Cowboys reunite Parcells with his first Drew
By STEPHEN HAWKINS, AP Sports Writer
February 24, 2005
IRVING, Texas (AP) -- Bill Parcells turned to another of his former quarterbacks in hopes of getting the Dallas Cowboys back into the playoffs.
Drew Bledsoe was reunited with the coach who made him the first overall pick in the NFL draft 12 years ago, signing a three-year contract Wednesday that will further push back the ascension of Drew Henson as the Cowboys' starting quarterback. The entire deal is worth about $14 million, but much of that is packed into the final year. He received about a $2 million signing bonus and will make about as much this season. Some money is guaranteed for the second year, too.
``I'm convinced that we were writing things off to have not had a veteran quarterback,'' Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. ``I'm not into, for our fans, almost by design having a season that's not competitive.''
When Henson gave up professional baseball to return to football last year, Dallas signed him to an eight-year contract. Jones declared him the quarterback of the future and there were expectations of him growing into the job.
The Cowboys aren't ready to go through the growing pains yet. So Parcells turned to another familiar face after 41-year-old Vinny Testaverde, who was also with him with the New York Jets, started 15 games as Dallas went 6-10 last season.
``We all have to recognize just how important not only skill level is, but the asset that Drew Bledsoe brings to the table, his vast experience and durability,'' Jones said. ``What we really want to do is win the next time we go on the field. At the same time, we'd like to be doing some things that help us win two years from now, three years from now, four years from now.''
Bledsoe said Parcells, who didn't participate in Wednesday's announcement, has already told him that he will be the starter. He had no interest in being a backup quarterback, one of the reasons he was released this week by the Buffalo Bills.
Bledsoe and Parcells were together four seasons and their last game was in the Super Bowl. But that was seven years ago.
``I know that there's criticism and skepticism and all that stuff out there about this deal,'' said Bledsoe, who is eight years younger than Testaverde. ``The one thing I will say is that when my time as a Dallas Cowboy is done, then the story will be written and I think it'll be a story that will have a lot of success involved.''
Bledsoe was disappointed about how things turned out in Buffalo, which he took from an 0-4 start to within one win of the playoffs last season. When he first went to the Bills in 2002, after being hurt and then replaced by Tom Brady in New England, Bledsoe threw for 4,359 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Despite the opportunity to play again for Parcells, Bledsoe said he needed time to get over his anger toward Buffalo for handing his job to youngster J.P. Losman without an on-field competition. Now he hopes to prove the Bills wrong, like he did the Patriots three years ago.
``There's no question that is A motivating factor,'' Bledsoe said. ``It's not THE motivating factor. THE motivating factor is that I want to stand on the field and hold up that trophy at the end of the season.''
After taking Bledsoe with the No. 1 pick in the 1993 draft, Parcells started him as a rookie and let him throw a league-record 691 passes his second season. The Patriots lost to Green Bay in the Super Bowl two years later, and then the coach left for the Jets.
Bledsoe hasn't started a playoff game since 1998. The Bills went 23-25 in his three seasons and never made the playoffs.
Still, he's a proven commodity -- the kind Parcells likes. Henson, who appeared just twice last season when Testaverde was hurt and didn't play again even after the Cowboys were eliminated from playoff contention, will have to wait some more.
Bledsoe will be the eighth starting quarterback for the Cowboys since three-time Super Bowl champion Troy Aikman was released four years ago and retired.
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MIAMI (AP) -- The Miami Dolphins released quarterback Jay Fiedler on Wednesday, ending his five-year run as the much-maligned successor to Dan Marino.
Last season, Fiedler started just seven games for the Dolphins (4-12), going 1-6 while throwing for 1,186 yards, seven touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Fiedler spent much of the 2004 season on the injured list with a herniated disc. Fiedler was due a $2 million roster bonus in March.
The Dolphins also released safeties Arturo Freeman and Shawn Wooden, and defensive end Jay Williams.
After Marino left before the 2000 season, Fiedler was the only starting quarterback for former Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt. But after Wannstedt's resignation in November, interim coach Jim Bates replaced Fielder with A.J. Feeley, who won three games the rest of the season.
A call to Fiedler's agent Brian Levy seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Fiedler started one game in six NFL seasons before he started 15 games in 2000 for Miami as the heir to Marino. He led the Dolphins to the first of two straight 11-5 seasons and playoff berths, going 1-2 in the postseason.
The Dolphins would miss the playoffs the next two seasons despite winning records as Fiedler missed nine starts in 2002-03 because of injuries. He missed five starts in 2002 because of a fractured thumb and missed four games in 2003 with a knee injury.
In five seasons with the Dolphins, Fiedler was 36-23 as a starter, throwing for 11,040 yards, 66 touchdown and 63 interceptions. He ranks as the franchise's third-leading passer behind Marino and Bob Griese.
Moss headed to the Raiders
By JON KRAWCZYNSKI, AP Sports Writer
February 24, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Randy Moss has become known as much for his distracting antics as he has for his electrifying touchdown catches during his seven-year career.
Sounds like Al Davis' kind of player.
Dante DiTrapano, Moss' agent, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the Minnesota Vikings and Oakland Raiders had ``come to an agreement on Randy playing for Oakland next year.''
Davis, the longtime renegade owner of the Raiders, has always taken a certain pride in acquiring talented players with troubled backgrounds. And Moss is just the latest to join the Silver and Black.
DiTrapano said Moss was ``very pleased to be going to Oakland and looking forward to playing with a team that's promised to throw the ball deep a whole lot to him and have a chance at winning the Super Bowl.''
Neither the Vikings nor the Raiders would confirm the deal, which reportedly involves the Raiders sending linebacker Napoleon Harris, the seventh pick in this year's draft and another late-round pick to Minnesota for Moss.
Without commenting specifically on the trade, Raiders senior administrator Artie Gigantino said, ``the Raiders have always been very aggressive in the pursuit of free agents. Randy Moss is certainly one of the great receivers of all time. Many players have ended their careers as Oakland Raiders.''
The deal cannot become official until March 2, the start of the NFL's fiscal year.
``We have had discussions with the Oakland Raiders, but there's nothing to announce,'' Rob Brzezinski, Minnesota's vice president of football operations said.
Moss is due to make $7.25 million next year, while Harris is due to make $5.41 million.
Moss had said publicly that he wished to stay in Minnesota, but DiTrapano said his client had grown tired of falling short of the Super Bowl.
``He doesn't leave Minnesota with any grudges,'' DiTrapano said. ``It just was frustrating for him to lose.''
Moss brings considerable skills, and a lot of baggage, to the Bay Area.
He was fined $10,000 for pretending to pull down his pants and moon the Green Bay crowd during Minnesota's playoff win. He also drew criticism for leaving the field with 2 seconds left in a regular-season loss against Washington.
Other transgressions included bumping a traffic control officer with his car in 2002, verbally abusing corporate sponsors on a team bus in 2001 and squirting an official with a water bottle in 1999.
But when he is healthy and focused on the field, look out.
He caught 13 touchdowns last season, despite missing some or most of five games with a hamstring injury. His 9,142 career receiving yards are the most by any player over his first seven seasons, and the Vikings' offense has been built around his ability to catch the deep ball.
He'll leave Minnesota as the only receiver in NFL history to start his career with six straight 1,000-yard seasons. Last year, he had 49 catches for 767 yards and 13 touchdowns.
But there were signs that his antics were wearing thin with teammates, coaches and officials.
After losing to Philadelphia in the playoffs, coach Mike Tice said the team will concentrate more on running the ball and needed more leaders to emerge in the locker room.
Center Matt Birk and quarterback Daunte Culpepper confronted Moss after he walked off at Washington.
``He's my good friend, but you almost get to thinking that maybe enough is enough,'' Culpepper said earlier this month at the Pro Bowl. ``And maybe the Vikings organization has had enough.''
It's an organization in flux. Red McCombs has agreed to sell the team to Arizona businessman Reggie Fowler, a deal that still needs to be approved by the NFL.
A spokeswoman for Fowler said it would be ``inappropriate for Reggie to be commenting at this point'' because McCombs still owns the team and is making all the decisions.
So Moss is headed to Oakland, where he will team with Jerry Porter, who signed a five-year, $20 million contract extension this week, to form a formidable receiving tandem.
The Vikings, who sorely need help at linebacker, will be getting a veteran in Harris who is coming off a career-low 61 tackles in nine starts last season because of a knee injury.
The No. 7 pick also could provide help to their lackluster defense or perhaps a replacement for Moss at receiver.
Dave Campbell in Fort Myers, Fla.; Janie McCauley in Oakland, Calif.; and Doug Glass in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
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