Bill Parcells – Page 5 – Syndication Server

Giants’ Lawrence Taylor, Eli Manning highlight CBS Sports’ franchise five

New York Giants LB Lawrence Taylor and QB Eli Manning highlight Big Blue’s “franchise five” by CBS Sports.

A typical offseason exercise for many NFL beat writers is to compile lists of their team’s greatest players, games, moments and eras. This year, with an extended offseason due the coronavirus pandemic lock-downs, those exercises have been stretched to the limit.

It doesn’t mean they’re any less fun. In a recent piece by CBS Sports’ Dan Schneier, he reveals his New York Giants’ “Franchise Five,” which is a similar exercise to our “Mount Rushmore” series in which we listed the top five figures in New York Giants history.

Schneier and veteran NFL reporter Pete Prisco settled on five names no one can dispute: Bill Parcells, Lawrence Taylor, Roosevelt Brown, Eli Manning and Michael Strahan. All but Manning are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and are members of the Giants’ Ring of Honor.

But give that time. Manning just retired a few months ago. He will have his name enshrined in the Ring of Honor as early as next year and if CEO John Mara keeps his word, “no Giant will ever wear No. 10 again.”

Having followed the Giants for much longer than young Mr. Schneier and at least as long as Mr. Prisco, if not longer, I agree with their choices.

The common thread among players is that they all spent their entire careers with the Giants. Manning played 16 seasons and 236 games, the most of any Giants player. Strahan played 216 games over 15 seasons. Taylor suited up for 184 games in his 13-year career, while Brown played 162 games across 13 seasons.

Parcells was the team’s greatest coach, taking the championship-starved Giants and their fans to their first two Super Bowl triumphs. His 8-3 post season record is impressive, but he has fewer total wins than Tom Coughlin, who also sports an 8-3 playoff mark with two Super Bowl wins.

My five would be Taylor, Manning, Frank Gifford, Strahan and Harry Carson. I hate to exclude Brown, who was also a Giants’ coach after his playing career, but here’s my logic. Gifford was the face of those great Giant teams of the 50s and 60s. It was him that people think of when they reminisce about that era. Brown may have been the overall better player, as were Emlen Tunnell and perhaps some others, but Gifford was the icon.

Carson played on a lot of bad football teams in the 1970s and held the fort with class and dignity before the Giants built up the team around him in the 80s. He is one of my all-time favorite Giants and many young-‘uns who never saw him play undersell him because of his genteel off-field demeanor. Let me tell you this, he was anything but genteel on the field. He was good as any middle linebacker in his era, maybe better.

Schneier writes that it was a close call between Manning and Phil Simms and I can see that. Simms was as talented as any quarterback the Giants have ever had. His early injury issues set him back. His first five seasons were marred by bizarre and debilitating injuries. Then, he was robbed at a second shot at a Super Bowl in 1990 by a late-season foot injury.

Manning never missed a game due to injury however, and did get that second Super Bowl win and MVP, so what might have been doesn’t count here.

I chose to exclude Parcells because of the way he left. Many Giant fans were angry with his departure, especially after the way the succession plan unfolded (Ray Handley was selected as head coach over Bill Belichick) and the fact that Parcells went on to coach three other teams after leaving.

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1986 Giants named the organization’s most dominant team since 1970

The 1986 New York Giants have been named the organization’s most dominant single-season team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.

Late last month, The Athletic listed the 1986 New York Giants as one of the NFL’s most dominant teams of the last 50 years. For that reason, it should come as little surprise that same team has now been named the organization’s most dominant team since the AFL-NFL merger of 1970.

The Athletic recently broke down the most dominant single-season teams for each of the NFL’s 32 franchises, and the 1986 Giants got the nod and ranked No. 12 overall.

Criteria	Credentials
W-L	14-2
PPG Ratio	1.6:1
Playoffs W-L	3-9
Playoffs PPG Ratio	4.6:1
Point Diff. vs. Winning Teams	103
Power Ranking	90.4

This team and the 1990 version (34th overall) were the only Giants teams since 1970 that contended seriously for spots in the overall top 25. The 1986 Giants far outpaced the others since 1970 in postseason PPG ratio and point differential against winning teams. This team outscored its three playoff opponents by 35-8 on average, producing the third-highest postseason PPG ratio for any team since 1970, behind the Bears (9.1) and 1989 49ers (4.8).

Led by Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor and legendary head coach Bill Parcells, the 1986 Giants restored order in the world of football and returned the Lombardi Trophy to East Rutherford. It was their first Super Bowl title and their first NFL Championship since the 1956 season.

Unsurprisingly, the 1985 Chicago Bears topped the list as the most dominant single-season team not only in their history, but NFL history.

Meanwhile, the 2007 New England Patriots got the nod as their organization’s best single-season team, checking in at No. 5 overall. Of course, we all know how that ended in Super Bowl XLII.

The Patriots placed three teams in the overall top 25, with this historic 2007 version edging out the teams from 2016 (10th) and 2004 (12). Those three teams went a combined 27-3 against opponents that finished with winning records. That included 9-1 by the 2007 team, which produced a franchise-best point differential against winning teams, outscoring them by 15.2 points per game. That one loss, of course, came in the Super Bowl to the Giants.

As dominant as the 1986 team was, what the 2007 Giants will live in infamy.

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Giants whiffed on Bill Parcells’ replacement in 1991

The New York Giants could not have gotten it more wrong in 1991, choosing Ray Handley over Bill Belichick.

With the lack of any hard news in sports these days there’s a lot of “what-if” articles going around. Paul Schwartz, who has covered the New York Giants for the New York Post since 1994, has been publishing quite a few of these pieces and one in particular gets me every time.

Why didn’t the Giants hire Bill Belichick in 1991 when Bill Parcells left?

“Parcells left in May following the Super Bowl-winning 1990 season,” writes Schwartz. “But before that, GM George Young had shown favoritism for Ray Handley, the running backs coach and clock-management guy, over Belichick, the defensive coordinator who Young thought cursed too much and was a bit of an oddball. Belichick left in February, leaving Handley to be named head coach, and the rest is very sad Giants history. Belichick went on to have some success, it seems.”

George Young made a lot of winning decisions in his long tenure as the general manager of the Giants. He also made a bunch of poor ones. None was as poor as the decision to hire Ray Handley, who was as ill-quipped off the field as he was on it to handle the position. He was fired after two seasons and replaced by Dan Reeves.

To be fair, Bill Belichick was not the Bill Belichick we know today. He was younger, brasher and perhaps not ready for a head coaching gig. Hence his hiring and firing as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns in the mid-1990s.

But Belichick would learn from that, and quickly. In his next — and current head coaching job — with the New England Patriots, Belichick has won nine AFC Championships and six Super Bowls. And he’s not done.

Handley never coached or worked in football again. The Giants eventually recovered, but it took nine years to get back to the Super Bowl and the hiring of another figure off the Parcells coaching tree, Tom Coughlin, to guide them to their next world championship.

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Former Jets RB Curtis Martin reveals he won 2004 rushing title with torn MCL

After winning the 2004 rushing title at the age of 31, Curtis Martin, reveals 16 years later that he accomplished this feat on a torn MCL.

New York Jets Hall of Fame running back Curtis Martin has peeled back the curtains to reveal that he played through a significant injury when he won the 2004 NFL rushing title.

Martin became the oldest player in league history to win the regular-season rushing title that year. It turns out that he did so while playing on with a torn MCL.

“My MCL had almost a grade 3 tear in it,” Martin told Tim Benz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “It was so loose. I played with it from I believe the sixth or seventh game throughout the rest of the season. At the time, the doctors were telling me that I needed to sit out and let it rest and I may need surgery.”

At the age of 31, Martin ran the ball 371 times for 1,697 yards and 12 touchdowns. He helped lead the Jets to a 10-6 record on the season, which ended in a divisional-round loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Before Martin could lead his team to the playoffs, he was at a crossroads. The Jets running back was unsure of whether he should continue to play through the injury or get surgery, so he sought out the counsel of a familiar face — Bill Parcells. He had coached Martin in New England and New York and was in his second season as the Dallas Cowboys’ head coach.

Martin could handle the pain but wanted to know if he was doing the best thing for his career.

“He told me, ‘Take care of your body. That’s your priority,’” Martin said. “‘But on the other hand, you never want to come out of the huddle because you never know who is coming into the huddle.”

Martin never did remove himself from that huddle and his career may have suffered because of it. In 2005, he suffered a right knee sprain in the Jets’ second game of the season. He continued to play on the injury, as he did the season before, and his production took a noticeable dip. The severity of the injury forced Martin to undergo season-ending knee surgery. He was placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list by Gang Green and was never taken off of it. He would never suit up again and retired in July of 2007.

Playing on the injury put Martin in the NFL record books and was yet another reason for him to be inducted in Canton. Betting on himself had its consquences, but Martin surely personified toughness during his 11-year career.

Why is Giants legend Bill Parcells snubbed for the Patriots Hall of Fame?

Was New York Giants legend Bill Parcells snubbed for the New England Patriots Hall of Fame — sure seems that way.

Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach Bill Parcells has gotten plenty of accolades over his lifetime, and deservedly so. But there is one honor that he hasn’t been able to garner, and it may be some time before he gets it.

That would be induction into the New England Patriots’ Hall of Fame, an honor that should be bestowed on him as he is largely responsible for the framework that has guided Bob Kraft’s franchise to nine Super Bowl appearances and six Lombardi Trophies.

Mike Rosenstein of NJ Advance Media wrote that the snub by Kraft is personal, not business, and likely stems from Parcells’ sudden departure from the club in 1996 over personnel decisions. (As he famously said, “If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries.”)

Last month, Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy wrote that Parcells has been “frozen out of the Patriots hall” because of his ugly divorce in New England which saw him land with the New York Jets. Shaughnessy also wrote that “a Patriots Hall of Fame without Bill Parcells is a farce.”

Despite what the Krafts would have you believe, Parcells is the one who turned the Patriots into a legitimate franchise. His arrival — one year before Kraft bought the team — triggered the surge on season tickets. It was Parcells who brought in the foundation (Ty Law, Willie McGinest, Ted Johnson, Tedy Bruschi, Lawyer Milloy, Troy Brown, Adam Vinatieri) for your first Super Bowl-winning team. He also brought Bill Belichick to New England. Need I go on?

Parcells would go on coach the Jets and Dallas Cowboys, and then end his career as an executive for the Miami Dolphins.

Parcells was inducted into the New York Giants Ring of Honor in 2010 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame three years later.

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2020 Hindsight: A look back at the Jets’ 2000 NFL Draft 2 decades later

Jets Wire takes a stroll down memory lane to revisit New York’s 2000 NFL draft class 20 years later.

The 2000 NFL draft could very well be one of the best in Jets franchise history.

Loaded with four first-round picks, two of which he acquired by trading star wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson to the Buccaneers, general manager Bill Parcells approached the draft with more than enough capital to improve upon an 8-8 record and fourth-place finish in the AFC East in 1999.

With players like running back Curtis Martin, wide receivers Wayne Chrebet and Dedric Ward, linebackers Marvin Jones and Mo Lewis and safety Victor Green already in the mix, the Jets were littered with talent entering 2000. All Parcells had to do was sure up a few positions of need and inject some youth into New York’s roster.

Well aware that the Jets needed to address their defensive line and pass rush, Parcells selected University of Tennessee defensive end Shaun Ellis at No. 12 and used the 13th pick acquired from Tampa Bay on South Carolina outside linebacker John Abraham. Parcells spent New York’s other two first-round picks on offense, landing quarterback of the future Chad Pennington at No. 18 and tight end Anthony Bect at No. 27, the other pick the Buccaneers sent to the Jets in exchange for Johnson.

Parcells’ work did not end in the first round, though. He selected wide receiver Laveranues Coles in the third round to give the Jets an immediate weapon at wide receiver and one Pennington could work with once he took over the starting job.

As is the case with any NFL draft class, it takes a while to determine whether the group is successful or not. Some players take time to develop, while others make an instant impact. Ellis, Abraham, Coles and Becht all assumed important roles in 2000. Ellis registered 8.5 sacks, while Abraham chipped in 4.5. Coles caught 22 passes for 370 yards and a touchdown working as New York’s No. 3 receiver, while Becht became the starting tight end and caught 16 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown in his rookie year.

Pennington spent his first year with the Jets sitting behind starting quarterback Vinny Testaverde. He only appeared in one game, going 2-5 for 40 yards and a touchdown. Although he spent most of 2000 on the bench, the lessons Pennington learned watching and working with Testaverde proved key to his success once he ascended to the starting role.

The Jets did not make the playoffs in 2000, going 9-7 and finishing third in the AFC East in Al Groh’s lone season as head coach. However, New York’s 2000 draft class laid the foundation for the future. Ellis and Abraham developed into a dominant pass-rushing duo, one the Jets have not had since. Coles finished his career with nearly 700 receptions and had two stints with the Jets. Becht proved to be a reliable tight end option until he departed in 2004. While Pennington didn’t turn out to be as good as the 199th pick, Tom Brady, he eventually turned into a very good starting quarterback and one of the most accurate passers of all-time. Late-round picks Windrell Hayes, Tony Scott and Richard Seals did not pan out with the Jets, but hitting on five out of eight picks in any draft class is a job well done.

Twenty years later, first-year Jets general manager Joe Douglas has his own chance to lay the foundation for the future. He might not have as much draft capital as Parcells did, but he has enough to fill positions of need and give New York a much-needed influx of talent.

If all goes well, the Jets could be back on their way to the postseason sooner rather than later.

How the Bill Parcells influence could impact Dolphins’ draft plans

It has been a decade since Bill Parcells has decided to step away from the Miami Dolphins as the Vice President of Player Personnel. Yet his influence seems to linger over the Miami Dolphins all these years later.

Everything that ties this team back to Bill Parcells at this point in time falls back to one man, general manager Chris Grier. When Parcells came to the Dolphins, he promoted Grier to ‘Director of Scouting’ after previously working with him and Bobby Grier (Chris’s father) in New England. It was 2010 when Parcells stepped away from the Dolphins and football altogether and now, a decade later, Grier is entering his second season of total control as the general manager of the Dolphins.

Grier’s watch as the unquestioned man in charge required him to steer Miami through a total rebuild of the Dolphins — a project that is very reminiscent of the 2008 Dolphins rebuild. Conducted by Bill Parcells.

So far it seems Grier has followed the same blue print in his own way. He hired a head coach he was familiar with from a system he was familiar with in Brian Flores. (Parcells hired Tony Sparano, who he worked with in Dallas). The similarities do not stop there, as Parcells believed in building a strong running attack and building his roster inside out.

It seems as though the Dolphins are focused on bringing a physical toughness to their team under Grier’s watch this season, hiring of offensive coordinator only amplifies that thought. In the past, Gailey was known for his physical run games and vertical attacks.

What can that tell us about the direction headed into the draft?

In 2008, the Dolphins drafted first overall and took offensive tackle Jake Long. Just before training camp, the Dolphins signed free agent quarterback Chad Pennington, who was drafted by Parcells with the New York Jets. Miami would post their best record in the last 15 seasons, finishing the year 11-5 while winning the AFC East — the last time a team not named “New England” has won the division.

That Dolphins team flourished thanks to the leadership that Pennington possessed. The former Jet was as accurate as they come, too. And now as Chris Grier looks to make his own worst to first turnaround, he’ll have a chance to make a run at a signal caller who checks all of those boxes, too. His name? Joe Burrow.

If Grier envisions Burrow the same way Parcells envisioned Pennington, there is a good chance the Dolphins attempt to trade up for him. They can surrender picks this year and still have the ammunition to come back up for an offensive tackle as well — fulfilling the Parcells philosophy of building the team inside out. Like it or not, the idea of getting a franchise quarterback and building the the offensive and defensive lines is pretty persistent with how teams win long-term. If Grier still embraces that Parcells mentality, then the Dolphins could very well take an aggressive approach with Joe Burrow.

9 NFL coach-GMs like the Texans’ Bill O’Brien who had success

The Houston Texans have a coach and general manager in Bill O’Brien. Here are nine other NFL coaches who had success while being their team’s GM.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Avengers” series, unlimited power could be wielded by collecting all Infinity Stones. However, not every sentient being in the universe can handle the sheer energy from all six stones as the absolute power could be crushing.

In the same way, an NFL coach taking on the role of general manager, as Bill O’Brien has with the Houston Texans, is a tremendous burden. However, there have been some coaches who have handled the GM role and had success. Here are nine coaches in NFL history who were able to win while being in the front office.

Andy Reid

In 2001, the Philadelphia Eagles coach became the “executive vice president of football operations.” In essence, Reid was the Eagles’ general manager until they hired one officially in 2005. During that span, the Eagles had their most successful run in the Reid era with four straight NFC Championship Game appearances and a three-point loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. Reid still had the final say on football matters after the Eagles hired a general manager, but the results on the field were never the same.

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What was the NFL like in 1995, the last time Patriots’ kicker wasn’t Adam Vinatieri or Stephen Gostkowski?

Adam Vinatieri and Stephen Gostkowski have been kicking for the Patriots since 1996. What was the team like in 1995?

The New England Patriots cut Stephen Gostkowski Monday. The kicker spent 14 years with the Pats, taking over for Adam Vinatieri in 2006. For all intents, New England has had two kickers since 1996. Talk about stability. What was the NFL like in 1995, when Matt Bahr kicked for the Pats?

The Patriots’ coach was …

Bill Parcells ran the show for New England in 1995. The former coach of two Super Bowl champs with the New York Giants led New England to a 6-10 mark that season. The Patriots finished third in the AFC East

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It’s about time Steve Atwater made the Hall of Fame

Steve Atwater wasn’t known for this time with the Jets but still had a long and fruitful career in the defensive backfield.

It took 16 years, but “The Smiling Assassin” will finally grin forever in Canton.

Steve Atwater, the former Broncos and Jets safety, joined the class of 2020 as a Pro Football Hall of Famer 21 years after he retired from the league. Atwater made his hay as one of the hardest hitting safeties of the 1990s, terrifying offenses at the line of scrimmage and stopping even the mightiest of running backs.

Though he only played one nondescript season with the Jets, Atwater rightfully deserved the Hall of Fame induction after 16 years of eligibility and three as a finalist. Atwater retired the year after he signed with the Jets as a free agent in 1999, a season in which he only played 12 games and tallied just 63 total tackles and one forced fumble.

Atwater didn’t bring pain and terror to the Jets defense, but he racked up stats and accolades during his 10-year career with the Broncos. He earned eight Pro Bowl nods, two All-Pro selections, won two Super Bowls and registered 1,000 tackles, 24 interceptions, five sacks, five forced fumbles and eight fumble recoveries.

The Broncos used Atwater the way a lot of big-bodied safeties play now – at the line of scrimmage. There, he crushed running backs and played a pivotal role in the Broncos’ run defense. Two moments encapsulate Atwater’s career: His devastating hit on Chiefs running back Christian Okoye and his dominating performance in Super Bowl XXXII.

Atwater somehow derailed Okoye in Week 2 of the 1990 season, a feat now many could accomplish given Okoye’s 6-foot-1, 260-pound frame. At 6-foot-3, 218 pounds, Atwater proved himself up to the task. Atwater played a pivotal role in the Broncos’ first of two consecutive Super Bowl wins. He terrorized the Green Bay Packers offense in Super Bowl XXXII with six solo tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble.

Once his career concluded in Denver, Atwater joined the Bill Parcells-led Jets in 1999. Atwater played alongside Victor Green in the deep secondary with cornerbacks Marcus Coleman and Aaron Glen on the outside. The Jets went 8-8 in Parcells’ first year in New York and Atwater finished sixth on the team in total tackles with 63.

Atwater paved the way for safeties like Ed Reed, Brian Dawkins and Landon Collins to become staples of the defenses as imposing defensive backs. He won’t be remembered for his time with the Jets, but Atwater’s career as a whole certainly deserved Hall of Fame recognition.