Reverse psychology

This time last season, Carter was not the starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. He was the ex-starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. That is a badge of some honor at, say, 45, but if you are somebody's ex-starting quarterback at 25, one wonders how much longer it will be before you become someone's ex-employee.

That is what Carter's supporters in Dallas were worrying about this time last year, when his compass and his hopes seemed broken. That was then, and this is now, with Bill Parcells standing behind him at practice every day hollering, "Find somebody! FIND somebody! FIND SOMEBODY!!!" every time the QB drops back to pass.

That was then and this is after beating back the challenge of Chad Hutchinson and establishing himself once again as the quarterbacking future in Dallas. How did this happen in one short year? How did Carter go from No. 1 quarterback to Public Enemy No. 1 and back again in 12 months? By learning how to work.

"There's no secret to why he's doing better," Parcells said. "There's no magic potion. No big change in his ability. Look, I don't really know what he went through last year. I just know Quincy is a different guy than he was then, I think. The way he's doing things. The way he's trying to do things.

"He has been very diligent in his preparation. He has been really overboard in terms of trying to get ready. Now, when you're young and inexperienced, you don't always know what you're trying to get ready for, so just because he's watching film or doing something, that doesn't mean he's always channeling all his energy in the right direction. He's putting the time in but there are things that he's not experienced enough to understand so we go piecemeal and try to accentuate the things he does well and try to minimize the things he's doing poorly.

"I don't know all that went on last year, but what changed is his work ethic and his commitment. That's what changed. Maybe he's starting to grow up a little bit or maybe he felt like his back was against the wall and it was close to the end of the line."

Just following orders

Carter has given Parcells much to like this season. He has led his team to a 7-2 record not by making a string of remarkable throws or a host of highlight-reel runs. He's done it the way Parcells likes it, which is Parcells's way.

He has done it by leading the team and managing the game. He has done it by making plays when they most needed to be made, but he has also done it by not messing up plays when to do so would have put his team in peril. In other words, Carter is doing what Parcells wants most from his quarterback. He's giving his undermanned offense a chance to win. Sometimes it's by carrying the load, but quite often it's simply by not dropping it.

"I just want to make sure that on every pass I throw I'm making the right read," Carter said. "Physically, things are going to break down, so going to the right receiver and having a turnover-free game is really what I concentrate on, on a day-to-day basis."Last Sunday's victory over Buffalo was a good example. Carter was only 15 for 32 and produced a season-low 116 yards passing, but he had no turnovers while his Buffalo counterpart, Drew Bledsoe, twice fumbled the ball away. All Carter did was move his team 51 yards on two scoring drives but that was enough to produce a 10-6 victory because while there was nothing spectacular about his play against a very good and very fast defense, there also was nothing disastrous.

Sometimes, especially on a Parcells-coached team, that is enough. Avoiding the train wreck is all he asks.

"He's cut down on his mistakes," Patriots coach Bill Belichick noted. "I think that the system has helped him a little bit. Obviously they are running the ball. They're using the running game to set up the play-action passes and he's making good decisions. He's obviously being well-coached.

"He's taking advantage of the situations that he has and he's making very few mistakes. That's kind of the way that Dallas plays. Their plays are either OK or good. They are eliminating a lot of the bad plays, the turnovers, and that kind of thing."

Playing to strengths

Carter has done more than simply avoid costly errors. He has already accounted for career highs in passing yardage (1,819), attempts (266), completions (150), touchdowns (9), and victories (7). He is in charge of an offense tailored somewhat to his skills and very much to his needs, and he is finding ways to win.

There are bootlegs and sprint-outs designed to buy him extra time to find receivers and there is a plodding but relentless commitment to the running game that keeps pressure off him. Added to that is a defense that is ranked first in the league, which allows Dallas to keep games close and hence keep Carter out of troubling situations. It is a group effort, but more than a little of that effort has come from Carter's willingness to work to understand what his coach wants and what his team needs.

"All I want to do is encourage him now," Parcells explained. "I want to see that he's prepared and understand what he likes. With a young quarterback, communication becomes more important. When you have a veteran like [Phil] Simms or Vinny [Testaverde], you can just look at him and say, `You like this deal or not?' You could get a good feel for them, and if they don't like it, you throw it out.

"With Quincy, you've kind of got to go slower because he wants to please you. He wants you to feel confident that he can make all the throws and that certain actions are OK with him. Yet, deep down, I don't know what he really loves. But a couple of times I said, `What do you think about this?' and he'd say, `Dial it up.' That means he likes it. `Dial it up.' I like that."

When Parcells has dialed it up, most often Carter has answered the call. He has made big plays with his corps of speed receivers (Terry Glenn, Joey Galloway, Antonio Bryant) and he has managed the team while controlling himself. He has, in short, played the way Cowboys owner Jerry Jones hoped he would when Jones shocked the NFL by selecting him with the 53d pick in the 2001 draft, far above where most teams had him rated.

"We've tailored what we do around our quarterback's skills," Jones said last week. "Since Bill came, a lot of the media expected us to go get a [veteran] quarterback. Quincy was benched last year because of his seeming lack of a professional approach to things. It didn't look like he was evolving into a quarterback we could rely on. He really started to address that before Bill got here, and he's really addressed his mental approach to the job since.

"There's no question Quincy and I are tied together. We're tied together for five years. That had a lot to do with where he was drafted. Our people thought he was a very smart, mentally tough guy. We felt he has a lot of ability so when I chose him, I was trying to knock the ball over the water, not lay up."

Master motivator

For a while last season, it looked as if Jones knocked the ball into the water. But this year, under the protective and sometimes intrusive eye of Parcells, Carter has blossomed and his team has as well.

"I take pride trying to do my best for Coach Parcells because he cares about me as a person, not just as a player," Carter said. "He has faith in me.

"When you talk about how he coaches, my mom raised me like that. She was real hard on me. There wasn't many things that I was doing right. She was a constant reminder to me about striving for excellence. When you have that kind of pressure, when you have that kind of guy behind you, he's very hard on you, but at the same time I realize he's just looking out for my best interest. That's what's important.

"I've learned to listen to the message, not so much the tone in which he's saying it. Quarterbacks have to go through things to take steps. I'm still taking steps. Sometimes you got to take those lickings. I'm sure I've got a few [coming]. I know I've got to take a few setbacks before I go forward.

"But Coach Parcells, he really explains what he wants out of me. We came to an understanding of what his quarterback means to his football team, what his expectations are for me and what he expects out of me on a day-to-day basis. Making things very clear to me. I know exactly what he wants me to do, on and off the field. Every time he sees me relaxing or getting casual, he lets me know."

Yes he does. Loudly.

"I believe motivation starts with the player," Parcells said. "That kid is motivated. He works. Here's the difference in him. When we first started and he made a mistake, I wasn't surprised. When he makes one now, I'm surprised. He's still a work in progress, but he's no longer in boot camp. He's got a ways to go now, but he's marching a little bit."

Where Quincy Carter ends up not even Bill Parcells can be sure, but his quarterback is on the move and so is his team. For now, that's good enough. At least until the next turnover.