With Dolphins, Parcells not likely to amend his Bill of rights

For the Dolphins, Parcells won't compromise his vision. Building with young players and a few veterans, his style is be good or be gone. And even when you're good -- like franchise record-holding kicker Jay Feely -- you won't be the man if you don't fit the plan.

"I have certain non-negotiables," said Parcells. "I want height in my linebackers (goodbye Zach Thomas). I want pressure players, guys who can get to the quarterback. When we scout, we look for defensive lineman who can move back. Harry Carson was a defensive lineman in college, so was Matt Millen, so was Willie McGinest. They have to be all over the field. I'm not going to change."

After 30 years, he has certain players, certain games, that are central to him.

"I think Curtis Martin is what the National Football League should be all about," Parcells said of his former running back with the Patriots and Jets. "He was a young man without any family structure, a bad environment, who maximized his opportunity as a player and as a person. I have a high, high, high regard for Curtis Martin."

One of his signature games is the '91 NFC Championship Game where the Giants beat the 49ers 15-13 on five field goals from Matt Bahr.

"That game had so many great players, so many great plays," he said. "The referee, Jerry Markbreit, told me he'd officiated 467 games and that was the greatest game he'd ever seen."

I asked him if it were the first time he hugged a kicker. He made a face.

Parcells said his coaching/teaching influences came from four greats -- Chuck Noll, Chuck Knox, Al Davis and Tom Landry. From them, he learned how to coach and how to deal with the media.

It was fitting, in both categories, that at the end of practice Tuesday, Parcells was working with wide receiver Davone Bess -- teaching him the stiff-arm.