Big Bill still in charge?
By Jim Reeves
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
It's easy to get distracted by the T.O. phenomenon. Lately, it's been all T.O., all the time, which is exactly the way he likes it.
Don't fall for it. Contrary to what Terrell Owens would like you to believe, he's not the most critical factor to a successful Cowboys season in 2006.
Not even close.
That distinction falls instead to one Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells and the question that has hovered around the Cowboys like a black cloud since he finally broke his silence and addressed the Owens signing publicly for the first time back in May
Does Parcells run this team or not?
If he does, then all the prognosticators, all the preseason magazines, all the NFL media experts who are predicting success for the Cowboys this season may well be proven right.
If he doesn't, then all hell will break loose and all the king's horses and all the king's men, much less Jerry Jones, won't be able to put the Cowboys back together again.
Is Big Bill large and in charge or not?
That's the question that begs an answer as the Cowboys open camp at Oxnard, Calif., on Saturday.
Based on the statements he made at his May news conference, the answer is "not," and that's very bad news for the Cowboys and their fans.
Let's review those comments for a moment.
"Contrary to what people have been writing, we work as a team here -- we really do -- Jerry, Jeff and myself," Parcells told an astonished media audience that dark day in May. "We make decisions as an organization.
"We do it collectively more now than ever. Whatever decisions we make, we all support and I support whatever decisions we make in the organization."
Sounds so sweet and cuddly, doesn't it? Just call Big Bill, Jerry and vice president of scouting Jeff Ireland the Three Musketeers. All for one and one for all.
Almost makes it easy to forget that Parcells, on his way out the door in New England because he didn't feel like he had complete control of personnel matters, once turned a cutesy phrase into an NFL axiom.
"They want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries," he groused.
So who served up T.O. as the Cowboys' main entrée for 2006? And is it really that important?
I happen to think so. Parcells has been most successful in this league when he's calling the personnel shots. The head coach doing just that, in fact, is a recognized common denominator for success in the NFL, a point that was recently emphasized in an article on Nick Saban's Miami Dolphins in the July 3 Sports Illustrated.
"You're not really controlling your own destiny if you don't control all the factors," Saban said of his total control of the Dolphins.
Owner Wayne Huizenga's recruiting pitch to Saban: "I'm looking for another Don Shula."
"If I hire somebody to run one of my companies," Huizenga told SI, "I wouldn't tell him he can't hire his own people."
It was assumed that was the same bait Jones used to lure Parcells out of retirement three years ago. If so, the ground rules may have changed with the Owens signing.
"We don't make individual decisions here on any subject," Parcells said in May. "We talk things over...we talk to everyone and collectively come to a decision, and that's what we did here.
"I say I support it and that's the way we go."
Of course, saying he supports a decision and actually doing so are two different things, something Parcells appeared to acknowledge with his final statement on the subject.
"Yeah, I can be overruled," he said.
So was Parcells overruled on Owens? Depends on whom you talk to and how you read between the lines of his statements.
SI's Peter King wrote a few weeks after the Owens signing that a reliable source told him that Parcells twice had the chance to "put the kibosh" on the signing, once by Jerry, once by Stephen Jones, and declined to do so.
"Bill not being in favor of the deal, nothing can be further from the truth," the Cowboys owner said, according to King. "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 Owens], and if you don't want me to hit it, tell me now.' He said, 'No, no, go ahead, I'm with you.'"
New York Daily News NFL beat man Gary Myers had a bit different perspective a couple of weeks after the signing, suggesting that Parcells signing off on Owens wasn't quite the same as him being on board with it.
He also had this quote from an NFL source.
"I think it's going to be a bit of a struggle," the unidentified executive said. "It all depends on Owens. If he's been humbled at all by his experience in Philadelphia, it may be OK initially.
"Ultimately, they will be in for trouble. It may be a good indication that Bill only intends to stay for another year. Maybe he feels he can deal with him one year. No way long term."
That's why Parcells is the Cowboys' biggest question mark going into this season, because if he doesn't have the final word on personnel decisions, it will only hasten his departure from Dallas. If anything, Big Bill signing off on Owens may merely show how desperate he is to win again before he hangs up his whistle.
T.O.? T.O. will be fine. Owens is no better than third on the list of potential problems -- behind Parcells and keeping quarterback Drew Bledsoe healthy -- because he has his money, he's a superb athlete, and he got what he wanted in forcing his way out of Philadelphia.
Hard as it is to believe, the Cowboys actually face bigger problems than Terrell Owens in their immediate future.
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
It's easy to get distracted by the T.O. phenomenon. Lately, it's been all T.O., all the time, which is exactly the way he likes it.
Don't fall for it. Contrary to what Terrell Owens would like you to believe, he's not the most critical factor to a successful Cowboys season in 2006.
Not even close.
That distinction falls instead to one Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells and the question that has hovered around the Cowboys like a black cloud since he finally broke his silence and addressed the Owens signing publicly for the first time back in May
Does Parcells run this team or not?
If he does, then all the prognosticators, all the preseason magazines, all the NFL media experts who are predicting success for the Cowboys this season may well be proven right.
If he doesn't, then all hell will break loose and all the king's horses and all the king's men, much less Jerry Jones, won't be able to put the Cowboys back together again.
Is Big Bill large and in charge or not?
That's the question that begs an answer as the Cowboys open camp at Oxnard, Calif., on Saturday.
Based on the statements he made at his May news conference, the answer is "not," and that's very bad news for the Cowboys and their fans.
Let's review those comments for a moment.
"Contrary to what people have been writing, we work as a team here -- we really do -- Jerry, Jeff and myself," Parcells told an astonished media audience that dark day in May. "We make decisions as an organization.
"We do it collectively more now than ever. Whatever decisions we make, we all support and I support whatever decisions we make in the organization."
Sounds so sweet and cuddly, doesn't it? Just call Big Bill, Jerry and vice president of scouting Jeff Ireland the Three Musketeers. All for one and one for all.
Almost makes it easy to forget that Parcells, on his way out the door in New England because he didn't feel like he had complete control of personnel matters, once turned a cutesy phrase into an NFL axiom.
"They want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries," he groused.
So who served up T.O. as the Cowboys' main entrée for 2006? And is it really that important?
I happen to think so. Parcells has been most successful in this league when he's calling the personnel shots. The head coach doing just that, in fact, is a recognized common denominator for success in the NFL, a point that was recently emphasized in an article on Nick Saban's Miami Dolphins in the July 3 Sports Illustrated.
"You're not really controlling your own destiny if you don't control all the factors," Saban said of his total control of the Dolphins.
Owner Wayne Huizenga's recruiting pitch to Saban: "I'm looking for another Don Shula."
"If I hire somebody to run one of my companies," Huizenga told SI, "I wouldn't tell him he can't hire his own people."
It was assumed that was the same bait Jones used to lure Parcells out of retirement three years ago. If so, the ground rules may have changed with the Owens signing.
"We don't make individual decisions here on any subject," Parcells said in May. "We talk things over...we talk to everyone and collectively come to a decision, and that's what we did here.
"I say I support it and that's the way we go."
Of course, saying he supports a decision and actually doing so are two different things, something Parcells appeared to acknowledge with his final statement on the subject.
"Yeah, I can be overruled," he said.
So was Parcells overruled on Owens? Depends on whom you talk to and how you read between the lines of his statements.
SI's Peter King wrote a few weeks after the Owens signing that a reliable source told him that Parcells twice had the chance to "put the kibosh" on the signing, once by Jerry, once by Stephen Jones, and declined to do so.
"Bill not being in favor of the deal, nothing can be further from the truth," the Cowboys owner said, according to King. "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 Owens], and if you don't want me to hit it, tell me now.' He said, 'No, no, go ahead, I'm with you.'"
New York Daily News NFL beat man Gary Myers had a bit different perspective a couple of weeks after the signing, suggesting that Parcells signing off on Owens wasn't quite the same as him being on board with it.
He also had this quote from an NFL source.
"I think it's going to be a bit of a struggle," the unidentified executive said. "It all depends on Owens. If he's been humbled at all by his experience in Philadelphia, it may be OK initially.
"Ultimately, they will be in for trouble. It may be a good indication that Bill only intends to stay for another year. Maybe he feels he can deal with him one year. No way long term."
That's why Parcells is the Cowboys' biggest question mark going into this season, because if he doesn't have the final word on personnel decisions, it will only hasten his departure from Dallas. If anything, Big Bill signing off on Owens may merely show how desperate he is to win again before he hangs up his whistle.
T.O.? T.O. will be fine. Owens is no better than third on the list of potential problems -- behind Parcells and keeping quarterback Drew Bledsoe healthy -- because he has his money, he's a superb athlete, and he got what he wanted in forcing his way out of Philadelphia.
Hard as it is to believe, the Cowboys actually face bigger problems than Terrell Owens in their immediate future.
posted by The Gryphon at 10:03 AM
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