You can bet Parcells will be back to work

PHILADELPHIA — In the wake of his team’s 49-21 drubbing by the Philadelphia Eagles, Bill Parcells last week had more questions to answer than simply whether Drew Henson would replace Vinny Testaverde at quarterback.

People in Dallas wanted to know whether their second-year coach would remain in Big D for a third season.

“I’m not talking about next year,” Parcells said.

When he joined the Cowboys, Parcells signed a four-year, $18 million deal that he plans to honor.

“It’s a ridiculous question,” Parcells said. “Just see what time I get here in the morning, and you’ll find out how committed I am.”

Parcells gets to Valley Ranch “early enough,” he said.

“He’s all right,” said Keyshawn Johnson, who played for Parcells in New York and now in Dallas and knows him as well as anyone. “He’s fine, because one thing he is not going to do is quit, because he is not a loser.

“Only losers quit. Remember that. And he is not a loser. So there is a difference between being burned out and retiring and saying, ‘I’m not going to do it anymore,’ and just throwing in the towel. He’s not just going to throw in the towel. He’s having too much fun.”

Patchwork Patriots

Ty Law has been out. Tyrone Poole has been out. Asante Samuel has been out. But the Patriots’ secondary has hung strong. In the previous two weeks, New England forced St. Louis’ Marc Bulger and two Buffalo quarterbacks into a combined 32-for-54, 366-yard passing performance, with eight sacks, five interceptions and two touchdowns.

With Law, Poole and Samuel injured, the Patriots have turned to rookie free agent Randall Gay and former practice player Earthwind Moreland at the corners, and wide receiver Troy Brown at nickel back.

Worthy of Wheaties

He has 31 touchdowns this season, four ahead of Dan Marino’s pace in 1984, when Marino threw for a record 48. And now, Peyton Manning has his mug on a Wheaties box.

Manning is nonplussed by the accolades, and said he isn’t really paying attention to his numbers, other than the wins and losses. If he happens to have 47 touchdowns heading into the Colts’ season finale against Denver, then he will keep an eye on Marino.

“I’m sure it would be hard to say it wouldn’t cross my mind at that point,” Manning said. “Heck, 31 is the second-most I’ve ever had.

“You could not throw another one from here on out and it would be hard to say it wasn’t a pretty fair year. It still seems like a long way away to me.

“The more I think about it, the more I’m amazed at what Marino did. That’s what I think about. In his second year, that’s pretty doggone amazing.”

Under his skin

A few hours after Minnesota’s last-second loss to the Packers last Sunday dropped the Vikings to 5-4 and into a tie with Green Bay atop the NFC North, coach Mike Tice snapped during his local TV show.

The show’s host told Tice that callers to the station had questioned whether the Vikings had scored too quickly in the fourth quarter, giving Green Bay the ball back with 80 seconds to play.

“What do they want me to do?” Tice asked. “Tell me what they want me to do.

“Those type of comments are from people that are either irrational, dumb, don’t understand football. … Take that comment and shove it somewhere, because I’m tired of those kind of comments in this town. Period. End of story.”

A day later, Tice said: “I wasn’t in a wonderful mood.”