Hopping over the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 10 Don’t Hire Quarterbacks, Hire Linemen: The Simple Formula for Building a Successful Team

“There is no limit to what can be accomplished if it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

The writer in the back of the room mustered up all the courage inside him and asked Bill Parcells the question every other writer was too scared to broach.

“Coach, the Bills are averaging close to 30 points a game. They just scored 56 points against the Raiders. They obviously have a speed advantage. Do you think you have any chance of stopping the Bills’ no-huddle offense?”

It was the last press conference before Super Bowl XXV. The Vegas bookmakers had set Parcells’s New York Giants as four-point underdogs against the AFC-champion Buffalo Bills. Parcells—the steely-eyed Hall of Fame coach—was preparing to go up against the high-powered Bills team, who had pioneered the concept of the no-huddle offense. This revolutionary strategy was wreaking havoc on the NFL as it often caught the defense off-guard.

There was an awkward silence in the press room. Parcells’s eyes lit up. And for the first time all afternoon, he revealed his pearly whites.

Parcells didn’t respond verbally at first, choosing instead to let the audacity of the question marinate in the press room for a few moments. Then his smile got bigger and his eyes appeared to almost pop out of his head. You see, Parcells lived for these moments. He loved it when people doubted him or his team. He relished the opportunity ...