SportsLine Interview Transcript: December 12, 1996 SportsLine: Ty Detmer goes on record if we lose to these guys we look like a bunch of idiots and Hugh Douglas says if I get a chance to get my hands on this guy, I am going to hurt him. What do you think about these guys saying things like that? Joe: I think they are both right. Ty Detmer’s statement could have been made a variety of ways but he is honest and it’ s factual. Anybody that loses to the Jets is certainly going to be looked upon by their peers with strange looks. Hugh Douglas, that’s what defensive people are supposed to do, they are supposed to hit and hurt. Now when we say I’m going to hurt a guy, I don’t think Hugh Douglas is going to try and twist neck or do anything that he wouldn’t normally do on a tackle. I think Hugh Douglas is... well I know Hugh Douglas and the statement that we have seen and heard from Hugh, that’s a ball player's talk. You know, I’m going to hurt the guy, yeah. I’m going to hit him into next week, but I don’t think Hugh I know Hugh is not a cheap-shot artist and I know it won’t be any kind of cheap shot. I believe that. Ty Detmer... I also believe Ty is not the kind of guy who goes around shooting his mouth off or putting down other teams and what he said is honest. I don’t know what he said before that statement or afterwards or whatever, what we saw and heard was just a few sentences of Ty’s and that’s just honesty. SportsLine: Joe this isn’t the first time that there has been some kind of prediction going on involving a Jets' game by a quarterback but it was the other way around, way back when, but you didn’t have guys like Mike Curtis or Billy Ray Smith saying they were going to knock you into next week. Joe: As a player I never belittled the Baltimore Colts. In effect, I never talked about their team, they were a great team, an excellent team. The Jets were one and 13. What do you expect? To say things good about you? Between every team in the league there are 29 other teams that would love to play the Jets. There are a lot of players on that Jets squad that are quality players and losing gnaws at you. It’s an awful emotional feeling for a long time that they have had and every defensive player is looking to put a hurt on an offensive player. You see the secondary whack receivers when they come down that field and they are trying to knock them down so they don’t get back up. That’s football, that’s the way it is. You are not potentially looking to put the guy in a hospital or cripple him but you are trying to knock him down so that he can’t play the way he ought to. SportsLine: What do you think about Bill Parcells taking over the New York Jets program Joe: I think, first of all, Rich Kotite will probably assume a different position and I don’t know, I don’t see why they would retain Rich and the entire staff for next season even though they have had a lot of injuries and all. It’s been two years and they have not performed in areas as well as they should have. Bill Parcells, is wonderful as a coach in my opinion and New York is Bill Parcells’ town ah... if you could get that match up that would be sensational to the Jets' organization and fans as well. Richard Kotite knew what he was getting into when he did, it hasn’t worked so far and he is a keen competitor and sure he would like to stay on. There is a general feeling in New York with the fans and certainly the media they need a change in that position and of course Parcells would receive the number one choice in my opinion. SportsLine: What do you think Boomer Esiason walking out on his team? Joe: Well I put a lot of stock in what I see and hear rather than what I read. And I did see and hear Coach Vince Tobin say he was honestly unaware of any incentive that could be reached by Boomer. At that point, he judged his decision on Boomer’s last two weeks' performance and on the availability of Grant coming back which is more of the future for Cardinals than Boomer is. I see where Gerald spoke with the agent and heard Boomer said "it’s hard to believe," and it is hard to believe, that the incentive didn’t have anything with the decision. I’ll tell you how we will find out, it’s what the players leak out and what the tapes tell of Boomer’s last two weeks needs to be looked at and we talked about different people and integrity. I think Boomer is... once he calms down and he has got to be pretty angry about this, once he calms down, he will realize the importance of his honoring his position and his role with his teammates. I think Boomer deep down owes it to his team to get there and not disrupt things because of a personal service contract at this point. SportsLine: To me, walking out on his team because of a financial issue at this point in the season sets a very bad precedent for his teammates and it really doesn’t make Boomer look good. Joe: That’s why I think Boomer will calm down and come back. I really think I know it’s a tremendous emotional blow to Boomer. The guy has been part of the football world there for three out of the last five weeks anyway, he has been playing well and his team has been doing well for the last three weeks but again according to the coach he hasn’t performed well in the last two weeks and Grant is now back and he had taken the job from Boomer earlier on in the season. SportsLine: What do you think we are going to see in the Dallas-New England Game? Joe: I think we are going to see a pretty good game. I think Dallas is going to have to have to find a way to start putting some points out because New England is going to find a way to score some points. I really like the way Martin has been running and I think the passing game has really developed for New England. I don’t think you are going to see New England getting shut down anymore. I know that Denver just shut them right down up there, but that was a surprise, you can’t use any excuse at this stage in the season. It’s getting so close to the playoff time and Weeb Ewbank, Hall of Fame Coach and the coach on the Jets, used to tell us its the teams that continue to improve in December that are the teams that are at the end because it is a season-long improvement. Because that is what you are trying to do, continue to improve each week and we have attained that consistency level in football this year. Denver has been consistent and I think that Green Bay last week was an indication of occasionally not being focused and getting whipped, getting beaten very bad by a very good team. So I look for New England to play Dallas a very tight game and if not just tight but beat Dallas in Dallas. SportsLine: What about the AFC versus the NFC, do they have the kind of quality teams that can compete in the big game? Joe: I believe in making the numbers speak for themselves. As you mentioned AFC has an edge over the NFC as far as performance against one another this season and has had in the past. But we are talking Super Bowl, we are talking about the champion of thirty teams with luck we will be able to keep this AFC/NFC thing going as in the American League or whatever or National League of Baseball. The teams that have won recently, the Cowboys, the 49ers, when the Skins were hot, those teams they beat everybody, it wasn’t just AFC teams that came up against them and got whipped. AFC has had an awful run they haven’t had the kind of teams obviously that it takes to win the big one. This year I think between Denver and New England they had better chance than normal. SportsLine: If you had your choice as to who you would like to coach the New York Jets, who would you choose? Joe: I think Bill Parcells is great. I know he is great I know he is a sensational coach, if I can’t get Parcells I would maybe talk to Mike Ditka see if I can get him out of retirement or something or Joe Gibbs, you know ah... he has football blood in him and he is a tremendous leader so I go on his track record. There are coaches out there who are top notch coaches that have the big winning too, In my opinion Jim Morris is a fine coach and knows what it takes to win, but you don’t get the players especially the management of the money and the players in this day and age don’t have a consistent winner. This is one of Jimmy Johnson’s fortes. Right here in Miami, being able to restructure the salary situation and getting the kind of players in there that he knows can win. That’s why San Francisco is on top and that’s why Dallas is on top year in and year out or close to it because of the people getting the right players there and handling the talent situation. SportsLine: I know it’s kind of early and I don’t really want to talk too much about next year. Is there a team this year that has really impressed you? Not a playoff type team that you can see next year taking that next step, like Carolina did this year. Joe: You know I was just going to say that I keep forgetting to mention Carolina, I mean, good lord these guys have proven that they can play and Carolina is there this year and... it depends on what happens next year. Carolina can go up to Denver or go into New England and beat either one of those teams. Carolina just went out there as well, I saw last week and dumped San Francisco. So Carolina has again suddenly, this is only their second season, developed into a quality team and if you look at the man that is running a lot of it, Bill McCormack and Bill Folian, you know why, those guys are extremely sharp. SportsLine: In a national publication today, they called Lawrence Phillips a bust this year. I would contend that the reason why Lawrence Phillips appears to be a bust and the perception is because Jerome Bettis has been able to go to Pittsburgh and have an incredible amount of success this year and he leaves behind a team that doesn’t have a real strong offense and doesn’t have a real successful passing game, they don’t have a good quarterback right now and Lawrence hasn’t had a good year but it looks worse than it is because of the success that Bettis has had. Joe: It depends on one's perspective of course, if you reverse those two players and put Lawrence Phillips with the Pittsburgh Steelers of this year and put Jerome Bettis back with the Rams, I would think that Phillips would have similar statistics or close to what Bettis had and vice versa. It’s still a team game, if you put Lawrence Phillips behind the Dallas Cowboy line, I'll bet you he gets some yards more than what he got with the St. Louis Rams.

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