"Not the @nyJets locker room"
"I'm not going in there" #TheTwoBills
pic.twitter.com/D33aHfO1eF— W? Are B⚾️st⚽️n Sp?r?s (@BosSportsExtra) February 2, 2018
Former Giants and Jets Hall-of-Fame Coach Bill Parcells insists a perceived slight is much ado about nothing.
Some things never change. Bill Parcells is again causing a media kerfuffle. Bill Belichick is again ticking off the New York Jets. Both caused a stir when, at the close of ESPN Films 30-for-30 documentary “The Two Bills,” the duo refused to take a detour into the Jets’ locker room at MetLife Stadium, where the two were interviewed for the film.
Some viewed this as a slight, given the fact that the Giants share MetLife Stadium with the Jets and both coaches worked for both teams. The pair were filmed reminiscing inside the Giants’ Legacy Club, admiring the latter’s Hall of Fame bust and the trophies from Super Bowl 21 and 25, which they won together as coaches—Parcells the head coach, Belichick the defensive coordinator.
Parcells was quick to quash any notion of controversy telling ESPN’s Rich Cimini: “I never had a problem with the Jets,” he said. “Listen, you know, I’m hoping Todd (Bowles) does well. He’s one of my guys.”
Belichick’s reticence was understandable, given his ill-fated departure from the Jets. After being named head coach of following Parcells’ resignation, he stepped down the following day to take the same job with the division-rival Patriots amid much controversy. That move altered the fate of two franchises. The Jets have still not won a Super Bowl since 1968, while Belichick is looking for his sixth ring with New England and eighth overall.
Parcells’ reaction was less understandable. “I’m 76 years old, I’m not looking for any trouble,” a laughing Parcells remarked. “I caused enough when I was younger.”
Parcells underscored it was nothing personal and after a long day they were both just ready to go. Given their gravitas, when the two coaches expressed reluctance, the film’s director Ken Rodgers did little to dissuade them. As Parcells asked where the elevator was, the two merely walked away, wanting little to do with a walk down Gang Green memory lane.
"What I found out pretty quickly was that I was the outsider." @kenrodgersNFL sits down with our @jodyavirgan to talk #TheTwoBills on #30for30Podcasts
?:https://t.co/bMpgq0cDNN pic.twitter.com/8rP42Y3djj
— ESPN Films 30 for 30 (@30for30) February 2, 2018
“It was like, ‘Where are they taking us now?’ That’s when we realized they wanted to take us down there and we just didn’t want to go. It wasn’t anything against anything. It was just time.”
While the duo has ties to both franchises, their loyalty likely lies with the Giants, as its where both had their earliest and, in Parcells’ case, greatest success in the NFL. Notes Romeo Crennel, an assistant with the Parcells’ Super Bowl Giants and later with Belichick’s Patriots: “If you win a Championship, they can never take it away from you.”
