Baloney. Quincey Carter was good enough to lead you to the playoffs. He was a 2nd round talent. You might not have personally liked him, but he definitely was good enough to be a franchise QB. Plus, Parcells did inherit some key playmakers both on offense and defense. Darren Woodson and Roy Williams were still around at the safety positions on defense. So was Dat Nguyen and Dexter Coakley at LB, as was Greg Ellis. LaRoi Glover was inherited at DT. All on defense. Parcells also inherited WR Joey Galloway, played him in 2003, then got rid of him. Only to see Galloway put up three 1,000+ yard receiving seasons right afterwards for the Buccaneers. So Parcells messed up there big time. He did the same with Emmitt Smith. Got rid of Emmitt before the 2003 started (Parcells first year as Cowboys head coach), only to see Emmitt run for almost 1,000 yards for the Cardinals in 2004 before retiring. Emmitt still would have been better than Troy Hambrick or Richie Anderson (Parcells picks). Parcells wasn't all that y'all make him out to be. He was average at best. His decisions were not the best.
JJ McCarthy was a first round pick. Does that mean he should be good?
Draft selection spots mean very little once the pads come on.
As you know, Dak was taken in round 4, Wentz in the 1st. One continued to work on his craft, the other burned bridges in every locker room.
Quincy may of had an arm, but he didn't have the mental ability. His off the field issues(smoking and drinking) was his way to cope with the stress of the NFL. Got him cut in 2004.
As for Galloway, I liked him, but he never flourished here. Best year was 908 yards and then in 2003 he declined down to 672 yards.
No surprise Parcells traded him for "his guy" in Keyshawn.
I always thought Smith was cut for contract reasons, too, as IIRC his cap salary in 2003 was going to be just under 10mil. The cap in 2003 was 75mil. 13% of the cap for a 34 year old back, and for a coach hired to retool the team.
Every team has some sort of talent. The Browns have talent here and there, or used to. Just poor QB and GM decisions keeping them in purgatory.
The Jets have talent too here and there.
I do feel like with every coach, there is a lifespan. I think Parcells was a coach at the edge of his useful limit, but still in the time of the NFL where a hard-*** coach would still be listened to.
We saw it with Bill B, who was also a hard-*** and then outlived his time in the ever changing NFL. Doesn't discredit what he did, but just someone stuck in his ways-which are now extinct.
I thought Parcells trying to convert the team to a 3-4 setback the lifespan of Nguyen and Glover here. Unfortunately Woody had to retire early due to injuries and then Williams sort of declined due to multiple factors.
