WE’LL NEVER
Schnellenberger’s decision changed Big Blue’s history
Coach Howard Schnellenberger’s death on March 27 at age 87 was a reminder of how dramatically one man’s decision in 1984 impacted the fortunes of the Giants franchise forever.
In 1983, Schnellenberger had led his rebuilt Miami Hurricanes to a national championship. That same season, Bill Parcells’ first Giants team had gone 3-12-1. Parcells’ parents had both died that year.
He’d started
Scott Brunner over Phil
Simms. And the team was devastated by injuries.
So Giants GM George Young offered Schnellenberger the Giants’ head coaching job. Young had been an assistant coach on Schnellenberger’s Baltimore Colts staff in the mid-1970s. He was ready to replace Parcells if Schnellenberger said yes.
But he turned Young down. Schnellenberger instead took a job running the USFL’s Spirit of Miami, an arrangement that collapsed and led to his return to college with Louisville in 1985. Saying “no” to the Giants, meanwhile, created a domino effect still impacting the Giants today.
Parcells stayed and won the franchise’s first two Super Bowls in 1986 and 1990, but he also never forgot Young’s attempt to replace him and left after winning his second championship.
Bill Belichick stayed on as the Giants’ defensive coordinator because Parcells stayed, and his success in New York would springboard him to becoming arguably the greatest head coach in NFL history with the New England Patriots.
Fast forward to the modern-day Giants, who pursued and interviewed Belichick Patriots assistants Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia before hiring New England special teams coordinator Joe Judge last winter.
It all connects back to Schnellenberger saying no to Young after the 1983 season. Talk about a defining moment.
WHAT’S WITH WATSON?
The facts of the constantly evolving case against Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson (for now) are these:
l 21 women have filed lawsuits accusing Watson of sexual harassment and assault through plaintiffs’ attorney Tony Buzbee; a masseuse who hasn’t filed a lawsuit separately told Sports Illustrated her own graphic story about Watson’s inappropriate behavior
l In contrast, 18 women issued statements through Watson’s attorney Rusty Hardin that Watson was professional during massage sessions
l Buzbee accused Watson of deleting Instagram messages and evidence, and of contacting alleged victims in an attempt to arrange settlements; Hardin responded that Watson hasn’t deleted any message since March 15, the day before the first lawsuit was filed, and categorically denied contact since with his accusers
l One person filed a report concerning Watson with the Houston Police Department on Friday. Previously none of Buzbee’s alleged victims have filed formal criminal complaints with the HPD. Buzbee promised to submit evidence but then said Hardin’s son works for the department, so his clients will “go elsewhere to provide evidence to investigative authorities”
l Hardin said Buzbee’s comments about the HPD were his “lamest” excuse yet and called his questioning of the department’s integrity “ludicrous” and “insulting”
Watson’s NFL career remains in a holding pattern as new information emerges almost daily. It’s fair to say one thing, though: the existence of 39 different women with individual stories about Watson on the massage table is unusual, at best. No denying that.
If there is no clarity or resolution to Watson’s situation, this could drag on indefinitely toward his threat of a 2021 holdout or placement on the NFL’s commissioner exempt list.
If there is clarity before the first round of the NFL Draft on April 29, though, that is the date by which a trade would be most likely.
BILLS MAKE TOO MUCH SENSE
I believe the NFL’s owners need to pass the Buffalo Bills’ proposal to create a uniform timeline for interviewing and hiring coaches next year. The competition committee has recommended it for a vote that will occur later this month and requires 24 yes votes out of 32 for approval.
The Bills are proposing that for one year only, teams cannot contact or interview candidates for their head coach and coordinator vacancies until the day after the
AFC and NFC Championship games — and that no job offer can be made until 9 a.m. on the day following the Super Bowl.
This timeline would apply to any candidate, whether they’re employed at the time by a team or not.
This past winter, Buccaneers coordinators Todd Bowles and Byron Leftwich, Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, and Bills coordinators Brian Daboll and Leslie Frazier all failed to land head coaching jobs.
One reason none of them were hired was because their teams were still playing in the