Why Bill Parcells Retired from Dallas Scott Manning January 22, 2007

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Bill Parcells retiring as the Dallas Cowboys head coach is heartbreaking for this Dallas native. I was excited to see what he'd do in the off season with a young, promising quarterback.

Many have drawn their own conclusions as to why he retired for the fourth time at age 65. Some would love for the reason to be Terrel Owens. Others just point out that he's old and tired.

When you look at the past two seasons, it's easy to see that Parcells had enough of his kicker situation.

Travel back in time with me as we look at some disheartening losses.

Washington 14-13 (September 19, 2005)

Dallas was up 13-0 with less than four minutes to play in the game. Brunell threw a 39-yard pass to Moss for a touchdown. On Washington's next drive, Brunell threw once again to Moss for a touchdown, but this time it was 70 yards.

Dallas couldn't respond.

It would have been a different story if Jose Cortez made a 41-yard field goal in the first quarter.

Seattle 13-10 (October 23, 2005)

No one knew it at the time, but Seattle was going to the SuperBowl. As the team marched through the playoffs, they seemed unstoppable with league MVP Shawn Alexander, but Dallas was able to keep him to 61 yards half-way through the season.

By the fourth quarter, the 'Boys had managed to hold the 'Hawks to just a field goal. With less than a minute left in the game, an 81-yard drive by the Seahawks tied up the game 10-10.

Playing to win, Dallas attempted to respond with their own drive. Bledsoe made a crucial error and threw an interception which put Seattle in position to kick a 50-yard field goal with no time left in the game.

Dallas shouldn't have even needed to push for a game-winning drive at that point in the game had Jose Cortez not missed a 29-yard field goal earlier in the game.

Cortez was cut the next day. Shaun Suisham took his place until Billy Cundiff took over.

Denver 24-21 (Thanksgiving Day - November 24, 2005)

Dallas and Denver exchanged touchdowns throughout the game to eventually push it all into overtime at 21-21. In the end, the Broncos won the game via a 24-yard field goal.

Denver would have been 12-4 for the season if Billy Cundiff had made a 34-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.

Cundiff was cut on December 26 and was picked up by the Saints where he has continued his clutch-career. In the playoff game against Chicago, he missed a 47-yarder in the 3rd quarter.

Shaun Suisham was re-signed in Cundiff's place. He managed to miss a field goal in the final game against St Louis.

More missed field goals

Those are three games from the 2005 season where a game was lost due to the kicker not doing his job, but the kicking woes do not end there.Cortez, Cundiff and Suisham were only able to make 20 of 28 field goals in 2005. They may not have all cost games, but they irritated Parcells.

Mike Vanderjagt was signed to a multi-dollar deal ($1.6 million signing bonus), but couldn't make two field goals against the Vikings in the 2006 preseason. This game didn't count towards anything, but it was enough to push Dallas to resign Shaun Suisham until Vanderjagt got his act straight.

Mike Vanderjagt seemed to be still unproven when a potential game-winning field goal against the Redskins was blocked. After a penalty, Washington was put in place to win the game via their own field goal after regulation.

Vanderjagt eventually showed his true colors by missing two easy ones against his old team the Colts. Although Dallas still won the game, the writing was on the wall. After making only 13 of 18 tries, Vanderjagt was cut.

In his place, Martin Gramatica was brought out of a year of seclusion to take over. After a game-winning field goal in the Meadowlands against the Giants, it appeared that Dallas kicker issue was solved.

More than 14 months after losing to the Seahawks because of a missed field goal, Dallas was ready for revenge with their own last-minute field goal during a wildcard playoff. The kicker was proven and ready, but in the end, it was the holder who could not make a sure-win happen.

Dallas missed the playoffs in 2005 by one win with a 9-7 record. Three of the seven losses were due to missed field goals. In 2006, Dallas was eliminated because of a fumbled snap. Dallas has had five different kickers in two seasons.

If I were Parcells, I probably would have retired too.

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