The Associated Press

Bill Parcells stepped down on his own terms, Ray Rhodes and Pete Carroll were pushed aside and Mike Ditka awaited his fate as the NFL’s also-rans started planning for next season.

Tuesday, January 04, 2000

Bill Parcells stepped down on his own terms, Ray Rhodes and Pete Carroll were pushed aside and Mike Ditka awaited his fate as the NFL’s also-rans started planning for next season.

Parcells resigned as coach of the New York Jets on Monday, while Rhodes was fired after only one season in Green Bay, and Carroll after three years in New England.

”This job has turned into a 365 day a year job and it’s difficult, because I’ve been doing it for 15 years in this league and I think it is time,” Parcells said.

”I read a little message to the players and I told them you can’t fool yourself. … I demanded a lot from the players in terms of commitment, and they have a right to expect the same from me. And at this point in time, I just don’t feel like I could give it the way that I know it has to be given to be successful.”

Parcells, 58, who took the New York Giants to two Super Bowl crowns and the Patriots to an AFC title before joining the Jets in 1997, stepped into the front office. Bill Belichick, who was Parcells’ defensive coordinator for 14 seasons and was 37-45 in five seasons as Cleveland’s coach, takes over.

”Bill will be making the football decisions,” said Parcells, whose career record is 149-106-1.

The Patriots attempted to contact Belichick on Monday about replacing Carroll. But because Parcells told Jets president Steve Gutman after Sunday’s 19-9 victory over Seattle that he was resigning, Belichick already was the Jets’ head coach Monday, based on a contract signed in ’97 and updated last January. Belichick received a $1 million bonus at that time.

The injury-plagued Jets rallied from a 1-6 start to finish 8-8.

”If we hadn’t finished the way we had, I think I probably would have considered even more strongly staying on,” Parcells said.

”I think one of the things I have always tried to pride myself on is that if I did go someplace, when I left there that it was a better operation. I feel that way now.”

Rhodes, hired by Green Bay when Mike Holmgren quit to become Seattle’s coach and general manager, was fired after an 8-8 season, with general manager Ron Wolf saying Rhodes didn’t live up to expectations.

”Is he a different coach than I thought he was?” Wolf said of Rhodes, fired by Philadelphia after going 3-13 last season. ”Yes.”

Wolf said he had no successor in mind. ”This is going to take a while,” he said. ”There’s no one on the wall who’s a slam dunk.”

Carroll, Parcells’ successor in New England, reportedly is headed for Seattle, where he would become defensive coordinator, a job left open when the late Fritz Shurmur became ill last summer.

With Belichick out of the picture, the front-runner in New England might be former Kansas City coach Marty Schottenheimer.

Ditka is the only other coach believed to be in immediate jeopardy. The New Orleans coach canceled his regular Monday briefing and will meet Thursday with owner Tom Benson and general manager Bill Kuharich. Ditka, 3-13 this season and 15-33 in three years with the Saints, has said he would like to return.

Buffalo’s Doug Flutie also was left to ponder his future Monday after coach Wade Phillips benched the quarterback in favor of Rob Johnson for Saturday’s AFC wild-card game in Tennessee.

Despite having gone a year without a start, Johnson turned in a strong performance when the Bills closed the regular season with a 31-6 victory over Indianapolis.

St. Louis’ Marshall Faulk set an NFL record with 2,429 yards from scrimmage, breaking Barry Sanders’ mark of 2,358 set in 1997. Faulk rushed for 1,381 yards and had 1,048 yards receiving.

Rams teammate Kurt Warner had an NFL-best 109.2 quarterback rating, completing 325 of 499 attempts for 4,353 yards and 41 touchdowns with 13 interceptions. He joined Dan Marino as the only quarterbacks to throw 40 TD passes in a season.

St. Louis’ Kevin Carter led the NFL with 17 sacks.

Washington’s Stephen Davis led the NFC in rushing with 1,405 yards, 8 more than Dallas’ Emmitt Smith and 24 more than Faulk.

Minnesota’s Randy Moss topped the NFC with 1,413 receiving yards, and Carolina’s Muhsin Muhammad had a conference-best 96 receptions.

Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James and Marvin Smith topped the AFC’s individual statistics.

James, a rookie, led the NFL in rushing with 1,553 yards, and had 586 receiving yards for an AFC-best 2,139 yards from scrimmage.

Manning had a conference-best 90.7 quarterback rating, passing for 4,135 yards and 26 TDs with 15 interceptions.

Harrison led the NFL with 1,663 receiving yards. Jacksonville’s Jimmy Smith led the league with 116 receptions, one more than Harrison.

Tennessee rookie Jerome Kearse led the AFC with 14.5 sacks.