DP Coaching makes a huge difference

[TK]

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/columnists/dp-sports-hessler1026,0,4861491.column?coll=dp-sports-columnists

Coaching makes a huge difference

Published October 26 2003

Daily Press - Hampton Roads, VA

One of the marks of a great coach is the ability to take a team with championship talent and win a championship. That's what Jon Gruden did at Tampa Bay last season.

Another mark of a great coach is the ability to take a team with mediocre talent and get it to play like a champion. That's what Bill Parcells is doing in Dallas this season.

Make no mistake about it. Except for his receiving corps and a couple defensive backs, Parcells took over mediocre talent this summer. If you made a purely objective analysis of the rosters, you would take the Washington Redskins' talent over that of the Cowboys any day.

But Parcells has Dallas at 5-1 heading into today's crucial game against Gruden and the Bucs, and coach Steve Spurrier is spending the bye week trying to figure out why his well-paid, high-profile Redskins team is 3-4 and riding a three-game losing streak.

Until a better explanation comes along, the answer as to why Washington is struggling while Dallas is overachieving is simple: coaching.

The Redskins' problems have been well-chronicled over the past month. They take too many penalties, they blow too many assignments and they make too many other assorted mistakes.

Spurrier's answer is to "coach better' and "hope" the players stop messing up.

In Dallas, Parcells won't allow those mental blunders to fester into a season-destroying epidemic.

"I've got zero tolerance on penalties," he said. "I don't let any of that stuff slide and never have. I want a smart team."

And he has one. The Cowboys would need to take 32 penalties for 238 yards today in their seventh game to match the Redskins' totals through seven games.

Parcells' demand for strict attention to detail began during training camp and carried over into the regular season. A starting cornerback who was flagged for two holding penalties in a game earlier this season was benched and found himself inactive the following week.

Parcells has another smart team on his hands, one that is below the league average in fumbles, interceptions, sacks and penalties.

It's not a team that beats itself. If it loses, as it just might today, it's because the other guys were better and didn't do anything to beat themselves.

Historically, what Parcells is doing is no different from what he has always done. He won Super Bowls with New York Giants teams that were of championship caliber, and he won division titles with New York Jets and New England teams that had average-to-good talent.

While some coaches hope for perfection, Parcells demands it. As such, his great teams achieve greatness and his average teams overachieve. That's the mark of a great coach, and it's the reason a team coming off three consecutive 5-11 seasons is the talk of the NFL through late October.

BEST QUOTE

Parcells (on what motivates him): "Fear is a great motivator. I have fear myself. I fear not doing a good job."

WORST QUOTE

RB COREY DILLON, who wants to be traded from Cincinnati, and who is on the third year of a five-year contract: "Ain't nothing permanent. You sign a contract with your wife. You can get rid of her, can't you? Ain't nothing sketched in stone. There's ways out of anything."

JUST A THOUGHT

Spurrier, who's on the second year of a five-year contract, insists he's not going to make a decision to stay in the NFL or go back to the colleges until his third year. And being that he's an honest man, there's reason to take him at his word. But if the losing continues, don't be surprised if he changes his mind and walks after this season.

BEST GAME

Bucs 19, Cowboys 13. Tampa Bay is struggling, but it's still a good measuring stick for an up-and-coming team like Dallas. A real statement game for both teams.

WORST GAME

Bears 24, Lions 20. You're showing your age if you can remember when this was an important game. How can anybody watch this one?

Warner Hessler can be reached at 247-4648 or by e-mail at whessler@dailypress.com

Copyright © 2003, Daily Press

[bulldog]

Joe Jacoby said it himself, a team that commits procedure penalties and gets flagged for roughing calls on a regular basis is one that is not mentally prepared to play.

whether that is because the coaching staff as Marvin Lewis seemed to intimate on the way out the door didn't know what it was doing, or whether we just have a team of dumb players is a matter I think won't be resolved until after the season unfortunately.

I don't think Spurrier is a dynamo as a detail-oriented head coach, in fact I think he runs a loose ship.

But, I will couch criticism of this staff specifically with the thought that the Turner/Robiskie/Schottenheimer Skins of years past seemed at times to be unprepared, undisciplined, etc.... as well.

So, is it something in the water out in Ashburn?