The Parcells Way

The Cowboys may have a three game winning streak, and tied for the lead in the NFC East, but Bill Parcells doesn't seem overly impressed. After all, by his standards, the Cowboys still aren't the team he wants them to be.

“It’s not anything about a specific set of standards,” says Parcells. “I just want my team to be more consistent in its performance that's all.”

Winning is one thing, satisfying their head coach is another. Parcells never seems happy.

He never seems happy to whom?” asks Wide Receiver Keyshawn Johnson. “To whom, that's where you have to look. He may not seem happy to you, but that's the way he approaches things and it’s worked for him.”

“He's always been a guy that's kind of a pain in the butt after you win,” says Quarterback Drew Bledsoe. “When you lose, then he'll kind of let you know, okay, we did this well, and so on, but when your winning, he doesn't want the team to ever start to relax a little bit.”

Reaching the Parcells standard of excellence is a level of achievement that the Cowboys have not yet attained. At this point, it’s still a goal.

Says Safety Roy Williams, “I don't know, (what his standards are) you don't ever, I don't know what bills standards are, I know they're high. But you don't know, nobody talks to him about the standards.”

Rookie Marcus Spears is still learning the Parcells way. “I don't know that you can, but he knows we can play better. I think that's the point he was trying to prove.”

“Can they, well sure, of course they could,” (reach my standard) says Parcells. But its just, I'm not being trying, I'm not trying to being negative here. I wish we'd been just a little more consistent yesterday. (against the Lions)

So can this team live up to his standards? Parcells things they eventually can, but it may take a trip to the Super Bowl for him to be truly happy.