Bill Parcells: Romo’s Botched Field Goal Sent Him Into Coaching Retirement

Coaching in the NFL is no easy proposition. The typical coach probably puts in like 18 hour days during the season, and probably just as many in the off-season. They work hard, gameplan, study video, do everything possible to try and give their team an edge come Sunday. But sometimes all the preparation in the world doesn’t help you with onfield activities, such as kicking a field goal. Bill Parcells knows that quite well. As Game On tells us, he told HBO Real Sports that Romo’s miscue in the playoff game against Seattle led to his permanent retirement from coaching:

“We’d just lost to Seattle and I’m flying back,” Parcells told Andrea Kremer of HBO from his summer home in Saratoga Springs. “I’m sitting up with the pilots, you know, I have a little fear of flying so I ride up in the cockpit. And I said, ‘This is probably going to be my last trip.’ And you just know. You don’t want to go through the whole process again, to get to right where we were. You know?

“And all you got to do is kick a field goal, the most elementary of plays, and then you just don’t do it. And so I don’t want to go through that process again. Too much blood.”

Parcells also apparently said he won’t be butting into Tony Sparano’s business as far as coaching the team goes, though he will continue to have a large say about player personnel decisions. After so many retirements from coaching, I don’t know how much credence we can put into Parcells’ latest comment that he’s done, though this seems more convincing. Depending on how successful he is with the Dolphins, I could see him back on the sidelines again. And how about Tony Romo? Poor guy can’t catch a break.