reprinted email (blog precursor) from January 19, 2004

John Fox:
1) Takes a 1-15 team and goes to 8-8 in his first season
2) Gets them to the playoffs in his second season
3) Duplicates the Parcells stunner by getting his team to the Conference Championship in Year 2 also
4) Passes Parcells by going to the 'show'

Impressive. I know the NFC is garbage, but he deserves some credit for doing it with a wild card team that had to go on the road twice. I think he will lose badly vs the pats, because the Pats are a real team, as opposed to anything he faced in the NFC. Marvelous accurately notes that Bruschi will be important; if he plays, imho the Panthers have zero chance.

But that misses the point of the article... that Accorsi and the cluelessly LOYAL to a HUGE FAULT Giants front office made a huge boner when they let Fox go. AND THIS WAS NOT 20-20 HINDSIGHT. How many of you were relieved when Fox was not snapped away after the Super Bowl in 2000? I know that at least half of this group was, and the other half I never spoke to about the topic. We KNEW Fox was good, a lot better than the ass-el. After Fassel once again cannot do anything with higher expectations in 2001, Fox is STILL AVAILABLE. To the Panthers.

In fact, Fox would not have had to go to the Super Bowl to prove he was our next coach. To be fair, Fox choked the end of regulation in St Louis last week and could have easily snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in full Fassel splendor. Only Sehorn's rapidly waning skills sent him to Philly. But Fox does get it, certainly about defense. He has more mojo on a bad day than Fassel ever had on a good one.

and this from a separate email 1/31/04: "Jim Fassel went to the Super Bowl and then he was 7-9," Accorsi said. "What were we supposed to do, fire Fassel?" You can't do that."