Decade of Futility - Did Bill Parcells Retire, Or Did Jerry Jones Force Him Out?

 Though tempered by the passing years, there is still a prominent negative attitude by many Cowboy fans (and football fans in general) toward Bill Parcells’ body of work during his four year stay in Dallas. After appearing in a combined three Super Bowls with the Giants and Patriots, and an AFC Championship Game in 1998 while the head coach of the New York Jets, the 34-32 mark that he now has strapped to his back from those days with the silver and blue are a burden that some said would keep him out of Canton.
So how is Parcells dealt with in Decade of Futility?
Good question.
Though cast in both lights at different junctures, Parcells is ultimately portrayed in a positive light.
Why?
Better question.
For me, it is hard to think of Parcells as the Dallas Cowboys head coach without thinking of his assistant coach Sean Payton too. Without Payton, it’s safe to say that Tony Romo would have likely joined Mike Shanahan in Denver instead of banking on the ineffectiveness of Quincy Carter, Chad Hutchinson, and Clint Stoerner to make a way for him with the Cowboys way back in 2003.
Only Payton would have the gumption to leave a glorious franchise that had all but guaranteed him the head coaching position on the day that Parcells should finally call it quits, and then go east to a city demoralized by Hurricane Katrina to try and pull a perennial pigskin stinker out of the Gulf of Mexico.
Only Payton had the knowledge and expertise necessary to expose the Cowboys’ 2006 defense for what it was - specifically, a good unit that lacked speed and gumption at the linebacker level – and to make wonder-boy Tony Romo look like a practice squad quarterback. Payton’s New Orleans Saints whipped the ’Boys in Irving on a Sunday night by a 42-17 score, giving the world an up-close view at how to attack Parcells’ bunch.

 
 Thanks to Payton, the Cowboys finished the 2006 season with four losses in five games, including a horrible 39-31 defeat at the hands of a 2-13 Lions team in Week 17.
An exchange between Payton and Parcells comes to mind often when pondering this topic. It was when Payton was preparing to make official his decision to become the Saints’ head coach, and Parcells brought him into his office to have a final word. Instead of reminiscing or giving way to a long, emotional speech about comraderie, Parcells got right to the point. Said Parcells, “You’ve got to find out what’s been keeping that team from winning. You’ve got to find it out, and fix it right away. Or else you’ll be looking for another job in three years.”
For Parcells in Dallas, that was a dual-pronged problem. He not only needed to cure the disease in the locker room, but needed to change the instinctive philosophy of the owner and general manager as well.
History tells us that Parcells was able to turn the locker room inside out and produce a team that could play with the big boys of the NFL, but was as helpless as the mortals before him that came up against the iron will of Jerry Jones.
If someone were to ask me what my personal favorite chapter of Decade of Futility is, I would have to say that it is chapter 16. Dubbed “The Agenda,” this chapter deals specifically with the divorce of Jerry & Bill in a completely unique fashion.
How exactly these two notoriously head-strong individuals parted company has been a mystery for more than six years now, for the sole reason that neither party concerned wants to talk about it. Lured by this silence, I spent more than two years researching just this one chapter, probing into every possible corner for any crumb of evidence I could get my hands on.
The crumb that I finally alighted upon was anything but expected, but when I tested it, it answered every question I could throw at it.
With a lack of prominent facts to grab hold of, an interested public often starts from a hypothetical viewpoint to try and come up with the correct answer to this problem. In Decade of Futility I do the exact opposite, focusing, instead, on the state of Valley Ranch at the conclusion of the 2006 season.
Now, I willingly admit that my ultimate conclusion of the matter is merely a theory, rather than a hard-boiled verified fact. Such is the way when many of the facts available are shadows.
If there is one chapter I think absolutely should be read in this book, it is this one. Not only is it informative, but it will change the way you view Bill Parcells forever.

 
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Decade of Futility - Loss To Chiefs Evokes Memories of Wade Phillips' 2007 Cowboys

Sunday's loss against Kansas City was a perfect lesson in the importance of maintaining offensive balance. And maybe it was a lesson to something else as well.
Teams don't always have to run the ball effectively. They just need to run effectively at the proper times. Just look at the Chiefs' final drive, when Jamal Charles finally got untracked and nearly ran the entire game-clock out.
And just look at a Cowboys team from yesteryear, a team that forgot the importance of finishing strong...

...In 2007 the Dallas Cowboys got so enamored with the big-play ability of "backup" running back Marion Barber that they all but forgot about backfield counterpart Julius Jones. The result was a loss of offensive identity for the NFC's top team, as the Cowboys offense stumbled down the stretch run.
Jones was the unquestioned starter out of training camp, while Barber was Dallas' short-yardage back who was inserted during the fourth quarter to wear down opposing defenses. But as Barber continued to rack up the long gains and big stats, the Cowboys began to use less and less of Jones.
By the first week of December Jones' role had devolved to that of being the token starter, with little action to speak of thereafter. The Cowboys' ground game suffered in the process. Against Detroit in Week 14, the Cowboys had a season-low 18 rushing attempts. Only a miraculous fourth quarter from quarterback Tony Romo and tight end Jason Witten could save the Cowboys from defeat that day, as Dallas nipped the Lions 28-27.
The Dallas ground game was stifled the following week again in a 10-6 home loss to Philadelphia, from which started a grassfire of concerns over this sudden outcropping of trouble. Head coach Wade Phillips needed to make a decision, either to go back to using Jones in a full-fledged starting role, or simply hand the keys over to Barber entirely.
Another strong fourth quarter showing by Barber the following Saturday night in Carolina was enough to convince Phillips that Barber needed to be Dallas' main man at the tailback position.
So Barber started his first game of the season in the Divisional Playoff round against the New York Giants. Barber's frenzied running style was good enough to eclipse the 100-yard mark by halftime, but left little energy for the all-important final stanzas. Barber was used up by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, and the Cowboys became the first No. 1 seed to lose a Divisional playoff game in NFL history, falling 21-17 to the eventual champions.
Statistically, Barber was his usual self that, but he wasn't able to deliver when it mattered most.

Decade of Futility - Ten Year Anniversary of Zuriel Smith's Biggest Play As a Cowboy.

Ten years ago today Bill Parcells won his first game on a Dallas sideline in dramatic, and improbable, fashion. The New York Giants took the lead on a short field goal with just eleven seconds remaining in regulation, yet the Cowboys managed to force overtime, where sophomore kicker Billy Cundiff connected on his seventh field goal of the evening, giving Dallas a 35-32 victory.
While there were heroes aplenty for the Cowboys on this night, maybe the most important play of the game was made by rookie wideout Zuriel Smith who had a rare chance to get his hands on the ball in the game’s waning seconds....and declined it. This one heads-up play by Smith sparked an unlikely run to the playoffs for the 2003 Cowboys.
Read about it in Chapter 10 of Decade of Futility.

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Clint Stoerner and Dallas Cowboys' Decade of Futility

Clint Stoerner had a lot going for him in the fall of 2001. A rookie free-agent pickup only a year before, this Texas native had been handed the keys to the Dallas offense after Quincy Carter and Anthony Wright went down with injuries, and then accomplished the unthinkable by leading the 1-4 Cowboys to a double-digit win over division rival Arizona.
A week later he even had the Cowboys a 17-point halftime lead on the road against the Giants.
So why didn't Stoerner wind up as the replacement to Troy Aikman?
Find out in Chapter 5 of Decade of Futility.


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Benching Bledsoe Far From Knee-Jerk Reaction for Bill Parcells

Drew Bledsoe

Drew Bledsoe was 12-10 as the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.  His twenty-second and final start in a Dallas uniform concluded with him on the bench and Tony Romo under center.  That the time had come for a quarterbacking change was obvious to everyone.  Bledsoe was the captain of a train-wreck stuck on the vanilla tracks of mediocrity.  Through 5 ½ games, Bledsoe had seven touchdown passes, eight interceptions and was sacked 16 times.  The Cowboys, 3-3 at that point of the 2006 season, were going nowhere with him at the controls.

The reason head coach Bill Parcells made the switch to Romo when he did is one of those little unsolved mysteries that taunts an unintelligent public in the face. Some say Parcells’ decision was the result of a halftime fit-to-be-tied rant that was more of an emotional resolution than anything else.  The illiterate like to think that Parcells was simply fed-up with his old New England cabin boy.  Yeah, well who wasn’t?

But why at halftime?  Why then? “Based on everything we thought we knew about Parcells, it made no sense for him to yank Bledsoe, go with Romo to start the third quarter, and then stay with Romo for the rest of the season,” observed Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Randy Galloway in his column later that same week.

So what was it in Bledsoe’s performance that told Parcells it was time to make a change?  The circumstances surrounding Bledsoe’s final pass is certainly conducive to answering that question.

The Cowboys looked to be in business when Demarcus Ware forced a Tiki Barber fumble that was recovered by linebacker Bradie James at the New York 14-yard line.  This came just moments after Bledsoe dove across the goal-line to cut the Giants’ lead to 12-7.  Now, the Cowboys were poised to enter halftime on top.

But Bledsoe, like he had done too often before, threw it all away.  Dallas had reached the four-yard line, and lined-up three receivers (Terrell Owens, Jason Witten & Anthony Fasano) to the offense’s right side, while Terry Glenn was lone opposite them.  The play was designed to go to one of the three options to the right.

Bledsoe took the snap from center, and dropped back with plenty of time.  The offensive line had done their job, for once.

Bledsoe overwhelmed

 But, apparently, a little extra time in the pocket unnerved Bledsoe, for he never saw a wide-open Fasano in the front of the end zone, and didn’t even think to look for Witten coming open outside of him.  Owens?  He was double-covered from the start.

With only one option remaining, Bledsoe quickly turned to his left and fired a bullet to the front-corner pylon…right into the arms of Giants cornerback Sam Madison, ending the scoring chance, and ending his career.

The situation, the area on the field, and the poor decision-making shown by Bledsoe on this play are reminiscent of several others he made during his brief stay in Dallas.

Bledsoe, Romo & Parcells

It was the fourth game of the 2005 season in Oakland that Bledsoe ignored a wide-open Jason Witten in the back of the end zone during the final minute, opting instead for the well-covered Terry Glenn at the goal-line.  The fourth-down pass fell incomplete, and the Raiders walked away 19-13 winners.  Three weeks later, an errant sideline pass in the game’s waning seconds found its way into the arms of a Seattle defensive back, setting up the game-winning field goal for the Seahawks in a game that the Cowboys had no business losing.

And only two weeks before Bledsoe’s final gaffe against the Giants, the Cowboys trailed Philadelphia by seven, when he tossed a last-minute interception by forcing a pass into double coverage in the end-zone.  Witten was the target this time, but Eagles cornerback Lito Sheppard snatched the ball out of the air and returned it 102 yards for a score.  Dallas fell to 2-2 with that 38-24 defeat.

The Cowboys hired Bledsoe to, at the very least, manage a game.  Too often, they found themselves watching as No. 11 threw games away.  In one form or fashion.

So for Parcells, it was really a no-brainer.  Was it better to risk a possible meltdown with Tony Romo at quarterback, or a certain conflagration down the road somewhere with Bledsoe at the helm?  The unknown factor around him said that Romo could win some games for the Cowboys where Bledsoe was definitely losing them.  

Bledsoe landed on the bench next to Parcells

Any gambler knows where to place his bet with those odds.