Mort & Schefter's Week 6 notebook

— -- Topics this week include the looming QB decisions in the AFC East, Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn earning some high praise from his former bosses in Seattle, the turnaround in Buffalo, where "Angry" Doug Baldwin comes from, and more.

Zimmer-Parcells bond lives on

There were moments during Bill?Parcells'?final?coaching stint with the Dallas Cowboys when he would call defensive coordinator Mike?Zimmer?to his office. Many of those conversations began with?Parcells?saying, "Now if you ever become a head coach..."

The "if" became reality when Zimmer landed the Minnesota Vikings' job in 2014. The mentoring between Parcells and Zimmer continues to the point that the two men talk weekly and sometimes more often than that. It's a relationship?Zimmer?won't conceal and one that?Parcells?embraces with a condition or two.

"Don't give me credit for anything Mike has done," Parcells said. "He's earned anything good that happens to him. He's a good friend. I really enjoy talking with him. He gets it."

Zimmer?didn't hesitate to say that?Parcells?was one of the first people he called after Teddy Bridgewater's devastating dislocated knee injury. He said Parcells?reminded him, "Now your players have a built-in excuse and you can't let that happen. You have to squash that immediately."

Zimmer?checked that box immediately.

Bridgewater's injury, followed by subsequent major injuries to All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson and left tackle Matt?Kalil, among others, also harkened back to?Parcells' conversation with?Zimmer?on the day he was named the Vikings' coach.?

"Four or five things will happen every day you wish didn't happen or didn't plan for, and if you can't handle it, then get out of the business,"?Parcells?bluntly?told?Zimmer.

The Vikings coach was no stranger to adversity?on personal and professional levels. Nevertheless, there is an element of overachievement -- with a nod to some exceptional roster-building by GM Rick Spielman -- that finds the Vikings as the NFL's only unbeaten team (5-0) heading into their bye. Even the hard-nosed?Zimmer?surprised some people in Week 4 when he allowed himself to call his team "special."

Was that message going against the?Parcells' rules? Nope. They talked before that.

"Now's the perfect time talk to team and tell 'em how proud you are," Parcells advised. "But don't forget to tell 'em that if you don't fix these five things, then you're not going to get there."

Sure enough,?Zimmer?was on point with his message.

"I told [the players] what they've done well but there's always a few 'buts' in there," Zimmer said. "It was something like, 'But if we don't tackle better. But we gave up a check-down and screen pass because we were out of position. But we?gotta?make more first downs on offense.' I'm fortunate, though. These guys get it."

Sound familiar?

-- Chris Mortensen

QB decisions loom for Bills, Dolphins and Jets

Quarterback questions persist around the league -- Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco -- but the AFC East has become the unofficial home of The Quarterback Question. (Except in New England, of course.)

The Bills, Dolphins and Jets each face different looming quarterback decisions that will demand attention this offseason and will impact those teams for many seasons to come.

By the third day of the 2017 league year, Buffalo must decide whether to pick up $25 million worth of guaranteed money in quarterback Tyrod Taylor's contract -- a $12 million fully guaranteed base salary for 2017, and a $13 million fully guaranteed base salary for 2018 -- or to let him become an unrestricted free agent. It's a lot of money to guarantee, but not a lot for the position if the Bills feel strongly about Taylor. How the rest of this season plays out is expected to impact Buffalo's decision.

Miami can get out of quarterback Ryan Tannehill's contract after the season, but at a cost. Should the Dolphins move on from Tannehill by trading or releasing him, $10.4 million worth of signing bonus and guarantees left on his deal would be accelerated into their cap for 2017. But by moving on from him, the team also would clear out his near $18 million base salary and free up an additional $9.9 million in cap space. Miami would need to use some or all of available room on another quarterback, be it Adam Gase's former Bears signal-caller, Jay Cutler, or another to help the Dolphins get back on track.

The New York Jets' QB situation is simple on one level: Ryan Fitzpatrick's contract expires after this season, and the Jets can move on from him without any cost. Where it gets complicated is what the Jets do from there.? Geno Smith also is a free agent after this season, and team is uncertain whether Bryce Petty and/or Christian Hackenberg ever can develop into quarterbacks worthy of their draft slots.

So to sum up, the Bills, Dolphins and Jets are in quarterback quandaries. The Patriots -- with Tom Brady wanting to play about as long as George Blanda did, with Jimmy Garoppolo under contract for this and next season, and with Jacoby Brissett on IR -- are not. New England could opt to extend Garoppolo after this season, or could entertain offers to trade him. But they still have Brady and Brissett.

And as good as New England appears positioned for this season, it might be better positioned for future seasons.

-- Adam Schefter

Quinn earns high praise from Seahawks brass

Falcons coach Dan Quinn is back in Seattle for Sunday's game, but when he?declined to engage the media in any lengthy discussion about his time with the Seahawks, it did not surprise his former boss.?

"Dan is a really disciplined coach across the board," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "He's the same guy every day. I mean, really, he's very disciplined in what he represents and in his messaging. When you talk about focus, you talk about DQ. He's focused on this game and this game only, not about what's behind or what's ahead."

Carroll felt this trait, and a few others, qualified Quinn as head coach material based on the time Quinn spent as the Seahawks' defensive coordinator during their consecutive Super Bowl appearances in 2013 and 2014.

Quinn was named the Falcons' coach after the Seahawks' memorable and dramatic loss to the Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX. He energized an Atlanta fan base when the Falcons bolted to a 5-0 start in 2015, only to finish 8-8. That leaves a few cynics who don't want to get too excited about the Falcons' 4-1 record in 2016, but this feels different to those who witnessed the team's destruction of the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos on Sunday.

The Falcons' win in Denver saw the offense and defense utilize personnel matchups that broke the Broncos. Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan received appropriate praise for his deployment of running back Tevin Coleman as a receiver. On defense, linebacker Vic Beasley Jr. flipped sides to match up against the Broncos' wounded second-year right tackle, Ty Sambrailo, and the result was a breakout game for the first-round pick of 2015.

"One of Dan's strengths is as an evaluator and his ability to identify a player's strengths -- not necessarily a player's weaknesses -- and utilize that to the development of the player and work it within a scheme and game plan," Seahawks general manager John Schneider said. "He has a vision for every player out there and that will be the way they build a roster. I see sustained success for him. It's only Year 2 for him."

With the spectacular $1.6 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the latter stages of construction that will be ready for the 2017 season, that's the kind of bet Falcons owner Arthur Blank made on Quinn.?

-- Chris Mortensen

The hidden gem of the 2011 draft

Whenever the 2011 NFL draft is mentioned, the two wide receivers who stand out above the rest are Cincinnati's A.J. Green and Atlanta's Julio Jones. But don't forget about Doug Baldwin, who faces off against Jones on Sunday. Baldwin went undrafted in that same class, but has made his impact felt.

Since the 2011 draft, the wide receivers with the most touchdowns are Green (47), Jones (37), Torrey Smith (35), Randall Cobb (32) and Baldwin (31).

What's even more striking about that group of receivers is that each one, outside Baldwin, was a first- or second-day draft pick.

From the time Cincinnati made Green the first receiver drafted in 2011, until the time Seattle signed Baldwin after he went undrafted, here are the receivers who were picked (and it's an amazing list, for a variety of different reasons):

Julio Jones to the Falcons, Jonathan Baldwin to the Chiefs, Titus Young to the Lions, Torrey Smith to the Ravens, Greg Little to the Browns, Randall Cobb to the Packers, Austin Pettis to the Rams, Leonard Hankerson to the Redskins, Vincent Brown to the Chargers, Jerrel Jernigan to the Giants, Kris Durham to the Seahawks, Clyde Gates to the Dolphins, Greg Salas to the Rams, Cecil Shorts III to the Jaguars, Tandon Doss to the Ravens, Kealoha Pilares to the Panthers, Denarius Moore to the Raiders, Jeremy Kerley to the Jets, Ryan Whalen to the Bengals, Dwayne Harris to the Cowboys, Aldrick Robinson to the Redskins, Ronald Johnson to the 49ers, Scotty McKnight to the Jets, Stephen Burton to the Vikings and DeMarco Sampson to the Cardinals.

Then, once Baldwin went undrafted, Seattle swooped in and signed him.

It is one of the reasons why, ever since, Baldwin has been "Angry" Doug Baldwin and he has thrived, emerging along with Green and Jones as the top wideouts from the Class of 2011.

-- Adam Schefter

The story behind Buffalo's revival

San Francisco considered Bills assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn first for its head coaching job in January, then for its offensive coordinator job once it hired Chip Kelly. Lynn met with 49ers' officials, they said he impressed them, but not enough to get the top job.

When the Buffalo and San Francisco play on Sunday, Lynn will have another chance to show the 49ers the type of coach they could have had.

The Bills' offense, particularly the running game, has taken off since Lynn replaced Greg Roman as offensive coordinator in Buffalo.

During Buffalo's first two games before Lynn's promotion, the Bills went 0-2 while their running backs had 39 carries for 160 yards and one touchdown.

During Buffalo's past three games after Lynn's promotion, the Bills have gone 3-0 while their running backs have had 65 carries for 382 yards and three touchdowns.

One of the things Buffalo did, according to one of its officials, is cut its offensive playbook in half, giving the players less to learn, less to worry about and more of an opportunity to simply react. And the Bills have reacted in the strongest possible way, beating the Cardinals, Patriots and Rams. They could make it four straight wins this weekend at home against the 49ers.

At the same time that Bills head coach Rex Ryan was empowering Lynn, he did the same with defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman, handing the defensive play-calling responsibilities to him. Thurman deserves a ton of credit: Buffalo's defense has been stronger, stingier and tougher, giving the Bills two successful coordinators and a string of victories that have vaulted them back into playoff contention.

-- Adam Schefter

Emptying out the notebook

• Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson's well-documented rehab from a Week 1 high-ankle sprain and a Week 3 MCL sprain without missing a start has "set a new bar for himself and probably for everyone else in the building," coach Pete Carroll said. "It's really inspirational."
• For as stable an organization as Baltimore is, it has had little stability at offensive coordinator. After firing Marc Trestman and replacing him this week with Marty Mornhinweg, the Ravens now are on their fifth offensive coordinator in the past five seasons.
• A coach flying under the radar: Vikings defensive coordinator George Edwards, another Bill Parcells disciple like Mike Zimmer himself. Zimmer is a defensive-minded head coach, but Edwards' contributions have been invaluable in making Minnesota the league's toughest defense. The Vikings' success is expected to elevate his profile and put him in the mix for future head-coaching searches.
• Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid was not about to deviate from his tradition of giving his team an entire week off during its bye, despite an embarrassing 43-14 Week 4 loss to the Steelers. Reid's unconditional policy: He makes a point to tell players that a win or a loss would not influence whether team gets a full week's vacation. The reward for Reid is that his teams are 15-2 after a bye. That sets the table for an interesting AFC West road game against the surging Oakland Raiders.
• Sunday's Cleveland-Tennessee game is the Double Pick Bowl: Both teams are scheduled to have two first-round picks in April's NFL draft. Cleveland has its own first-round pick as well as the Eagles'; Tennessee has its own first-round pick as well as the Rams'. The Browns traded away their chance to draft Carson Wentz, but they are well positioned to pick the quarterback of their choice in April.
• Quietly last week, at a sports and faith summit at The Vatican, Giants co-owner John Mara said he is working on bringing another Super Bowl to MetLife Stadium, and hoping to do it in 2022 or 2023. He plans to meet with Jets officials soon to combine their efforts and increase their chances of bringing the Super Bowl back to the New York metropolitan area.
• The many travels of the Los Angeles Rams in 2016 continue this week. They'll fly to Detroit this week, and after Sunday's game against the Lions, they'll go upstairs to a Ford Field dining room and have a postgame dinner. Then they'll bus to the airport for a flight to London, a weeklong stay and a game against the Giants.
• First-round hits should be easy for teams. But a good fifth-round pick can really impact a team's future. Three franchises look like they nailed fifth-round picks this season: Tennessee nabbed wide receiver Tajae Sharpe, Chicago found running back Jordan Howard and San Diego selected defensive lineman Jatavis Brown.?

-- Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter