Bill Parcells took a time out from his Hall of Fame festivities this weekend in Canton for a Q&A session with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: Tim Tebow and Mark Sanchez. Can the Jets make it work?
A: Oh yeah. I thought [Tebow] was a pretty good acquisition. … I think he provides a dimension that’s something to be concerned with.
Q: But he can’t throw the ball.
A: You sound like one of the coaches I used to have telling me what the guy can’t do. I don’t want to hear it. Tell me what the guy does well and let’s try to create something that allows him to flourish. I had a receiver coach one time … “This guy can’t run the delay. This guy can’t run a crosser.” Let’s not run him on a delay, or let’s not run him on a crosser. Let’s run him on what he can run ’cause he’s fast and he can catch the ball. … If I had Tim Tebow, that’s what I would do. I would try to do what he does, which I believe I know what he does.
Q: And what he does is?
A: Well, he runs that ride-and-decide, he can do that well. And then, a little play-action off that, keep it simple. … You know you got an extra blocker in the game when he’s in there, that helps your offense in some aspects.
Q: How does that impact your starting quarterback when he comes out of a game?
A: It’s not the same thing as putting a quarterback in to replace you’re starting quarterback. That’s not what they’re doing if they do that. I don’t know what they’re gonna do — make sure you put that in ’cause I haven’t talked to anybody there. You’re just utilizing a player’s skill to try to benefit their team. The player, Sanchez, he should be for that. If it helps‘em win, let’s do it. If it doesn’t help us win, let’s not do it.
Q: The dynamic of fans chanting for the most popular backup quarterback in NFL history if Sanchez does something dumb?
A: Listen, you saw that last year with Denver, I saw it, everybody saw it and … the result was pretty good when he got in there. Now, why is he a Jet? I don’t know why. But quite apparently, they think they can use this guy … for something. So, I’m pretty sure they didn’t bring him in there to watch, so he’s gonna play. Now everybody’s in a frenzy, well how’s he gonna do? The media dwells mostly on negativity. They want to know how it’s gonna affect Sanchez. Well, I don’t think it’s gonna affect him at all if it’s within the structure of the things that Tebow can do well. If they just let him do that, then that’s smart.
Q: I’m guessing that if Sanchez doesn’t have enough mental toughness to block out the fans, then he’s not the right guy.
A: I don’t look at it like that. I don’t look at a problem and put variables in there that don’t affect it. So the fans, with all due respect, they don’t affect the decisions I would make as a coach.
Q: But they could affect a starting quarterback if he isn’t mentally tough enough.
A: I think you’re headed down the wrong track in this respect. I think they know what they’re gonna do or attempt to do with Tebow. I think it’s been explained to Sanchez, and I think that’s what they’re gonna try to do.
Q: Your thoughts on Sanchez?
A: He’s got his team to the conference championship twice. Last year it was a little different. It wasn’t just him. There’s other guys. So they gotta try to regroup just a little bit, which they’re trying to do, and I think he’ll do OK.
Q: Phil Simms said that Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning have done enough to be in the Hall of Fame.
A: I agree. I think they certainly are gonna warrant consideration.
Q: Do you think Simms is Hall-of-Fame-worthy?
A: That’s like asking Colonel Sanders if he likes chicken.
Q: Your thoughts about the NFL’s vigilance now on concussions?
A: First of all, we all know what we signed up for when we got into this game … all of us. I think we’re all doing things, the league and the doctors, the trainers, everybody involved. … We don’t want to see these players maimed and debilitated. Nobody wants it. This is a hard game. It’s very difficult to legislate things that are against learned behaviors. And some of the learned behaviors we have involve head contact. And it’s very difficult to break habits. … They used to have signs up in the locker room with a player in his uniform, and his head was up, and it said, “See what you hit.” This was mandatory in every locker room in the NFL. It wasn’t something that I put up, or some team put up. It said, “See what you hit.” And the reason for that was players were turning their heads and that kind of thing and breaking their necks. So now, the next thing they went to was they started to try to get them to get their head up and make better contact that way to save the spinal cord. And the result is, we got more concussions. So, I don’t know that there’s an answer. … And quite apparently, everyone involved is having difficulty coming up with some kind of deal, because it’s a very difficult thing to try to deal with. It’s a hard game, it involves contact. Sometimes it’s inadvertent. Sometimes you get kneed in the head. … The helmet has become a little bit of a weapon. I’m all for the best thing that we can do to keep players healthy. I think any coach would be for that. But I don’t know. I don’t know the answer.
Q: It seems like there’s confusion about where to tackle.
A: It’s a complicated issue, very complicated. It’s not an easy thing to define. And … these milliseconds that players have to make judgments in, it’s hard to exercise correct judgment all the time on what’s going on.
Q: What are your thoughts on Bountygate?
A: There’ve been these incentive programs — not to maim players — but just basically incentive things in the league since the league started — some kind of little player incentives, whether it’s in with the group, with the players themselves, they have something. I never heard of any one where they tried to knock somebody out of the game or something like that. I never knew about any of that. But tackles inside the 20 on the kickoffs, or interceptions or something like that. I don’t want to say it was common, but I heard of it, I’m sure it existed on some teams that I coached, some aspect of it. But I don’t remember speaking about it. Mostly, that was the players themselves.
Q: Rex Ryan is now cracking down on his Jets saying dumb things. Is it too late for him to do that now?
A: I haven’t been around the program, so I don’t know what exists there exactly. But no, I don’t think it’s ever too late to do anything.
Q: Ryan impressed you when you interviewed him for the Dolphins job.
A: I called the owner of the Ravens, [Steve] Bisciotti, and told him I was impressed by him.
Q: You likened him to the young you.
A: He was very straightforward, he didn’t mince words too much … that kind of thing.
Q: Tony Sparano’s impact on the Jets offense?
A: Tony Sparano isn’t the head coach, Rex is. I think Tony will do a good job within the confines of what Rex wants to do. I don’t know how that’s gonna go, but having been a head coach [in Miami], that’s a good experience. Now, [Sparano] probably has a different perspective than he had before, and I think that should be beneficial to him. … I don’t know what they’re gonna try to do. I’ve gotta see ’em play first. When I see ’em play, then I’ll know.
Q: What do you think about the upcoming New York Super Bowl in 2014?
A: I’m really anxious to see how that goes.
Q: Do you think having a Super Bowl in the elements is intriguing?
A: I do. Now most people would say they don’t like that. The elements were a very, very big part of football when I got involved in it. So I always felt that was a great equalizer for games, but also too, a great opportunity for a team that knew how to deal with these things. I spent a lot of time with my teams, especially in the East Coast teams, talking about dealing with the elements a lot of time, and a lot of instruction about field position and those kind of things. I like that variable. Like when a playoff game is in Green Bay and it’s cold, I’m excited to see it. Or if it would be Pittsburgh or Cleveland or anywhere, I’m excited to see it. That puts another factor into the game. Some teams can’t do it, others can. I like that.
Q: Would you like to see a team in Los Angeles?
A: Sure. When I first started out there was a team there in Anaheim. Los Angeles is a little bit different. … They demonstrated that they like football, Southern Cal does well when they’re good … but the pro teams, it just seems to be a little like Miami in that respect, that there’s other things to do on a nice day. Where in Pittsburgh: “We’re going”. Or Philly: “We’re going.” Or New York: “We’re going.”
Q: Your thoughts on Wellington Mara?
A: He was my friend. I was fortunate to have someone like that heading up the franchise.
Q: Jerry Jones?
A; I liked him as well. He’s very much unlike what people perceive him to be. I found him to be a straightforward, honest, trustworthy guy while I was there.
Q: What did you think of him saying the Cowboys would kick the Giants’ butts at a rally?
A: (Smile) I think he’s just trying to stir up the population.
Q: Ever think how things might have unfolded for you if Peyton Manning had come out?
A: At that point in time, everybody’s encouraging players to stay in school. And 12 years later, they’re not doing that. So we weren’t allowed to encourage players to come out of school, even though they were starting to do it. But I know Peyton well. I liked him, I’ve communicated with him. I don’t know what would have happened. That’s just hypothetical.
Q: How do you feel about him coming back after all he’s been through?
A: I hope he does well. I spent some time talking to him this winter, and I think he’s determined to do well, and I think he probably will.
Q: Did you think Eli Manning was an elite quarterback before last season?
A: I don’t like that word. I’ll tell you this — I told Eli this. … I’ve only probably spoken to Eli twice in my whole life. I ran into him in Florida this winter at my golf club. And I told him the demonstration of mental toughness he put on against San Francisco was one of the best things I’ve seen in football. I told him, I said, “You won me over with that one.”
Q: It was like Simms, right?
A: Oh yeah. He took a bad beating that day. That was a tremendous performance.
Q: What did he say when you told him that?
A: He said, “Thank you.”
Q: You had a unique ability to read players.
A: Ah, that’s not unique. It’s a common thing, but just like other things, attributes people have that are common, some of these common things are wasted and abused or not used at all, and so you have to figure out how to get people to do things, and do them well, and sometimes they don’t want to do ’em. You have to find a way to convince ’em to do it. And others are so anxious to do them that it inhibits them. Then you have to find a way to make them relax a little bit.
Q: But that’s a gift to be able to do that.
A: It’s just common sense.
Q: But not everybody has it.
A: Well, I don’t know that. I wish I could drive a golf ball 300 [yards], but I can’t. Not everybody has that. I wish I had it, but I don’t.
Q: What’s the one motivational ploy you used that got the best results?
A: I can’t recall. I really can’t. I just know that I hear about a lot of things on other teams now that I did. And that I know that I was one of the first ones to do them or whatever it was, and I hear about another team bringing baseball bats in, or a shovel in. So I did all that years ago … put a gas can in lockers, things like that. … You’re trying to make a point. So, how do you make a point? Sometimes a visual’s better.
Q: You first used the shovel in New England.
A: Al Groh took what was said in the meeting and built on it, OK? It was meeting about working construction. And I’m talking to the team about, “Did you ever have to do something with someone else, and every time you looked over there, he was not doing … he’s gone to the bathroom, or he was doing everything but what he was supposed to do. He wasn’t digging his hole, you know? You wound up having to do most of the work yourself, and it doesn’t usually get done very well like that.” I said, “You need to look around. … We’re all trying to dig this thing, dig in and make an impact here. If somebody’s not on board on Sundays, then it’s not gonna get done.”
Q: What did Groh do?
A: He took the shovel out, and put it in the ground right next to the bench. It was a good thing.
Q: And the gas can?
A: I’ve done that with a few guys. Bryan Cox told me that he took the gas can home and put it in his trophy case.
Q: What point you were making with the gas can?
A: Usually older players, late in the season, start to get cold. I used to do it with O,J. [Anderson]. I’d tell him he’s like an old hunting dog. When it’s nice and warm, you’re out there hunting with the rest of the dogs. Soon as December comes, you want to stay in, and you don’t run quite as good (chuckle). I used to call him Old Red.
Q: Baseball bats?
A: We had little miniature baseball bats made, put “Bring the Wood” on it and put it in everybody’s locker.
Q: Mouse traps in lockers before a trap game?
A: Or hang it in the dressing room.
Q: Coaches or managers in other sports you’ve admired?
A: [Tony] La Russa. He’s just a highly intelligent guy that’s a very, very stickler for details. Every pitch in the game means something to him. … Joe Torre … he has a different way that I think is very good. … I like Pat Riley … guys you wouldn’t think. I like George Karl, I don’t even know him, but I like him.
Q: Bobby Knight, Mike Krzyzewski?
A: Yeah all those guys that I know personally, [I] root for.
Q: Athletes in other sports you admire?
A: Magic Johnson … anytime I see a guy, you go into something and you don’t think he’s gonna do it, and they wind up doing it, that always gets my attention.
Q: Guys that rise to the occasion?
A: Yeah. They figure out how to do it.
Q: Toughest single moment in football?
A: Flipper Anderson … and probably the AFC Championship game with the Jets [a 23-10 loss in Denver following the 1998 season].
Q: You were just at Saratoga?
A: I have a house in Saratoga Springs.
Q: What’s so neat about Saratoga?
A: I’ll answer it like this — every time I ever went there before I moved there, it was a happy place for me. I was always happy. … It’s a vibrant town, it’s exciting, there’s things going on, you go on the streets there’s good places to eat, there’s music, there’s horse racing, there’s golf, there’s things I like to do.
Q: Tell me why Bill Parcells is a lucky man.
A: God’s been good to me, He really has. I don’t know why he picked me out. … Just think about it: I virtually coached in my hometown. From the middle of the Meadowlands field, it can’t be but a couple of miles. I was lucky to do that. I have a lot of great friends in football. The game was great to me. And I’ve been able to do other things in television, and enjoy that, meeting those people. By and large, I’ve been healthy all my life. I can still do things. I enjoy playing golf, I have some horses that provide me a little juice, gets me going. … You know when your horse gets in the gate it’s pretty exciting, it really is. It’s about the same as them kicking the ball off.
Q: Ever dream about having a Kentucky Derby horse?
A: Yeah, I do. I’d like to win a stakes race here one of these days.
Q: Your legacy?
A: Those that follow … this has been fun for me coming here. When you start to get Hall of Famers coming up to you and telling you, “Coach, I wish I had a chance to play for you.” That’s pretty special. Or when it’s Father’s Day, and you get a call from one of your ex players, and they say “Thanks for everything,” or “Hey Bill, I love ya,” that’s pretty powerful, because it makes you know that you somehow … got ’em.
steve.serby@nypost.com