Silver streak: Bill Parcells has engineered an improbable transformation in Dallas, but there are weaknesses to overcome if the joy ride is to continue into the payoffs

Sporting News, The, Nov 17, 2003 by Paul Attner

'You've got to give him credit'

When Parcells was hired, Jones urged him to keep the team's Bucs-like defensive scheme molded around quickness and smallish linebackers. Parcells wisely agreed, retaining coordinator Mike Zimmer, then drafting cover corner Terence Newman in the first round. The addition of Newman, an elite rookie, has been huge; it has allowed the Cowboys to move with more frequency from cover 2 alignments to lots of man coverage. And that has freed up Roy Williams, a 235-pound hammer of a free safety who is on the verge of being a major star, to blitz and torment quarterbacks.

At times, the Cowboys are akin to a full-court press with the pressure they bring on offenses. The result: They are the league's No. 1 defense overall (third against the run and first against the pass). Just ask Drew Bledsoe. Against relentless blitzing and man coverage in the second half, the Bills' quarter-back scratched out only six completions for an embarrassing 17 yards.

"I'd put that secondary up against anyone's," says ESPN analyst Joe Theismann. "They have the best safety tandem in football, and the whole defense can really run. It's allowed Bill to try four or five big plays down the field a game. If he hits a couple and gets 17 or 21 on the board, he then can manage the game by using his defense. You've got to give him credit. This is not the physical defense he likes, and he'd prefer bigger linebackers, but he recognized where the talent was on this team."

The weakness of this defense is up the gut. Parcells, who says he signs off on virtually every one of Zimmer's calls, worries about being manhandled defensively by the run, and with good reason. Pro Bowl tackle La'Roi Glover plays in a nonstop frenzy, but he weighs only 285 pounds; the other tackles are inferior. And middle linebacker Dat Nguyen, who is having a Pro Bowl season, is just 243 and prey for bigger blockers. If you can run on the Cowboys, it forces one of the safeties to help in run support, and that limits blitzing and brings about more zone coverage. It's important that Dallas, which is third in time of possession, sustain a rushing game so its undersized defense can rest. If not, it risks a fourth quarter fatigue meltdown.

"You've got to run the ball on the Cowboys even when they are committed to stopping it," says Buffalo's Williams. "They want to force you to be one-dimensional by having an extra man in the box, so you throw it instead of run it. Then they come at you. You have to handle their pressure. If they blitz, you have to make them pay for it."

'We are a unpredictable'

Parcells has called this stage of the season "show time." He says he meant to say, "show-up time." Either way, it's the same for his players. "I don't think they are a very good team, and he knows it," says one NFL personnel man. FOX analyst Troy Aikman says when the rest of the NFL looks at Dallas, "they say Bill Parcells has done a tremendous job of coaching and has gotten the defense to play really well, but I don't think people around the league see them as a playoff team and a team that can compete at the highest level. Over the next few weeks, they either will get on everyone's radar or fall to the middle of the pack."