July 31, 2010; Davie, FL, USA; Miami Dolphins executive vice president of football operations Bill Parcells during training camp at the Dolphins training facility. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Now it seems the ol’ Tuna may be headed back to the sidelines to try and knock some of the tarnish off the past decade. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that suspended head coach Sean Payton has approached his mentor, Parcells, about coaching in his absence next season.

While seeking the counsel of his former boss and mentor, Bill Parcells, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton has broached the idea of Parcells becoming the interim head coach during Payton’s suspension for the 2012 season, according to several league sources.

While none of this has been run up the ladder, it doesn’t shock me Parcells would be amenable to this. After failing in Dallas and Miami, and with the stench of Tuna still burning in Dolphins HQ down in Davie, Parcells didn’t exactly leave the NFL on a high note.

That was reflected when he wasn’t elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, a distinction that Parcells surely coveted.

This would give the Tuna a chance to try and put a nice exclamation at the end of his career. Truth be told Parcells hasn’t won anything since the 80′s, hasn’t won consistently since the 90′s and even despite the ESPN hype machine repping him, his reputation isn’t what it once was.

But a Super Bowl run with a loaded Saints team?

The Tuna always did dream big. That would be too good to be true, if he can bring stability to a franchise that has been rocked by Bountygate and win, suddenly his legacy looks a little better. Suddenly that second run at Hall of Fame eligibility has a much better first ballot shot.

The Tuna always was a glory hound. It’s why he quits on teams before the failure can be reflected on him. It’s why he left the Jets, it’s why he left Dallas when he lost faith in Tony Romo, and it’s why he bailed in Miami before the bottom fell out.

So if this ridiculous idea actually does play out and he sits in front of the media in New Orleans for the first time, don’t buy the baloney about it not being about him.

It’s always about the Tuna.

What to do about Aqib Talib...

Lately there has been increasing sentiment from around NFL circles that the Bucs should part ways with their talented young cornerback, Aqib Talib. Everyone has an opinion and a lot of them seem to say that the Buccaneers are a team that lacks organizational control and that the coaches are enablers and that they have to take a stance. Just this morning reports came out regarding Chris Hovan and his opinion on the situation.

The league likes to advance this image that things were purer in a previous day and era (similar to the Roman concept of Mos Maiorum). The older generation speaks as though there was this prevailing integrity inherent in the league during their time and that today’s NFL has lost that and somehow needs to get back to that. Just listen to Mark Schlereth get on his NFL soapbox at ESPN, and he’s not even that old. Listen to Mike Ditka, listen to Herm Edwards, there is almost this idea that teams should conduct themselves by this archaic, unwritten NFL Ethos.

That ethos has never existed. What I find interesting is that throughout the history of the league there are stories of selfish players and guys with criminal streaks helping great teams get to the top. No one ever calls them out. The MVP of Super Bowl I, Max McGee, violated the team’s curfew the night before and was hungover the day of the game, at one point saying to starter Boyd Dowler, “I hope you don’t get hurt. I’m not in very good shape.” Nobody ever questions why Vince Lombardi didn’t sit him for violation of team rules.

As it stands Max McGee is woven into the fabric of NFL lore, the first MVP of the first Super Bowl. Today you’d listen to Mark Schlereth say that, “this is a guy who doesn’t get it.” The prevailing idea being that this is not how things are done in the NFL. Only that was 40-some years ago on Lombardi’s Packers.

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