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Patriots' Carroll gone by midweek
Posted: Sunday January 02, 2000 01:34 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King spoke with CNN/SI's Bob Lorenz before the kickoff of the last weekend of the NFL regular season: Bob Lorenz: Peter, coaching rumors always heat up at this time of year. What's the latest on who's in and who might be out? Peter King: In New England Pete Carroll is going to get fired by midweek and he will surface probably either in Washington or Seattle next year as defensive coordinator. So who is Carroll's replacement in New England? It's up in the air right now but NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue informed the Jets late last week that they cannot stand in the way of defensive mastermind Bill Belichick's interviewing for jobs despite what his very confusing contract says. So Tagliabue has entered the fray and that's going to allow the Patriots to come after Belichick, who'll certainly be their No. 1 candidate. In New Orleans, owner Tom Benson is waffling about firing Mike Ditka; I believe Ditka stays and gets a fourth season there. And in Pittsburgh, Bill Cowher will meet with owner Dan Rooney within two weeks after the end of the season. Cowher is going to have to agree to get tougher and to have a more disciplined environment around the Steelers next year in order to stay. BL: How do the Rams look in the future with their salary-cap situation? PK: Absolutely fantastic. One of the things coach Dick Vermeil told me Saturday at the team hotel -- and I backed this up, checking NFLPA figures -- is that the St. Louis Rams have the eighth-highest amount of money to spend under the salary cap in next year's free agency period. And what that means, Bob, is very simple: you got three holes? You can go out and fill a couple, paying market value. So the Rams won't have any problems, in my opinion, staying on top. BL: Wide receiver Terry Glenn was suspended by the Patriots this week after he refused the team's request that he meet with medical personnel regarding his flu symptoms. What's the story? PK: Last Saturday Glenn refused to come in to have his flu checked out and did not come in for treatment either Monday or Tuesday. He showed up Wednesday and was told to go see Pete Carroll. He responded with an epithet against Carroll, Carroll then suspended him and basically Glenn's season. This is going to be a difficult pill for the Patriots to swallow, very simply, because Glenn is the guy who team owner Bob Kraft ordered Bill Parcells to draft four years ago against Parcells' wishes. He's been a huge disappointment, but the Patriots are not going to be able to dump the guy because that would be dumping Bob Kraft's draft pick. BL: Cowboys owners Jerry Jones spoke to his players this past week. The Giants experienced a similar speech from what a lot of people would consider an unlikely source... PK: For the first time in 29 years, Wellington Mara, the 83-year-old patriarch of the Giants, talked to his team, and he didn't speak for very long. He talked only about 40 seconds on Wednesday morning at the team's first meeting of the week. He said basically to them, "Look, all you guys here who were disappointed in the way we played against Minnesota, you're no more disappointed than I am. And I just want to tell you, for the guys who don't play well against Dallas on Sunday, it'll be their last game as Giants." That really fortified a lot of people on the Giants, especially coach Jim Fassel, who needed somebody else to back up his message: "Play well this week or you could be out of here."
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