| Thursday, January 13
By Chris Mortensen
Special to ESPN.com |
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Things are so crazy, so fluid, I'm just going to clear out the notepad with a lot of facts, speculations and, you know, just stuff:
|  | | It's possible Bill Parcells could be back on the Jets' sideline in 2000. |
Bill Parcells will have a difficult time turning down new Jets owner Robert "Woody" Johnson on a return to the sidelines. Johnson might get the Tuna's attention with a nice raise that makes him the NFL's best-paid coach (Mike Holmgren's $4 million currently tops the list), or Parcells could even walk away with a small percentage of ownership. After all, as one league official noted, "When the merry-go-round stopped, the only guy swinging in
the catbird's seat was Parcells."
There are some nervous Jets assistant coaches who hear they might be deposed by Bill Belichick's attorney, Neil Cornrich, for the grievance hearing Thursday in the NFL office. Apparently, Belichick is alleging Parcells made specific statements to him and the staff regarding the unsettled ownership situation, such as (paraphrasing), "If that's the case, don't take the job." The Jets' assistants are uneasy about irritating either Parcells or Belichick.
Across town, there are mixed signals on Giants coach Jim Fassel. On one hand, there have been negotiations about a two-year contract extension. On another hand, word is that there is some opposition to Fassel's extension, and even giving him a chance to finish his contract in 2000. The name you keep hearing is Nick Saban, who was favored by Giants co-owner Robert Tisch the last time around.
Saban probably would have been the Packers' leading choice, but his late jump from Michigan State to LSU has eliminated any temptation for Saban to
now make the jump to the NFL. Although Saban does have an out in his LSU contract, he apparently is not enamored with the state of the pro game (free
agency, etc).
Saban, by the way, let Belichick know that he still needs to hire a defensive coordinator at LSU. Saban was Belichick's defensive coordinator in Cleveland.
Packers GM Ron Wolf met with University of Miami coach Butch Davis out at the East-West Shrine week in San Francisco, but there's no indication that
Davis is absolutely the guy for the job. Wolf has a short list, but there is no leading candidate, and "being thorough" is not only the theme, but his own mandate.
Jacksonville defensive coordinator Dom Capers and St. Louis offensive coordinator Mike Martz are likely on that short list.
It appears that Patriots defensive coordinator Steve Sidwell, who is a head-coaching prospect in Green Bay, New England and New Orleans, could be
the guy Seattle coach Mike Holmgren wants to hire to run the Seahawks defense next season.
Willie Shaw's dismissal as the Oakland defensive coordinator shocks outsiders, but not insiders. Remember, anything can happen in Raiderville.
The new Oakland defensive coordinator could be Emmitt Thomas or -- who knows? -- maybe Ray Rhodes wouldn't mind a role reversal with Gruden as his head coach
this time around. Gruden was Rhodes' offensive coordinator in Philadelphia, and the two men have remained friends.
Why doesn't Cowboys owner Jerry Jones just make it official and name Troy Aikman as player-coach? No matter who is hired, the offense will return to what Aikman is comfortable with, the timing-and-rhythm passing scheme. The obvious candidate is the Rams' Martz, but a source close to Martz says he's "smart enough not to take the bait, if it's offered."
From one of the elite team executives in the NFL: "Chan Gailey didn't deserve to get fired. The best thing Jerry Jones could do for his franchise is to realize that he's got a team with just enough talent to go 8-8. It's no better than that. Trust me. He's fooling himself about his team and the players up there."
I can see Gailey landing in a couple of places, such as the Atlanta Falcons, where he could be reunited with Dan Reeves. Gailey was once an
assistant on Reeves' staff in Denver. But, there's still a chance things could blow up in Pittsburgh with Bill Cowher, and Gailey was the only man to
really push all the right buttons with quarterback Kordell Stewart.
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MORT'S PLAYOFF PICKS |
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Dolphins over Jaguars
Redskins over Bucs
Colts over Titans
Rams over Vikings |
Gil Haskell. Know the name? If I were searching for an offensive-minded coach, he'd be near the top of my list. Haskell, the Carolina Panthers'
offensive coordinator, has done marvelous work with the talent on hand, including making a Pro Bowl quarterback out of Steve Beuerlein. Haskell was a receivers coach in Green Bay under Mike Holmgren.
Let's get this straight: Wolf never asked the 49ers for permission to talk to offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, another former Packers assistant. In fact, after 49ers executive John McVay read in San Francisco newspapers that the Packers had sought permission to speak with Mornhinweg, he called Wolf to wonder why no official request papers had been filed. Wolf told McVay there were no request papers filed because he had no interest in Mornhinweg; the culprit source on this story was Mornhinweg's agent, Bob LaMonte. Nice try.
Gary Crowton, the Bears offensive coordinator, is a guy on all the coaching short lists. But the one place that really makes sense for Crowton is New Orleans.
Aside from having a winning program at Louisiana Tech, his highly entertaining, innovative passing scheme is tailor-made for a team that plays at least 10 games a season in a dome (their own, plus Atlanta and St. Louis). Sure, the Saints need a quarterback, but Crowton made 1,000-yard passers out of Shane Matthews, Cade McNown and Jim Miller this year.
Believe it or not: Saints scouts are telling stories that two years ago, when they informed coach Mike Ditka that he'd have to trade his "entire draft, plus some" for a shot at Peyton Manning, he scoffed at the idea and rejected it. In other words -- if you believe this story -- Ditka wouldn't do
it for Manning, but he did it for Ricky Williams.
As for Williams' recent criticism of Ditka and his own controversial contract, here's a few thoughts and questions: 1. Is Williams really
surprised that Ditka, of all people, would expect him to play hurt? 2. Does Williams realize that he was the fifth -- not the first -- player chosen in
the draft, and the second running back behind Edgerrin James? 3. Does
anybody realize that five out of the top 10 teams choosing in last year's draft also had James projected as a better pro back? Despite this, Williams
bagged a pretty nice sum of $9 million up front in 1999. 4. Williams' off-field lifestyle was the subject of a lot of concerns, not just by Ditka.
If the Rams dominate in the playoffs, another assistant who could become hot is defensive coordinator John Bunting, who is of the "inspirational" ilk
with good people skills. Or so I'm told.
The team that Jimmy Johnson and the Dolphins feared most in the playoffs is gone. You didn't hear any complaints out of Miami about that lateral-pass
episode that knocked out the Buffalo Bills.
If the Dolphins get hot, I could see a return by Johnson to coach in 2000. Or, league sources can see Johnson offering to run the football operations for owner Wayne Huizenga while Dave Wannstedt takes over as coach. Nobody knows if Huizenga will buy that arrangement, but he's quietly assessing the possibilities.
If Huizenga should ask former coach Don Shula if he'd like to come back and perhaps be the team president, I believe Shula would accept. After visiting with The Don, it's clear he misses the game.
As for Marty Schottenheimer's candidacy, all interested teams (and I think they're all interested) have been cut off by Chiefs GM Carl Peterson's
recent statement that he would seek compensation similar to what the Jets got for Bill Parcells (first-, second-, third- and fourth-round draft picks).
Peterson cites that Schottenheimer still has three years left on his contract. I take respectful opposition to Peterson's demands on Schottenheimer.
First, the coach isn't getting paid. Second, the Chiefs survived (actually improved) without Schottenheimer. That leads to the third point:
Marty served 10 strong years with Kansas City, and he might have done them a favor with his honest assessment that his reign was usefully over.
Bills special teams coach Bruce DeHaven has been fired for that final play in which his coverage unit failed miserably on Tennessee's "Home Run
Throwback." DeHaven accepted responsibility for the foul-up -- even though he had prepared his players -- but he is highly regarded around the league. His
firing was described by one AFC East football man as "criminal."
Redskins owner Daniel Snyder was in the NFL office Wednesday as a member of the broadcast committee, and you can bet he was giving commissioner Paul Tagliabue an earful about the severity of punishment meted out to guard Tre' Johnson and other Redskins for their role in a fight Saturday with
the Lions. Snyder is upset because the team received a letter Tuesday morning, notifying them that Johnson had been fined $20,000, which is what they expected. But late in the day, another letter was faxed to inform the team that Johnson was being fined an additional $30,000 and a deferred one-game suspension for his inadvertent striking of an official. Coach Norv Turner had to call Johnson at home to tell him the bad news. Snyder and Turner were very concerned that it had become a colossal distraction in preparation for Saturday's game against Tampa Bay.
The NFL sent the severe message to all players because it is tired of and concerned about increasing hostilities on the field that go
beyond the normal pushing and shoving. The league also feels it did the Redskins a favor by not suspending Johnson for the playoff game, primarily because it acknowledges that Johnson's actions, however reckless, were not done with the intent to strike the official.
Nothing is going to surprise me in the playoff games this weekend. All four road teams could win, but we know that won't happen. Every game, in my mind, is close to pick 'em.
I've got more "stuff," but the phone won't stop ringing.
Chris Mortensen, ESPN's lead NFL reporter, writes a weekly column for ESPN.com that appears each Wednesday. He also chats with ESPN.com users every Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
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