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Parcells era in Dallas didn't add up to much

From Sports Illustrated:

Is that all there was? Did the entire Bill Parcells in Dallas era add up to nothing more than a ho-hum 34-32 record and a pair of playoff losses in four years? Talk about much ado about very little. So much hype. So much hoopla. But a bit light on the fulfilled promise.

Parcells walked away from the NFL again Monday, and this time it sounds like it's for good. But how can we ever be sure with the Tuna? His retirement sagas have been going on for 16 years now, starting when he left the league the first time, in the wake of the Giants' stirring 20-19 win over Buffalo in January 1991's Super Bowl XXV.

Parcells kept chasing that elusive third Super Bowl ring -- first in New England, then with the Jets, and finally in Dallas -- but without success. If this is really it, let the record show he hadn't led a team to the Super Bowl in 10 years (the Patriots, in Super Bowl XXXI), hadn't won a playoff game since the Jets defeated Jacksonville in the divisional round in 1998, and hadn't won more than 10 regular season games since those '98 Jets went 12-4 and made it to the AFC title game.

He's a Hall of Fame coach to be sure, but he didn't exactly add to his legacy with his final round-up in Dallas. Parcells' Cowboys were never dominant, and try as he might to prove that he could win the Super Bowl without the aid of a Bill Belichick-coached defense, he never even got close to reaching that goal.

He leaves Dallas better off than when he arrived -- the Cowboys were 5-11 in the three seasons before Parcells -- but the team's 9-7, one-and-done playoff appearance this season hardly resembled a dynasty in the making. After surging to an 8-4 mark and first place in the NFC East on the strength of Tony Romo-mania, the Cowboys looked poised to make some real noise in the watered-down NFC. Parcells even had that old twinkle in his eye when he talked about his team's playoff chances and where its 2006 season might be headed.

But it all came undone in December as Romo's game regressed, the secondary slumped in embarrassing fashion, and Parcells appeared almost powerless to stop the slide. Dallas lost three of its last four games, with all the defeats coming at home, as the Saints, Eagles and, most galling of all, the always tame Lions humbled the Cowboys at Texas Stadium.

Dallas still made the playoffs -- it was hard to avoid them in the NFC this season -- but its first-round loss at Seattle seemed to perfectly sum up how the ride had ended for these Cowboys, with Romo losing his grip and his magic touch at the worst possible time.

If that was our last look at Parcells in coaching mode, then our lingering image will be of him walking off the field in Seattle, a stunned look in his eyes, and all of his 65 years showing in the deepening lines on his face.

It was not the script or the ending Parcells envisioned for himself when he accepted Jerry Jones' offer and the challenge of rebuilding America's Team. He goes out with great fanfare, but with his greatest successes being a long way in the past.

For Parcells, Dallas was not the denouement that we expected.

Comments

  • perkdogperkdog Posts: 29,357 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Parcells did not get the job done in big D. Can anyone bring another championship to the Cowboys? They are way off from the Aikman, Smith and Irvin show, not to mention those teams had an incredible line on both sides of the ball.


  • << <i>Parcells did not get the job done in big D. Can anyone bring another championship to the Cowboys? They are way off from the Aikman, Smith and Irvin show, not to mention those teams had an incredible line on both sides of the ball. >>




    It can be done, they just have to get the right people to do it. This has to be embarassing for Jerry Jones,
    he wants to win so badly. The Cowboys have a new very impressive stadium opening in 2009 and I'm
    sure that Jerry wants an impressive rather than just a ho hum team in there.

    I doubt he will go with an unknown but open the bank vault wide in order to get a successful coach from
    either the college or pro ranks.
  • Let's face facts, Parcells didn't walk into a contender, he didn't even walk into a competitor. He helped right that franchise, and had stuck around for another season there's a very good chance he would've made it to the SB. Hell, there was an excellent chance this season.
    Collecting;
    Mark Mulder rookies
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    Lawrence Taylor
    Sam Huff
    Lavar Arrington
    NY Giants
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    1950s-1960s Topps NY Giants Team cards

    Looking for Topps rookies as well.

    References:
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  • grote15grote15 Posts: 29,480 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Bottom line is Parcells hadn't won a playoff game in a decade and after watching him coach this season I just don't think he had the edge and fire he once had. I think Dallas will be better off in the long run if they pick the right guy to replace him.


    Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
  • Bosox1976Bosox1976 Posts: 8,528 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Tuna restored respectability. With a better QB than Romo was (in weeks 13-16 & playoff) and some better DB's (coverage) they could have gone much deeper. Like when Gruden took over Dungy's Bucs, this is a team that is close to upper echelon. Parcells got them from point A to point b. Commendable, but not what Dallas fans hoped for.
    Mike
    Bosox1976
  • stevekstevek Posts: 27,582 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Great coaches get old, like everybody, and don't have that "edge" any longer over the competition. In my view Parcells was clearly no longer a great coach when he joined the Cowboys, and it wasn't even close. Good coach, yes - great coach, no. He's a Hall of Famer of course but it's actually good to see him get out now. No disrespect, of course not, to guys like Tom Landry and Don Shula, but they hung around too long after their coaching skills were no longer a match for some of the "younger" coaches.
  • Parcells left the Giants and was just an over inflated azz from then on!! He ruined the Pats....pretty much just left town without even trying to win the Super Bowl........moved to the Jets....did squat there.....and tried to right the ship down in Dallas.

    Bottom line....tuna YES....he smells!!!

    He lived far too long on his past history with the Giants...and could never live up to it again!! But always thought he was the greatest. Arrogant...S.O.B.!!!!
  • 1420sports1420sports Posts: 3,473 ✭✭✭
    Everytime he had success, Belichick was involved. No Belichick, no success.

    Hey, I hear they are interviewing Norv Turner - I hope they hire him! image
    collecting various PSA and SGC cards
  • perkdogperkdog Posts: 29,357 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Parcells left the Giants and was just an over inflated azz from then on!! He ruined the Pats....pretty much just left town without even trying to win the Super Bowl........moved to the Jets....did squat there.....and tried to right the ship down in Dallas.

    Bottom line....tuna YES....he smells!!!

    He lived far too long on his past history with the Giants...and could never live up to it again!! But always thought he was the greatest. Arrogant...S.O.B.!!!! >>




    Arrogant, yes no doubt. I wouldnt say he didnt "TRY" to win the Super Bowl with the Pats though, he turned us around at the time and did bring us to the Super Bowl, nobody was better than the Packers at that time. I always had a problem with the fact that he didnt even take the plane home to New England after the game, he should have in my mind. I dont have a problem with him bailing to New York after though, the rest was history....image
  • DirtyHarryDirtyHarry Posts: 1,914 ✭✭
    The "Boys" had 3 crappy seasons before Parcells got there. Maybe you dis jockeys should look at that. When he took over the Pat's - same deal. When he took over the Jet's - same deal. When he was with the Giants - same deal. He made every team significantly better than what it was when he got there. Check it out with facts.

    R
    "A man's got to know his limitations...." Dirty Harry

    Unfocused, impulsive collector of everything ...
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