udonkey Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 cost badly... COMMENTARY By Mike Celizic NBCSports.com contributor Updated: 5:29 p.m. ET Feb. 23, 2005 Bill Parcells has a problem with quarterbacks. He doesn’t trust them, especially young ones. It’s worked pretty well for him during a career that’s taking him straight to Canton. But it could also end up being the glaring blot on his record. Parcells wanted and has gotten Drew Bledsoe, a free agent after the Buffalo Bills released him to clear the way for sophomore J.P. Losman to take over the team. And for Dallas Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones, this could be both the best thing and the worst thing that’s happened to the Cowboys since America’s Team began to go into decline after the 1995 season and 1996 Super Bowl. It will be the best thing to happen because with a healthy Julius Jones, ample cap room, and two first-round draft picks coming aboard, the Cowboys figure to rebound next year — if they can get a reliable quarterback. It will be the worst thing because Parcells is in the third year of a four-year deal, and he’s not looking to rebuild the young Cowboys; he’s looking to win it all now, even if that isn’t possible. So he’ll go with a veteran, as he always does, and make Drew Henson so invisible you’ll wonder if he’s still on the team. And in one or two years, when Parcells leaves yet another job, the Cowboys will have an old man at quarterback and a prospect who’s never had a chance to develop. There’s no way around it. Bledsoe, who took Bledsoe and the Patriots to the Super Bowl in 1996, will be the starting Cowboys quarterback next year. Bledsoe fits the Parcells’ mode. Like Vinny Testaverde, Bledsoe can’t outrun a glacier and tends to throw to the wrong-colored jerseys at the worst possible moments. But also like Testaverde, Parcells has worked with him before, back when both were considerably younger in New England. Also like Testaverde, Bledsoe can probably have decent success in an offense that’s build around a running game and doesn’t ask the quarterback to throw three of every four plays. But Testaverde never got Parcells back to a Super Bowl, not with the Jets, who lost to Denver in an AFC championship game thanks to a Testaverde meltdown, and not in Dallas, where Vinny gave it his best, but was too old and slow to carry the team by himself. Bledsoe isn’t going to be any different. It’s been eight years since he took the Patriots to the Super Bowl, and his stats are starting the inevitable slide into oblivion. But Parcells doesn’t care. He’s always believed he wins despite his quarterback instead of because of him. Although he installed Simms as his starter in his first year as Giants’ head coach in 1983, Parcells was constantly on the verge of benching him in favor of the forgettable Scott Brunner. He barely tolerated a borderline Hall of Famer like Simms. He’s got no use at all for kids. Let ‘em learn on somebody else’s watch. The Tuna has neither the time nor the patience to suffer through the painful learning curve of a newcomer to the NFL. You saw it last year, when Parcells bowed to Jones’ insistence that Henson start, then yanked him as soon as he started to experience difficulty. Going back to Testaverde worked — for a few games — but only in the sense that it forestalled the inevitable finish out of the playoffs. It didn’t work in the sense that even when the Cowboys were out of the playoff race, Parcells refused to let Henson see meaningful time running the offense. While Tom Coughlin of the Giants was watching Eli Manning play his way through every rookie mistake a kid can make, Parcells was still riding Testaverde. At season’s end, both coaches were in the same place — on the outside looking in at the survivors. But Coughlin was there with a quarterback who had started to develop and begun to show he was ready to take over and win games. All Parcells had was an ancient quarterback who had to be replaced. And because his low regard of rookie quarterbacks would not allow him to play Henson, Parcells now has no choice but to get another veteran who can do what Testaverde did — make the team good enough to make the hurt deeper when he finally reverts to being himself and blows the big game. And Dallas has no choice but to humor him. He is, after all, the second-greatest active coach, having lost the title of greatest to his disciple, Bill Belichick, who, by the way, had no such problem staying with a kid quarterback four years ago when Bledsoe started the season and Tom Brady finished it with a Super Bowl win. If Parcells wants Bledsoe, he’ll get him. And he’ll put him in a position to take the team to the playoffs. But he won’t win the Super Bowl; almost certainly he won’t even get to it. And the Cowboys will be back the following year with the same problem they have now — a quarterback of the future who has no future as long as Parcells is coach. It’s been ever so for Parcells. Quarterbacks drive him to distraction. He was lucky once to have Simms and nobody else to replace him with. Forced to play Simms, he won two Super Bowls. But there’s no one to force him now. He’s got the stature to get what he wants. And what he wants is another over-the-hill quarterback. And if it doesn’t lead to glory — as it almost certainly won’t — it will remain the freshest memory of Parcells when he finally retires. And people will say what a great coach he was and wonder how great he might have been if only he could have worked with young quarterbacks. Mike Celizic writes regularly for NBCSports.com and is a freelance writer based in New York. URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7013377/
IDBillzFan Posted February 24, 2005 Posted February 24, 2005 It didn’t work in the sense that even when the Cowboys were out of the playoff race, Parcells refused to let Henson see meaningful time running the offense. While Tom Coughlin of the Giants was watching Eli Manning play his way through every rookie mistake a kid can make, Parcells was still riding Testaverde. This part is dead on, and I see the Bills squarely in the middle. We didn't put in Losman to take his lumps (mostly because we had a chance for the playoffs) and we didn't keep riding Bledsoe. There is no magic formula, I think, for getting a quarterback ready, primarily because every rookie quarterback is different in terms of what they need to develop successfully. If nothing else, I'm glad we're moving forward.
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