The Bowles-Parcells Connection

The link between Todd Bowles and Bill Parcells goes back to the defensive coordinator’s playing days.

While Parcells was making a name for himself as the head coach of the New York Giants, he faced Bowles, a safety out of Temple, twice a year.

“I noticed that he was making their secondary calls and adjustments and and all those things as far back as those days,” Parcells said during an interview with Jon Marks and Brian Baldinger on 97.5 The Fanatic.

Bowles spent the first five seasons of his eight-year career with the Redskins, going up against Parcells’ teams, two of which won the Super Bowl.

Years later, in 2000, Bowles made his NFL coaching debut on Al Groh’s staff with the New York Jets, where Parcells served a front-office role. Bowles went on to join Parcells’ staff for two years as secondary coach of the Dallas Cowboys. And when Parcells took over as vice president of football operations for the Miami Dolphins, Bowles became assistant head coach/secondary coach (2008-2011).

“Bill taught me how to see the whole game and the team as a whole,” Bowles said. “He always wanted me to learn more than my position. The biggest thing he taught me was at the end of the game, with a loss, the people that take the losses the hardest are the coaches. The players can forget about them in two or three days. The head coach has to move on and stand in front of you guys, but the defensive coaches are pissed off because they know what really happens. So you’ve got to keep your coaches up to keep your players up.”

Bowles steps into the defensive coordinator role in a unique situation. The Eagles are six games in. Jeffrey Lurie has made it clear that he needs to see improvement out of Andy Reid for the head coach to keep his job. And the franchise has not won a playoff game since the 2008 season.

“I hope it works well for Todd,” Parcells said. “I do like him very much personally. I have a high regard for him, but this is a difficult situation for everyone – Andy, Juan Castillo, Todd and the whole organization.”

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.