Testaverde Wants To Prove He Can Still Start Jennifer Floyd Engel Fort Worth Star-Telegram 8/1/04 OXNARD, Calif. - "You are just like Tyson." Not exactly a compliment. Not before relative unknown Danny Williams pummeled enigmatic boxer Mike Tyson on Friday. Certainly not afterward. So you will be shocked to learn Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said those words to Vinny Testaverde, his 40-year-old quarterback who was sought and signed this off-season because of Parcells' faith in him. "I was kidding him. I said, `I am going to call you Tyson this summer. You are just like Tyson. You are both out of excuses now,' " Parcells recalled telling Testaverde. There is some truth to the comparison. They are both athletes who have been there, done that and are now close to the end of the line. They are both giving it one more go. And they both are having to answer the question: Can he still do it? Testaverde realizes all of this, yet notes a key difference. "I told (Parcells), `The difference between myself and Tyson is he "has to fight and I "want to fight,' " Testaverde said. And there you have it, probably the best explanation for why Testaverde is putting himself through the rigors of his 18th NFL training camp. Testaverde is not in camp because he wasted almost 20 years of paychecks and needs the money, a la Tyson, or because he does not have anything waiting for him after football, a la Tyson, or because he cannot imagine his life without flash bulbs popping, a la Tyson. Testaverde is putting his body through two-a-days, running sprints after practice with quarterbacks almost half his age and having his butt chewed by Parcells because that is what you do when you want to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. "So you "really want to "start?" an incredulous reporter asked Testaverde on Saturday. "That is the goal," Testaverde said, either not catching the incredulity or ignoring it. Parcells said Friday he did not believe in incumbents, contradicted himself Saturday by saying incumbent Quincy Carter had a leg up, but finished with what has been his mantra since he became Cowboys coach: Whoever is best will play. Which is what Parcells told Testaverde before the Cowboys signed him. Parcells does not know if Testaverde can still be a 16-game starter in the NFL. "I really don't," Parcells said. "These guys got to show me they can still do it, that they want to still do it, that it is still important to them and challenging to them, and that they are willing to pay the price to be successful." Testaverde already answered that question, every morning at 7:30 when he trekked down to his basement. His basement is a gym. He lifts weights there for two hours. He goes upstairs and eats breakfast. Then he goes to a local field and throws 60 passes. Then he does his running, sprints for speed, jogging for endurance. Only then does he do off-season stuffsuch as playing with the kids and playing golf and whatever it is that football players do. "The average person wouldn't know that. I know that because I know what he does," Parcells said. "That is what has allowed him to stay in his league at his age and be a physical phenomenon. He really is. He is a powerful man. It's because he works very hard at it. "Now, where that takes him, I don't know. All I know is he gives himself a chance." All the off-season stuff got him onto the practice field with Carter. What he does on it will determine whether he stays on it when the regular season begins. Watching him Saturday, he still has it. He throws like he is 20. He also scrambles like he is 60. None of which will matter in Parcells' decision-making process. "The mechanical skills being equal, let's say if that's the way it turned out, I would want then to see who just seems to be able to get the team to do things," Parcells said. "You know, there's been quite a few quarterbacks with not very good skills that were able to get their team in the end zone. Then there's been also a great number that had the good arms and the prototypical bodies, but not able to be successful on a long-term basis. So what I look for, I look for a guy to get his team to score touchdowns." So what convinced Testaverde in the off-season that he wanted to try to be that guy one last time? "I ask myself three questions," Testaverde said. "Am I happy? Am I healthy? And can I still do it?" He answered "yes" to all this off-season, which is why he is here. How Parcells answers the latter will determine if he starts.