Unless former Carolina offensive coordinator Dan Henning wants to retire, he would seem like the perfect sidekick for Bill Parcells in Dallas. One of the downsides to being an assistant coach these days is that they are the ones to be fired when expectations are not met. Carolina was supposed to be Super Bowl contender this season, but instead Jake Delhomme took a major step backward this season.

Therefore, Henning is the obvious coach to be fired. You can't fire Delhomme and Panthers coach John Fox certainly isn't going to fire himself.

Henning and Parcells are very good friends and to this day many can't understand why the Cowboys didn't exploit a patched-up Seattle secondary in their playoff defeat. Tony Romo and the Dallas receiving corps appeared to be a huge mismatch for the Seahawks, who somehow managed to win with their three top cornerbacks on the sidelines.

Parcells should consider hiring Henning to help his offense. Who knows, the mere presence of Henning might give Parcells a damn good reason to keep coaching the Cowboys beyond the 2007 season. Either way, we know Henning knows more football than Tony Sparano and Todd Haley, who basically served as co-offensive coordinators this season in Dallas.

Numbers favor Brees

If you want to go by the NFL's quarterback rating system, the Saints have a much better chance of landing in the Super Bowl than the Bears. Drew Brees had a 96.2 quarterback rating this season and there's no question that he's more polished and probably will make fewer mistakes than Rex Grossman does on Sunday.

Grossman had a 73.9 quarterback rating this season. If Grossman makes it to Miami, his rating will be the lowest of any starting quarterback in the Big Game since the 1989 season. That's 17 seasons of football.

In the AFC championship game, Peyton Manning had a 101 quarterback rating while Tom Brady was at 87.9. In two playoff wins, though, Manning had five interceptions and only one touchdown pass.

Heat on Huizenga

Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga will be blasted if he actually decides to hire Mike Shula, Don Shula's son who was fired by Alabama, or Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey, who apparently has worn out his welcome in college football. Miami's search has been all over the country and how can this vital franchise not end up with a superior candidate? Yes, Nick Saban bolted the place, but whatever your feelings on Saban as a person, few would question his abilities as a head coach.