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Retired NFL coach Bill Parcells is reportedly leaning towards stepping in for Sean Payton in New Orleans for the 2012 season, provided certain conditions are met.

“As long as the core of last year’s 13-3 team returns, especially Drew Brees and all of those great receivers – and if it’s guaranteed I would only have to show up for the start of training camp in late July through the end of the season, so the first week of February at the latest,” said Parcells. “And if I am promised the going rate for an NFL head coach, which is several million dollars for a season, I will think carefully about doing a favor for Sean and coaching this team.”

Payton says he is grateful that Parcells is considering the job.

“For him to even be thinking about it shows what kind of guy he is,” said Payton. “But I would expect nothing less from Bill. I remember when we coached together, he would do anything for you. One time I had an appointment and needed someone to watch my kids. Now, my kids were all grown up or in college at the time. They were completely self-sufficient. But if they called the office, I wanted someone to say where I was. Anyway, Bill promised to do that for me after I gave him $700.”

Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez said today that he welcomes the team’s acquisition of Tim Tebow and will use it as fuel to make himself better.

“I am confident that at the end of the season, my critics will be forced to acknowledge that the 2012 season was the least shitty of my four seasons in the NFL,” Sanchez told reporters. “I fully intend to have repeated flashes of competence in the upcoming season.”

In three full seasons as an NFL starter, Sanchez has never thrown for 3,500 yards, completed even 57-percent of his passes or posted a quarterback rating above 78.2 — numbers that put him among the very worst in the NFL over that time. But the former USC quarterback is intent on making improvement across the board in 2012.

“Completing 60-percent of my passes seems a bit bold, but I will definitely shoot for 59-percent,” he said. “And I feel like I’m ready to join that level of quarterbacks with ratings in the 80s and call guys like Joe Flacco, Carson Palmer and Kevin Kolb my equals.”

If all goes according to plan, Sanchez says that in the next few years, he hopes to “reach the level that Jake Delhomme was at during his prime with the Panthers. It may sound like a foolish dream, but you have to reach for the stars, you know?”