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Quick hits: Scott Pioli, Jeff Jagodzinski, Matt Cassel...
By John Tomase / Quick hits | Sunday, January 11, 2009
* There has been speculation that
Patriots personnel czar Scott Pioli deserves a “Bill Parcells” type deal with another team that would give him total control of the football operations and the ability to hire both a coach and general manager.
Pioli is more than welcome to seek such a deal. The question is why any team would give it to him.
It took Parcells almost three decades before the Dolphins provided his current arrangement as vice president of football operations. In those three decades, Parcells took the Giants and Patriots to the Super Bowl and rebuilt the Jets and Cowboys. Those four teams had his indelible stamp, and no one would question he was the architect of their success.
The same cannot be said of Pioli. While he has clearly played an integral role in the Patriots’ three Super Bowls, these are
Bill Belichick’s teams, not his.
When the Patriots pulled off the Randy Moss trade two years ago, the negotiations began with Pioli and a Raiders executive and ended with Belichick and Al Davis.
Pioli has proven that he can work in concert with the greatest coach of this generation to field a consistent winner, and for that he deserves credit. But he hasn’t proven beyond a shadow of a doubt he can do it on his own.
He also has never had final decision-making responsibilities, and his next job will be the one where he proves he can make the final call. This is not to say he can’t do it -- if the success of Thomas Dimitroff in Atlanta is any indication, Pioli should be fine.
While the Browns and Chiefs were completely justified in making him their No. 1 general manager candidate, giving him any more power than that is unnecessary.
Parcells didn’t cut any corners along the way. Why should his son-in-law?
* With the Patriots failing to reach the playoffs and the Colts bounced in the first round, it was a tough couple of weeks for the old guard in the AFC.
The Pats and Colts have been the standard bearers in the conference for nearly a decade. While other teams have come and gone -- even the Steelers had a 6-10 season just five years ago -- the Pats and Colts have kept on truckin’ with largely the same cast, led by coaches Belichick and Tony Dungy and quarterbacks
Tom Brady [stats] and Peyton Manning.
But the times are changing. Dungy is reportedly leaning toward stepping down after last weekend’s loss to the Chargers, while no one knows what kind of player Brady will be following reconstructive knee surgery.
Patriots fans hate to give the Colts their due, but Indy deserves respect for maintaining a level of excellence just a notch below the Pats’.
* What exactly is
Boston College’s motivation in the Jeff Jagodzinski saga? A school that prides itself on producing upwardly mobile graduates tries to deny one of its employees the right to explore bettering himself?
Yeah, it stinks that the coach of two years viewed BC as a way station.
That’s life in the not-quite-big city.
Good luck now to the Eagles luring another high-profile coach to The Heights.
* With the Patriots reportedly set to franchise Matt Cassel, the assumption has been he won’t leave unless they trade him.
But there’s a chance, however remote, that Cassel could sign with another team, which would then give the Pats two first-round picks as compensation.
With teams trending away from surrendering high draft picks for players (a fourth-rounder for a certain Hall of Fame wideout springs to mind), that haul seems particularly steep for Cassel.
But if there’s a team out there that might consider it, it’s the Vikings.
Minnesota got bounced in the playoffs because the Eagles exposed Tavaris Jackson. With the league’s best running back (Adrian Peterson), a legitimate deep threat (Bernard Berrian) and an outstanding defense, the Vikes have all the other pieces in place.
All they’re missing is a quarterback. If they believe Cassel is that guy, they may deem two first-rounders a worthy price to pay.