Parcells Will Have Game Plan Down Pat

NEW ORLEANS — Although Green Bay seems to be the better team by about the margin of the point spread, New England, for two reasons, has a chance in Super Bowl XXXI on Sunday.

First, on his record, Packer quarterback Brett Favre can expect to open with a bad case of the jitters, which, in the suffocating pressure of the Super Bowl, could impede him for a longer period than usual.

Second, New England Coach Bill Parcells is an underrated master of surprise plays and other manifestations of imaginative offense as well as tricky defense.

Parcells’ problem is the inconsistency of his quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, who is capable of making this a battle of jittery passers.

A low release point has been Bledsoe’s worst technical fault. His passes can be deflected. And, lacking what might be called Steve Young toughness, he can prematurely throw eight or 10 incomplete passes in succession.

But he can also throw it straight and far.

And in a big-play offense, Bledsoe’s assistants are three of the AFC’s finest: running back Curtis Martin, tight end Ben Coates and rookie wide receiver Terry Glenn.

In the end, Bledsoe figures to bow to Green Bay defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur.

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The magician: To succeed as the weaker team, New England will need Parcells’ magic--which he uses consistently to win big games.

Perhaps the strangest coach in the league, he still insists he is a conservative who prefers smash-mouth ground plays and other displays of macho football.

In fact, however, the Patriots under Parcells have become one of the NFL’s most determined passing teams. Even though they have worked hard to recruit some superb running-play personnel, their offense is as wide open as the 49ers’.

Moreover, Parcells gets more out of fourth down than other coaches, who think of fourth as a punting down. When you think of it as a passing or running down, you get up to 25% more offense.

Earlier this month, Parcells used one arrow from that particular quiver to speed the end for Jacksonville in the AFC finals. On what turned out to be the game’s key field-goal drive, Parcells was ready with a smartly conceived fourth-down play, a hard pass by Bledsoe to Coates crossing behind the line at an unlikely angle.

In his days as coach of the New York Giants, Parcells won two Super Bowls with such bold play selection.

For example, the Giants, billing themselves as a running team in Super Bowl XXI, threw surprise passes on the goal line to beat Denver, which, with passer John Elway in his prime, ran the ball on the goal line, repeatedly and unsuccessfully.

Someone once said, “You don’t deserve to win if you can’t run for a yard when you need it.”

That someone was Parcells.

But as he keeps demonstrating, he was just kidding.

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The favorite: Green Bay’s offensive line came together a few weeks ago when, handing off to Edgar Bennett and Dorsey Levens particularly, the Packers began to run the ball productively.

And with that, they became a complete team.

They have since been passing and running successfully, defending effectively, and excelling in special-teams play.

At any given stress point of any recent game, no other football club could do any of that better than the Packers.

They were, in pro football, this season’s only complete team.

But even a complete team can have trouble running the ball against what the coaches call a gapping defense--the defense that Parcells has played lately. The Patriots have been using some of their back seven people to, as they say, put a helmet in every gap.

An accurate passer will beat such a defense. And that’s Favre. But only when cool. His excitable nature is a threat to the Packers. His talent is a threat to the Patriots. The game is Favre’s to win or lose.