Lots of talk about the Tuna over the past day as the Wade Phillips era begins and the Bill Parcells era is swept away. The ex-coach spoke to Gary Myers and had a few choice statements.
Parcells confirmed that signing Owens last year "was not my decision. I had to do the best I could with him, which is what I tried to do."
Jerry made it clear in a press conference recently that it was both of their decisions. But Parcells isn’t backing that up. They probably were never on the exact same page, and while their disagreements weren’t at the level as the hysterical press tried to make it, I think they had a fundamental difference about the acquiring of Terrell Owens.
Parcells expressed regret only about how the Cowboys season ended - Tony Romo fumbled the snap on the potential winning field goal in the wild-card game in Seattle - not with his decision to walk away from his fourth head coaching job. "I thought if we get that game, we were going to the Super Bowl," he said.
That’s pretty optimistic, but at that stage of his career Parcells was an all-in player. He knew that this was probably his last go around. He wanted that Lombardi Trophy again, and was willing to believe Dallas was closer than it actually was.
He didn't come close and is defensive about his accomplishments with the Cowboys. "I didn't lose down there," he said. "We had a winning record. The franchise is a lot better than it was. We had three winning seasons out of four. The problem is the standard is pretty high. I don't feel like I did a bad job there."
I agree with that. This franchise is much better off for having Parcells here over those four years. The roster is stocked up with talent and the organization seems to have a confidence that was lacking in the pre-Parcells era. Not since the mid 90’s have the Cowboys been this close to truly being contenders.
Thanks, coach. But we are all about Wade Phillips now.