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http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/football/nfl/dallas_cowboys/12561021.htm
Parcells jinxed in QB hunt?
Randy Galloway
IN MY OPINION
Right there on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated is Jake Delhomme.
Is this a jinx?
For Big Bill, it is.
Right there on the Texas Stadium field three nights ago was Byron Leftwich.
Instead of a jinx, we should have been raising a second-guess stink.
Two quarterbacks, I said two, who in the spring of ’03 could have ended the eternal search for The Next Aikman.
OK, I retract that.
No way that Jake is Aikman.
And Leftwich also won’t be.
But both of those guys would have been the perfect solution to the quarterback grab-bag mess that has dogged the Cowboys since Aikman retired.
They can play the position at a high level.
Fine, hit me with your e-mails:
“That’s cheap second-guessing from a cheap second-guesser.”
Agreed.
But it’s like I’ve told you before:
Cheap second-guessing is what I do. It’s Big Bill’s job to prevent it.
Jake is the SI coverboy because that magazine is picking his team, the Carolina Panthers, to win the Super Bowl this season.
Jacksonville’s Leftwich is, in my opinion, the best bet among the NFL’s young QBs to make it big.
The Cowboys could have had them both.
In the spring of ’03, Delhomme was a journeyman free agent who sat across the Valley Ranch desk from Parcells ready and willing to sign a contract.
There are two versions of what happened next.
One, Parcells low-balled him on the money.
Two, Jerry Jones, still attached financially and emotionally to Chad Hutchinson and Quincy Carter, low-balled Jake on the money.
Whatever the case, Delhomme departed Irving, went to Charlotte, and the Panthers signed him immediately with a generous hip-pocket offer of a $2 million signing bonus.
How cheap that seems at the moment.
Leftwich, meanwhile, was available in that year’s April draft.
War-room discussions, I hear, were hot and heavy on Leftwich.
The final decision was made by Parcells that cornerback Terence Newman would be the choice for the Cowboys.
Parcells worried over Leftwich’s lack of mobility.
If true, it’s kinda funny. Last year, there was Vinny. This year, there’s Drew Bledsoe. Mobility?
Parcells is the best thing to happen to the Cowboys since The Jimster left town.
But, man, his quarterback rating is pitiful.
That first year on the job, ’03, Big Bill misses on Delhomme and Leftwich, and ends up with Q and Hutch.
One becomes a junkie, and the other is on the NFL junkpile.
Neither is in the league at the moment.
Vinny T. started last season, and he’s also out of the league.
Then the Cowboys, under Parcells’ watch, staked their QB future to Drew Henson, and at the moment, he’s not even the backup.
Can Tony Romo eventually save Big Bill’s quarterback legacy in Irving?
That’s a long shot, but Romo is the only shot at the moment.
Unless, of course, Bledsoe revives his own career.
A confession:
I like this guy. Didn’t at first, but now I do.
And Buffalo voices warned me about that.
They said in the spring, when Bledsoe landed here, that Drew looks the role, talks the role, acts the role.
But when the rubber hits the road, he will fish-tail all over the place.
The games expose him, I was told.
Yes, the Bills, with a good team, dumped Bledsoe for a kid quarterback who hasn’t taken a dozen NFL snaps.
But Parcells thinks his previous relationship with Bledsoe will make a difference here.
Yet, I also don’t believe any of that bus-driver crap that Bill preaches.
Bledsoe will have to make plays for the Cowboys to finish above .500 and contend for a playoff spot.
The game is about the quarterback. Always has been, always will be.
(And don’t give me any of that Ravens’ drivel from five years ago.)
But “putting the right people” around Bledsoe is Big Bill’s correct message.
Unless there’s an injury crisis, Parcells can put the right people around Bledsoe.
Trust in Big Bill, that he can bring out the best of Bledsoe.
And certainly the law of quarterback averages is on Parcells’ side.
His QB decisions here have been so bad, he’s due to blackjack at any time.
My optimism has resurfaced.
Mark me down for a 9-7 record and a wild-card spot in the playoffs.
I am tuning out those Buffalo voices. Bledsoe is the man.
He’s no Jake. He’s no Leftwich. But he’s all we’ve got.
Parcells jinxed in QB hunt?
Randy Galloway
IN MY OPINION
Right there on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated is Jake Delhomme.
Is this a jinx?
For Big Bill, it is.
Right there on the Texas Stadium field three nights ago was Byron Leftwich.
Instead of a jinx, we should have been raising a second-guess stink.
Two quarterbacks, I said two, who in the spring of ’03 could have ended the eternal search for The Next Aikman.
OK, I retract that.
No way that Jake is Aikman.
And Leftwich also won’t be.
But both of those guys would have been the perfect solution to the quarterback grab-bag mess that has dogged the Cowboys since Aikman retired.
They can play the position at a high level.
Fine, hit me with your e-mails:
“That’s cheap second-guessing from a cheap second-guesser.”
Agreed.
But it’s like I’ve told you before:
Cheap second-guessing is what I do. It’s Big Bill’s job to prevent it.
Jake is the SI coverboy because that magazine is picking his team, the Carolina Panthers, to win the Super Bowl this season.
Jacksonville’s Leftwich is, in my opinion, the best bet among the NFL’s young QBs to make it big.
The Cowboys could have had them both.
In the spring of ’03, Delhomme was a journeyman free agent who sat across the Valley Ranch desk from Parcells ready and willing to sign a contract.
There are two versions of what happened next.
One, Parcells low-balled him on the money.
Two, Jerry Jones, still attached financially and emotionally to Chad Hutchinson and Quincy Carter, low-balled Jake on the money.
Whatever the case, Delhomme departed Irving, went to Charlotte, and the Panthers signed him immediately with a generous hip-pocket offer of a $2 million signing bonus.
How cheap that seems at the moment.
Leftwich, meanwhile, was available in that year’s April draft.
War-room discussions, I hear, were hot and heavy on Leftwich.
The final decision was made by Parcells that cornerback Terence Newman would be the choice for the Cowboys.
Parcells worried over Leftwich’s lack of mobility.
If true, it’s kinda funny. Last year, there was Vinny. This year, there’s Drew Bledsoe. Mobility?
Parcells is the best thing to happen to the Cowboys since The Jimster left town.
But, man, his quarterback rating is pitiful.
That first year on the job, ’03, Big Bill misses on Delhomme and Leftwich, and ends up with Q and Hutch.
One becomes a junkie, and the other is on the NFL junkpile.
Neither is in the league at the moment.
Vinny T. started last season, and he’s also out of the league.
Then the Cowboys, under Parcells’ watch, staked their QB future to Drew Henson, and at the moment, he’s not even the backup.
Can Tony Romo eventually save Big Bill’s quarterback legacy in Irving?
That’s a long shot, but Romo is the only shot at the moment.
Unless, of course, Bledsoe revives his own career.
A confession:
I like this guy. Didn’t at first, but now I do.
And Buffalo voices warned me about that.
They said in the spring, when Bledsoe landed here, that Drew looks the role, talks the role, acts the role.
But when the rubber hits the road, he will fish-tail all over the place.
The games expose him, I was told.
Yes, the Bills, with a good team, dumped Bledsoe for a kid quarterback who hasn’t taken a dozen NFL snaps.
But Parcells thinks his previous relationship with Bledsoe will make a difference here.
Yet, I also don’t believe any of that bus-driver crap that Bill preaches.
Bledsoe will have to make plays for the Cowboys to finish above .500 and contend for a playoff spot.
The game is about the quarterback. Always has been, always will be.
(And don’t give me any of that Ravens’ drivel from five years ago.)
But “putting the right people” around Bledsoe is Big Bill’s correct message.
Unless there’s an injury crisis, Parcells can put the right people around Bledsoe.
Trust in Big Bill, that he can bring out the best of Bledsoe.
And certainly the law of quarterback averages is on Parcells’ side.
His QB decisions here have been so bad, he’s due to blackjack at any time.
My optimism has resurfaced.
Mark me down for a 9-7 record and a wild-card spot in the playoffs.
I am tuning out those Buffalo voices. Bledsoe is the man.
He’s no Jake. He’s no Leftwich. But he’s all we’ve got.
