Getting Perspective on the Tuna
by Yakuza Rich
After the 1996 season Bill Parcells left the New England Patriots to take over the New York Jets. The Patriots decided to hire current USC head coach, Pete Carroll, to take over. While most in the New England area acknowledged the quality job that Parcells did in rebuilding the organization, Carroll represented a breath of fresh air by many in the New England media, the fans, and some of the players. Ten years later the Dallas Cowboys find themselves in a somewhat similar position with Wade Phillips having taken over.
You’ve heard the complaints by now. The defense was unimaginative. The blitzes were about as well disguised as a pink flamingo on the front lawn. Julius Jones ran like a robot, and Owens didn’t learn a thing from Parcells. But recently we’ve heard a possible snap back from Parcells quoted as saying that Owens “wasn’t my decision” and possibly throwing Jerry Jones under a bus or at least a hatchback.
Anytime an old coach leaves without having great success, the fans are going to champion the new coach. The writers seemingly can’t make up their mind. Jen Willy Engel wants to put Parcells as some type of martyr, yet she was the same writer who treated him like he was the anti-christ when the team signed Owens. Jean Jaques-Taylor seems to be glad he’s gone. Randy Galloway is still a waste of time. And nobody cares what Tim MacMahon writes.
But the main issue as I see it is that the Parcells era in Dallas is not black and white. And it’s something that should be put into perspective. Record wise, he did pretty well at improving the team. They went from an average of 5 wins per season under Dave Campo to 8.5 wins per season under Parcells. Under Campo, the Cowboys ranked an average of 28th in offensive ranking according to footballoutsiders.com’s DPAR ranking (and the ranking got worse each season). Under Parcells, the offense’s average ranking was 15th (and got better each season). Defensively the average ranking was 19th under Campo and it was 15th under Parcells. But the operative phrase is “improving the team” since Parcells certainly didn’t meet the standards to what he was paid for or what Dallas fans expect.
Generally Parcells drafted well. But they made a huge mistake in 2004 by passing up on Steven Jackson and instead taking Julius Jones and subsequently Marcus Spears. Even worse was the drafting of Jacob Rogers whom the current head of scouting Jeff Ireland warned him not to take. Even in 2005 there was a gaffe made as Dallas needed to look at offensive tackle and passed up on Khalif Barnes to take Kevin Burnett. If Dallas takes Barnes instead, they probably make the playoffs in 2005 and don’t have to worry about replacing Flozell Adams.
But the key moment that got me was Parcells claiming the Owens signing “wasn’t my decision.” Perhaps it was taken out of context (and writer Gary Myers is a bit infamous for doing just that), but it at least gives the perception that Owens has been a bad signing.
From a footballoutsiders.com perspective, Owens still did quite well. He finished with a 28.3 DPAR (statistical number for a season total basis) which ranked him 8th for all WR’s. He finished with a 12.2% DVOA (stat based on a per play basis) which ranked him 28th for WR’s. On the flip side Keyshawn Johnson had an average DPAR of 15.2 and an average DVOA of 6.3%. Quite a difference considering Owens was playing in a completely new offense and had an injured hand.
But that wasn’t all of Parcells’ poor personnel decisions. He could be counted on for guys like Toby Gowin, Ryan Young, Jon Condo, Marcellus Wiley, Chad Eaton, and others. Not to mention keeping around and trying to make starters of players like Pete Hunter and Tony Dixon, keeping Mike Zimmer around, and the dreaded kicker situation.
In the end it wasn’t like he was batting 1.000 with his decisions. Hell, he wasn’t even batting like Ted Williams. He was more like Derek Jeter. The Cowboys fans should be thankful for his time here and how he improved the franchise, but his era in Big D certainly isn’t above criticism. For now, I’m ready to let the Wade Phillips to begin.
After the 1996 season Bill Parcells left the New England Patriots to take over the New York Jets. The Patriots decided to hire current USC head coach, Pete Carroll, to take over. While most in the New England area acknowledged the quality job that Parcells did in rebuilding the organization, Carroll represented a breath of fresh air by many in the New England media, the fans, and some of the players. Ten years later the Dallas Cowboys find themselves in a somewhat similar position with Wade Phillips having taken over.
You’ve heard the complaints by now. The defense was unimaginative. The blitzes were about as well disguised as a pink flamingo on the front lawn. Julius Jones ran like a robot, and Owens didn’t learn a thing from Parcells. But recently we’ve heard a possible snap back from Parcells quoted as saying that Owens “wasn’t my decision” and possibly throwing Jerry Jones under a bus or at least a hatchback.
Anytime an old coach leaves without having great success, the fans are going to champion the new coach. The writers seemingly can’t make up their mind. Jen Willy Engel wants to put Parcells as some type of martyr, yet she was the same writer who treated him like he was the anti-christ when the team signed Owens. Jean Jaques-Taylor seems to be glad he’s gone. Randy Galloway is still a waste of time. And nobody cares what Tim MacMahon writes.
But the main issue as I see it is that the Parcells era in Dallas is not black and white. And it’s something that should be put into perspective. Record wise, he did pretty well at improving the team. They went from an average of 5 wins per season under Dave Campo to 8.5 wins per season under Parcells. Under Campo, the Cowboys ranked an average of 28th in offensive ranking according to footballoutsiders.com’s DPAR ranking (and the ranking got worse each season). Under Parcells, the offense’s average ranking was 15th (and got better each season). Defensively the average ranking was 19th under Campo and it was 15th under Parcells. But the operative phrase is “improving the team” since Parcells certainly didn’t meet the standards to what he was paid for or what Dallas fans expect.
Generally Parcells drafted well. But they made a huge mistake in 2004 by passing up on Steven Jackson and instead taking Julius Jones and subsequently Marcus Spears. Even worse was the drafting of Jacob Rogers whom the current head of scouting Jeff Ireland warned him not to take. Even in 2005 there was a gaffe made as Dallas needed to look at offensive tackle and passed up on Khalif Barnes to take Kevin Burnett. If Dallas takes Barnes instead, they probably make the playoffs in 2005 and don’t have to worry about replacing Flozell Adams.
But the key moment that got me was Parcells claiming the Owens signing “wasn’t my decision.” Perhaps it was taken out of context (and writer Gary Myers is a bit infamous for doing just that), but it at least gives the perception that Owens has been a bad signing.
From a footballoutsiders.com perspective, Owens still did quite well. He finished with a 28.3 DPAR (statistical number for a season total basis) which ranked him 8th for all WR’s. He finished with a 12.2% DVOA (stat based on a per play basis) which ranked him 28th for WR’s. On the flip side Keyshawn Johnson had an average DPAR of 15.2 and an average DVOA of 6.3%. Quite a difference considering Owens was playing in a completely new offense and had an injured hand.
But that wasn’t all of Parcells’ poor personnel decisions. He could be counted on for guys like Toby Gowin, Ryan Young, Jon Condo, Marcellus Wiley, Chad Eaton, and others. Not to mention keeping around and trying to make starters of players like Pete Hunter and Tony Dixon, keeping Mike Zimmer around, and the dreaded kicker situation.
In the end it wasn’t like he was batting 1.000 with his decisions. Hell, he wasn’t even batting like Ted Williams. He was more like Derek Jeter. The Cowboys fans should be thankful for his time here and how he improved the franchise, but his era in Big D certainly isn’t above criticism. For now, I’m ready to let the Wade Phillips to begin.
posted by The Gryphon at 8:21 PM
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