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Todd Bowles had some interesting words today when asked why Dee Milliner and Jace Amaro did not make the team.
On factors that went into the decision to waive Dee Milliner…
Nothing. The other guys were playing. The other guys were healthier. He got a chance to play and gave up some plays. He was banged up quite a bit. We’ve got to go with healthy guys that can play football.
On why Jace Amaro didn’t fit with the Jets…
He’s another one. He kept getting banged up. We had two tight ends blocked in there. We needed a third that would be reliable and count on. Maybe he didn’t get enough time to heal, maybe he did. It was our decision to go another direction.
Parcells has an incredible disdain for injuries: "You must be present in the training room to make sure it doesn’t become a social club." Parcells would set the temperature in he training room at an uncomfortably cold rate.
Matt O'Dwyer knows who Wally Pipp was, and he is quickly learning more about Bill Parcells as well. That may be why O'Dwyer, who missed last Saturday's exhibition game against the Giants with a painful sprained ankle, insisted today: ''It's O.K. It's better. I'll play.''It was Parcells who invoked Pipp, after he started Lamont Burns, a fifth-round draft pick, in O'Dwyer's place at right guard.''Ask O'Dwyer if he knows who Wally Pipp was,'' Parcells said after the game. Pipp was the Yankee first baseman who had a headache one day and was replaced by Lou Gehrig, who proceeded to play in the next 2,130 games.
One of the great distinctions many coaches make is between pain and injury. A player might be hurting, but is he doing everything he can to help the team? Parcells was one of the great sticklers on matters like this during his tenure, and Bowles' comments indicate he might have viewed things the same way when it came to Milliner and Amaro.