This Sunday night, a National Football Conference superpower struts into Gillette Stadium to face the mighty New England Patriots, holders of a 7-2 record and first place in the AFC East. This team has an identical record to the Pats, relying on their stifling defense to close out games. So, who is it?
It must be the Giants, right? Hah. The Giants are playing softer than Allan Houston and Keith Van Horn combined, making more errors than Aaron Boone in a World Series game and are stinking it up with a 4-5 record after a loss to the lowly Falcons.
It must be the Packers, then. Brett Favre has steered this team to green and yellow pastures for almost a decade and this year is no different. Wrong again. Packers’ record: 4-5.
All right, it certainly has to be the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They were supposed to be even better this year, led by their defense that stopped the Raiders cold last January. Three strikes. The Bucs, too, are on the waiting list for entry into the 2003/2004 NFL playoffs.
This weekend, the Dallas Cowboys (7-2), tied for best record in the NFC, stroll into town. Essentially the same Dallas Cowboys that have lost 10 games or more the past three seasons. The same Cowboys that let Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, go to Arizona via free agency. Let’s get this straight. These are not your older brother’s Cowboys.
It is almost unfathomable to imagine how this team has played so well over the first half of the season. There are no superstars on this squad. No Smith, Troy Aikman or Michael Irvin leading the offense. No Ken Norton, Leon Lett or Deion Sanders anchoring the defense. One man has received the credit for this amazing turnaround. Turning franchises around is exactly what he does best. He is the Bob Vila of the National Football League. You know him well. His name is Bill Parcells.
The man known simply as Tuna (or Chicken, if you are Jessica Simpson) has orchestrated yet another resurrection with yet another NFL squad. It began with the New York Giants in the 1980s. Parcells took a team that was 3-12-1 in 1983, and by 1986, the G-men were hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
After a brief retirement, Parcells took a coaching job here, with the Pats, and took a team that was 2-14 before his arrival to Super Bowl XXXI just three years later.
Next stop?
Back to New York, this time coaching the Jets. He inherited a team with a horrendous 1-15 record and took it to the conference championship game just two years later. Now, Parcells, who judging by his record of fleeing his teams before his contract expires has more commitment issues than Ben Affleck, is working his magic for the Dallas Cowboys.
So how does Parcells do it? First off, the man is a bona fide football genius. He has drafted many big time players, including Phil Simms, Curtis Martin, Drew Bledsoe, Lawyer Milloy, Adam Vinatieri and Tedy Bruschi. The Cowboys, however, are comprised of a team that was largely drafted by Jerry Jones and Parcells’ predecessor in Dallas, Dave Campo. Proof of Parcells’ second key to success.
Perhaps no coach in the NFL gets more out of his players than Bill Parcells. Let’s just say Tuna won’t sit you down for milk and cookies to discuss your mistakes. Ty Law, who played his first two seasons under Parcells, told the Boston Globe, ‘He has a knack for putting the fear factor in players … He will rip you when you get off the field.’
There is a method to this madness, though, as Parcells chews out his players to help them reach their potential. Law continued, ‘He wants you to talk back to him, he wants you to go out there and play harder. He doesn’t want you to give up, he wants you to get stronger as he’s poking you.’
The naysayers are still at the Cowboys, though. The team has a hellacious schedule in the second half, including a brutal stretch of three games in just 12 days, beginning Sunday night in Foxboro. Parcells does not have his troops resting on their laurels, however. He knows that big star on the Cowboys helmet might as well be a bulls eye, as teams are now gunning for the surprising Dallas team. Tuna told the Associated Press, ‘I tell the players the more you win, the more people view you differently … They start to shoot for you.’
In one of those beautiful twists of fate that only sports can provide, the Dallas Cowboys’ season schedule has eerily resembled a Bill Parcells’ ‘This Is Your Life’ tour. The Cowboys have already played both the Giants and the Jets at the Meadowlands. The Cowboys were able to win both games. The coach now leads his upstart Cowboys into his other former stomping grounds, against long-time coaching comrade, Bill Belichick.
Even if the Cowboys fail to win against the Patriots this Sunday, they still have an excellent shot to reach their first postseason since 1999. Even if the ‘Boys go 3-4 in their final seven games, the Giants, Packers, Bucs, Redskins, Saints or 49ers will still have to run the table, going 6-1 to force Dallas out of a spot. As Parcells continues the resurrection of the Dallas Cowboys one can only think about that famous phrase uttered by former Dallas coach Jimmy Johnson.
‘How ’bout them Cowboys?’
Josh Stern, a senior in the School of Management, is a weekly sports columnist for The Daily Free Press.
