Bill Parcells gives Todd Bowles his blessing

Todd Bowles has a daunting task before him as the Jets' new coach. He inherits a 4-12 team with myriad problems, including the lack of a franchise quarterback, a dearth of quality cornerbacks, an offensive line in transition and little depth at wide receiver.

But the former Cardinals defensive coordinator, who agreed late Tuesday to become the successor to Rex Ryan, has someone in his corner who has more credibility in this town than almost any other coach who has come through here. The 51-year-old Bowles has the seal of approval from none other than Bill Parcells, who led the Giants to their first two Super Bowl championships and helped the Jets to an AFC Championship Game appearance in the second of his three seasons as coach.

Parcells has long admired Bowles, who worked on Al Groh's staff in 2000, the year Parcells served as the Jets' general manager before leaving the organization. But Parcells' affection for Bowles goes back far longer than that.

"I coached against him when he was running the secondary with the Redskins," Parcells said Wednesday from his home in Jupiter, Fla. "He was making all the [defensive] calls and that stuff, and you notice that as a coach, who's doing what. He's a highly intelligent guy."

This was back when Parcells was coaching the Giants and Bowles was with Washington as a safety from 1986-90. Bowles made the team as a free agent walk-on out of Temple, a player who caught the eye of one Charley Casserly, who was then in the Washington scouting department. Bowles wound up as a starter for renowned defensive coordinator Richie Petitbon, who engaged in plenty of superb matchups against the Giants during those halcyon days of the NFC East.