Texans' Wade Phillips would like a head-coaching gig

• Phillips has led the Texans defense to a dramatic turnaround in his two seasons.
• Phillips owns a .581 winning percentage as a head coach with an 83-64 record, including playoffs.
• Phillips doesn't believe he'll get another shot at being a head coach because of his age and past.

HOUSTON -- Wade Phillips is exacting his best revenge.

His Houston Texans defense leads the league in scoring defense, allowing a stingy 14 points per game.

The 4-0 Texans face the free-falling 2-2 New York Jets on Monday night in a chance for Phillips, 65, to send one last shot across the league's bow.

Fired as Dallas Cowboys coach after a 1-7 start in his fourth season working for Jerry Jones, Phillips wants one last shot as top dog.

He owns a .581 winning percentage as a head coach with an 83-64 record, including playoffs.

Prior to last season, Texans owner Bob McNair hired him to replace the fired Frank Bush, and Phillips energized a defensive transformation from 30th in yards allowed to second.

His players love the guy and respond to his humble, straight-forward, self-deprectating way. Phillips puts them in the best position to make plays and if they mess up, blames himself.

The son of iconic 89-year-old former Houston Oilers head coach Bum Phillips, Wade would love to get one last shot to show what he can do as sideline head of a franchise.

"I'd love to be a head coach again,'' Phillips told USA TODAY Sports. "I don't think I'll get that opportunity. I think just age. And I think people tend to think I wasn't successful as a head coach but only as a defensive coordinator.

"They don't look at my record. They say, 'Oh, you got fired here. You got fired there. So you're not a good head coach.'

"But that's all right, I love it here.''

Phillips served as then-Denver Broncos head coach Dan Reeves' defensive coordinator in 1989-1991 when now Texans coach Gary Kubiak was John Elway's backup.