Johnson, Parcells deny tampering charges
Posted: Monday November 16, 1998 06:20 PM
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Parcells denies talking to Jimmy Johnson about an injured New England player Otto Greule Jr./Allsport |
DAVIE, Florida (AP) -- Miami Dolphins coach
Jimmy Johnson, indirectly involved in a tampering investigation by the NFL
against Bill Parcells, said Monday he had no role in the matter.
CBS reported Sunday that the New England Patriots had
filed a complaint alleging that Parcells, coach of the New York Jets, shared
information about an injured New England player with Johnson in a telephone
conversation the week of the Dolphins' game against New England last month.
NFL spokesman Joe Browne said Monday that the investigation was initiated
by commissioner Paul Tagliabue, not by the Patriots. Browne also said that
as far as he knew, there was no conversation between Parcells and Johnson.
Both Parcells and Johnson said the same thing.
"I have no idea what they're talking about," Johnson said. "I've got better
things to do than worry about phone calls and he-said, she-said. That's
part of the media trying to find something that's interesting to the
public.
"I didn't talk to Parcells. I had no idea what was going on."
Johnson said fabricated reports were commonplace when he spent two seasons
covering the NFL for Fox television before becoming the Dolphins' coach in
1996.
"Our [reporter] was John Czarnecki," Johnson said. "When we did our
production thing we said, `He's going to do this, and he's going to do
this, and then Czarnecki is going to make up something to make it
interesting.
"So [CBS] made up something to make it interesting."
Parcells admits that he learned in a phone conversation with New England
quarterback Drew
Bledsoe that receiver Terry Glenn was injured
and would be unavailable against the Dolphins. CBS said the Patriots allege
that Parcells later shared that information with Johnson.
Johnson said he learned of Glenn's injury from a Dolphins aide.
Browne said all Tagliabue was investigating is the conversation between
Parcells and Bledsoe because the league discourages contact between coaches
and players from rival teams during the season.
Tagliabue recently conducted a similar investigation into a phone call
between San Francisco coach Steve Mariucci and Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre.
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