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NFL FOOTBALL QUOTES
Quotes by and about Bill Parcells
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Here are a few excerpts from an article in the NY Times from 2006 about BP, his philosophy and a few interesting tidbits.
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On his famed reluctance to talk to reporters:
“We’re in the business of collecting information,” Parcells likes to say. “We’re not in the business of exchanging information.”
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On the extent of his commitment to and passion for the game (after a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars):
He woke up not long after he nodded off, choking on his own bile. “It only happens to me during the football season,” he says. “It happens no other time of the year. And it wasn’t something I ate.” After that, he couldn’t sleep at all. He found that his ex-wife, Judy — they divorced in 2002, after 40 years of marriage — had left a message on his answering machine. She saw the game on TV. “Please don’t let it affect your health,” she said.
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As to the widespread reports of him being furious with Jason Taylor, as 'obviously' evidenced by his continued silence towards him:
“Coach doesn’t say too much,” Newman says, “unless you do something bad. If he’s not saying anything to you, you must be doing something good.”
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On how he organizes strategy, practices and assesses success/failure:
His obsession is with space — creating it on offense and filling it on defense. Parcells is interested especially in the first step or two that players take, because that is when almost all of their critical mistakes are made. He’s looking for bad angles, missed assignments, confused play. He’ll watch the first one-third of a second of a play, stop the video in a fury and holler for an assistant coach.
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A few of the quotes he puts up in the locker room:
“Blame nobody, expect nothing, do something.”
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“Losers assemble in little groups and bitch about the coaches and the system and other players in other little groups. Winners assemble as a team.”
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“Losing may take a little from your credibility, but quitting will destroy it.”
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“There are many exit doors in pro football. Don’t take them.”
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“Don’t confuse routine with commitment.”
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On how he demands as much from his coaches as he does from his players (no favorites, no caste system):
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Rich Dalrymple, the Cowboys’ director of public relations, walks in and says, “Gibbs is saying Portis isn’t playing.”
“Get out of here!” His defense just spent the week focusing on Clinton Portis, a Redskins running back.
“It was on the wire,” Dalrymple says.
“That means Duckett’s playing,” says Parcells. That would be T. J. Duckett, acquired just three weeks earlier by Washington from Atlanta.
“I don’t know,” Dalrymple says.
“Find out!”
“How am I supposed to find out?” Dalrymple asks.
Parcells shakes his head: not my problem.
“Give a guy a morsel and he wants a fillet,” says Dalrymple, and Parcells laughs.
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