They're measuring up

Parcells favors big defensive linemen with wide-load signs on their pants and tall, physical linebackers in the shape of Lawrence Taylor, Carl Banks, and Pepper Johnson. He is not much for midgets in the middle, yet there stands the 5-foot-11-inch (yeah, sure), 243-pound Nguyen, who leads Dallas with 52 solo tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, and five passes defended.

Although he is not physically what Parcells wants in a middle linebacker -- or in any linebacker, for that matter -- Nguyen has caught the old coach's eye.

"He's a football-playing dude, that guy," Parcells said. "He's one of those guys that, after a while, you just have to get them in the game because something is going to happen. He's a good pass defender. That's what I didn't know."

He's also part of a defense that is ranked No. 1 in the NFL going into tonight's game with the Patriots, even though it does not physically resemble any of the top defenses Parcells built with the Giants, Jets, or Patriots. What Parcells wants is mass, the big bodies that can play his two-gap system.

Behind them he wants linebackers such as the 6-4 Banks and Gary Reasons or the 6-3 Taylor, Pepper Johnson, or Harry Carson. But Nguyen is among the Cowboys' most productive linebackers and a four-year starter. Has this changed Parcells's opinion of what he is looking for on defense? Not hardly.

"I want a big guy who can play like him," Parcells said. "Now, are there unique individuals that have played this game extremely well who don't fit the profile? Yes. He's one of them. So is Mike Singletary. If he's 6 feet tall, then I'm 6-6. So there have been guys. Sam Mills [in New Orleans]. So you can't say no, you don't want one, but I don't want to go around looking for every 5-9 linebacker in the country to see if he's that guy because I don't have the time. I'd rather look for the 6-3 or 6-4 guy.

"You just have to look harder. If you have a standard and you continually compromise your standard, then you have a team of exceptions and eventually that gets you beat."

That may not bode well for Nguyen long-term, but it is more a factor for undersized defensive linemen such as Ebenezer Ekuban (265 pounds), Greg Ellis (277), and perhaps even the very productive La'Roi Glover (285). Certainly it would seem to put 5-9, 236-pound weak-side linebacker Dexter Coakley on notice that if Parcells can find a clone who stands 5 inches taller, he could be in need of a moving company.

Then again, it was Parcells who signed Alshermond Singleton away from Tampa in the offseason. He was a key link in the Buccaneers' defensive chain, even though he stands only 6-2 and barely weighs 230. That was not a Parcellslike move, however, and when he looks at his defense today, he does not see what he is used to or what he is most comfortable with.

What he sees is a defense built to order for a Jimmy Johnson- coached team, one that lacks size but whose overall speed is so exceptional that it makes up for other physical sins. It is that speed that has allowed coordinator Mike Zimmer to put together a defense that has given up only 766 yards rushing, an average of 3.5 yards per carry, and is also first in the NFL in pass defense.

When you are first overall, third against the run, first against the pass, and first in points allowed per game there would seem to be little for Parcells to be worried about, but he is the kind of guy who is always worried about something. He's worried about the size of Nguyen and Coakley. He's worried that only one of his four starting linemen tops 300 (Willie Blade at 315). Like most coaches, he worries about what he doesn't have while acknowledging what he does have in Nguyen and the rest of his scrappy defense.

"Am I worried about the way we defend the run?" Parcells said. "No, I'm worried a little bit about some of the technique I see going on in a couple of spots. Not a lot of spots, just one or two spots. That's what I'm worried about.

"I'm always going to worry about getting overpowered with our defense but so far we've been able to get enough people to the ball that that doesn't happen. We're having to do it a couple of different ways. It's not perfect. I said we have some issues here but so far we're managing OK."

No breeze for Drew

With more than half the season gone, Drew Bledsoe's struggles in Buffalo continue. He has thrown only six touchdown passes and has completed only two throws longer than 40 yards, well below the 13 he hit a year ago. His quarterback rating is hovering in the low 70s for the fourth time in the last five years (74.4), and he has been sacked 26 times. Perhaps worst of all, he has fumbled nine times and lost six of them, the latter already a career high. What is wrong with Bledsoe? In the opinion of some NFL personnel men, much of the problem lies with offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride. "Gilbride feeds Bledsoe's worst inclinations," said an AFC personnel man. "He'd rather lose throwing the ball than win running it." Another pointed out that while the decision to let wide receiver Peerless Price go in free agency so they would have enough money to bolster their defense was a sound one, its short-term success was based on the emergence of Josh Reed. That has proven to be a disappointment in large part because Gilbride insists on trying to get Reed deep, when his talents are much more those of a slot receiver working underneath the defense, the way Andre Reed used to do. As for Bledsoe, in his last 17 games he has gone 7-10, and if you go back to include the days just prior to his losing his job to Tom Brady, he is 19-32 with a quarterback rating of 76.1. That record, and his struggles since the midway point of last season, leave the Bills facing a difficult choice. At the midpoint of next year, Bledsoe has a large bonus clause. If it is picked up, Buffalo will be wedded to him for three more years. What do the Bills do? . . . Surprisingly, Parcells does not agree with the public perception that Bledsoe is as mobile as your grandmother's living room sofa. "I would disagree with that," Parcells said. "I think Drew can do what he's asked to do. They sprint him out a little bit but he's a much more classic dropback quarterback. I think Drew, athletically, is pretty good. I always felt he was. In the system they're using, he's basically dropping back but they do sprint him out. He can do what you want him to do. Now, I'm not confusing him with Fran Tarkenton or somebody, but I think they're trying to do what he does best." . . . Parcells had an interesting take on how Bledsoe handled the situation in New England after he was replaced by Brady. "Hey, it's always hard when you first realize it's just an assembly line," he said. "Some of you are going to realize that someday, too. You already have? OK. We all know what we're talking about. Once you realize that for the first time, it stings, but once you realize it, you don't worry about it any more. It's never easy to do that with a player. Particularly a guy who has been a really good player and done everything you want. Hey, I learned it myself my first year with the Giants [as head coach] when I almost got fired. I knew I was part of the assembly line and that really served me well the rest of the way."

Blank check

Of the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs' remaining seven games, only two are against teams with winning records. Only Denver at 5-4 and Minnesota at 6-3 are on the plus side, with Cincinnati (4-5) seeming to be the most dangerous opponent of the also-rans. Also on their schedule are the Raiders (2-7), Chargers (2-7), Lions (3-6), and Bears (3-6) . . . Doug Flutie came off the bench for the Chargers last week after basically not playing for a full season and was his usual dominating self. He threw for 248 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two more scores to lift the Chargers over the Vikings. The win was only San Diego's second of the year but it created a quarterback controversy for coach Marty Schottenheimer, if such a thing can exist with a guy who is 41 years old. Flutie will start again today in place of Drew Brees, who has struggled all season. Brees remains the Chargers' long-term quarterback answer, but for now the team belongs to Flutie. "I don't think I'm intimidated by any situation," Flutie said. "You've just got to stay businesslike and go into this week and prepare. I think the No. 1 thing you have to be concerned with when you face us is LT [LaDainian Tomlinson] running the football. Teams are going to scheme first to stop that and then if we're hurting them in the passing game they will react to it and make adjustments from there. That would be my approach defensively, but I'm not a defensive coordinator and I don't pretend to be." As for how he would stop himself if he was running an opposing defense, Flutie said, "That would be nice to tell the world. It would be, just get the heck out of the way and let me run right down the middle of the field." One guy happy to see Flutie back on the field is Denver quarterback Jake Plummer, who will start today against the Chargers after missing a month because of injury. "I have always been a huge Flutie fan," said Plummer, "mainly because when he comes out there I'm no longer the smallest quarterback in the league." . . . One guy in awe of Flutie's performance was Broncos running back Clinton Portis. "Doing the things that he does at his size and to be 41 years old, I guess that makes him elite," Portis said. "I can't fathom playing this game in my 30s, so to see me in my 40s, that is something you'll never see." . . . Outspoken Denver tight end Shannon Sharpe didn't defend suspended teammate Mike Anderson but he did call into question the league's appeals system that has the man who suspends a player for substance abuse also be the one who hears and rules on his appeal. "Think if you were on trial, hypothetically, for murder," Sharpe said. "If the jury was the victim's family, how fair a trial do you think you're going to get? The league suspends you and you appeal to them. I have never heard of anyone winning an appeal when it comes to something like this. I wish we could go to an independent council when we appeal a drug suspension or a federal suspension of a rules violation." . . . According to sources around the NFL, 16 teams -- including the Patriots -- put in claims on ex-Cleveland receiver Kevin Johnson after his release last week. He ultimately landed with the Jaguars. Browns president Carmen Policy had a stinging explanation for the release of the team's No. 1 receiver: "It is the opinion of the coaching staff and the organization that providing Kevin with a new environment would be healthy for this environment."

Relationship block

Parcells has had his problems with 10-year veteran Larry Allen, who some Dallas insiders say has not bought into the coach's program. Allen was a member of the NFL's All-Decade team of the 1990s and is the most decorated lineman in Cowboys history, having made the Pro Bowl seven times in nine years. He has done it six times at guard and once when he was shifted to tackle in 1998. Yet Allen has often come out of games this season complaining of injuries his coach apparently does not see. This has led to much speculation about Allen's future. "I coach him the best I can," Parcells said. "I'm doing the best I can. I'm not disappointed in him. I'm just hoping that things can improve. I don't want to get into this Larry Allen discussion. All I'm telling you is he's able to play and we'll play him for as long as we can and if it doesn't look like he can play we'll sit him." . . . When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers square off against the Green Bay Packers today, it will bring back some memories for Bucs coach Jon Gruden. He was a young offensive assistant with the Packers when Brett Favre first arrived in Green Bay from the Atlanta Falcons and was in fact the person dispatched to the airport to pick Favre up. "I didn't get to work with him too much," Gruden recalled. "I was the guy on the sidelines who had to signal in the plays. That's before we had the quarterback-to-coach mechanism to streamline that information. I was the guy being yelled at by [quarterbacks coach Steve] Mariucci and [head coach Mike] Holmgren about helping Brett straighten out the formations. That was a great learning process for me. Holmgren was in the laboratory with Favre most of the time. He and Mariucci. No one else was allowed to say much to him. He was a loose cannon, man. I remember taking him into the old facility that we had and he was throwing rockets. Almost killed me. Seriously."

Material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.