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I've got a TON to say so let's get at it
Where Do I Begin??
Despite
media scuttlebutt to the contrary, expect frustrated
coach Parcells to be back with Cowboys in ‘05
The big talk around Dallas last week — in
the media and among fans, that is — was the
possibility of Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells
deciding to quit his job and perhaps retire.
What we’re hearing: Don’t
count on it.
Although Parcells was given
ample chance last week to put the rumors to bed
for good and failed to do so, one source close to
the team put the chances of Parcells returning in
2005 at “about 95 percent or better.”
Other sources agree. “He won't get out,”
one scout told PFW. “Everything they've done
is geared towards next year.”
The Cowboys traded their first-round
pick last season, netting a No. 2 in the 2004 draft,
which was used to take RB Julius Jones, and an extra
No. 1 pick in ’05 from the Bills, which could
end up being a top-10 pick. They also traded for
QB-of-the-future Drew Henson, who lacks experience
but has tremendous upside after a failed baseball
career.
“(They) passed on (Rams
RB) Steven Jackson (in the draft) and secured a
first-round pick,” one NFL scout said. “They’re
going to have two (number) ones to work with next
year, and with where they are going to get them
at, (those picks) could be immediate factors.”
What has led fans and media
to the assumption that Parcells would leave was
some strong language — and body language —
following the team’s Week Nine loss at Cincinnati
when he said about his team: “We’re
too stupid” and that his players “just
don’t get it.”
There was more about the source
— other than, of course, the team’s
losing record — of his frustration: “Probably
more so because I feel like I’m having trouble
with elementary things,” Parcells said the
week after the Cincy loss. “Now, you know,
either I’m not communicating right or they're
not paying enough attention. One of the two, and
I assume it’s me.”
Parcells has turned the blame
on himself more than once this season, and he has
never allowed himself to be the scapegoat in the
past without fixing the problem first. One pro personnel
director told PFW earlier this season that Parcells
was aware he didn’t have an overly talented
team this year, and that good execution and smarter
play allowed them to win 10 games in Parcells’
first season in Dallas. The thinking inside Valley
Ranch is that the coach is trying to toughen up
his team, knowing that it will be younger and more
talented next season.
In addition, Parcells’
coaching history has never indicated that he has
given up after a frustrating second season with
a team. In 1994, his second season coaching the
Patriots, Parcells’ team started with a 3-6
record — identical to Dallas’ mark prior
to Week 11 — and finished the season with
seven straight wins before losing in the playoffs
to Bill Belichick’s Browns. In ’99,
when Parcells was leading the Jets, the team started
the season 1-6 before finishing 8-8. Although it
was his final year coaching the team, Parcells stayed
with the organization another two seasons in the
front office.
“When he left the Jets
and they were struggling,” the scout said,
“he knew he was going to get back into coaching.
The (Cowboys) job will most likely be his last hurrah.
He still has a lot to prove. He won’t go out
a loser on his own terms.”
He Said What???
Dolphins CB Sam Madison quoted
in the Miami Herald on still respecting future Hall
of Fame WR Jerry Rice when Madison and Miami face
Rice and Seattle this weekend: “If he lines
up against me, I’m going to treat it like
it was 10 years ago when he was a prime receiver.
That’s because mentally he knows what he needs
to do to get it done, but his pinkie toe might not
be letting him anymore. But for one play that pinkie
toe might line up just right for him and say, ‘You’re
ready to go, Mr. Rice.’ And if I’m not
ready to perform on that play, he can still hurt
you.”
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick
quoted in the Boston Globe on how dangerous the
Chiefs are despite their 3-6 record: “They
are more than in every game. They are coming down
to the last possession, the last couple of plays,
and it just hasn’t gone their way. Last year
(when the Chiefs began 9-0), it did. A play here,
a play there, they could easily be 9-0. Just like
they were last year.”
Belichick quoted in the Boston
Herald reacting to the flap about Terrell Owens’
opening skit for last Monday night’s game:
“If preserving the integrity of the game and
presenting it in the right way involves getting
lower ratings, then that’s what we’re
going to have to accept. If that’s what we
have to do, if that’s the deal, then that’s
the deal. This can’t become the XFL.”
Now
get back to work...
Wager
On Football Writer Ray Monohan is an NFL analyst
with 10+ years of experience covering the NFL. He
provides a great perspective on the NFL with player
and team insight unmatched in the NFL football betting
industry.
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