At this point in his stay with the New York Giants, Bill Parcells was coaching a team that was on its way to a Super Bowl victory. In New England, in his fourth season, he was on his way to a Super Bowl appearance.
With the Jets...well, he already was gone, having topped out with a trip to the AFC Championship Game.
This game tonight against the team he forged his reputation with is one of those seminal moments in Parcells' career.
Eventually, his bust will be enshrined in Canton regardless of what happens tonight, of what happens in Dallas, in what is presumably his final coaching stop.
But how he is remembered by Cowboys fans – either as a franchise savior or just another of Jerry Jones' extravagances that didn't pan out – will have much to do with tonight's outcome.
One game. It can mean so much.
A victory and a 4-2 record puts the Cowboys in first place in the NFC East. It puts them in position not to worry so much about a three-game road swing through Carolina, Washington and Arizona.
A defeat and a 3-3 record leaves this team wondering how it can survive such a trip only to return home to face a potentially undefeated Indianapolis team. It leaves fans wondering what all the fuss was about in signing Terrell Owens and Mike Vanderjagt in the off-season.
And it causes everyone to continue to question the value of Parcells – at least the Parcells that is removed from the coaching staff that helped him make his case as a Hall of Fame coach.
It's true that in New England he also had not won a playoff game going into that fourth season. But he was building a young team around Drew Bledsoe and Curtis Martin, and then things fell into place with Denver getting knocked out of the playoffs by Jacksonville, and soon Parcells' genius reputation was confirmed.
There are young players in place here, too, but mostly on defense. Bledsoe, Owens and Terry Glenn do not represent the Cowboys' future. They represent 2006 and a stated desire to win now.
Those players should give the Cowboys the edge at home against the New York Giants.
The Giants are enduring growing pains with Eli Manning, who does not yet have two full seasons of starts under his belt. You can see the potential, but you can also see the mistakes.
Bledsoe's experience is supposed to make him less prone to mistakes. Mostly that's been true at home and false on the road, but his offensive line doesn't have to worry about crowd noise tonight, which should reduce the pressure on Bledsoe.
Owens and Vanderjagt, the big off-season purchases, also are supposed to represent something the Giants don't have – an elite top-five wide receiver and a sure thing at kicker.
Anyone who has watched the Cowboys' season unfold knows how shaky those suppositions have been. Still, the potential has been glimpsed. Tonight would be a nice time for Cowboys' fans to see both on display.
This week Parcells downplayed the difference between Bledsoe's and the offense's performance at home and on the road against NFC East competition. But the numbers and the win totals suggest that home field means just about everything.
In theory, the Cowboys could atone for a loss tonight with an upset victory Sunday in Carolina. Perhaps that would even help Dallas in some tie-breaker situation with the Panthers down the road.
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JOHN F. RHODES / DMN Bill Parcells is 28-25 in three-plus seasons in Dallas. |
But the club would hate to spot that kind of advantage to a team within the division. The Giants already own a road victory in Philadelphia.
And realistically, for the Cowboys to be interested in accomplishing anything in January and for Parcells to finally live up to his reputation here, the team needs to win the division.
The wild card route may have worked for Pittsburgh on its magical Super Bowl ride last season. But the '75 Cowboys were the last NFC wild card to make it to a Super Bowl. Only division winners have ventured there in the last 30 years.
These Cowboys are a long way from thinking about Super Bowls, but they also have no need to start considering wild-card routes, either. There are no great teams in the NFC East.
There are three good but flawed teams along with whatever you choose to call the Washington Redskins.
In the NFL, flaws are more readily apparent on the road, more easily disguised at home.
Against the franchise he transformed after a long absence from championship games, Parcells needs to lead his team to a win tonight – one that could go a long way toward ending the Cowboys' longest drought of playoff success.
E-mail wtcowlishaw@dallasnews.com
