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Sunday, January 05, 2003

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

The combination of coach/general manager in the NFL isn't extinct, but it's on the endangered list after several moves by team owners following the season.

Some examples:

Tom Coughlin, who wielded all the power in Jacksonville, was fired. Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver announced the next coach will not serve as general manager.

Mike Holmgren was forced to give up his job as general manager in Seattle and settle for merely coaching the Seahawks next season.

Mike Shanahan's Denver Broncos did not make the playoffs, and the coach seems to have blown it on quarterback Brian Griese.

In the meantime, Dallas owner Jerry Jones hired Bill Parcells to coach his team and gave him control of his coaching staff and 53-man roster. Parcells likely would not have taken the job had someone else been given more power than him in personnel decisions, but he still won't have the kind of control he had with the New York Jets.

It will be intriguing to watch the Parcells era unfold in Dallas. Parcells has a reputation as an astute judge of talent, but he won his two Super Bowls in New York with late general manager George Young picking the talent for him. That's why Parcells quit.

Andy Reid, who has the power in Philadelphia, has gotten credit not only for coaching the Eagles to the top seed in the NFC, but for his talent eye. But it was Tom Modrak who made most of the Eagles' decisions on personnel before Reid pulled a coup and forced him out.

The dual job of coach and general manager is too much anymore in the NFL. It used to be easy before the days of free agency and the salary cap. But now it takes up too much time. Holmgren's job as coach was often compromised by his job as general manager when those duties pulled him away from coaching meetings, etc.

Coughlin is a good coach, but he was a lousy general manager. He overpaid for players such as safety Carnell Lake, who was at the end of his career and put Jacksonville in such salary-cap trouble that the Jaguars still are trying to dig out from it.

Modrak to Jaguars?

Modrak is one of two former Pittsburghers who are in line to take over in Jacksonville.

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz, who went to Uppper St. Clair High School, is a candidate to replace Coughlin. Modrak, a Carrick native, could become their new general manager.

It would be a perfect combination for the Jaguars -- one of the NFL's most astute personnel men in the front office and a good coach, and two men who know one another and can get along.

Modrak is the assistant general manager in Buffalo.

Super odds

The odds of the Steelers winning the Super Bowl, according to one online betting service (BetWWTS.com) are 7-2. The odds of the Eagles winning the Super Bowl are 6-5.

And the odds for an all-Pennsylvania Bowl are 17-2.

Hares vs. rabbits

Bill Cowher long has called the NFL season a marathon not a sprint, and there was no better proof than this season.

The NFL rabbits were Denver, Miami, San Diego and New Orleans. On Oct. 12, they were a combined 16-4.

The NFL hares were the Jets, Tennessee, the Steelers and Atlanta. On Oct. 12, they were 4-14.

There's not a rabbit in the playoffs, and all the hares made it.

Run is out

Another myth exposed? It has long been said that the best teams are ones with the best running games. Not so this season.

The top five running offenses in the NFL were Minnesota, Miami, Kansas City, Atlanta and Denver. Only Atlanta made the playoffs.

The NFL's six leading rushers were Ricky Williams of Miami, San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson, Priest Holmes of Kansas City, Denver's Clinton Portis, Travis Henry of Buffalo and Deuce McAllister of New Orleans. None is in the playoffs.

"You can rush for 200 yards a game," Miami Coach Dave Wannstedt said, "and, if you throw four interceptions, you're going to lose."

Dallas discipline

Parcells will bring some much-needed discipline to Dallas. Before they lost to Washington in the final game of the season, ending a 10-game winning streak against the Redskins to finish 5-11, at least four Cowboys players missed curfew. Three others missed the bus before the game.

During the game, center Tyson Walter and receiver Antonio Bryant were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, and there was a shoving match between teammates Flozell Adams and running back Troy Hambrick on the field.

Fumble sympathy

Tiki Barber received a phone call from a former Giants star after he rushed for 203 yards but lost three fumbles against Philadelphia last week in a game New York somehow won to earn a playoff spot.

Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, the only Giants player with more all-purpose yards than Barber in his career, told Barber that he fumbled three times and lost two in the famous overtime loss to the Baltimore Colts in the Dec. 28, 1958 NFL championship game.

"It was because of my two fumbles that it's called 'The Greatest Game Ever Played,'" Gifford said.

Lewis candidacy

Marvin Lewis might not get a head-coaching job this year.

He's a candidate in Cincinnati, but may not want to take the Bengals' job. If not, there aren't any other logical openings for the strongest minority candidate in the NFL.

Detroit is sticking with Marty Mornhinweg, Holmgren's staying in Seattle, Parcells goes to Dallas and Jacksonville hasn't called.

"I can't worry about it, all I can worry about is this job here," said Lewis, Washington's defensive coordinator.

The Redskins improved from 10th to fifth in the NFL on defense under Lewis.

Quick slants

The Giants and Jets are in the playoffs together for the first time since 1986.

No team made the playoffs with more than 12 victories for the first time since 1993.

Since the NFL expanded its playoffs from 10 to 12 teams in 1990, no fifth or sixth team has reached the Super Bowl. With the new alignment this year, that includes all wild-card teams.

Tennessee owner Bud Adams wants to close NFL Europe: "Let's face it, Europeans aren't buying American football. It's costing us too much money for what each team is receiving out of it." If only the reverse could be true as well, and European football shut down over here.

Buffalo quarterback Drew Bledsoe will pay to take his entire offensive line, coordinator Kevin Gilbride and quarterbacks coach Steve Kragthorpe to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl.

The Dolphins had the NFL's leading rusher, its top sacker and six Pro Bowlers and did not make the playoffs. Said Miami center Tim Ruddy, "That's why you hear the quote, stats are for nerds."

New England Coach Bill Belichick, on his defense, No. 31 in the league against the run: "We have to address the fact that we're the oldest defense in the league."

The Jets were one of three teams to start a season 2-5 and make the playoffs since 1970. The others were the 1990 Saints and '95 Lions.

Jets quarterback Chad Pennington became the first to start as late as the fifth game of the season and still throw for 3,000 yards since 1970.

Tennessee, which has 34 players on its roster with playoff experience, was the only team to go 5-0 in December.

Because they gave up first-rounders last year and this year for Ricky Williams, the Dolphins will be without a pick in that round for the fourth time in the past five years. Their pick at No. 18 goes to New Orleans.

Kansas City Coach Dick Vermeil to his players after their 8-8 season: "The biggest room in Arrowhead is for improvement."

Emmitt Smith cleaned out his locker at the Cowboys' Valley Ranch but said it does not mean anything about his future with Dallas.

Seattle wide receiver Koren Robinson fell 35 yards short of tying Hall of Famer Steve Largent's team record of 1,275 set in 1985. "Mr. Largent is safe for this year," Robinson said.

Hines Ward (1,329) and Plaxico Burress (1,325) had more than Largent this year but Yancey Thigpen still holds the Steelers' record of 1,398 yards in 1997.