Parcells tacitly approves Owens signing
Sport Illustrated
Living in harmony
Silent Parcells tacitly approves Owens signing
I'm writing about Terrell Owens again. Many of you, I'm sure, will quickly click to my next page or -- and this may serve me right -- just click away from this column entirely. I understand. You want the media to stop the madness, stop writing about T.O. until he does something that merits our attention.
Before I make my main point, let me hand out my one T.O. Opinion of the Week. Owens is "writing'' his second autobiography in as many years. Simon & Schuster is publishing it. Reputable firm -- until this agreement, that is. What S&S should do is hand out a coupon with each book for a free session with a neurologist, because you need to have your head examined if you pay for a second book by Owens to read whatever self-serving things he has to say.
Now for the reason I'm writing about him again. There's a perception out there that the signing of Owens was all the doing of Dallas owner Jerry Jones, and that coach Bill Parcells, conspicuously silent in the 16 days since Owens became a Cowboy, doesn't like the deal. The line of thinking goes that Parcells has been saying for years that he's too old to take the kind of guff he'd have to take from a guy like Owens, so he wouldn't have favored the signing.
I'm told, reliably, that Parcells was given a chance to put the kibosh on the signing on two occasions -- once by Jones and once by his son, Dallas chief operating officer Stephen Jones -- and both times he refused. Jerry Jones told me about one of the occasions at last week's NFL owners' meetings.
"Bill not being in favor of the deal, nothing can be further from the truth,'' Jones said in his suite. "In fact, just before we signed Terrell, the same day we signed him, I called Bill just to alert him and to be sure we were all OK with this. I said, 'Now, I'm about to hit it [sign him], and if you don't want me to hit it, tell me now.' He said, 'No, no, go ahead. I'm with you.'''
Parcells genuinely likes Jones. He thinks he's trying to help the team. Sometimes I think Parcells' regard for Jones surprises even Parcells, who has never been a fan of intrusive owners. But he likes Jones because the owner puts his blood and sweat into the franchise, he's around all the time and he won't do anything football-wise that Parcells does not favor.
I can tell you this: Theirs is the kind of relationship that would preclude Jones from forcing a player on Parcells whom Parcells would not want. Even though Dallas had to get rid of Keyshawn Johnson, in essence, to make room for Owens, and Parcells is a Keyshawn backer, that doesn't mean the coach was against the Johnson whacking and acquisition of Owens. Parcells is a bottom-liner. If Owens is going to be a better player for the team than Johnson, and the team can survive the T.O. tornado, get him in here.
Parcells will be 65 on opening day. This could well be his last year coaching. If he doesn't come back in 2007, it's conceivable that Jones could give him the kind of golden parachute -- somewhere in the range of $5 million -- that he could take into semi-retirement in, say, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., the same kind of gold watch Jones gave former Dallas coach Jimmy Johnson when they got their ugly divorce 12 years ago. Parcells understands his role in this: Tame the wild Owens for at least one year and get the most out of him. In my mind, there's no doubt Parcells thinks he can do this. And it's likely Owens won't be that hard to deal with in his first year anyway.
I won't call this a match made in heaven. But I will call it the missing piece Dallas desperately needs to be a Super Bowl contender in 2006. Jones knows it and I think Parcells knows it. He might be irascible and surly when he gets around to meeting the press about Owens, but get this straight: He signed off on it.
Living in harmony
Silent Parcells tacitly approves Owens signing
I'm writing about Terrell Owens again. Many of you, I'm sure, will quickly click to my next page or -- and this may serve me right -- just click away from this column entirely. I understand. You want the media to stop the madness, stop writing about T.O. until he does something that merits our attention.
Before I make my main point, let me hand out my one T.O. Opinion of the Week. Owens is "writing'' his second autobiography in as many years. Simon & Schuster is publishing it. Reputable firm -- until this agreement, that is. What S&S should do is hand out a coupon with each book for a free session with a neurologist, because you need to have your head examined if you pay for a second book by Owens to read whatever self-serving things he has to say.
Now for the reason I'm writing about him again. There's a perception out there that the signing of Owens was all the doing of Dallas owner Jerry Jones, and that coach Bill Parcells, conspicuously silent in the 16 days since Owens became a Cowboy, doesn't like the deal. The line of thinking goes that Parcells has been saying for years that he's too old to take the kind of guff he'd have to take from a guy like Owens, so he wouldn't have favored the signing.
I'm told, reliably, that Parcells was given a chance to put the kibosh on the signing on two occasions -- once by Jones and once by his son, Dallas chief operating officer Stephen Jones -- and both times he refused. Jerry Jones told me about one of the occasions at last week's NFL owners' meetings.
"Bill not being in favor of the deal, nothing can be further from the truth,'' Jones said in his suite. "In fact, just before we signed Terrell, the same day we signed him, I called Bill just to alert him and to be sure we were all OK with this. I said, 'Now, I'm about to hit it [sign him], and if you don't want me to hit it, tell me now.' He said, 'No, no, go ahead. I'm with you.'''
Parcells genuinely likes Jones. He thinks he's trying to help the team. Sometimes I think Parcells' regard for Jones surprises even Parcells, who has never been a fan of intrusive owners. But he likes Jones because the owner puts his blood and sweat into the franchise, he's around all the time and he won't do anything football-wise that Parcells does not favor.
I can tell you this: Theirs is the kind of relationship that would preclude Jones from forcing a player on Parcells whom Parcells would not want. Even though Dallas had to get rid of Keyshawn Johnson, in essence, to make room for Owens, and Parcells is a Keyshawn backer, that doesn't mean the coach was against the Johnson whacking and acquisition of Owens. Parcells is a bottom-liner. If Owens is going to be a better player for the team than Johnson, and the team can survive the T.O. tornado, get him in here.
Parcells will be 65 on opening day. This could well be his last year coaching. If he doesn't come back in 2007, it's conceivable that Jones could give him the kind of golden parachute -- somewhere in the range of $5 million -- that he could take into semi-retirement in, say, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., the same kind of gold watch Jones gave former Dallas coach Jimmy Johnson when they got their ugly divorce 12 years ago. Parcells understands his role in this: Tame the wild Owens for at least one year and get the most out of him. In my mind, there's no doubt Parcells thinks he can do this. And it's likely Owens won't be that hard to deal with in his first year anyway.
I won't call this a match made in heaven. But I will call it the missing piece Dallas desperately needs to be a Super Bowl contender in 2006. Jones knows it and I think Parcells knows it. He might be irascible and surly when he gets around to meeting the press about Owens, but get this straight: He signed off on it.
posted by The Gryphon at 7:54 PM
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