Bill Parcells

Bill Parcells has never been crazy about kickers. Martin Gramatica may have changed the Dallas coach's opinion. Gramatica, signed last Monday after Parcells cut enigmatic Mike Vanderjagt, kicked a 46-yard field goal with a second left Sunday to give the Dallas Cowboys a 23-20 win over the New York Giants and a two-game lead in the NFC East. "I've got to thank the Cowboys for giving me a second chance," said Gramatica, once a top kicker who had just one field goal in three games since 2004.

The Dallas Cowboys have a bunch of yo-yos in the locker room. And that's just the way Coach Bill Parcells wants it. Parcells, scowling but not humorless, recently decorated the locker room with dangling yo-yos to remind his players that inconsistent teams don't get far. By no means is his team hanging by a thread; it's in the thick of the NFL's tightest division race.

Dallas Cowboys Coach Bill Parcells stood by quarterback Drew Bledsoe on Monday, instead blaming the offensive line for most of Bledsoe's mistakes in a 38-24 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. "I'm not switching the quarterback," Parcells said. "I don't think that's the answer right this minute.... Let's try to get some of the things corrected [on the line] and we'll go from there."

Bill Parcells doesn't act as if he plans to quit coaching any time soon. With the Dallas Cowboys still trying to make the playoffs, he appears as focused as ever. At 2 a.m. on Christmas, Parcells was in his office watching film and preparing for the regular-season finale. On Monday, he released inconsistent kicker Billy Cundiff. Veteran safety Tony Dixon was re-signed in case Pro Bowl safety Roy Williams' injured left foot bothers him. Parcells' focus is solely on the finale against the St.

Drew Bledsoe set passing records and got to the Super Bowl as a young quarterback for the New England Patriots and then-coach Bill Parcells. But they came up short of a title. Now, a decade later, the two will try again -- this time for the Dallas Cowboys. The last time they were together, Bledsoe was trying to establish himself among the NFL's top quarterbacks. This time, at age 33, he'll be trying to prove he can still perform up to his previous standard.

In Bill Parcells' first season, the story line was the rebirth of the Dallas Cowboys. This year, it's more like a disheartening reincarnation. The team that was 5-11 in each of the three seasons before Parcells arrived is 5-11 since last Thanksgiving -- a setback that makes Parcells' 8-3 start last season look like a wistful mirage. The Cowboys (3-7), who play host today to Chicago (4-6), are desperately searching for a way to salvage their season.

The Dallas Cowboys spent a week comparing Pittsburgh rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to a young Dan Marino. How about some Terry Bradshaw to go with it? Roethlisberger was 21-for-25 passing with two touchdowns, completing nine straight throws on the Steelers' last two scoring drives and 11 in one stretch, in leading Pittsburgh to a 24-20 comeback win Sunday over the Cowboys. Dallas Coach Bill Parcells had warned his team about how good Roethlisberger could be.

Jerry Jones and Bill Parcells seemed an unlikely pair to work together. Jones was the meddling owner and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys, a team that had fallen on tough times since winning three Super Bowls in the mid-1990s. A demanding, do-it-my-way coach, Parcells was retired after taking two different teams to the Super Bowl: winning with the New York Giants (1987, 1991) and losing with the New England Patriots in 1997.