Thursday, December 20, 2007

Welcome Bill Parcells!

I'm not saying Bill Parcells is a bandwagoner, but come on. He joins a team that hasn't lost since December 9th, had Jason Taylor named to the pro bowl this week, and Cleo Lemon named the AFC offensive player of the week - not to mention they have an easy game coming up against one of his former teams, the lowly Patriots. Now he's going to try and take credit for all the upcoming success!

In all seriousness though, this is a pretty huge move and I couldn't be more thrilled. Parcells has had success everywhere he's gone, he even made people take the pathetic Jets seriously for a few years.

We've heard about the coaching tree including Belichick, Sean Payton, and Tom Coughlin, but more importantly wherever he's gone he's had an incredible eye for talent and turned some awful teams into Super Bowl contenders extremely quickly.
I was overly optomistic when Saban was brought to town but I hope this is different given Parcells' history and proven success at the NFL level.

A lot of people have been down on Wayne Huizenga for the last several years and most recently for his brief consideration of selling the Dolphins, but I've always been a fan of his as an owner - and his acquisition of Parcells is a great example of why.

For the most part, Huizenga stays out of the way and has little problem throwing money into the team. As evident with Parcells, and Saban previously, he's going to make a strong push to surround himself with the best football execs/coaches available. It hasn't worked out as we'd hoped over the past few years, but unlike other owners he knows he's not a knowledgable football guy and he's simply there to shell out money for the team, pursue the top football execs, and stay in the background otherwise.

Regardless of the outcome of the hiring, as a fan you have to be excited. There was seemingly very little hope for the next several seasons. Sure, you could reach and say the number 1 pick this year, combined with the development of Ginn, Beck, and the health of Ronnie Brown could theoretically help turn the team around fast, but deep down you know that's a long shot at best and likely going to take more than a couple seasons for it all to come together - if it does.

But with Parcells, someone who seemingly wasn't even on the radar and expected to go to the Falcons, all of the sudden signing and having a history of turning around awful teams and making them competitors in no more than a season or two, there's legitimate reason for hope.

I expect him to pretty much start from scratch and bring in his own coaching staff. As much as I like to see people given a chance to succeed, I also won't have any issues with Cam Cam and the rest of the coaches being shown the door considering the results this season and my desire to let Parcells do his thing.

With Parcells in charge there's at least legitimate reason for hope, and that's about as good a Christmas present as a 1-13 team and it's fans could get right now, so I'll take it.

Here's our pick for the Thursday game, rest of the games should be up tomorrow.

Pittsburgh Steelers @ St. Louis Rams +8

Durden:
I’m guaranteeing that the Steelers will not cover this spread. Hopefully Mazzone doesn’t bench me if I’m wrong.
Pick: Rams +8

Mazzone:
Has a player's career ever ended because of a false prediction? I don't know if Anthony Smith has been this bad all year, but people are certainly taking notice now. He was terrible for the second week in a row during the Steelers loss to the Jags and has thus been benched.

Despite the score line last week, the Steelers were manhandled for the second game in a row. This time at home, in the snow, by a warm weather team without one of their best players (Marcus Stroud). The Steelers are getting cold at the wrong time and it's definitely reason for concern, but I think the Rams will be a nice remedy for them.
Pick: Steelers -8

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