All season long, Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells would
repeatedly say, "this isn't the time for a State of the
Union address."

He always remained focused on the upcoming and adamantly
avoided any comments on the big picture.

But with the season finally over, and Parcells admitting
he's going "in the foxhole" for about a month, the head
coach held one more post-season press conference Tuesday
at Valley Ranch, not only delivering several pieces of
news, but addressing the overall state of his team.

"I think we're from a lower-echelon team to certainly
middle of the pack," Parcells said of the Cowboys, who
finished 10-6 in the regular season to advance into the
first round of the playoffs, where they loss on Saturday
at Carolina. "We are young. We have a lot to do. But
under the circumstances that we're going to attempt to
do it in, I don't think it's impossible. We're going to
have some money, some latitude where we can be active."

One of Parcells' favorite words Tuesday was "flexibility,"
something he knows is essential when trying to rebuild a
team.

And Parcells, along with owner and general manager Jerry
Jones, will want to be as flexible this off-season as
possible, especially when it comes to spending money on
free agents.

Sure the Cowboys will have a ballpark figure of $16 million to spend
this off-season. Throw in a few restricted free agent tenders,
exclusive rights tenders, signing a practice squad, accounting for
bonuses achieved and injury settlements, and signing their draft
picks - they only have five, with the first the 22nd - the Cowboys
will likely have about $12 million to spend in free agency free
agency.

But Parcells tried to explain Tuesday having a bountiful cap stash
available doesn't mean they'll be tossing it around at every big-name
free agent who comes along.

And there will be some big names floating around, they always are.
This year, that crops could include Warren Sapp, Terrell Owens, Chris
McAllister, Champ Bailey and Duce Staley to name a few, but all
depending on if their current teams don't get these guys signed by
March 3 or protect their rights with a franchise tag.

But while Parcells didn't dismiss the possibility of signing one or
of these high-profile-type potential free agents, he all but closed
the door on signing multiple high-priced players.

Now Parcells isn't saying quantity outweighs quality, but in this day
and age of free agency and the salary cap, the Cowboys will be
looking for value in spending their cash, figuring all their signings
won't be fixed by one player or one off-season.

"This isn't Texaco," he said. "You can't just go down there, change
the spark plug, put some air in the tires, put a new air filter in,
adjust the breaks and everything is going to go fine. It's not as
simple as that. Everybody will speculate what our needs are, and I
can just tell you, sometimes the needs don't coincide with the
availability. You might have to live with something longer than you
want to because you don't have options, or options that fit into
allowing you to be flexible.

"I hope everyone understands that. You can't just reach out there and
grab this for $6 million a year and expect to be able to address all
the things that might come at you. It's a delicate balance."

While the Cowboys will draw up a list of priorities in free agency,
Parcells did not discount throwing out a huge net, knowing this team
could use upgrades at just about every position.

"I cannot think of a position on the team that I would not consider
adding players," said Parcells, who quickly made an exception for
veteran long snapper Jeff Robinson. "I think we have a good long
snapper and I hope we can keep him for a while. I'm not pressed in
that area. The other positions are obvious. We could use help in
almost every offensive position and we can use help in every
defensive position, when you look at it as a group. But I don't know
what is going to come our way and I don't know what we can do."

Obviously, quarterback was a hot topic of discussion Tuesday, and
Parcells did not avoid lumping that spot into the areas he said could
use improvement.

After beating out Chad Hutchinson for the starting job in training
camp, Quincy Carter went on to start every game this season. While
his statistics did not rank among the league leaders, Parcells did
commend his young quarterback for the vast improvements he made,
along with accomplishing something 20 other quarterbacks around the
league couldn't.

"He got his team in the playoffs," Parcells said. "I think he made
quite a bit of progress this season. I think he has some upside.
There are some things we have to cut down on, obviously. We need to
cut our interceptions down. We need to get our touchdown passes up.
There is some improvement in our accuracy and we need to improve on
our long ball. I've told him that already.

"But he's been in my starter all year. I don't know why he wouldn't
be right now. But what I said was, I will consider, at any position,
if I feel like the player will improve my team. Quincy Carter is my
starting quarterback, but that doesn't mean, if I feel like I can get
somebody who is going to improve that position, I'm going to do it."

And that seems to be the common theme from Parcells and the Cowboys
this off-season. If an opportunity, arises, at any position, they
want to keep enough flexibility to act.

"You want to have the ability to react to whatever comes your way,"
Parcells said. "You don't want to be backed into a corner. We've got
to have that flexibility. If an opportunity to sign a player comes
along, and you've got $283 on your cap, you can't get them. So that's
what I like to see. We are in reasonably good shape on our salary
cap. And we want to remain in good shape."

Speaking of shape, Parcells said he plans to get himself in better
shape, already starting an off-season workout program, along with
eating better. But that seems to be the only thing weighing the coach
down. He might be only days removed from his first season in Dallas,
but he already seems fired up for the next season.

"You have to find a way to re-energize yourself and rededicate
yourself," he said. "I'm not tired. I'm ready to go. I've gotten two
good nights sleep. I have a better attitude about next year and I'm
anxious to get started."

And from the sounds of things, no matter the Cowboys' 10-6 record
this season, he has a lot to do.