Angus
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Parcellsology
By Rafael Vela
Just listened to Bill’s mid-day presser and three things stand out.
– He gave a guardedly optimistic assessment of rookie FS Pat Watkins. As regular Parcells listeners know, he likes to razz reporters who give a player premature praise. “Let’s not put him in Canton yet,” is a favored Parcells comeback. So it’s a bit surprising to hear him say of Watkins, “he has a chance to be a good player. I don’t want to say too much … but he’s got a chance.” He later admitted that veteran Marcus Coleman was getting reps at CB because they didn’t want to deprive Watkins of any reps at FS.
It sounds to me like Watkins had a good practice and the coaches are crossing their fingers hoping he shows consistency in upcoming workouts. It’s far too early to gush over the guy but this guarded level of optimism is more than I expected. We’ll know a lot more next week. Rookies are wild. A sloppy practice tomorrow and this story goes poof.
– Parcells didn’t express too much concern about the o-line yet, saying the defense traditionally gels ahead of the offense, unless a team has a bad defense. I don’t think Dallas has a bad defense. On the subject of centers, Parcells seemed equally non-plussed by the center comparison DonnyPosner and others made yesterday, though his comments seemed to confirm that Donny’s view was on the mark. Parcells said Andre Gurode was more effective against big NTs than Al Johnson but felt Johnson was more effective against four-man fronts and in space. We’ll see.
– Lastly, Parcells reiterated that QB Tony Romo will play a lot this summer, because he felt Romo was finally ready. He used a boxer analogy, saying throwing Romo or Drew Henson into the ring before they could handle a tough fight could have wrecked their careers. When pressed, he said Romo was a “gunslinger” type out of college who played hunches and took too many chances earlier in his career. This suggests the coaches felt Romo would have forced the issue, generated lots of turnovers and possibly lost his confidence. It seems Romo has demonstrated enough mental discipline for the staff to finally trust him. Whether he succeeds for fails, Romo has benefitted from what we might call and “old school” QB philosophy. Look at every QB in the Landry-era; Don Meredith, Craig Morton, Roger Staubach, Danny White and Gary Hogeboom all carried the clipboard for three years or so before they were given the reins. That was standard operating procedure for almost all QBs of that time, unless you played for a bad organization that lacked patience. Today, most young QBs don’t get time to develop. We should know in a month if the extra time paid off.
By Rafael Vela
Just listened to Bill’s mid-day presser and three things stand out.
– He gave a guardedly optimistic assessment of rookie FS Pat Watkins. As regular Parcells listeners know, he likes to razz reporters who give a player premature praise. “Let’s not put him in Canton yet,” is a favored Parcells comeback. So it’s a bit surprising to hear him say of Watkins, “he has a chance to be a good player. I don’t want to say too much … but he’s got a chance.” He later admitted that veteran Marcus Coleman was getting reps at CB because they didn’t want to deprive Watkins of any reps at FS.
It sounds to me like Watkins had a good practice and the coaches are crossing their fingers hoping he shows consistency in upcoming workouts. It’s far too early to gush over the guy but this guarded level of optimism is more than I expected. We’ll know a lot more next week. Rookies are wild. A sloppy practice tomorrow and this story goes poof.
– Parcells didn’t express too much concern about the o-line yet, saying the defense traditionally gels ahead of the offense, unless a team has a bad defense. I don’t think Dallas has a bad defense. On the subject of centers, Parcells seemed equally non-plussed by the center comparison DonnyPosner and others made yesterday, though his comments seemed to confirm that Donny’s view was on the mark. Parcells said Andre Gurode was more effective against big NTs than Al Johnson but felt Johnson was more effective against four-man fronts and in space. We’ll see.
– Lastly, Parcells reiterated that QB Tony Romo will play a lot this summer, because he felt Romo was finally ready. He used a boxer analogy, saying throwing Romo or Drew Henson into the ring before they could handle a tough fight could have wrecked their careers. When pressed, he said Romo was a “gunslinger” type out of college who played hunches and took too many chances earlier in his career. This suggests the coaches felt Romo would have forced the issue, generated lots of turnovers and possibly lost his confidence. It seems Romo has demonstrated enough mental discipline for the staff to finally trust him. Whether he succeeds for fails, Romo has benefitted from what we might call and “old school” QB philosophy. Look at every QB in the Landry-era; Don Meredith, Craig Morton, Roger Staubach, Danny White and Gary Hogeboom all carried the clipboard for three years or so before they were given the reins. That was standard operating procedure for almost all QBs of that time, unless you played for a bad organization that lacked patience. Today, most young QBs don’t get time to develop. We should know in a month if the extra time paid off.
