Parcells shows skeptics why he’s still a great coach

By Andy Targovnik  |   Tuesday, December 05, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Dallas Cowboys
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After a brutal loss to the Washington Redskins a few weeks ago that left the Dallas Cowboys with a 4-4 record and an uphill climb to the playoffs, Bill Parcells must have been filled with self-doubt. And why not?

Not only hadn't the head coach won a postseason game since 1998, but besides one playoff appearance in his first year at the Cowboys' helm, his tenure in Dallas had been anything but stellar. And perhaps most disturbing, for the first time in his coaching career, the media publicly wondered whether the game had started to pass the Hall of Fame coach by.

The day after that loss, in a column titled: "Could Parcells be Part of the Problem?", Jaime Aron, of the Associated Press opined:

"Parcells likes to say 'the game tells you what you are.' So at 4-4 Dallas is average. That means the coach is, too. Maybe age has caught up to the 65-year-old Parcells."

And while Aron was brave enough to put his opinion on paper, he certainly wasn't the only one thinking it. Perhaps even Parcells himself was wondering if he had lost his touch. But since that game, Tuna has silenced even his most ardent critics.

Take Tony Romo, for instance. As good as he has performed, many people felt that Parcells waited too long to let him play. But after comparing how Romo so confidently led Dallas down the field to set up the winning field goal against the New York Giants this past Sunday, to how Denver's supposed savior, Jay Cutler, looked like a deer in headlights against the Seattle Seahawks, who can doubt Parcells' timing now?

This brings us to the kicking situation. Many skeptics, including me, thought that Parcells should have waited a while longer to give Mike Vanderjagt his walking papers. What was the rush to sign someone who hadn't kicked regularly in the NFL for two years?

But that innate quality of great coaches - a sixth sense - told Parcells he couldn't wait anymore; that Vanderjagt, for all his historical accuracy just wasn't going to make kicks when they counted. So the controversial kicker was jettisoned.

After Martin Gramatica's ugly 44-yard miss in the first quarter, those of us who were sure that this Gramatica experiment was a mistake, were getting ready to spew our "I told you so" rants. But three field goals later, including the 46-yard game winner, Parcells proved the skeptics wrong - again.

In my last column that was posted before Sunday's game, I wrote:

"What if Gramatica, who has done the majority of his kicking in warm weather, is called on to make a make a 45-yard, game-winning kick, on a blustery, chilly evening?

Gramatica answered my question. And the question of whether the 65-year-old head coach has lost his touch was answered, too: Not even close.

Keep up on the Dallas Cowboys at RealFootball365.com.
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