HTownCowboysFan
12-19-2004, 06:22 AM
Good stuff....
Bill's plan built for average QB
By Jennifer Floyd Engel
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
IRVING - Almost every Monday this football season, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones walks into coach Bill Parcells' office to discuss what had happened and where they go next.
This past Monday, Jones asked his coach the question everybody wants to know: "What are we going to do at quarterback?"
"What are you going to put around the guy playing quarterback for the Cowboys?" Parcells asked back. "That's more important."
Three hours, and a bit of what Jones called "healthy tension" later, Parcells had explained that he did not want to play Drew Henson against Philadelphia today because Henson might be the Cowboys' starter in 2005. Parcells explained that there's a chance that the team will not have a franchise quarterback in place to start 2005, but if the Cowboys continue to hold out for the next Troy Aikman to build their team around, they risk being no closer to a Super Bowl four years from now.
What Parcells is selling is building the Cowboys to be solid enough to win with an average quarterback or to win while they wait for a young, inexperienced quarterback to develop into a franchise player.
Exactly like what Pittsburgh has done this season with Ben Roethlisberger.
"I really am on the same page as Bill on this," Jones said. "Now, there is a whole bunch of me that believes it starts with the quarterback, and I have been willing to play rookies and young quarterbacks, to pay the price and some of the negatives that go with that. But I really am a good listener, and Bill's point is, if you can't find a franchise quarterback, you don't go out of business until you do."
Jones said, as Parcells did Thursday, that there is a good chance the Cowboys could go into next season with Henson or Tony Romo as their starting quarterback. They will do this despite both having less than a game's worth of NFL experience (at this point). They also believe this plan is not mutually exclusive from going into next season trying to win.
Playmakers needed
"I don't feel the team is light years from being a competitive team," Parcells said. "I might have to try to alter some of the characters involved, but it's not like certain aspects of the team are not competitive -- and some at a very high level. I just don't feel like [changes are] going to have to be wholesale."
Which characters he's talking about is a discussion for another day. Parcells repeatedly has shied away from doing in-season individual evaluations of players, much less "state of the unions," while games remain to be played. Parcells is not a "next year" kind of coach, yet he acknowledges that his "outlook had changed" because "some people that have convinced me of what they are."
Or, in layman's terms, Parcells now has a better idea of which players he wants to build with and which ones he doesn't.
"Let me just put it this way: If I don't know what I need to do when this season is over, balance or no balance, then I would say someone else ought to be doing it," Parcells said. "I have the ability of evaluating what I have here and where we have to go and what we have to do."
On his lists of "must haves," "need to haves" and "wish to haves," the quarterback is somewhere in the middle. What the Cowboys need are playmakers -- on both sides of the ball.
They need a wide receiver who can stretch a defense. The right side of the offensive line needs help; neither Torrin Tucker nor Andre Gurode is on solid footing.
Their biggest need for playmakers, however, is on defense. The Cowboys are desperate for an end who can pressure the quarterback, a run-stuffing tackle, a cover cornerback and a young safety.
"I think you look around, and teams have been successful with average quarterbacks," Parcells said. "I haven't seen too many teams be successful without a pretty good defense. I've seen, in recent years, what you would term average at quarterback, take teams and win the Super Bowl. I don't mean that they're not good players, just that they aren't in the marquee group of people."
Going on the defensive
Parcells has hinted that maybe he was fooled by the defense. Based on what he saw in 2003, when the Cowboys ranked No. 1 defensively in the NFL, the coach went against his better judgment and decided big changes were not needed.
It is hard to break up a 10-6 playoff team. It will not be so hard to break up this team, which will finish 8-8 at best and might be 5-11.
The off-season will likely be busy for the Cowboys, with a lot of money being spent overhauling the defense. Parcells believes they had enough talent to be far better than they have been this season. He might experiment with the 3-4 defense, too.
Parcells has tried doing things the way others wanted. He is going to do things his way now.
What Parcells is not willing to do is overspend while overhauling.
"There has to be that coincidence of opportunity as well instead of just indiscriminately saying, 'Go get this guy. Go get that guy,' " Parcells said. "You can prevent yourself from rounding out your team successfully by constraining it economically in certain areas. But money is not going to be our problem. Finding what you need is what always is the problem."
At no position is this more evident than quarterback. Some teams have been searching for a Troy Aikman-like quarterback for what seems like forever. The San Diegos and Arizonas of the NFL have spent money and draft picks, devoted time and energy in trying to develop a franchise quarterback.
Parcells is trying to convince Jones that it is not always all about the quarterback.
"When you put a good thing around a Ben Roethlisberger, you see what can happen," Parcells said. "And when you don't put a good thing around whatever you got playing, quarterback doesn't show up. First of all, I don't know the options totally. The main thing I have to do, in lieu of not knowing that, is to concentrate on putting the best thing around that position that I can do. If we do that, improve our defense, our versatility on offense, our pass rush, our secondary, areas throughout the team, there's a chance that whoever is playing [quarterback] will have more success. That is what I am trying to do."
Jones is trying to convince Parcells that sometimes a team has to gamble that a Henson-like talent will develop into a franchise player.
Jones said the reason the Cowboys are not playing Henson against Philadelphia and have been reluctant to play him or Romo at other points of the season is because they do not want to plant evidence in their minds that neither Henson nor Romo can be the Cowboys' No. 1 QB. Jones still believes Henson might be a franchise quarterback.
"We are making the decision that, right now, we are better off not putting him out there," Jones said. "Can we deny a bad season or a bad start might influence us in the off-season? I can not. Frankly, Chad [Hutchinson] is not here because of how he played in [NFL] Europe. I think Henson and Romo have too much potential to base what we think of them on something that happens in Europe."
So, is Jones prepared to go into next season with Henson and/or Romo playing despite not seeing a lot of them this season?
"Yes," he said, "because that will be our only choice."
And, as he and Parcells discussed for almost three hours Monday, it is not necessarily what they will do at quarterback, but what they will put around the quarterback that matters most.
Yes, Parcells answered the question. Some people just don't want to hear it.
Bill's plan built for average QB
By Jennifer Floyd Engel
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
IRVING - Almost every Monday this football season, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones walks into coach Bill Parcells' office to discuss what had happened and where they go next.
This past Monday, Jones asked his coach the question everybody wants to know: "What are we going to do at quarterback?"
"What are you going to put around the guy playing quarterback for the Cowboys?" Parcells asked back. "That's more important."
Three hours, and a bit of what Jones called "healthy tension" later, Parcells had explained that he did not want to play Drew Henson against Philadelphia today because Henson might be the Cowboys' starter in 2005. Parcells explained that there's a chance that the team will not have a franchise quarterback in place to start 2005, but if the Cowboys continue to hold out for the next Troy Aikman to build their team around, they risk being no closer to a Super Bowl four years from now.
What Parcells is selling is building the Cowboys to be solid enough to win with an average quarterback or to win while they wait for a young, inexperienced quarterback to develop into a franchise player.
Exactly like what Pittsburgh has done this season with Ben Roethlisberger.
"I really am on the same page as Bill on this," Jones said. "Now, there is a whole bunch of me that believes it starts with the quarterback, and I have been willing to play rookies and young quarterbacks, to pay the price and some of the negatives that go with that. But I really am a good listener, and Bill's point is, if you can't find a franchise quarterback, you don't go out of business until you do."
Jones said, as Parcells did Thursday, that there is a good chance the Cowboys could go into next season with Henson or Tony Romo as their starting quarterback. They will do this despite both having less than a game's worth of NFL experience (at this point). They also believe this plan is not mutually exclusive from going into next season trying to win.
Playmakers needed
"I don't feel the team is light years from being a competitive team," Parcells said. "I might have to try to alter some of the characters involved, but it's not like certain aspects of the team are not competitive -- and some at a very high level. I just don't feel like [changes are] going to have to be wholesale."
Which characters he's talking about is a discussion for another day. Parcells repeatedly has shied away from doing in-season individual evaluations of players, much less "state of the unions," while games remain to be played. Parcells is not a "next year" kind of coach, yet he acknowledges that his "outlook had changed" because "some people that have convinced me of what they are."
Or, in layman's terms, Parcells now has a better idea of which players he wants to build with and which ones he doesn't.
"Let me just put it this way: If I don't know what I need to do when this season is over, balance or no balance, then I would say someone else ought to be doing it," Parcells said. "I have the ability of evaluating what I have here and where we have to go and what we have to do."
On his lists of "must haves," "need to haves" and "wish to haves," the quarterback is somewhere in the middle. What the Cowboys need are playmakers -- on both sides of the ball.
They need a wide receiver who can stretch a defense. The right side of the offensive line needs help; neither Torrin Tucker nor Andre Gurode is on solid footing.
Their biggest need for playmakers, however, is on defense. The Cowboys are desperate for an end who can pressure the quarterback, a run-stuffing tackle, a cover cornerback and a young safety.
"I think you look around, and teams have been successful with average quarterbacks," Parcells said. "I haven't seen too many teams be successful without a pretty good defense. I've seen, in recent years, what you would term average at quarterback, take teams and win the Super Bowl. I don't mean that they're not good players, just that they aren't in the marquee group of people."
Going on the defensive
Parcells has hinted that maybe he was fooled by the defense. Based on what he saw in 2003, when the Cowboys ranked No. 1 defensively in the NFL, the coach went against his better judgment and decided big changes were not needed.
It is hard to break up a 10-6 playoff team. It will not be so hard to break up this team, which will finish 8-8 at best and might be 5-11.
The off-season will likely be busy for the Cowboys, with a lot of money being spent overhauling the defense. Parcells believes they had enough talent to be far better than they have been this season. He might experiment with the 3-4 defense, too.
Parcells has tried doing things the way others wanted. He is going to do things his way now.
What Parcells is not willing to do is overspend while overhauling.
"There has to be that coincidence of opportunity as well instead of just indiscriminately saying, 'Go get this guy. Go get that guy,' " Parcells said. "You can prevent yourself from rounding out your team successfully by constraining it economically in certain areas. But money is not going to be our problem. Finding what you need is what always is the problem."
At no position is this more evident than quarterback. Some teams have been searching for a Troy Aikman-like quarterback for what seems like forever. The San Diegos and Arizonas of the NFL have spent money and draft picks, devoted time and energy in trying to develop a franchise quarterback.
Parcells is trying to convince Jones that it is not always all about the quarterback.
"When you put a good thing around a Ben Roethlisberger, you see what can happen," Parcells said. "And when you don't put a good thing around whatever you got playing, quarterback doesn't show up. First of all, I don't know the options totally. The main thing I have to do, in lieu of not knowing that, is to concentrate on putting the best thing around that position that I can do. If we do that, improve our defense, our versatility on offense, our pass rush, our secondary, areas throughout the team, there's a chance that whoever is playing [quarterback] will have more success. That is what I am trying to do."
Jones is trying to convince Parcells that sometimes a team has to gamble that a Henson-like talent will develop into a franchise player.
Jones said the reason the Cowboys are not playing Henson against Philadelphia and have been reluctant to play him or Romo at other points of the season is because they do not want to plant evidence in their minds that neither Henson nor Romo can be the Cowboys' No. 1 QB. Jones still believes Henson might be a franchise quarterback.
"We are making the decision that, right now, we are better off not putting him out there," Jones said. "Can we deny a bad season or a bad start might influence us in the off-season? I can not. Frankly, Chad [Hutchinson] is not here because of how he played in [NFL] Europe. I think Henson and Romo have too much potential to base what we think of them on something that happens in Europe."
So, is Jones prepared to go into next season with Henson and/or Romo playing despite not seeing a lot of them this season?
"Yes," he said, "because that will be our only choice."
And, as he and Parcells discussed for almost three hours Monday, it is not necessarily what they will do at quarterback, but what they will put around the quarterback that matters most.
Yes, Parcells answered the question. Some people just don't want to hear it.