On the NFL: Making all the right moves in Minnesota and Dallas

IRVING, TEXAS — The team owners in Sunday's NFC divisional playoff game should take an on-field bow before the game.

If this were "American Idol," they'd both run screaming from the Metrodome waving a yellow ticket to Hollywood. Or at least Miami for Super Bowl XLIV.

Despite the NFL's smallest piggy bank, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf has given coach Brad Childress and vice president of player personnel Rick Spielman every expensive, hard-to-find toy they've ever truly wanted.

A $74 million pass rusher? Check.

A $25 million retired quarterback with torn biceps and a 40th birthday around the corner? Sure, why not.

Every move has worked. And even the one toy that eluded the longing gazes of Childress and Spielman -- receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh -- eventually became a blessing in the form of Plan B: drafting receiver Percy Harvin in the first round.

Meanwhile, in Dallas, it's hard to criticize Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as a meddling, egotistical owner who's doomed to fail without a football guy to run his team. That would be ignoring what the Cowboys have become since 2007, when coach Bill Parcells and vice president of scouting Jeff Ireland left.

"We knew we had a lot of good, young players coming into this season," Phillips said Thursday. "And we brought in some [veteran] guys we felt would make a difference also. And we hit on all of them, really. So that was a good thing."

Reporters around here say Parcells often used the term "progress stoppers" to describe aging veterans who still had some value today but maybe none a week from today. The Cowboys unloaded a bunch of progress stoppers this past offseason, and it's one of the reasons they won the NFC East and ended a 12-season playoff victory drought.

Terrell Owens had a league-high 38 touchdown catches from 2005 to '07. But he also was 35 and came with well-publicized baggage. Had Owens not been released, Miles Austin, 25, never would have emerged as a Pro Bowl receiver.

Outside linebacker Greg Ellis had 20 1/2 sacks from 2007 to '08. But he was 34. Had Ellis not been released, Anthony Spencer wouldn't have emerged as Phil Loadholt's worst nightmare and a guy who has seven sacks over the past seven games.

Nickel back Pacman Jones and his attitude were dumped. In stepped Orlando Scandrick, 22. Cornerback Anthony Henry, a 33-year-old who had six interceptions in 2007, left. In stepped Mike Jenkins, a 24-year-old Favre said "is going to be a superstar in this league for a long time."

"Working with Jerry is great," Phillips said. "He's a football man, and the good thing is there's no middle man. A lot of places, you have to go through the general manager to the owner. Getting things done is sometimes hard to do. Here, you can talk straight to Jerry.

"And he's a great listener. If you have the right reasons, he'll go with it. If you can't give him a good enough reason to do something, then you probably shouldn't do it anyway."

It's obvious Wilf and Jones are serious about winning the Super Bowl. For the Cowboys, it would be their sixth title overall and Jones' fourth. For the Vikings, it would be ... well, I think you know what it would be.

"You need an owner who wants to win," Phillips said. "Jerry doesn't get into calling our plays or any of that, but he does want to do whatever it takes to win. And that means spending money sometimes."