Cowboys article roundup

"We just talked, well, he did the talking and I listened," Payton said. "He talked a lot about the things that were getting ready to take place. The things that he can recall, that he knew were about to happen (to me)."

Payton then offered up a fact that everyone gathered around him already knew: Parcells likes to coach his coaches. To prepare them. That can be evidenced in former students, Bill Belichick, Tom Coughlin and Romeo Crennel. How much Payton was able to, in his words, "sponge" from the "invaluable experience" of being under a Super Bowl winner remains to be seen.

What else was said in that conversation could very well turn out to be the foundation for building a new Saints era here in the post-Katrina Gulf South.

"That conversation is probably what I'll remember most because here I am the new head coach of the Saints on a Tuesday afternoon, sitting in his office and really didn't have to take up all that time with me."

Onetime LSU defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs interviewed for the Saints' defensive coordinator position Friday, according to league sources. Gibbs, who spent the past four years as the Dallas Cowboys' linebackers coach, is the apparent front-runner for the job, but no contract has been offered, sources said. Gibbs worked with new coach Sean Payton on the Cowboys' staff for the past three seasons.

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Gibbs reportedly signed a one-year contract extension with the Cowboys this month but would be allowed to leave if offered the job.

For the first time in his Hall of Fame coaching career, Joe Gibbs will turn over the offense and play-calling to someone else, ESPN's Chris Mortensen has learned.

New offensive coordinator Al Saunders, who, like Gibbs, has ties to former NFL offensive guru Don Coryell, will take over those duties for the 2006 season.