The Catch 22 of Parcell's Style of Coaching

LarryCanadian

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No this doesn't have anything to do with Emmitt's number.

What I'm getting at is that is is frustrating for perfection oriented Cowboys fans (which is what most fans of great sports organizations are).

Parcells style is detailed, conservative, thorough, and monotonous for the most part. Play the percentages. Play the field position game. As a result we win games that maybe we shouldn't by getting that one extra turnover and 15 more yards on kickoffs/coverage. Even the awesome fleeflicker and trick play is carefully calculated. This is in stark contrast to say Jimmy Johnson who would dare teams to try and stop Dallas. Parcells will not say anything to stir up the other team, while Jimmy would guarantee a win. Part of fans frustration is the differing styles. Both are awesome and successful coaches but very different. Parcells wants and builds teams with clean cut, disciplined, work horses. Johnson didn't mind nuts and thugs if they loved and played football to win. Johnson of course had many superstar players, while Parcells has (now I believe) a bunch of above average players.

I guess what I'm getting at is that the quality of talent and playmaking ability on this team over the last couple years has been mediocre and Parcell's philosophy kept us in games or from being blown out and eeking out wins here and there more than a more open coaching philosopy would. Now the team is starting to have more talent and depth and big play ability and it's frustrating to watch this team CONTINUE TO PLAY NOT TO LOSE. I believe this team would much rather get burned for a 70 yard touchdown, watching Roy Williams come on a safety blitz while our corner back smacks Santana Moss at the LOS than having a prevent/zone defense with Roy in coverage.

I also feel that the fans would prefer to see Drew Bledsoe throw downfield than run Thompson (who makes nice plays outside) up the gut 3 times and settle for the field goal.

We better get used to it though. Parcells isn't the type of coach that plays to win 38 to 3, or 42 to 20. Parcells is risk averse. Remember all offseason he was mad at himself and partiall blames last years 6-10 record on letting Vinny kind of go wild with the passing game. Too aggressive, too many ints, too many mistakes. Now, despite better talent and youth and playmaking potential we will play this conservative style until every player is near 100% reliable. Might take one more year of seasoning of the young guys plus another draft of talent and freeagency additions of depth and Parcell's type guys, before Parcell's will trust this team enough to go play more aggressively. I like Parcells a lot. He is building solid all round football players with character. He's trying to build mental and physical toughness. He's making the team bigger, younger, and adding talented upside. His style does detract from enthusiasm and flashiness and confidence in some ways though, but I think he's trying to get the basics coached into these guys before we become a swaggering dominant team.

Just some thoughts. Fans are fed up with the "bend don't break" and the avoiding of the jugular in order to avoid mistakes style. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it, and will probably have near heart attacks every game from here on out, but I think we will win or lose almost every game this year by 1 to 6 points. Prepare yourself mentally and emotionally.

Just some thoughts.

Larry
 
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