If Mike Ditka is right about being back to coach the New Orleans Saints next year and Bill Parcells survives the New York Jets’ new ownership, the only coach expected to be fired this week is Pete Carroll of the New England Patriots.
The Cincinnati Bengals say they want Bruce Coslet back. Bill Cowher claims he’s staying in Pittsburgh. Jimmy Johnson has unfinished business in Miami. Vince Tobin wants his contract extended in Arizona so he doesn’t go into next season as a lame duck. Jim Fassel appears to be a survivor with the New York Giants. Daniel Snyder wants Norv Turner back in Washington and Turner wants to stay, which may be the biggest surprise in the otherwise quiet coaching circles.
Ditka said: “I told my mom a long time ago I’d like to live to be 150. She said, `Why?’ I said, `I’d like to make the rest of the people mad that I haven’t made mad yet.’ I want to get a few in this town. So coming back would make a few of them mad, you’ve got to admit that.”
There could be fewer coaching changes than in any year since the 1990 and 1991 seasons, when only four jobs changed hands each year.
Belichick again: Bill Belichick, Parcells’ defensive coordinator, is the name mentioned most frequently as Carroll’s successor. But owner Bob Kraft would have to concede the kind of power over personnel he refused to give Parcells. The Patriots suspended receiver Terry Glenn last week for conduct detrimental to the team. He’s the guy Parcells didn’t want in the 1996 draft.
Belichick is guaranteed to succeed Parcells in New York, but Parcells doesn’t appear ready to go.
“I would be shocked, definitely, if he didn’t come back for one more year,” quarterback Ray Lucas said. “He wants to go out on top, as a winner. Coach is a winner, and if we go out 8-8, that wouldn’t be a winning season.”
Bledsoe brutal: Over the last seven games, Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe completed only 52 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He has been sacked 31 times. Contrast that with Lucas, Parcells’ project, who has completed 60 percent of his passes for 13 touchdowns, with three interceptions and 10 sacks.
No apologies: The four NFC teams at 7-8 still alive for the sixth playoff spot aren’t apologizing. Neither are the 8-7 Detroit Lions, who have lost three in a row and are already in. The Lions are the only NFC team to have beaten each of the NFC teams seeded ahead of them–St. Louis, Washington, Tampa Bay and Minnesota.
Dallas coach Chan Gailey, who is in if he beats the Giants, has heard the talk that the Cowboys would be better off losing and getting a higher draft pick. Gailey said: “I would put those people in the loser category. They don’t want challenges. They don’t want opportunities for greatness. I’ve seen teams do it before. To overcome adversity, to do something when no one else says you can do it is one of the greatest feelings in the world. I don’t worry about those people and what they say. I worry about our football team.”
The Giants’ Fassel said: “You make the playoffs, you make the playoffs. That’s it. It’s a formula. It’s not a draw. If it’s a draw and it’s a luck thing, then that’s what it is. You get there, you’ve earned it from the standpoint of who you’re better than among the rest of the teams.”
Giant leap: If the Giants beat the Cowboys, they still need the Arizona Cardinals to beat the Packers in Green Bay.
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The Giants have the right quarterback starting. Kerry Collins will try to beat the Cowboys for the third consecutive season with his third different team. He beat them with Carolina in 1997 and with New Orleans in 1998. Collins also beat the Cowboys in the 1996 playoffs with Carolina, giving him a 3-0 career record against Dallas.
Johnny the man: When Peyton Manning had his touchdown-pass string stopped last week at 27 games, it left him tied for fourth place all time with Chris Chandler. Dave Krieg is third with 28. Dan Marino is second with 30. The leader remains Johnny Unitas at 47, one NFL record that may never be broken. He set it from 1956-60 when teams didn’t pass as much.
Rush on: The Packers signed running back Rashaan Salaam last week nearly five years after nearly drafting him. The Bears took Salaam with the 21st pick in 1995. The Packers would have taken him with the 22nd pick.
“I liked him coming out,” offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis said.
Salaam had been out of work since being waived by Cleveland on Oct. 19. The last time he played in a regular-season game was early in 1997.
Salaam had a solid training camp with the Raiders but was beaten out by Tyrone Wheatley. He spent three games with the Browns, carrying once.
“My career was up at the beginning but the last couple of years it’s been pretty much going down,” Salaam said. “I’m just trying to find an opportunity so I can show that I can play.”
The Packers had room for a back because rookie halfback De’Mond Parker blew out his anterior cruciate ligament Sunday at Tampa Bay. Parker also sprained his medial collateral ligament and probably did cartilage damage. The injury is so serious that Parker may miss the 2000 season.
Tales of cold: Tampa coach Tony Dungy likes this story about enduring cold borrowed from former Minnesota coach Bud Grant:
It seems that builders of the Alaska pipeline worked in 15-minute shifts because if they stayed in the cold any longer they would be risking their lives. Once, after a tractor broke down, a worker spent more than 90 minutes outside working on it. When the workers checked on him, fearing he had frozen to death, they found him riding around on the tractor and smiling. Asked how he managed to stay out in the cold so long, the worker replied: “I wasn’t trying to stay warm; I was trying to fix the tractor.”
The Cardinals’ Tobin might steal the story. His team plays at Lambeau Field on Sunday for the first time since moving from St. Louis to Arizona in 1988.
“I don’t know if you ever get used to the bitter cold,” Tobin said. “It’s all how you handle it mentally, and that’s where the home team has the advantage. You know you’re not going to die from the bitter cold, while the visiting team sometimes isn’t sure.”
Recycled: Tennessee Titans free safety Marcus Robertson was taking a short ride on his motorcycle Monday night and tipped it, suffering severe cuts and abrasions to his face. He was wearing a helmet at the time, but it wasn’t buckled.
Robertson had more than 150 stitches and will miss the Pittsburgh game Sunday.
Coach Jeff Fisher said: “Our first concern is Marcus and that he’s going to be all right. But he was very, very disappointed. He felt like he made a bad decision and let his teammates and fans down. That’s something he’s going to have to work through.”
Imitating art: The Baltimore Ravens celebrated interceptions against New Orleans two games ago by forming a circle, tossing a ball into the air like a hand grenade and falling down as the ball hit the ground. The league promptly threatened $15,000 fines. The idea was copied from the Oliver Stone movie “Any Given Sunday.”
“Come on, we’re having fun and we’re not doing it in anybody’s face,” defensive end Michael McCrary said. “It shows team unity. It’s part of the game; it hypes up our fans. I don’t understand what the league is trying to do. This is no ballet. This is football. I think [the league] needs to review itself.”