Found in the comments section. Point number 3 is probably the reason Jay Ratliffe at 298 lbs can man the NT position for the Cowboys. "...Colin: I think it is important to inform you of some facts about the credit you give to Bill Parcells for this years Dallas Cowboys teams success. Here are some missed facts: 1. When Parcells arrived, Jerry Jones changed the amount of input from coaches in making draft picks. He actually reversed the input from coaches and insisted the team of Jeff Ireland, who had observed the picks all year, have the most input. Parcells was only a third of the input and not "the" most "weighted" third. 2. Sean Peyton and others had commented after the Saints killed the 'Boys that they could "count on where and how the defense would line up on any given play" and therefore the blowouts at the end of last year were a direct result of Parcells being to "vanilla" in his defensive scheme. (Zimmer, complained mightily to Parcells to allow more flexibility, but to no avail.) 3. Parcells "two-gap" put the defense in a "read-and-react" disadvantage, compared to the Phillips "one-gap" technique. 4. Parcells "pressure" on the players had them all "walking on egg shells" and guys played for "stats" instead of playing "for the team" and their teammates like they do under Phillips. And so, there you have it. It is not "Parcells" team, but rather "Jeff Irelands" team, and the reason for this years success is the carry over from Tony Soprano’s offense and Phillips defense and not because Parcells was so good with drafting. Jerry Jones said Bill had brought some sound Management techniques that he has since adopted, but you certainly give Bill too much credit for this years success. Bill was as he said often "what his record said he was." He helped turn the team around by some of his management techniques, but not by his defensive skills, that’s for sure. He was right to install the 3-4, but he sure didn’t know how to properly run it. There is a reason he has not won a Super Bowl without Belichick, his defensive genius, but Belichick has won it often without him." http://grg51.typepad.com/steroid_nation/2007/04/the_big_lead_st.html
I have no doubt that Bill Parcells made some mistakes while with the Cowboys. But the Cowboys are slowly going to start to crumble during the Post Parcells era. ProFootballTalk.com had a good article on it yesterday. After stealing Jeff Ireland from them and possible Tony Sparano, the Dolphins and other teams are likely going to take a bunch more of their assistant coaches as well. Jerry Jones' ego is building up again and he thinks that he is just as responsible as Parcells for Dallas' success. Dallas is riding high right now and responding to a looser coach in Wade Phillips, much like the Dolphins did to Dave Wannstedt in the 2000 season. But it won't last.
I agree with you on the One Gap defense of Wade Phillips is much more effective but the Patriots also run the same 3-4 scheme as Parcells and they don't seem to have a problem with it. It dosen't really matter anyway because it's not Parcells who's going to be coaching. He's going to get the talent and make sure the organization as a whole is being run as successfull as can be.
This is a constantly evolving sport/business. People put too much credence in evaluating/predicting success or failure without factoring many of the uncontrollable variables of the industry. So many things can affect a team such as schedule, injuries, ego's, contracts, career goals, work ethic, etc. Four years of draft position alone can have a significant affect on a franchise. The NFL waits for knowbody whether you're a player, coach, executive or owner. Parcells has proved he has staying power in this league. Like anyone who learns to manage change, Parcells has evolved into someone who sticks with what he knows works and accepts that some things are out of his control. As a Dolphin fan, I'm glad Parcells is currently working for the team. I hope he can get us to some January football in the near future.
What does that mean? The Patriots have been very successful with the same scheme. That's kind of bizarre, considering there was an article on Parcell's from when he was the coach in Dallas where he distinctly discusses the problems with players who play for stats rather than those who have them produced through quality play.
Yes but remember Parcells is NOT the Head Coach. He doesn't control what the Head Coach wants to run scheme wise. Parcells is only responsible for putting coaches etc. in place.
Why do people waste so much time here trying to give ys reason why Parcells is not good for us? He's been pretty good for everyone else....I think people are nitpicking but I'm happy Parcells is running things right now. Ozzy rules!!
The story isn't about trying " to give a reason for Parcells not being good for us", what the story provides is a realistic look at what he's accomplished in the past, and not some pie-in-the-sky, he's the one that did it all. I'm assuming he'll have learned from whatever mistakes he's made, but we won't know that unless we know the mistakes he's made. Truthfully, I'm glad he's here. I would've been more happy if he'd kept Cam to see how much we would have improved as a team, and for keeping the same offense for Beck, but realistically, he wasn't one of Bill's guys. Now it's time to see what he's done, and not what everybody thinks he done, and I assume everybody would want that information regardless of whether it's good or bad.
Because some of you need a sense of reality and not this fantasy land where Bill Parcells is the God of all things football and never makes mistakes. Miami would have been MUCH BETTER OFF with Tom Heckert Jr.
Sure, you can nit-pick Bill Parcells to death. You can also say that Bill Belichick is a Tom Brady away from being Dave Wannstedt. Hasn't Belichick had four ten loss seasons? The beauty of the NFL is how complicated it is. It is very grey. Nothing is easy. Everyone has weaknesses. Everyone. You can focus on someone's weaknesses to a fault. Look at every player's draft bio. No matter how good, there are always negatives cited. The Miami Dolphins needed a new management structure with a football emphasis. Bryan Weidmeier and Joe Bailey, bless their hearts, are not football guys. Neither is Wayne. Wayne has trusted his subordinates. But that has led to Wanny, Saban, Spielman, Mueller, and Cameron. What is Wayne supposed to think? Since Jimmy Johnson left, and excluding the lightweight Randy Mueller, there has been no one watching the interest of the franchise from a football standpoint. What I mean by that is we have had a series of coaches who have called shots in their own self interest. This is how you have guys trading 1st day picks for the likes of Lamar Gordon. People who are worried about their own short-term job security do not have the franchise's interest first. This requires a much longer discussion, but the conclusion is that the organization badly needed a football czar and leader. This is what has happened to Miami and why things are so abysmal. Wayne Huizenga realizes this and hired a football man to oversee the whole operation from a football standpoint. Weidmeier and Bailey could not be charged to do this. Wannstedt did not have the intellectual horsepower to do it. Saban may have had potential but he made some inept decisions and did not help the long-range situation. Most NFL franchises right now may not need a czar. But the Miami Dolphins certainly do. This is a mess. This is like a corporation that hires an expert to come in and fix it. This is no ordinary NFL team filling a management position where you go get a GM like Heckert, Jr and call it a day with a simple smile on your face. This is a much more serious condition, and Huizenga, who understands business, knows this is how you fix a situation like this. Heckert Jr is a simple GM, and a young guy. He equates to Ireland. That's fine and they are good football men. But Wayne and the franchise need a higher authority, owner's designee, at this point. Most teams do not need this, but the Miami Dolphins most certainly do. This is all about management structure. If someone understands business orgs, they will have a much better understanding of what Wayne Huizenga has done here. This is a management issue, and something the Dolphins needed badly. Ireland and Gaines and their staff will be charged with the heavy lifting in identifying talent. They may distill it for Parcells' consideration, but they will have tremendous ability to frame it. Then the coach coaches the team. Four years from now, if the franchise is run smoothly, then Ireland may no longer need Parcells. He could retire and we would no longer need a czar. That is the hope. But, right now the Miami Dolphins most certainly do.
Nice black and white mentality. There are some of us who think Parcells does make mistakes but also makes a lot of good decisions too.
And how many organizations have a football guy that oversees the general manager? The answer is NONE. I see people criticizing Bryan Weidmier and saying that he isn't a football guy and shouldn't be overseeing the GM. Well, neither is Joe Banner in Philadelphia or Bob Harlan in Green Bay. If you look at the presidents of all the teams in the NFL, you may find a football guy holding that title enough times that you can count them on one hand. Why? Because in a traditional set up, the general manager doesn't need to have anyone overseeing what he does. This idea that the Dolphins needed Bill Parcells because he is a football guy and needed someone that could tell Wayne what was going wrong with the football side of things is foolish. Who is going to tell Wayne what Bill Parcells is doing wrong? Uh oh! We need to hire another football guy to oversee the football guy we hired to oversee the football operations! I would have had no problem with the traditional set up of Bryan Weidmier as president, Tom Heckert Jr as Vice President/General Manager, and the head coach of Tom's choice.
To be honest none of us knows how much input Parcells has had in any team's draft except for NY, We know him as a coach more, I think the Ireland move maybe the best move the tuna has made yet. Hopefully Bill just puts in the organization and structure, and let the GM put in the team and staff. But we'll see.
It also goes to the other side that not EVERYTHING he does or touches is EVIL and tainted. Is the diatribe ever going to slow down? We know your apprehensions about Parcells with some warranted...but it just seems to be so OVER THE TOP with the definitives. Can we please just move on already??? Can we?..WE got it the first 1000 times it has been stated. Every thread seems to involve the same EXACT verbage. Sorry.
I respectfully have to disagree with you KB and you are blowing off my main point (really Wayne's). This is a franchise in a state of disrepair. To re-state it, Parcells is instituting a football culture and identity that the franchise needs and that a combination of Weidmeier and Ireland or Weiedemier and Heckert Jr would not provide. In addition, Wayne tried this last year with Mueller under Weidmeier. Miami has has no clue how to hire coaches or GM's, or establish a football program. This is Parcells' task. Parcells is putting excellent people in place and developing a football culture, identity, and structure.
As long as there are people that sing his praises, I will continue putting things back into the realm of reality.
Which is your right. Yet reality is not what you are portraying either. You are way to knowlegable and sharp to be so over the top about Parcells. There is nothing wrong with singing his praises as he is well respected around the league and will be in the Hall of Fame(coach). Most here do not see him as a God...as most do not see him as badly as you have been trying to show him to be.
I haven't been over the top in my view of Bill Parcells. Everything I have stated about Bill Parcells has been the honest truth, and I think so many people take offense to it because they don't want to realize that Bill Parcells isn't nearly as good as they believe he is.
I hate to disagree...but you have been WAY over the top and have taken EVERY oppurtunity to show it in about almost EVERY thread and post you have written in. I doubt I am the only one who thinks the same way.
Bill Parcells is a two time super bowl champion who is one of the 5 most significant coaches of the past 20 years. So, now he is not a coach anymore. But he has an approach and philosophy to the sport, two things the Dolphins have lacked, and which goes to the heart of the problem here. This team needs a football culture and identity. That's what Parcells brings. Remember, if you have any understanding of business organizations whatsoever, you realize that subordinates flesh out and distill the information for the decision-maker. The fleshing-out and distillation aspects put tremendous influence into the hands of Gaines and Ireland, even if you think they are just Parcells' mere puppets, which I do not accept. But even assuming arguendo that Parcells is the real GM, the real coach, the real everything at age 67, Parcells is not the guy carrying a stopwatch to campuses around the country. His staff makes recommendations and can frame what they want which ultimately influences the final decision, whomever might make it. Maybe he will make a hard call based on some serious wisdom he has accumulated over the years. The man turns losers into winners. That's just a proven fact. The guys framing the players the Dolphins pick will be Ireland and Gaines, with an understanding of the culture and approach from a football standpoint that Parcells is instilling. All teams and all GM's miss on some players. Evaluating NFL talent is incredibly difficult. The draft is not a no-brainer. It requires a complete staff effort. The optimism here is not that Parcells is a perfect genius. It's that he is going to establish a football culture and establish real management. This is a team going from Mueller and Cameron to Parcells, Ireland, Gaines, and presumably Sparano, 'tho I like Schwartz personally. No one can seriously argue that this is not a major upgrade for a franchise at 1-15 and which needs about 10-12 new starters, and 25-30 new players to even sniff the playoffs.
How is it out of reality at all for people to say he has a solid football mind? I'm not a fan of him, but in reality he has been successful and I really can't see him hurting anything.
Because it is based only on his ability as a head coach. The part about him being a personnel executive is being largely ignored. This is a guy that had very poor drafts and put the Jets into salary cap hell with his free agent signings when he had the final say over personnel issues. Yet, some of you are sitting here acting like Bill Parcells is the greatest personnel executive and talent evaluator of all time. What makes Bill Parcells better for this role than Tom Heckert Jr. is? Tom Heckert Jr is a very good football mind as well. He's been around the game all his life. His father, Tom Heckert Sr has been a long time scout for the Dolphins. Tom Heckert Jr. cut his teeth in the NFL working on Don Shula's scouting staff in Miami during the early 90s. He then worked for Jimmy Johnson in Miami and eventually became Miami's director of pro scouting before getting an opportunity to go to Philadelphia, where he has set up and run one of the better scouting staffs in all of football. What exactly are Bill Parcells's qualifications for being a VP of Football Operations?
Aren't you merely reversing your earlier statement that "Parcells is not the Head Coach"? Now you are attempting to say that Parcells is the GM, when he is not, Ireland is, why not compare Ireland to Heckert jr? We all know the story about Tuna going home after a tough loss and suffering acid reflux so badly that he had bile rising into his throat. To me, I like that level of caring about how the Franchise performs, Parcells has been around the NFL for a long time, he also has handled more #1 overall picks then anyone currently active, or maybe even all time. This is his third involvement with the #1 overall, he may actually have a handle on how to work with that pick for our greatest advantage...
Because Jeff Ireland isn't going to be the final decision maker no matter how many times the Dolphins spin it otherwise.
The guy has made some mistakes wherever he has been, but everywhere he has been he has been successful. That is why there is hype, and worthy hype. Welcome Bill.
Heckert would have been if Miami had done the right thing and hired him to run the football organization.
And the we could all take turns examining "why" the Eagles Drafted Freddie Mitchel or signed Jevon Kearse...or why popcorn costs 8 dollars a bucket and why the philly fans booed Santa Claus... Would Heckert bring Andy Reid with him? There are no "perfect" candidates in the NFL KB, every single one of them have failed at something at sometime that effected the team that they were involved with..
I don't care about his flaws, I care about his strengths. We don't have a McNabb or even a Vick coming out this year, a situation that Parcell's has dealt with before, he handled it badly the last time, most NFL people do not have a second chance at the same situation.
we have not had anything like parcells around our organization since shula, and both are hall of famers
Who doesn't realize that Parcells has made mistakes? I can name a few in the draft off the top of my head. I can name some coaching errors too. Parcells makes fewer mistakes then the other guys, that's the definition of greatness in sports. A so-called front office wizard like Ron Wolf was notorious for drafting busts with his first and second-round picks. Tom Heckert was just passed over for the GM job in Atlanta. He doesn't have final say over personnel matters in Philly, and as such, he's been a perfect hiring target for teams looking for a competent GM, but to my knowledge, he's never been so much as interviewed for a real GM position elsewhere. Like Scott Pioli in New England, there are serious questions as to how much of the Eagles' success is attributable to Heckert. Tom Modrak, another highly regarded personnel guy that occupied Heckert's position prior to his hiring left because he didn't have any real say in what was going on. When Heckert was in the Dolphins' personnel department, there were plenty of mistakes. Obviously that didn't disqualify him for consideration as GM in your mind.
