Ex-NFL Players May Sue T.O. for Defamation of Character

Look at me! Look at me! I am a selfish bastard whose is using the success of my teammates to promote myself at their expense. Terrill Owens is not only degrading his teammates rubbing their noses in his image he is degrading the great history of the Philladelphia Eagles. Owens is degrading the memories of the wonderful performances of warriors like Chuck Bednarick, Tommy McDonald, Pete Retzlaff, Norm VanBrocklin, Sonny Jurgenson, Clearance Peaks, Tim Brown, Bobby Walston all of them better football players than Terrill Owens. All of them team players. Tough unrelenting competitors. They should sue Owens for defamation of character, no, all ex-NFL players should sue Owens and The Viking's Randy Moss for defamation of character.

As a Patriot defensive back playing against Owens I would roll block him down on his first deep pattern, making sure I got his injured leg. Before that I would run ten yards and helmet to helmet him just before the ball is snapped as I have done to receivers like Redskins Hall of Famer Bobby Mitchell and Cowboy (Olympic Sprint Champion)Bullet Bob Hayes. At the beginning of the game the penalty is usually worth it. Pulling Owens down from behind on the first running play as the Dallas linebacker did when he injured Owens, should be the job of a Patriots defensive end or linebacker and would be a fitting tactic. The Patriots should see how well Owens is running and cutting, if he is at all dangerous then they should take a penalty or two, if they have to, but give him what he deserves and get rid of him early on. Although getting his attention can be very affective. Redskin's Great Bobby Mitchell told the press after one game, "It isn't right Parrish and (Don)Fleming didn't care if they won or not all they wanted to do was hurt me." Bobby was very close to being right, but we did win that game if I am recalling the outcome correctly.

Owens has been playing the media like a piano. The attention given him by the media during these weeks before the Superbowl is a distraction that the other players Patriots or Eagles don't deserve. The Eagles defense play as an unselfish team unit with great effort and talent, they seem to ignore Owens antics. The Patriots have also virtually ignored him. Coach Bellichick said they have assumed he will play and that is the appropriate way to handle a Hot Dog like Owens. But down deep the competitor, the warrior in you doesn't want Owens to walk away unscathed after he spit in your direction. The Eagles should bring back cornerback Ben Scotty from the '60's to be Owens roommate.

Owens and the Vikings Randy Moss are young punks standing on our shoulders, they have no right to degrade what we built. Donnivan McNabs mother should take a board to Owens and Moss's butts at the very least. Neither Owens nor Moss could have played in the '60's and survived.

A Team Game - The Civil Rights Era and a Championship NFL team.

Good NFL defense is the essence of a team game. A team game? What the hell is that anyway? From personal experience I know that it is a group of people operating together for the common good. The common good, success is based on everyone carrying out the detail of his assignment on every play. To carry out the detail you have to know the detail of your assignment. That takes dedecated preparation. Everyone in the group has to trust the people on either side of him to be confident that they are carrying out the detail of their assignment. Once the plan is set and you enter the battle there is no time or room for argument no room for friction among teammates. Black Walter Beach playing right corner back covering Hall Of Fame Colt Ray Berry must have a close trusting relationship with right linebacker Johnny Brewer from Ole Miss, covering Hall Of Fame Colt Lenny Moore out of the backfield so when a call is made in the huddle then switched off during the play they both know the subtlties of their changed assignments and the modifications will be carried out in an instant. There was no room for Old Racial mores on our team even in the 1960's when the civil rights movement was an explosive new issue. Life during an NFL play occurs in a blurr. Close trusting relationships are built on carrying out the details of assignments again and again in practice then under the pressure of exhibition game then stepped up to the pressure of a regular season game then carried out during the pressure of the late season run for the play-offs and and then under the play-off presssure then under the pressure of the Championship game. I can guarantee you that Walter Beach and Johnny Brewer have worked through all racial barriers and have a mutual respect for each other that can never be shaken. Our entire 1964 Championship team feels the same way about each other. I am so proud of being a part of this group of wonderful men, gentelmen, tough strong willed warriors. I played next to linebackers Jim Houston, and Galen Fiss, and Sidney Williams, behind End Paul Wiggin and Tackle Dick Modsewlski beside safeties Ross Fitchner, Larry Benz, Don Fleming and I trusted them all to do their job and they trusted me to do mine.
As I wrote in my book They Call It A Game " page 24, "Even our rookies were treated with nornal repect by our veterans, for if they were talented and tough enough to make our team, that was what they deserved. Hazing was never a part of our football. That season was the first year for Leroy Kelly, Paul Warfield, Clifton McNeil, Walter Roberts, and Sid Williams. We were lucky to have them with us." That is an understatement. They are respected gentlemen, they are also warriors, and I don't use the word warrior lightly, Leroy and Paul are Hall of Fame players, Clifton lead the league in receiving in 1966, Sid was the Ambassador to the Bahamas and he and Leroy were the best special teams players in the league and Walt was the best kick returner in the league. All are also black players who were one of the guys who earned trust and respect like everybody else on that team. Forty years later, after a wonderful reunion I realize even more fully what a remarkable group (team) of dedicated men I was privledged to be a part of. We decided we were the best then we proved we were. No lucky bounces just everyone relentlessly carrying out the detail of our assignments. I have neglected my good friends Ernie Green, John Wooten, Jim Brown, and a few others but I'll get to them shortly in another Parrish Thought.
The Patriots seem to have the same selfless team first attitude whereas the Eagles have the Terrill Owens-Freddie Mitchell selfish infection. I believe the Patriots total team first attitude will win the Superbowl.

Book - They call it a game

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2005 NFL Play-off Falcons Go Flat, Patriots Stay Tough and Talented

The Eagles Falcons playoff game went flat somewhere around the middle of the third quarter. The Steelers fought hard into the fourth quarter before the Patriots team effort squashed them flat. Bettis fumble just started things off wrong for the Steelers.

My first NFL roommate from the 1959 Browns training camp Dick Lebeau, now the terrific graying defensive coach for the Steelers, looked like he set out to shut down the Pat's running back Cory Dillon and he did. He had Dillon talking to himself. Patriots QB Tom Brady was on target again in another big game, firing one tight spiraled strike after another to receivers who made marvelous catches. It seems when a Patriot player bobbles a ball he winds up holding on to it while opponents drop most of theirs. What is it? A secret ingrediant? Team spirit? Guts? Skill? Desire?

When I saw Freddie Mitchell's, "look at me, Look at me" hair do at the end of the Eagles-Falcon game it convinced me the Patriots would win the Super Bowl by beating the Eagles. The Patriots have nothing but team business on their minds and the Eagles have a problem with players who are selfish enough to spend part of their teams limited capital on their own cheap self promotion. This appears to be a Terrill Ownes by-product or perhaps infection is a better word. I don't remember Mitchell catching any key passes against the Falcons.

The Eagles have a tough defense especially backed up on their own goal line. Jeremiha Trotter #54 Eagles Middle linebacker had another great game but so did #57 Adams and all of their defensive teammates. The Eagles defense played like the Patriots defense. The Eagles and Patriots defenses look pretty equal except the Eagles have the Owens-Mitchell distractions to deal with even though neither plays defense. Great defense wins Championships, the Patriots have the advantage.

It looks to me as though Eagles saftey Brian Dawkins #20 hasS intimidated Michael Vick when he put an outstanding lick on Vick in a previous game. Dawkins hits like Marvin Harrison #37 and Asante Samuel #22 the Patriots defensive backs.

NFL Bounties - How much is on Michael Vick's head?

Bounties on opponents heads have never been legal in the NFL but that never stopped us from using them in my era. In today's money a typical Bounty for a Michael Vick would be $10,000. To collect a bounty 1) you had to win the game and 2) the opponent had to leave the game and not return to it. The bounty on a obnoxious asses like Terrill Owens and Randy Moss would be at least $25,000. Usually there was a standard amount for knocking any opponent out of the game and a lesser amount for a non-starter. The bounty on a starter $200 vs $100 for any non-starter. I'm sure the Giants had at least $1000 on our Jim Brown's head. There was also a bounty for sacking the QB and a higher bounty for knocking him out of the game all of these incentive bounties collectable only if your team won the game.

There were no bonuses for interceptions for good reason. There was an incentive for breaking up a pass but never for an interception. A fumble recovery was rewarded with a bonus of $200 if your team won.

An open field tackle was rewarded with a bonus if we won. Any especially vicious hit was rewarded if we won. On the other hand dirty plays were not rewarded. Helmet to helmet hits and clotheslining and head slaps and forearms to the head were not illegal or dirty plays in the old days when men were men unless a policeman caught you on the street giving one to Frank Gifford.

These bounties were collected from a pool of money contributed by the players themselves of course this was during the league history when men were men and the team came first. Nobody got any bounty if we lost.

Breaking up passes are what defensive backs were paid first and foremost to do. Tackling was the second resonsibility we took pride in tackling. Although if you check the Cleveland Browns interception record book you'll find it is still, today 2005 dominated by 1964 players Ross Fitchner, Bobby Franklin, Erich Barnes and me with interception records compiled during 12 and 14 game seasons.

I have always believed that players and coaches should be paid in relation to their winning; their winning now one game at a time, not last year or the last five years, that is winning now.

No the league did not approve and Pansy Ass Pete Rozelle tried to stop it but he didn't.

How much more interesting the games would be if quarterbacks were not allowed to throw the ball away on purpose or to slide down and not be hit. Or if offensive players were penalized 15 yards for running out of bounds on purpose.

Ahh...not even the good old days were that good; but they were a hell of a lot of fun if you loved to block and tackle and revelled in the hitting, the man on man collisions like the hit the Patriot's #22 put on the Colts receiver last week, it was great time to live.

Play-off Thoughts, '64 Browns Coaching Sceme

Watching the play-off games last week-end was fun. Some thoughts I am left with are the Colts right defensive end #93, Spin Man is a hell of a pass rusher.
The Eagles Thornton #54 is a terrific middle linebacker probably the best in the league right now. Eagle’s receiver Freddie Mitchell had an exceptional game, although his future performance is suspect because of his antics put on to please Terrill Owens rather than his other teammates. Football is a team game.

Pittsburgh’s Rothelsburger nearly blew it last week. I think he better take the glove off his right hand and keep it warm another way. I have never seen any other QB win a key game wearing a glove on his throwing hand. And I’ve seen them try.

Atlanta should attack the “all linebackers” defense of the Patriots with a wedge
straight ahead from a Michael Vick QB only backfield mixing that with a shovel pass wedge to Warrick Dunn from a QB only backfield. The Falcon’s offensive line should be able to overpower the smaller line backers. This will have to wait til next year.

Patriot’s Coach Bill Belicheck’s TD punt return scheme against the Colts was a very bright play as is his All Linebacker defense, but the spirit in which his players carry them out is the ultimate tribute to his leadership.

The Browns should draft Utah’s QB before USC’s although both are exceptional QBs. The Utah QB has lived with issues that seem to have strengthened his character.

The Browns should hire an all 1964 Browns Championship coaching staff. Monte Clark should be the Head Coordinator, Jim Bown the Spiritual Leader and running back coach along with Leroy Kelly, John Wooten the offensive coach, along with Paul Warfield, Ernie Green and Clifton McNeil. Paul Wiggin the defensive coach with Vince Costello, Jim Houston, and Ross Fitchner, Larry Benz, Dave Raimey, and Walter Beach, Bobby Franklin, Sid Williams, the special teams coach along with John Brewer, Leroy Kelly, Gene Hickerson and. There is not one 1964 Browns player who could not contribute significantly and positively to the Browns effort to win another World Championship. Dick Modzewleski and Dick Shafrath and a few others health my prevent them from participating full time but Mo and Dick and those others can add a hard driving winning spirit just being around when they can. I haven’t named all the 1964 teammates but they should be included too, because they can contribute to winning. They all know how to win, they all expect to win.

These are wonderful football folks with great intelligence and spot on experience with tremendous potential All coaches should be paid on the basis of winning. Their compensation should consist of an living expense amount ($50,000) a small reasonable salary ($100,000) then so much for every win say ($25,000) for winning a regular season game, ($100,000) per playoff win and ($200,000) for the winning the World Championship. This proposal has been dashed off in a few minutes to be emailed to Browns Randy Lerner and posted on my Blog at
http://bernie parrish.blogspot.com/ . I ‘m sure this scheme needs a little more refining and perhaps the compensation amounts are off the mark but sports compensation should be based on winning now not on past performance.

NFL Play-offs Tough Patriots

20-3 Patriots over the Colts, it reminded me of our 27-0 defeat of the 1964 Colts. The Patriots were the tougher of two tough football teams. The hitting was ferocious. It was a great football game. It was a great game for me to watch. The Patriots defense won the game but their QB Tom Brady toughed it out as well, making key throws caught by courageous receivers with Colts defenders hanging all over both of them. Ted Bruschi reminded me of our middle line backer Vince Costello of 1964, who both played fantastic games against league leading high scoring Colt offenses. All the Patriots linebackers played terrific hard hitting games as did their whole defense. A true team effort for the Patriots who don't have the Terrill Owen, Randy Moss affliction to deal with.

The similarities between our 1964 Browns v Colts Championship game and Sunday's Patriots Colts game are remarkable. Johnny Unitas & Payton Manning, were both painted by the press to be unstoppable. Then both were confounded by defensive strategy and stopped cold by all out aggressive fundamental defensive execution. They were both hit with reckless abandon. The Patriots offense ram the ball down the Colts throats as Jim Brown did for us in the second half. As we did 40years earlier the Patriots as a team out hit and wore down the Colts, who to their great credit remained courageous to their inglorious ends.

That is more than I can say about the St Louis Rams who lost to the another tough physical team, the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons are a lot more than just Michael Vick they hit like the Patriots. Near the end of the Rams vs Falcon's game the Falcons had the ball on the Rams 3 yard line. The weakside line backer of the Rams pointed repeatedly to the space in the line just inside of him and yelled "Their coming right here, right here." Your could hear him yelling it over the TV sound system. The Falcon's ran it exactly where said they were going to and not one Ram tried to jam the hole up and I don't think any of the Rams put a shoulder on him and it looked like their were at least four Ram defenders who backed out of the tackle as the Falcon fullback scored easily. 47-17 Falcons over the Rams who seemed to quit in the final quarter.

One of the announcers said a 58 year old Patriot assistant coach has been hire as head coach for my old team the Cleveland Browns. The most valuable thing he could bring to the Browns is the team spirit and inner toughness of the Patriots. Maybe he can find the Browns four Marvin Harrisons for their defensive backfield and some linebackers like Bruschi and company. I think the Patriots are going to win it all again.

One thing that leaves me puzzled is how you can hire a guy, off his sofa to play corner for you the week of a play-off game and have him hold his own against the Colt passing attack. On the other hand why didn't the Colts attack the new unproven corner? Was that stupid or just stupid?

The Eagles didn't miss Terrell Owens. Freddie Mitchell was just as good and better for his team. Although he was trying justify Owens with his end zone routines. Thornton #54 the Eagles Middle linebacker was tremendous. He was the difference in the game. Donnavan McNab did his thing pretty well. The Eagles defense won this one too. They'll have their hands full against Atlanta. I think the Falcons will win.

Cleveland Browns Gutless display of tackling

In 1964 NFL football was blocking and tackling. Vince Lombardi football's most overated coach was correct when he said "Football is still blocking and tackling."

Don't worry Browns fans the gutless display of tackling by the Browns during the last half of the season was only partly a display of lack of desire and football fundamentals it was also a balancing act of preservation of physical assets by doing just enough to be able back up to the pay window to collect their agent and entourage's pay check. They are really better than they looked and when they play to win next season they can make the play-offs. They beat the Ravens and played like winners the opening game of the season. I did happen to see that game because it was the reunion weekend for the 1964 Browns World Championship team. I was impressed with the 2004 team that day especially the defense and Jeff Garcia played very well. They beat a first rate team and set the Lewis boys on their butts, you can't fake that.

In 1964 we played to win. We expected to win, our management expected us to win, our fans expected us to win. We won with an intense desire that manifested into ferocious blocking and tackling, while our skill players made plays often enough so we would finally get an edge on our courageous tough opponents. Every play was an opportunity to hit each other again to give your opponent all he could handle. Every lick, every blow, every forearm shot was the best we could give. The game was eleven personal confrontations, mano o mano within each play. And nobody wasted our energy helping the opponent up after you just put his ass on the ground. And nobody ran across the field to shake hands with your opponent before or after the game. Our games were filled with adreniline, anger, and hatered. A winning chemistry. The impacts even sounded different, helmet to helmet, forearm to helmet was the order of the day not a sin.

Products of the new rules era of the NFL of protecting the QB's and receivers, the Vikings smart mouth Randy Moss and Eagles Terrill Owens would have gotten their diamond studded heads clothes-lined off in my era. Their selfish displays of self agrandisment in a team game deserve retaliation from all the football players who play the game for their team and team backers. They both deserve a few licks like Jacksonville's Donivan Darious put on Green Bay's Ferguson, which in 1964 would not have been a penalty. Darious's lick wasn't even a real clothesline. Chuck Bednarick fist thrust into the air standing over Frank Gifford lying on the ground where Chuck put him, is the symbol of man to man football as it was meant to be played. Bednark and thousands of other NFL veterans of the 50', 60's and 70's would love to have had a shot at the likes of Owens and Moss.

The Browns fans are the greatest fans in all of sports. They deserve a hell of a lot better than they got last season from both the coaches and the players. Now the Browns have an owner who is worth winning for too. I do think the quality of the 2004 Browns players is higher than their coaches allowed them to display in 2004. Browns safety Griffith got and award for making more tackles than any other Brown. Congratulations.

The Browns new GM from the Ravens doesn't need to rebuild the whole house all he needs is a head coach like the underpaid Marty Shotenhiemer or a undieing 1964 spirit like Paul Wiggin, John Wooten, Paul Warfield, or Monte Clark and why not Jim Brown or several of them. As Lombardi said "Football is still blocking and tackling." Of course it would help to add a couple of key line men to protect the passer, some hard tackling cornerbacks and a linebacker, and another receiver (a big physical one). The QB's Garcia and Holcome can win. Garcia was a case of hiring a Star fighter pilot and asking him to drive a tank. The Running backs are OK. The Browns should draft Roscoe Parrish from Miami he is a big play player although he isn't big physically but he has a great name.