Posts tagged BillParcells at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

We're three days into Brett Favre Watch '08 and the speculation continues. In yesterday's Palm Beach Post, Greg Stoda writes that the Dolphins shouldn't even think about making a deal for Favre.

Huh. I didn't know Miami was interested. Sure, they don't have much experience at quarterback, but Bill Parcells is trying to get younger, and the draft picks it would take to acquire Favre would be at odds with that roster-building philosophy. But what if the Dolphins traded a player currently on the team? Stoda advises us to perish the thought.

Don't so much as whisper a Jason Taylor-for-Favre trade scenario. Because the Dolphins don't need - and shouldn't want - Favre.

Is he better at 38 than young bucks John Beck or Chad Henne or Josh McCown or anybody else the Dolphins might trot out this year in their endless search for a quarterback to command the position? Yes. Would he be better than anybody Miami has tried since Dan Marino was great? Almost certainly. Doesn't matter.

Stoda admits that Favre might be good for a few more wins than what Beck/McCown/Henne might provide (woo-hoo! 3-13!), but he wouldn't be the long-term solution. Fair enough, but I suspect that if the Packers trade Favre to the Dolphins (assuming he's still itchy), he'll promptly re-un-retire. For a few weeks, anyway.

Things are looking up in Miami, which is welcome news for an outfit that went 1-15 last season. Randy Mueller and Cam Cameron are out, replaced by Bill Parcells, Jeff Ireland and Tony Sparano; the Dolphins have a franchise left tackle (although some are skeptical); Ricky Williams is again excited to be playing football; Jason Taylor has decided to put off his Hollywood dreamz for another season; and Ronnnie Brown, the team's 2005 first-round pick, expects to be completely healthy by the start of the season.

Brown, who's coming back from a torn ACL, thinks he can return to the form that saw him average 5.1 yards per carry through Week 7 of the '07 season.

Are those expectations too high? Based on other backs returning from ACL injuries, the results are mixed:

[Edgerrin] James averaged 4.4 yards per carry the year before (2000), 3.6 the year after (2002) but 4.1 and 4.6 in '03 and '04. Terry Allen (4.5 year before, 4.0 year after) and Jamal Anderson (4.5, 3.6) also fell off initially but still topped 1,000 yards in their first year back. (Anderson tore his other ACL a year later.)

But Jamal Lewis, who tore his ACL in 2001 training camp, had virtually no fall-off (4.4 in 2000, 4.3 in '02, 5.3 in '03). Ex-UM star Willis McGahee, who sat out his rookie NFL season (2003) after tearing his ACL and two other knee ligaments in the Fiesta Bowl, averaged 4.0 in 2004, the second-best of his career.

On Sunday, MDS pointed out that Canadian national treasure, Mike Vanderjagt, had accepted a full-time job to play professional football in the motherland, and in his very first game honked three field goals. Not to worry, though; Vanderjagt managed to convert two attempts, and also had a fine day punting.

And come to find out, the three misses weren't even his fault. Vanderjagt's Toronto Argonauts coach even says so.

[Rookie head coach Rich] Stubler believes the Argos have done Vanderjagt a disservice by not practising on a field fitted with uprights, an oversight that will be addressed.

"We had two days all of camp where we went some place that had goalposts," Stubler said. "That's a coaching fault and I'll take that."

Yeah, I'd say that's a pretty big oversight. Luckily, the Argonauts appear to be in very capable hands; Stubler not only takes the blame, but the situation will be rectified. That's leadership, people.

I guess the sight of Vanderjagt taking a nap in the stands during every training camp practice didn't seem unusual to Stubler. Of course, this is the same guy who said of Vanderjagt's three misses (two "wide rights", and one "woefully short"): "In the NFL, those kicks are right down the middle", based solely on the fact that the CFL hashmarks are six yards wider than NFL hashmarks.

Made-up laws of physics aside, Bill Parcells vehemently disagrees.

Hat tip: Hashmarks. Naturally.

Mention Bill Parcells' name and you'll get any number of responses, from reverence to disgust, depending on the audience. The Dolphins, his latest reclamation project, are undoubtedly glad to have Parcells; Patriots owner Bob Kraft probably wasn't all that jazzed at how Parcells abruptly ended things in New England.

And when Jerry Jones hired Parcells in 2003, the fans were no doubt ecstatic at the thought of the Cowboys again being relevant. The team made the playoffs in that first season, but, ultimately, never got close to the success (or a postseason victory), that many people envisioned.

Now, two years after Parcells "retired," DallasCowboys.com's Nick Eatman writes that much of the team's recent success is attributable to some very savvy personnel moves made early in Parcells' tenure. And it all started inauspiciously enough.

It's been 10 years since Ricky Williams won the Heisman Trophy, although, for him, it probably seems much longer than that. He's being honored this week by the Heisman Winners Association, and during an interview with the Associated Press, Williams touched on his past, what he hopes to accomplish going forward, and ... Cedric Benson?

His legacy as an NFL player wasn't important until his troubles started to overtake the good he had accomplished.

"It was never something I thought about until it turned into a negative legacy," Williams said. "Now it's my responsibility to make the life of my family and my children better (by) leaving the game on a positive note ... I think people need to know I'm dependable." ...

Williams figures he can put in four more seasons of pro ball. Time away from the game, from his temporary retirement to his 1 1/2-year suspension for smoking marijuana and violating the NFL drug policy, probably saved his body some wear and tear.

I can totally respect that, and by most accounts, Williams is an extremely nice guy. So he was a little confused about what he wanted to do with his life -- yeah, that happens to a lot of people. Now he's got Bill Parcells in his corner and seems fully committed to football.

Anthony Fasano, the Cowboys' 2006 second-round pick since traded to the Dolphins, is in the mix for starting tight end duties, assuming he can stay on the field long enough to win the job. Bill Parcells, who drafted Fasano, has even given him a nickname:

... Fasano, limited after shoulder surgery, said Bill Parcells dubbed him ''General Hospital'' and told him ''I should be wearing a hospital gown.'' But Fasano -- who said ''the Dolphins got a great deal'' by giving Dallas a fourth-rounder for him and Akin Ayodele -- expects to be ready by camp, and one veteran starter expects him to emerge over David Martin.

At least he didn't refer to Fasano as "she", I guess. Also, I love that Fasano humbly offers that "the Dolphins got a great deal," even though the Cowboys thought so much of him, his 28 receptions and one touchdown over two seasons, that they shipped him east for a washed-up linebacker and a second-day draft pick.

The knock on Fasano is that he struggles as a blocker, but that's basically the scouting report on every young tight end. In college, the good ones ran routes, they didn't engage defensive ends and linebackers. Whether Fasano will ever evolve into a complete player remains to be seen, but Parcells likes him, which, fairly or not, is more than John Beck or Jason Taylor can say.

Yesterday MDS mentioned that the Packers have contacted the Dolphins about acquiring South Beach's best dancer. It's very early in the proceedings, but if Bill Parcells continues to insist that Miami receive something more than a third-rounder for Jason Taylor, it's hard to imagine anything coming of this.

PackerReport.com thinks Green Bay should "do all they can to make a deal" for Taylor. And if you want to know why, Todd Korth obliges:

-- Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila is coming off knee surgery and has a high salary;
-- Justin Harrell is coming off back surgery and is unproven;
-- Johnny Jolly is coming off shoulder surgery but hasn't practiced since last November;
-- Cullen Jenkins has been practicing but struggled as a starting defensive end last season;
-- Jeremy Thompson is as green as the Lambeau Field grass in the summer;
-- Defensive coordinator Bob Sanders has coached Taylor as an assistant on Miami's staff;
-- Corey Williams is gone to Cleveland.

Head coach Mike McCarthy admits that the defensive line is a big concern heading into training camp, but I'm not convinced the Packers should sell the farm for a 33-year-old future Hall of Famer who may not want to play beyond 2008.

Plus, Taylor started 16 games last year and the Dolphins still managed just one win. That's not to say he's responsible for the 15 losses, just to point out that there's only so much one player can do. Korth admits such a deal will be costly for the Packers, which is why I don't think general manager Ted Thompson would be interested.

Terrell Owens, model citizen and even better teammate, has a note from his agent for missing the Cowboys' mandatory minicamp; Terry Glenn, oft-injured and a tad cranky these days, does not.

Tension between the Cowboys and Glenn has been building since the team refused to let him take part in organized team activities because of his surgically repaired right knee. According to owner and general manager Jerry Jones, Glenn agreed to a $500,000 split salary should he re-injure his right knee. Should the knee hold up, Glenn would make the $1.74 million that his current contract calls for.

Glenn told the Dallas Morning News that "I was told that I would be released if I didn't sign [the split-salary agreement] ... So I said that I wasn't signing. I think we should get on with it. I don't see what the problem is. If I can't participate in team activities, then what's the use? I'm frustrated as hell."

What does it all mean? No idea. Jones said Glenn hasn't asked to be released, but admitted that he's not sure if the team can afford him if he's not healthy. Given Bill Parcells' predilection for former players, and Glenn now qualifies -- twice -- it should come as no surprise that the Dolphins will be watching this situation very closely.

This certainly seems ambitious, but Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland is new to the job and he probably wants to impress his boss, Bill Parcells: Ireland wants to sign the team's final three 2008 draft picks by July 1.

Actually, it's imminently doable -- the first-overall selection, Jake Long, was signed before the draft, and only second-rounders Phillip Merling and Chad Henne, and third-rounder Kendall Langford are currently without contracts. Add in the fact that Henne plans to show up for training camp (something about wanting to win a starting job). Whatever, Ireland doesn't seem too concerned:

He believes that just because Merling was 32nd and in years past that would've been the last pick of the first round but not this year because the Patriots forfeited their pick due to Spygate that won't have a bearing on getting him locked up. It doesn't hurt that Merling's agent is Jimmy Sexton, who happens to be the agent for coach Tony Sparano and team czar Bill Parcells. Come to think of it, he was the Nicktator's agent, too.

(Ah, yes, no post-apocalyptic Dolphins post would be complete without a mention of Nick Saban.)

Ireland is also familiar with Henne's agent, which should only help facilitate the process. Ideally, Miami would have everybody in training camp from Day 1, but even if it doesn't happen, the 2008 team is already more cohesive than last year's version. Now if this Dolphins team can just find a way to win more than one game.

I mentioned yesterday that Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter was hedging his bets and playing nice/working hard for Bill Parcells and Tony Sparano. Apparently, there are other Dolphins players who prefer Sparano's "frankness and approachability" to that of the guy he replaced, Cam Cameron.

"You like to know where you stand all the time," said tight end ... Fassano ... "It's good for the team not to have any doubts or wonder how he's feeling. You might need some tough skin now and again, but in the long run it's good for you."

Defensive end Vonnie Holliday thought his first meeting with Sparano would last five minutes. Instead, it went for more than a half hour. Holliday, one of Miami's team leaders, has met extensively with Sparano since.

"He wants to know you as a person and that's important," Holliday said. "It's not a facade. He wants guys who can play ball, are good guys and not a problem. I think you can see that in terms of some of the guys he's gotten rid of around here."

It's worth pointing out that Anthony Fasano has been in South Beach for all of two months, so it's not clear what he's talking about. But Holliday's story underlines an important point, often overlooked when teams go searching for head coaches: there's a big difference between being a great coordinator and running the whole show.

The coaching landscape is littered with "can't miss" coordinators who missed badly, usually because they couldn't relate to their players. It sounds like Sparano is off to a swell start, but all the goodwill will go out the window if the Dolphins are still losing games in '08 like it's '07.