With Romo still unproven — he started 5-1, then finished 1-4 — and his contract up this year, the Cowboys would've been hedging their bets with the Notre Dame product.

Instead, Jones sent the pick to Cleveland for a 2008 first-rounder and came away with linebacker Anthony Spencer, who'll start opposite DeMarcus Ware in place of the injured Greg Ellis.