<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>MIAMI - Peyton Manning might have become the greatest Jets quarterback of all time, better than Joe Willie Namath, if he didn't make the decision 10 years ago that stunned Bill Parcells. He returned to Tennessee for his senior year."I thought it was pretty unusual that a guy like him, who was pretty much the consensus first pick, would stay," Parcells told the Daily News from Dallas the other day before heading to his home in Saratoga. "I think he had his reasons. He enjoyed Tennessee, he enjoyed college football. I think his parents were encouraging him to stay."Manning is finally playing in his first Super Bowl tonight, but who knows how many he would have made by now if Parcells, a future Hall of Famer, was his coach with the Jets instead of Jim Mora and Tony Dungy with the Colts? Manning's decision changed the course of Jets history. It was another indication of terrible luck. The Same Old Jets. Imagine if the Jets added Parcells and Manning in a two-month period.Parcells would have loved to coach him."Anybody would have," he said. "There's very few Peyton Mannings."Parcells inherited a 1-15 team and the first pick in the 1997 draft when he jumped from the Patriots to the Jets. Manning had just completed his junior year at Tennessee and although it was admirable how much he loved college, the Jets were counting on him coming out. Parcells clearly was not a fan of Neil O'Donnell. Manning, who has the work ethic of Phil Simms but is certainly more talented, would have thrived playing for Parcells.But on March 5, 1997, six weeks before the draft, Manning made a stand for being true to your school and announced he was returning for his senior year. Parcells elected not to take offensive tackle Orlando Pace at No. 1, traded down twice in the first round and selected linebacker James Farrior at No. 8."Parcells shook things up for me a little bit when he was hired there," Manning said at the time. "It made this decision a lot tougher, knowing he was there. I had no negative thoughts about the Jets whatsoever. I have no doubt in my mind that Parcells will get them going again."The NFL is strict against teams encouraging players to leave school early, and even 10 years later, Parcells says he was telling Manning, through intermediaries, to stay at Tennessee. But in his conversations with Archie Manning he gave him an indication about the Jets' intentions if Peyton declared for the draft."I was trying to stick with the rules," Parcells said. "But everybody knew if he did come out he'd be picked and we had the first pick. We were interested in a quarterback. I tried to be real generic with Archie. I told him I thought Peyton was an excellent player and we were interested in that position. I don't think I talked to Peyton."The only way Parcells would have considered trading away the chance to take Manning was if he was offered "two or three drafts." Not two or three draft picks; two or three complete drafts. The Saints, picking second, and the Falcons, picking third, were prepared to make mega-offers for Manning, but the overwhelming feeling was Parcells was not going to trade the pick.Instead, Parcells cut O'Donnell after just one season with him. He started the 1998 season with Glenn Foley, switched to Vinny Testaverde and made it to the AFC title game. Testaverde was injured in the first game of the '99 season and Parcells quit as Jets coach after the year.If the Jets had Manning, there's no way Parcells would have walked away after only three years coaching him. "Who knows? Anything can happen," Parcells said. "You can't assume just because he came to New York that things would be the same as they were in Indianapolis. He was 3-13 in his first year with the Colts. If that happened in New York, you guys would call him a bust."Manning was the first overall pick by the Colts in 1998, and now, after all these years of putting up great numbers, he is in the Super Bowl.</div>
Yeah, the Eagles could have drafted Reggie Wayne or Chad Johnson, but we went with Freddie Mitchell. Could have had Troy Polamalu or Pisa Tinoisamoa, but we went with Jerome McDougle.Deal with it
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (GaMeTiMe @ Feb 5 2007, 07:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yeah, the Eagles could have drafted Reggie Wayne or Chad Johnson, but we went with Freddie Mitchell. Could have had Troy Polamalu or Pisa Tinoisamoa, but we went with Jerome McDougle.Deal with it </div>Hey, we went through a 1-15 year just to draft Peyton Manning and still didn't get him cause the Bastard didn't declare.
