Irving, Texas – An encounter with Bill Parcells can be a wearisome experience, even on one of his good days. The simplest question, if it doesn’t meet with the irascible coach’s approval, can lead to a chilly glare or a heated rebuke – perhaps a soliloquy on how far journalism has fallen through the years. That venom isn’t solely reserved for the media. Parcells’ players often are skewered for one shortcoming or another.
So it was something of a shock to witness the scene after Dallas’ pedestrian 20-7 victory over the Detroit Lions at Texas Stadium on Sunday. The Cowboys had five penalties, and gained just 253 yards on offense. If the opponent hadn’t been the struggling Lions, who drew 17 flags of their own, Dallas might have been hard-pressed to win.
However, instead of wading right into the attack, Parcells was relatively circumspect.
“I can’t quite get things the way that I want ’em, but I don’t have time to reflect on it too much,” the Dallas coach said. “I haven’t got time to cry the blues.”
It wasn’t that his team had gotten a pass – and it certainly wasn’t a case of Parcells deciding to just chill out for once. Rather, the coach’s focus already had shifted from a game that hadn’t ended more than 10 minutes earlier to one just days away – Thursday’s home contest against the Broncos.
Similarly, it was the same school of thought that led Denver defensive coordinator Larry Coyer, after the Broncos’ 27-0 rout of the New York Jets, to skip any celebration and return to Dove Valley to prepare for Drew Bledsoe, Keyshawn John- son and the rest of the Cowboys.
“I just feel it’s a necessity,” Coyer said late last week of his plans. “There aren’t enough hours in the day, so you have to use the ones that you got.”
An NFL team’s typical work week is a settled, carefully choreographed routine. However, each year at Thanksgiving, four teams deviate from the norm. Two, the Cowboys and Lions, host a holiday game each year. This season, Denver and Atlanta, respectively, are the inter- lopers.
“I’ve been down here as a visitor, and that’s tougher,” said Detroit coach Steve Mariucci, now in his third season with the Lions. “It’s tougher to travel and it’s tougher if you don’t do it every year because it’s such a short week.”
“The first time, when you’re trying to decide what you’re going to do, is the toughest,” Broncos coach Mike Shanahan added. “If anything, you have to learn how to prepare.”
What usually is spread out over about four days – instituting a game plan and presenting it to the players, working on red- zone packages and special teams – now is truncated into about a day and a half. At the same time, players who are trying to heal up from the previous game have to buck up for the next physical onslaught.
“Usually my body doesn’t start feeling good after a game until Thursday,” Denver tight end Stephen Alexander said.
“The body really doesn’t come back like that, but you just have to push it,” Broncos running back Mike Anderson added. “There’ll still be a lot of pain, but you just have to go.”
Cramming for victories
When the players from the four teams arrive at their respective headquarters today, virtually no time will be spent on Sunday’s results, as per the standard weekly routine. Instead they will forge ahead.
“We’re already behind,” Dallas defensive end Greg Ellis said. “It’s kind of like college and taking mid-term exams – you’ve got to hunker down and pick up all the things you didn’t get when you should have been studying earlier in the semester.”
Trying to hedge their bets, Thanksgiving game participants usually spend some of their time from the previous week looking ahead. For Denver, things such as film breakdown and computer analysis of Dallas’ tendencies were completed no later than Thursday night, enabling coaches to do some work Friday and Saturday. The game plan was scheduled to be finalized in the wee hours this morning, then given to the players when they arrive.
The Broncos will have a special-teams practice, then go into meetings. Afterward, they will practice for a little more than an hour. Tuesday, usually the players’ day off, instead will be like a normal Wednesday or Thursday practice. On Wednesday, the team will practice for about an hour, then leave for Texas.
Cut out the creativity
For the coaches, perhaps the biggest challenge is trying to institute a week’s worth of schemes and packages in just a couple of days.
While Dallas’ offense doesn’t necessarily strike fear into teams as it did during the franchise’s glory days a decade or so ago, it was the team at the forefront in areas such as shifting offensive players and using multiple formations, all of which have to be taken into account by Denver’s defense.
“There are certain things, when you play any team, that you just don’t feel good about,” Coyer said. “In this situation, if something is complex, you can’t do it. (Dallas) does multiple shifts, motions – if you’re not dead sure about (how you’ll play it), then you can’t do it.”
While Coyer says the Broncos still will try to go with their full defensive scheme – “You go with it and hope you’ve done a good job teaching it” – Mariucci counters that full and original are two very different things.
“No team can get so creative that you start putting in new things,” he said. “You just play with what you have right now, things that you’ve talked about before. Maybe you haven’t shown them recently, but they’re things that you’ve drilled and practiced on.”
While that may provide an element of comfort for the players, it only goes so far in easing the mental stress. The Cowboys, for example, are coming off a stretch in which only a week ago, they rallied from 13 points down with just more than three minutes left to beat a division rival (Philadelphia), then had to make sure they didn’t suffer a letdown against the Lions.
Now, the Cowboys have to be ready to play Denver, which Parcells calls the best team Dallas will play this season.
“It’s a really tricky thing,” Ellis said. “You know Denver’s there, but you can’t neglect the game that was right in front of you. And it’s not like Denver is some 2-6 team – they’re really good.
“My game preparation is beginning right now; if I can get away from my wife and kids, I’ll be up studying (Sunday night and this morning), but chances are she’s going to say, ‘Hey, you’re doing too much.”‘
There’s also the pressure of knowing that virtually all of your peers across the league, as well as a national audience, will be watching. In 13 NFL seasons, the early part of which were spent on bad Tampa Bay Buccaneers teams, John Lynch has yet to play on Thanksgiving. So while teammates Anderson and Alexander may be cringing at the thought of the pounding that awaits them, Lynch is looking forward to inflicting a little punishment of his own.
“It’s exciting to me,” he said. “Usually, I’m sitting up on the couch, watching someone else play. Now, you understand how many people will be doing that same thing – sitting there, rubbing stomachs full of turkey and watching the football games.”
Holiday preparations
While the Broncos won’t spend much of Thanksgiving with their families, coach Mike Shanahan is offering something of a carrot for a victory over Dallas on Thursday: most of the remainder of the week off for the players. The rest would be well-deserved after an intense 12-day stretch.
Sunday, Nov. 13: Denver beats AFC rival Oakland 31-17.
Monday, Nov. 14: Preparation begins for New York Jets; preliminary film and computer work is started on the Dallas Cowboys.
Friday, Nov. 18: Team holds final practice for Jets; coaches begin formulating game plan for Cowboys.
Sunday: Broncos beat Jets 27-0. Some coaches return to Dove Valley after the game to continue work on Dallas.
Today: Game plan for Dallas is finalized; players arrive for treatment, lift weights and attend meetings, where they’re given the game plan. Team practices for about an hour.
Tuesday: Red-zone game plan is finalized; team has its longest practice of the week.
Wednesday: Team practices for about an hour and flies to Dallas.
Thursday: Denver vs. Dallas, 2:15 p.m.
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
