[jayC]

Parcells: Too Early To Overreact


Nick Eatman
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer
September 8, 2003, 6:43 p.m. (CDT)

IRVING, Texas - One game, that's all.

There are still 15 more to play.

That seemed to be Monday's theme for Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells, who wouldn't let the media blow Sunday's loss to the Falcons too far out of proportion.

Sure, he was disappointed about the loss and the performances of certain players. But no, kicker Billy Cundiff didn't get fired. He still has a job. And no, the Cowboys weren't calling for quarterback Neil O'Donnell or any other big-named veterans in need of work.

There just wasn't any knee-jerking going on around Valley Ranch.

"It's just one game, guys," Parcells said of Sunday's 27-13 loss to the Falcons. "We've got a long season to go. I was disappointed in a lot of things that I saw. We made a lot of mistakes that I thought were elementary. But the game was not one-sided. We had our chances. We just made more mistakes than they did. To me, we're just starting this thing. We've got a lot of work to do."

And that work appears to be with the players already on the roster. Parcells didn't seem too excited about making massive personnel changes, at least for now.

"You have to consider what your options are before you take action," Parcells said. "If your options are worse than what you're doing now, you try to get what you're doing now a little bit better."

And that starts with the kicker. Expect Parcells to stick with Cundiff even though the second-year kicker missed a 33-yard field goal attempt Sunday and had an extra point attempt blocked, the first one the Cowboys have had blocked since 1989.

"It's only one kick . . . geez," Parcells said in his Monday morning press conference. "Let me just the see the guy. Let's give him a chance to do this. Now, if he missed three field goals next week, I might to start thinking about things. But I don't expect him to do that. He's made most of them during the off-season."

Of course Cundiff won't be in the greatest of kicking conditions the next two games, the Cowboys headed to Giants Stadium this Monday night to meet the New York Giants and then two weeks later after the bye to face the Jets.

And while there was much speculation the fiery Parcells would have already replaced his kicker, Parcells also quelled speculation that a lot of vested veteran players were on their way to Valley Ranch, guys such as Adrian Murrell and Ray Crockett and maybe even quarterback Neil O'Donnell.

"Right now, I'm not planning on making any moves," Parcells said. "Now that could change, I just don't know. But I'm not anticipating doing anything. You sort of have to go with what you have for the most part."

And since he's still finding out about his quarterback, Quincy Carter, he's not even thinking about making any impulsive moves there.

"I think he's got some things to work on, but we already knew that," said Parcells, who tried to squash any notions Carter might have taken a step backwards from his preseason play. "This isn't the preseason. That's over. Everything is different now. The pace is different. And teams have had some time to watch the film and maybe take away some of the things he likes to do. So it's a little bit different right now."

But Parcells commended Carter's preparation for the opener, noticing him still around at Valley Ranch last Tuesday night past 8 p.m. watching tape. He also said the third-year quarterback made a few plays in the game that peaked his interest.

"I thought Quincy made some outstanding throws," Parcells said of Carter, who passed for a career-high 268 yards, yet tossed an interception and lost a fumble. "He made some mistakes. But he did have five or six very good throws."

And it could be those flashes that keeps Parcells from knee-jerking at this point. Or it could be his experience in this situation.

When Parcells took over a Giants team in 1983 coming off a 4-5 record in the strike-shortened '82 season, he lost his debut 16-6 at home to the Rams. In fact, the Giants only won only three games that season.

Of course, after winning two Super Bowls with the Giants, Parcells' reputation was completely different when he inherited the Patriots in 1993. In his first game with New England, Parcells' new team lost in Buffalo, 38-13, and only won five games that year.

Now the exception to the trend came in 1997 when Parcells took a 1-15 Jets team to a season-opening 41-3 season-opening victory over the Seahawks. The Jets did win nine games that year, just missing the playoffs.

The point is, while Parcells might not seem to be a patient man, he has been just that at the outset of his three previous head coaching stops. Sure, Parcells wants to win now, and that's why he refuses to call this a rebuilding year.

"We're trying to win as many games as possible, right now," Parcells said. "That's the goal. To win every game and it's no different. I have my own expectations of this team, and they might have been a little too high. But that's OK. I'm not worried about where we are right now. I know this is a long season. We'll get back to the drawing board here."

Losing the season opener is slowly becoming a trend here with the Cowboys, who have now lost four straight openers.

And three of those games, including Sunday's loss to the Falcons, have been somewhat of an eye-opener for the Cowboys. In 2000, the Cowboys were drilled by the Eagles 41-14 in a sauna-like Texas Stadium where quarterback Troy Aikman suffered yet another concussion and Eagles running back Duce Staley torched the Cowboys for 201 rushing yards.

The Cowboys were outmanned against the Bucs in 2001, throwing Carter to the wolves in his NFL rookie debut. But the defense was game enough to keep the score close, allowing the Cowboys the opportunity to drive for the winning score on their last possession in the 10-6 loss.

But last year, losing to the expansion Texans, 19-10, took the cake, and Carter took most of the blame. But the quarterback bounced back a week later to beat the Tennessee Titans, who ended up playing in the AFC Championship Game last season. Carter had one of his best days guiding the Cowboys to the upset win.

"I don't worry about what (the media) says about me," Carter said. "I just keep my focus and worry about what my coaches tell me and just try to get ready for the next game. So I can't do anything about the last game or last year. You can only go forward and that's what I'm going to do."

And sounds as if that's exactly what Parcells is doing, too, going forward, at least for now, with what he has.

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NO to cutting cundiff, no to bringing in odonnel and no to ray crockett.
Looks as if he still thinks carter can do it.