Ed Board would like to take a moment and say farewell to newly re-retired Cowboys coach Bill Parcells.
The Cowboys went a meager 34-30 under Parcells in the regular season and didn’t get past the first round of playoffs the two times they made it in Parcells’ four seasons.
Along with all Cowboys fans, we were excited when the future Hall of Fame coach came out of retirement the first time to head America’s Team. But the Cowboys are right back where they were four years ago.
When Parcells took the reins in 2003, Quincy Carter was his starting quarterback, and the Cowboys were just coming off a playoff appearance. That season Dallas went 10-6 and lost in the first round of the playoffs.
The next season, Vinny Testaverde was the quarterback of the underachieving, playoff-reject 6-10 Cowboys.
Parcells had effectively taken a team that had gone to the playoffs the year before and set the team back three years when they were 5-11 while using four different starting quarterbacks.
Parcells couldn’t do much in 2005 either. After bringing in former New England compatriot Drew Bledsoe to lead the team, the Cowboys went 9-7 and missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons under Parcells.
And then there’s this year.
Pretty much every Cowboys fan in the nation yelled at his or her television to put in Tony Romo as Bledsoe single-handedly lost games at Philadelphia and at home to the New York Giants. Romo, who had worn a headset and carried a clipboard through his first three and a half seasons, never taking a snap, finally got his chance.
But it was also Romo, once seen as a season-saver for the Cowboys, who “dropped the ball” in the playoffs sending Parcells and the ‘boys home early once again.
It’s doubtful that Parcells was up to the challenge of another season this year. Parcells looked lost, upset, angry and dumbfounded on the sidelines by his team’s inability to perform.
It could be that Parcells lost his coaching edge a few years ago, or it could be that he had the life sucked out of him by a chosen few. Mike Vanderjact, or wide right as he is now known, came into Dallas with a chip the size of Peyton Manning on his shoulder and a mysterious injury that kept him out of practice.
Which brings us to chosen few number two: the one, the only, Terrell Owens. Owens, banished from Philly, got under the skin of many in the Cowboys organization, and if it wasn’t Owens, it was all of the questions regarding him.
Any way you look at it, the Big Tuna will not be patrolling the sidelines for the Cowboys anymore. As far as we’re concerned, this could be the best thing that’s happened to the Cowboys since Jimmy Johnson.
