I may be mistaken, but I think Parcells just stepped down as HC. He remained with the team as the GM. That's why Belicheat left. He didn't want to work under Parcells. Then Groh was named HC. Parcells drafted Pennington, along with Shaun Ellis, Jon Abraham, and Anthony Becht in the 1st round (they had 4-1st round picks).
I was giving Parcells hell on the Jets board on which I was posting at the time. I couldn't believe the dumbass was going into a season where we were projected to be a serious contender for the Lombardi Trophy with no viable backup QB. It was height of arrogance and stupidity. Then when Vinny went down, he pouted like a baby for half the season and went into a shell, and didn't pull his head out of his ass until the season was half over. I think that's part of the reason Belicheat didn't want to stay as HC of the Jets have to work under Parcells. He thought Parcells was getting senile or was just stupid. That's one of the reasons I never hated Belicheat for quitting and going to NE. I hated Parcells for being a dumbass, quitting, and driving Belicheat away.
We all know they’re RARELY stopped or postponed. You claimed it’s never happened and it has on more than one occasion. Most of the older fans who actually followed the team in 2004 know what I’m talking about.
To tell you the truth you’re right. I remember the lost, poor me look in his eyes in Sep and Oct of that year and not understanding why he was sticking with Mirer for so long. Do you remember that Colts game when the Colts could absolutely not stop Martin and for some reason the Jets stopped running the ball and if I remember correctly they were leading most of the game, blew the lead, but had a chance at the end to win and they were intercepted in the end zone? I’ll have to google that to refresh my memory a little .... EDIT OK looked at highlights on utube. Lucas started that game and played OK. Martin has a big game. They were tied 13-13 the Jets drove down to the Colts 3 yard line with about 5 minutes left. Martin has most of the yards on that drive. On 1st and goal Lucas tried to force a pass which was picked and run back to midfield. The Colts kept the ball ran the time down and kicked the winning FG. UGH
Parcells stuck with Mirer because he wasn't ready to trash the offense mid-season and start over. He actually started Ray Lucas in a game earlier in the season when he was really disgusted with Mirer's performance however he hadn't changed the offense yet and Lucas couldn't run the Jets standard offense. Then Parcells got to his breaking point at 2-6 and told Charlie Weis to tear the offense apart and turn it into something Lucas could run. That was the turning point for the Jets.
And unfortunately had he done it a week or so earlier the Jets may have snuck into the playoffs. A game Lucas started against the Colts at home should have been a win and don’t forget the game they blew in Oakland the week before I think....
He definitely should have made the change at the bye after week 7. I *think* they did some work on changing the offense during the bye but for some reason he wasn't ready to go with Lucas yet, wanting to give Mirer first chance at the simplified offense. Mirer did the minimum and the Jets won the post-bye game 12-7 over the Cards, who had a really crappy offense. The next week was Lucas first start in the new offense against the Pats and he had some jitters but the Jets won. The week after Lucas played better in a win but still didn't completely sell Parcells. It was an open question at that point if Lucas or Mirer would play moving forward. Then the Jets lost at Indy to a streaking Colts team. The game that probably decided things for Parcells was the loss to the Giants which was all on the defense. Lucas played very well and proved he could run the offense. 4 straight wins to end the season from then on. Note that Lucas *and* the offense as a whole really took some time to adjust to the new scheme. This is why I think 9-7 was probably the ceiling and a WC loss the best the Jets could have hoped for.
The point is we will never know for sure how it would have turned out. Whether a potential Jets-Pats AFC Title game that year would of been played during a blizzard creating a slopfest or moved up a day probably wouldn’t of mattered. The Jets playing with a back up QB most likely come up short. As per usual .....
That, to me, says that Parcells wasn't the great HC that everyone thought he was. A great coach would never have gone into that season with no viable backup that could runt he offense. A great coach would never have counted on Rick Mirer, and if the unthinkable happened, a great coach wouldn't have waited until half the season was wasted to tell his OC to change the offense. He would have done it immediately following Testaverde's getting hurt. Fuck Parcells and his legacy.
You know, you give me endless crap for questioning some of JDs moves, yet you dump a truckload of crap on Parcells Jet legacy. It really discredits you. Parcells took a 1-15 team to 7-9 in one season, before rookie contracts existed, and rebuilding a crap NFL team took all kinds of wizardry. The next season he took us to our best record in history. He turned us around with great coaching and great team building. As GM he assembled a team that would make a crappy coach like Herm look good. We've never seen anyone do the Jets better and without him our history would look pretty sorry. JD took a 7-9 team to 2-14 while not even using all of the 80+ million he had in cap space. His signings were so bad a lot of us thought he was purposely tanking. Yet you wanna harsh BP for going 8-8 during a season our starting QB went down in week 1? Before Parcells, the last time we did better then 8-8 was 12 seasons earlier, when we went a whopping 8-7-1. Look around our QB room...
I enjoyed your earlier "historical" post about what actually happened that year but somewhat disagree about this prediction. As I remember, the Jets beat some really good teams during their 6-2 run at the end of that season. Therefore, think they may have had a better record than 9-7 had they made the switch to Lucas earlier. Nevertheless, even if they had gone 9-7 and made the playoffs, the team was on a roll and could have done some damage in the playoffs as well, although I agree with you they would have had little chance of a SB appearance.
actually its even better than that. He took the Jets from 1-15 to 9-7. any Jets fan who takes shots at Parcells is just an idiot. He came in here, brought in 2 hall of famers. I only need one hand to count the number of hall of fame players total that are wearing Jets hats and 2 of them Parcells brought in.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion. It doesn't bother me one whit that you think I'm an idiot. Considering the source, that's a compliment. Yes, he brought respectability for a couple of years to the team, but then he undid all the good that he had done with not having a viable backup QB in '99, feeling sorry for himself and moping after Vinny went down, sticking with Mirer, calling the stupid halfback option pass vs. Detroit (I think), trading Hugh Douglas, passing on not one but two HOF LTs in the draft, overall being a pretty lousy grocery shopper, running off Belichick, hiring Groh, and then recommending Bradway. If you can't see that, then you're the one who is an idiot. It's funny that you lob criticism at every other GM, HC, and Jets player, but somehow Parcells is immune. I have a newsflash for you, ace...Parcells was far from perfect. That's as irrational as your frequent comments about "the Jets" doing this or doing that as if we have had consistency of ownership, GMs, and CSs.
LOL You think I give a crap what you think of me? You're the least knowledgeable poster on this board, bar none.
