This is my hierarchy of how safe each NFL coach's job is. The further down the list you go 1) the more likely it is that the coach will be on the team next year 2) The more likely that coach will be on the team in three years and 3) How good of a coach that coach is.
Guaranteed To Get Fired After This Year
- Jack Del Rio (JAX)
- Tony Sparano (MIA)
Tipping On The Tightrope
- Ken Whisenhunt (ARI)
- Todd Haley (KC)
Playoff or Bust
- Gary Kubiak (HOU)
- Norv Turner (SD)
Should Be Fired But Too Young (On Team)
- Jason Garrett (DAL)
- Steve Spagnolo (STL)
- Leslie Frasier (MIN)
Too Soon To Have An Opinion
- Mike Munchak (TEN)
- Pat Shurmur (CLE)
- Ron Rivera (CAR)
- Pete Carrol (SEA)
Neutral
- John Fox (DEN)
- Raheem Morris (TB)
- Mike Shanahan (WAS)
Should Be Fired But Won't
- Jim Caldwell (IND)
- Lovie Smith (CHI)
Fans Calling For His Head But Won't Get Fired
- Andy Reid (PHI)
- Rex Ryan (NYJ)
Not Necessarily Good But Will Be On Team Next Year
- Chan Gailey (BUF)
- Marvin Lewis (CIN)
Shouldn't Be Fired And Too Young (On Team)
- Hue Jackson (OAK)
- Jim Harbaugh (SF)
- Jim Schwartz (DET)
Have Earned Respect (This Year and in Past) To Stay On Team
- Sean Payton (NO)
- Mike Smith (ATL)
- Tom Coughlin (NYG)
- John Harbaugh (BAL)
Safest Job In The NFL
- Bill Belichick (NE)
- Mike McCarthy (GB)
- Mike Tomlin (PIT)
Showing posts with label Coaches Discussion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coaches Discussion. Show all posts
How Safe Is Your Coach's Job?
Already Gone
- Wade Phillips (DAL)
Guaranteed To Get Fired After This Year
- Lovie Smith (CHI)
- Brad Childress (MIN)
- Jack Del Rio (JAX)
- John Fox (CAR)
- Jason Garrett (DAL)
Tipping On The Tightrope
- Marvin Lewis (CIN)
- Mike Singletary (SF)
Playoff Or Bust
- Gary Kubiak (HOU)
- Mike McCarthy (GB)
- Norv Turner (SD)
Should Be Fired But Too Young (On Team)
- Josh McDaniels (DEN)
- Mike Shanahan (WAS)
- Chan Gailey (BUF)
- Jim Schwartz (DET)
Neutral
- Tom Cable (OAK)
- Jim Caldwell (IND)
- Tony Sparano (MIA)
Shouldn't Be Fired And Are Too Young (On Team)
- Pete Carrol (SEA)
- Steve Spagnolo (STL)
- Todd Haley (KC)
- Raheem Morris (TB)
- Eric Mangini (CLE)
- Rex Ryan (NYJ)
Have Earned Respect (This Year and In Past) To Stay On Team
- Andy Reid (PHI)
- Sean Peyton (NO)
- Tom Coughlin (NYG)
- Ken Wisenhunt (ARI)
- Mike Smith (ATL)
- John Harbaugh (BAL)
Safest Job In The NFL
- Mike Tomlin (PIT)
- Jeff Fischer (TEN)
- Bill Belichick (NE)
- Wade Phillips (DAL)
Guaranteed To Get Fired After This Year
- Lovie Smith (CHI)
- Brad Childress (MIN)
- Jack Del Rio (JAX)
- John Fox (CAR)
- Jason Garrett (DAL)
Tipping On The Tightrope
- Marvin Lewis (CIN)
- Mike Singletary (SF)
Playoff Or Bust
- Gary Kubiak (HOU)
- Mike McCarthy (GB)
- Norv Turner (SD)
Should Be Fired But Too Young (On Team)
- Josh McDaniels (DEN)
- Mike Shanahan (WAS)
- Chan Gailey (BUF)
- Jim Schwartz (DET)
Neutral
- Tom Cable (OAK)
- Jim Caldwell (IND)
- Tony Sparano (MIA)
Shouldn't Be Fired And Are Too Young (On Team)
- Pete Carrol (SEA)
- Steve Spagnolo (STL)
- Todd Haley (KC)
- Raheem Morris (TB)
- Eric Mangini (CLE)
- Rex Ryan (NYJ)
Have Earned Respect (This Year and In Past) To Stay On Team
- Andy Reid (PHI)
- Sean Peyton (NO)
- Tom Coughlin (NYG)
- Ken Wisenhunt (ARI)
- Mike Smith (ATL)
- John Harbaugh (BAL)
Safest Job In The NFL
- Mike Tomlin (PIT)
- Jeff Fischer (TEN)
- Bill Belichick (NE)
Coaches Discussion Part III- If You Lovie Something, You Must Set Him Free
This is my final coaches discussion.
Lovie Smith is the head coach of the Chicago Bears. Why!? How does he still have a job, he sucks! Let me explain.
In Part I, I listed the four qualifications of what it takes to be a good coach. Let's go through these and see how Lovie Smith fits into these four qualifications.
1) Overall game plan. Lovie is defensive minded. So course his signature is punch-you-in-the-mouth stingy smash mouth defense, running the ball, and really good special teams. His defense is the Tampa 2. The cover 2 with an awesome middle linebacker to cover the middle of the field on passing plays yet still able to stop the run on running plays. The key to this is having an awesome front four.
Lovie has this plan and then asked his GM, Jerry Angelo, to get the pieces to have this work. For the beginning of Lovie's tenure he did have the pieces. He inherited Brian Urlacher and Angelo went out and got players like Thomas Jones, Wale, and helped get a good rushing O-line. And with this the Bears were able to go to the playoffs and the Superbowl.
But the big problem with this is two things. 1) YOU NEED A QUARTERBACK! Lovie was so caught up in running the ball that he neglected the QB position. This has turned costly to the Bears in the long run. 2) When the front four doesn't work, you need to shift your game plan. For the past two years our front four has not been able to get to the QB. This disrupts the whole Tampa 2 scheme. When this happens, YOU NEED TO ADJUST. Lovie failed to do this.
Also, his type of offense causes a lot of three and outs which puts more pressure on the defense. For a long while the Bears defense were able to handle the workload but now it's causing long term negative effects.
Let me tell you an example of Lovie's game planning. In 2005, when Lovie actually managed to make it to the playoffs. They faced the Carolina Panthers. The reason the Panthers made it to the playoffs that year was Steve Smith. Everyone knew this. Everyone. So what does Lovie do? He uses a single coverage on Steve Smith. While granted Peanut then was a great defensive back in coverage and did goof up and trip on the first play of the game (which IS NOT Lovie's fault), YOU CAN"T PUT ONE GUY ON STEVE FUCKING SMITH. YOU JUST CAN'T! What did Steve Smith do that day? 12 catches, 218 yards, 2 TDs. Of course Carolina won.
Overall grade: C+
2) Second half adjustments. Lovie is god awful with this. He can not make adjustments if his life depended on it. I don't have exact stats but I can tell you by watching a lot of games during Lovie's tenure I can tell you our fourth quarter play is fucking awful. I don't know what Lovie does during the halftime but it doesn't work
Overall grade: F
3) Ability to keep a cohesive locker room. Lovie is a cool, calm, collected guy. He's not an authoritarian by any stretch of the imagination. This causes his players to love him. And Lovie loves his players. But at some point, you need to be the bad guy and need to be a dictator and Lovie is not able to do that. He loves his players to a fault. The biggest example of this is Rex Grossman. While granted Grossman really was a rookie on a phenomenal Superbowl caliber defense, it is clear now Orton should have started. But how many times did we hear "Rex is our quarterback"? No, no he shouldn't have been. But to his credit, Lovie's job as a babysitter and making sure everyone plays nice and buys into his system has been excellent.
Overall grade: B+
4) Random game time decisions. Lovie is also terrible at this. I mean god awful. He doesn't know how to properly challenge plays, he is terrible at determining what to do on 4th-and-1, and he makes terrible decisions in the fourth quarter. Let's just take this year for example. Using the prevent defense in the Bucs game and the squib kick in the Atlanta game cost the Bears easy wins. Again, I don't have any stats to prove my case but I can tell you from watching lots of games that Lovie is bad at this.
Overall grade: D+
Now in all fairness the Bears record is not entirely on Lovie. The McCaskey's are terrible fucking owners and Jerry Angelo is a bad GM. Angelo is really bad at drafting (see Dan Bauzin, Garrett Wolfe, Chris Williams), really bad at trading and picking up free agents (see Chris Harris, Adam Archuleta), and really bad at distributing money (see Brian Urlacher, Tommie Harris). This doesn't help Lovie one bit. Ron Turner is also the worst offensive coordinator, probably ever (However, Lovie is not totally off the hook on this because he does have a lot of say in what plays Turner runs and whether Turner deserves to keep his job). But Lovie Smith does a bad job at the things he can control.
But in all fairness, I only pointed out the bad things Lovie has done. He really has done some great things. The Tampa 2 worked out so well in 2005 and 2006 which helped the Bears win the NFC North and make it to the Superbowl. The ability to run the ball has worked out well for the most part in Lovie's tenure and our special teams has really been an underrated part of the reason the Bears have won so many games. Lovie's game planning is also not terrible in every game. Like in the Tennessee Titans game this year, he knew Fisher would run the ball and that Kerry Collins sucks. So what did Lovie do? He put Mike Brown on the line to absolutely destroy the Titans running game and they forced Collins to put the game on his back. Unfortunately Collins did put the game in his hands and he did win the game but it was absolutely the right game plan to do.
But for the most part, every coach does do some good but you have to weigh it against the bad. In Lovie's case, the bad outweighs the good and Lovie deserves to get fired. He hit his peak in 2006 and it doesn't look like he can get the Bears back any time soon. Therefore, he needs to go.
Lovie Smith is the head coach of the Chicago Bears. Why!? How does he still have a job, he sucks! Let me explain.
In Part I, I listed the four qualifications of what it takes to be a good coach. Let's go through these and see how Lovie Smith fits into these four qualifications.
1) Overall game plan. Lovie is defensive minded. So course his signature is punch-you-in-the-mouth stingy smash mouth defense, running the ball, and really good special teams. His defense is the Tampa 2. The cover 2 with an awesome middle linebacker to cover the middle of the field on passing plays yet still able to stop the run on running plays. The key to this is having an awesome front four.
Lovie has this plan and then asked his GM, Jerry Angelo, to get the pieces to have this work. For the beginning of Lovie's tenure he did have the pieces. He inherited Brian Urlacher and Angelo went out and got players like Thomas Jones, Wale, and helped get a good rushing O-line. And with this the Bears were able to go to the playoffs and the Superbowl.
But the big problem with this is two things. 1) YOU NEED A QUARTERBACK! Lovie was so caught up in running the ball that he neglected the QB position. This has turned costly to the Bears in the long run. 2) When the front four doesn't work, you need to shift your game plan. For the past two years our front four has not been able to get to the QB. This disrupts the whole Tampa 2 scheme. When this happens, YOU NEED TO ADJUST. Lovie failed to do this.
Also, his type of offense causes a lot of three and outs which puts more pressure on the defense. For a long while the Bears defense were able to handle the workload but now it's causing long term negative effects.
Let me tell you an example of Lovie's game planning. In 2005, when Lovie actually managed to make it to the playoffs. They faced the Carolina Panthers. The reason the Panthers made it to the playoffs that year was Steve Smith. Everyone knew this. Everyone. So what does Lovie do? He uses a single coverage on Steve Smith. While granted Peanut then was a great defensive back in coverage and did goof up and trip on the first play of the game (which IS NOT Lovie's fault), YOU CAN"T PUT ONE GUY ON STEVE FUCKING SMITH. YOU JUST CAN'T! What did Steve Smith do that day? 12 catches, 218 yards, 2 TDs. Of course Carolina won.
Overall grade: C+
2) Second half adjustments. Lovie is god awful with this. He can not make adjustments if his life depended on it. I don't have exact stats but I can tell you by watching a lot of games during Lovie's tenure I can tell you our fourth quarter play is fucking awful. I don't know what Lovie does during the halftime but it doesn't work
Overall grade: F
3) Ability to keep a cohesive locker room. Lovie is a cool, calm, collected guy. He's not an authoritarian by any stretch of the imagination. This causes his players to love him. And Lovie loves his players. But at some point, you need to be the bad guy and need to be a dictator and Lovie is not able to do that. He loves his players to a fault. The biggest example of this is Rex Grossman. While granted Grossman really was a rookie on a phenomenal Superbowl caliber defense, it is clear now Orton should have started. But how many times did we hear "Rex is our quarterback"? No, no he shouldn't have been. But to his credit, Lovie's job as a babysitter and making sure everyone plays nice and buys into his system has been excellent.
Overall grade: B+
4) Random game time decisions. Lovie is also terrible at this. I mean god awful. He doesn't know how to properly challenge plays, he is terrible at determining what to do on 4th-and-1, and he makes terrible decisions in the fourth quarter. Let's just take this year for example. Using the prevent defense in the Bucs game and the squib kick in the Atlanta game cost the Bears easy wins. Again, I don't have any stats to prove my case but I can tell you from watching lots of games that Lovie is bad at this.
Overall grade: D+
Now in all fairness the Bears record is not entirely on Lovie. The McCaskey's are terrible fucking owners and Jerry Angelo is a bad GM. Angelo is really bad at drafting (see Dan Bauzin, Garrett Wolfe, Chris Williams), really bad at trading and picking up free agents (see Chris Harris, Adam Archuleta), and really bad at distributing money (see Brian Urlacher, Tommie Harris). This doesn't help Lovie one bit. Ron Turner is also the worst offensive coordinator, probably ever (However, Lovie is not totally off the hook on this because he does have a lot of say in what plays Turner runs and whether Turner deserves to keep his job). But Lovie Smith does a bad job at the things he can control.
But in all fairness, I only pointed out the bad things Lovie has done. He really has done some great things. The Tampa 2 worked out so well in 2005 and 2006 which helped the Bears win the NFC North and make it to the Superbowl. The ability to run the ball has worked out well for the most part in Lovie's tenure and our special teams has really been an underrated part of the reason the Bears have won so many games. Lovie's game planning is also not terrible in every game. Like in the Tennessee Titans game this year, he knew Fisher would run the ball and that Kerry Collins sucks. So what did Lovie do? He put Mike Brown on the line to absolutely destroy the Titans running game and they forced Collins to put the game on his back. Unfortunately Collins did put the game in his hands and he did win the game but it was absolutely the right game plan to do.
But for the most part, every coach does do some good but you have to weigh it against the bad. In Lovie's case, the bad outweighs the good and Lovie deserves to get fired. He hit his peak in 2006 and it doesn't look like he can get the Bears back any time soon. Therefore, he needs to go.
Coaches Discussion Part II- Brief NFL Coaches Blurb
Jeff Fisher. Tennessee Titans. A great coach this year. Helped play to his teams strengths and expose opponents weaknesses. Helped his 8-8 talent last year be 13-2 this year (that last game didn't count)
Tom Coughlin. New York Giants. He helps in the locker room but that team was 12 games this year because of the great talent on the O-line and in pass rushers more than what Coughlin did.
Mike Tomlin. Pittsburgh Steelers. Benefited hugely from the great talent from his predecessors have put together and done exactly what Bill Cohwer has done with essentially the same talent. His in game decisions is suspect. He goes for a lot of unnecessary 4th and long which costs his teams games. If in five years, the Steelers are still continually making the playoffs then I'll change my mind but right now my view on Tomlin is very low
John Fox. Carolina Panthers. Another case of where his GM put together some great O and D lines but Fox gets a lot of credit for keeping this talent together and winning 12 games.
Tony Dungy. Indianapolis Colts. If Peyton Manning could get CoY votes he should get all the votes Tony gets. This team is mainly Peyton Manning. Dungy should get mad props for building up this Colts defense because before he got there, it was shit. And now it's a powerhouse. A sustainable one. But let's be realistic. This team wins games because of Peyton Manning.
John Harbaugh. Baltimore Ravens. He should get a lot of credit for turning an aging defense that only won 5 games last year into an 11 win team, but no way does he help expose other teams weaknesses. If he did, that offense sure was pitiful. It will be interesting to see if this rookie head coach can sustain this success. I'm guessing he can't.
Mike Smith. Atlanta Falcons. The GM should get more credit than Smith for getting Matt Ryan and Michael Turner but for the most part, Smith inherited the same team has last year and was able to do a lot more for a team in the dumps. He was able to utilize his talent extremely effectively to help make the playoffs this year. But still, Matt Ryan and Michael Turner helps a lot on this turnaround.
Tony Sparano. Miami Dolphins. A great coach that was able to do so much with so little
Bill Belichick. New England Patriots. One of the best coaches ever. You better not have a weakness on your team because Belichick will expose it.
Brad Childress. Minnesota Vikings. He is able to utilize his talent very effectively. Run Adrian Peterson. Run him every chance you get. He made a great decision to bench Tavaris Jackson early because he fucken sucks. He has one of the best defensive lines in the NFL which also helps him win games.
Andy Reid. Philadelphia Eagles. When you have Brian Westbrook AND a healthy Donovan McNabb, you should have a winning record. But you shouldn't use McNabb more than Westbrook. That's so retarded. There's a reason this Eagles offense does almost better without McNabb, because Reid is forced to run the ball. There's absolutely no fucken reason to not utilize Westbroook to his full potential, yet Reid doesn't. But on the bright side, he helps with great defensive schemes to be the NFC leader in sacks.
Norv Turner. San Diego Chargers. Very few teams had the expectations that the Chargers had and very few teams had the talent that the Chargers had. Granted they made the playoffs, but to only go 8-8 with this team seems to show you the true Norv Turner.
Ken Whisenhunt. Arizona Cardinals. For a team that always seemed to be loaded with talent, Whisenhunt finally got this team into the playoffs. But with that much talent that the Cardinals had on defense, it's sort of pitiful how bad that defense. But I do like what Whisenhunt has done with this organization and where he's taking it.
Wade Phillps. Dallas Cowboys. The most talented team in the NFL. Also one of the most poorly coached teams. Yes Phillips did a great job on defense but a team also needs an offense and Wade didn't do anything to help it. He didn't keep a cohesive locker room and he didn't do a good job by any stretch of the imagination in terms of managerial skills. It's pathetic this talent-rich team didn't even made the playoffs
Lovie Smith. Chicago Bears. I will talk about him more in depth is my next post but he's a terrible coach and needs to get the AXE!
Jon Gruden. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I still think he's an above average coach that's able to maximize his talent of his players so it's a huge disappointment to me that his team had the chance to make the playoffs and didn't. I would also like to see how well his defenses are without Monte Kiffin.
Eric Mangini. New York Jets. His team executives spent so much money improving this team that Mangini deserves a lot of the blame for only finsihing 3rd in his division. Especially considering the position they were in 11/12 games into the season. Brett Favre throwing 22 INTS didn't help his offense any but with the O and D lines he had, he should have made the playoffs. He deserved to get fired.
Gary Kubiak. Houston Texans. I think he's done a lot for this organization. It's really really really hard to start a franchise from scratch so he inherited a bad situation but I think he's doing a damn fine job building up this team in the tough division he's in. However, he needs to start improving his team and getting winning records to deserve to keep his job.
Sean Peyton. New Orleans Saints. Done a damn fine job maximizing his offense but hasn't done shit trying to improve his defense and that's why I feel he's on thin ice.
Mike Singletary. San Fransisco 49ers. This team was much improved since Singletary took over. In fact, if it wasn't for Mike Martz fucking up that goal line stand in that MNF Cardinals/49ers game, the 49ers would be in the playoffs. Singletary has done a fantastic job bringing life to this dead organization and his players love him and, to quote every ESPN "expert", they have bought into his schemes. Singletary seems to be the coach of the future and the ones SF needs.
Jim Zorn. Washington Redskins. If he stays on, he needs to do a better job handling his players so they can follow his schemes.
Mike Shannahan. Denver Broncos. Winning two Superbowls can and should only go so far. You still need to at least get your teams into the playoffs every so often. In 2006 and 2008 (just SOME examples) he had the opportunity in the last week to make the playoffs and didn't. His game planning and game management has not been very good in recent years and he absolutely deserved to get fired. He has simply not done a good job in the past five years. The coaching he did in 98 and 99 really seems to be the great talent he had more than it was Shannahan. Some people say "You don't forget how to be a great coach" Well, if that's the case Shannnhan didn't do anything in his later part of his tenure to prove hat saying to be correct.
Dick Jauron. Buffalo Bills. He is a bad coach. He always always been a bad coach. There's absolutely no reason, once the Bills fire him, that he deserves another chance.
Mike McCarthy. Green Bay Packers. Let's go with a poker metaphor here. When a coach is the chip leader, he looks amazing. When his chips are down, good and great head coaches will earn their money back. Last year, McCarthy had a young healthy team so he became the chip leader. This year when injuries caused him to lose his chips, he showed he was not really a good head coach because he didn't get his chips back
Mike Holmgren. Seattle Seahawks. See Mike McCarthy. It's actually more pitiful than McCarthy because McCarthy at one point could still win the division. Holmgren had just as many injuries as the Packers yet his team BLEW! I mean thy blew donkey balls. Absolutely pathetic and pitiful the coaching job he's done this year.
Romeo Crennel. Cleveland Browns. See Dick Jauron. He sucks as well. More proof how awesome Bill Belichick is.
Jack Del Rio. Jacksonville Jaguars. There's only so much a QB and RB do when an O-line gets depleted due to unmitigated circumstances so it's hard to fault Del Rio on the lack of offensive play. He should get some flack for the defensive slip but in reality they didn't slip too far. He's still a darn good coach in my mind who got some shit luck
Tom Cable. Oakland Raiders. The only way any coach will succeed in Oakland is either: 1) Al Davis dies or 2) Al David stops controlling the team. Until either two happens, the head coach will remain useless
Marvin Lewis. Cincinnati Bengals. See Wade Phillips. The only bright side in Marvin Lewis' tenure has been his offense because of Carson Palmer. Once he got injured of course this team has gone to shit. Lewis can't control his locker room but he wouldn't matter because his game calling his shit. He hasn't done shit with his defense. At all. It's always been shit and you can't have a shit D for this long. He sucks and must be blowing the owner to be keeping his job.
Herm Edwards. Kansas City Chiefs. Throughout his coaching tenure he hasn't really proven to be all that good of a head coach going 54-74 with a .422 sample size. This year was no exception. But with a good organization and some smart drafting last year I wouldn't be surprised if the Chiefs win a lot of games next year. But it won't be because of Herm Edwards.
Jim Haslett. St. Louis Rams. The only two games the Rams won are the two games where Steven Jackson was healthy (essentially). When you have 14 games when you don't have your starting RB, you still need to win some fucking games. Lack of talent and loads of injuries don't help a head coach but Haslett hasn't done anything to make him worthy enough to keep his job.
Rod Maranelli. Detroit Lions. I don't care how untalented your team is (and the Detroit Lions were by far one the most untalented team of all time? you have to win at least one game. At least ONE FUCKING GAME! Come one really!? No wins. 0-16!? Now let's be fair, it's not 100% his fault. He had one of the worst GMs of all time (Matt Millen) and a really tough schedule but when you have games against Jacksonville, Packers, San Fransisco, Houston, and Washington and you don't win one game, you're a bad fucking coach.
Tom Coughlin. New York Giants. He helps in the locker room but that team was 12 games this year because of the great talent on the O-line and in pass rushers more than what Coughlin did.
Mike Tomlin. Pittsburgh Steelers. Benefited hugely from the great talent from his predecessors have put together and done exactly what Bill Cohwer has done with essentially the same talent. His in game decisions is suspect. He goes for a lot of unnecessary 4th and long which costs his teams games. If in five years, the Steelers are still continually making the playoffs then I'll change my mind but right now my view on Tomlin is very low
John Fox. Carolina Panthers. Another case of where his GM put together some great O and D lines but Fox gets a lot of credit for keeping this talent together and winning 12 games.
Tony Dungy. Indianapolis Colts. If Peyton Manning could get CoY votes he should get all the votes Tony gets. This team is mainly Peyton Manning. Dungy should get mad props for building up this Colts defense because before he got there, it was shit. And now it's a powerhouse. A sustainable one. But let's be realistic. This team wins games because of Peyton Manning.
John Harbaugh. Baltimore Ravens. He should get a lot of credit for turning an aging defense that only won 5 games last year into an 11 win team, but no way does he help expose other teams weaknesses. If he did, that offense sure was pitiful. It will be interesting to see if this rookie head coach can sustain this success. I'm guessing he can't.
Mike Smith. Atlanta Falcons. The GM should get more credit than Smith for getting Matt Ryan and Michael Turner but for the most part, Smith inherited the same team has last year and was able to do a lot more for a team in the dumps. He was able to utilize his talent extremely effectively to help make the playoffs this year. But still, Matt Ryan and Michael Turner helps a lot on this turnaround.
Tony Sparano. Miami Dolphins. A great coach that was able to do so much with so little
Bill Belichick. New England Patriots. One of the best coaches ever. You better not have a weakness on your team because Belichick will expose it.
Brad Childress. Minnesota Vikings. He is able to utilize his talent very effectively. Run Adrian Peterson. Run him every chance you get. He made a great decision to bench Tavaris Jackson early because he fucken sucks. He has one of the best defensive lines in the NFL which also helps him win games.
Andy Reid. Philadelphia Eagles. When you have Brian Westbrook AND a healthy Donovan McNabb, you should have a winning record. But you shouldn't use McNabb more than Westbrook. That's so retarded. There's a reason this Eagles offense does almost better without McNabb, because Reid is forced to run the ball. There's absolutely no fucken reason to not utilize Westbroook to his full potential, yet Reid doesn't. But on the bright side, he helps with great defensive schemes to be the NFC leader in sacks.
Norv Turner. San Diego Chargers. Very few teams had the expectations that the Chargers had and very few teams had the talent that the Chargers had. Granted they made the playoffs, but to only go 8-8 with this team seems to show you the true Norv Turner.
Ken Whisenhunt. Arizona Cardinals. For a team that always seemed to be loaded with talent, Whisenhunt finally got this team into the playoffs. But with that much talent that the Cardinals had on defense, it's sort of pitiful how bad that defense. But I do like what Whisenhunt has done with this organization and where he's taking it.
Wade Phillps. Dallas Cowboys. The most talented team in the NFL. Also one of the most poorly coached teams. Yes Phillips did a great job on defense but a team also needs an offense and Wade didn't do anything to help it. He didn't keep a cohesive locker room and he didn't do a good job by any stretch of the imagination in terms of managerial skills. It's pathetic this talent-rich team didn't even made the playoffs
Lovie Smith. Chicago Bears. I will talk about him more in depth is my next post but he's a terrible coach and needs to get the AXE!
Jon Gruden. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I still think he's an above average coach that's able to maximize his talent of his players so it's a huge disappointment to me that his team had the chance to make the playoffs and didn't. I would also like to see how well his defenses are without Monte Kiffin.
Eric Mangini. New York Jets. His team executives spent so much money improving this team that Mangini deserves a lot of the blame for only finsihing 3rd in his division. Especially considering the position they were in 11/12 games into the season. Brett Favre throwing 22 INTS didn't help his offense any but with the O and D lines he had, he should have made the playoffs. He deserved to get fired.
Gary Kubiak. Houston Texans. I think he's done a lot for this organization. It's really really really hard to start a franchise from scratch so he inherited a bad situation but I think he's doing a damn fine job building up this team in the tough division he's in. However, he needs to start improving his team and getting winning records to deserve to keep his job.
Sean Peyton. New Orleans Saints. Done a damn fine job maximizing his offense but hasn't done shit trying to improve his defense and that's why I feel he's on thin ice.
Mike Singletary. San Fransisco 49ers. This team was much improved since Singletary took over. In fact, if it wasn't for Mike Martz fucking up that goal line stand in that MNF Cardinals/49ers game, the 49ers would be in the playoffs. Singletary has done a fantastic job bringing life to this dead organization and his players love him and, to quote every ESPN "expert", they have bought into his schemes. Singletary seems to be the coach of the future and the ones SF needs.
Jim Zorn. Washington Redskins. If he stays on, he needs to do a better job handling his players so they can follow his schemes.
Mike Shannahan. Denver Broncos. Winning two Superbowls can and should only go so far. You still need to at least get your teams into the playoffs every so often. In 2006 and 2008 (just SOME examples) he had the opportunity in the last week to make the playoffs and didn't. His game planning and game management has not been very good in recent years and he absolutely deserved to get fired. He has simply not done a good job in the past five years. The coaching he did in 98 and 99 really seems to be the great talent he had more than it was Shannahan. Some people say "You don't forget how to be a great coach" Well, if that's the case Shannnhan didn't do anything in his later part of his tenure to prove hat saying to be correct.
Dick Jauron. Buffalo Bills. He is a bad coach. He always always been a bad coach. There's absolutely no reason, once the Bills fire him, that he deserves another chance.
Mike McCarthy. Green Bay Packers. Let's go with a poker metaphor here. When a coach is the chip leader, he looks amazing. When his chips are down, good and great head coaches will earn their money back. Last year, McCarthy had a young healthy team so he became the chip leader. This year when injuries caused him to lose his chips, he showed he was not really a good head coach because he didn't get his chips back
Mike Holmgren. Seattle Seahawks. See Mike McCarthy. It's actually more pitiful than McCarthy because McCarthy at one point could still win the division. Holmgren had just as many injuries as the Packers yet his team BLEW! I mean thy blew donkey balls. Absolutely pathetic and pitiful the coaching job he's done this year.
Romeo Crennel. Cleveland Browns. See Dick Jauron. He sucks as well. More proof how awesome Bill Belichick is.
Jack Del Rio. Jacksonville Jaguars. There's only so much a QB and RB do when an O-line gets depleted due to unmitigated circumstances so it's hard to fault Del Rio on the lack of offensive play. He should get some flack for the defensive slip but in reality they didn't slip too far. He's still a darn good coach in my mind who got some shit luck
Tom Cable. Oakland Raiders. The only way any coach will succeed in Oakland is either: 1) Al Davis dies or 2) Al David stops controlling the team. Until either two happens, the head coach will remain useless
Marvin Lewis. Cincinnati Bengals. See Wade Phillips. The only bright side in Marvin Lewis' tenure has been his offense because of Carson Palmer. Once he got injured of course this team has gone to shit. Lewis can't control his locker room but he wouldn't matter because his game calling his shit. He hasn't done shit with his defense. At all. It's always been shit and you can't have a shit D for this long. He sucks and must be blowing the owner to be keeping his job.
Herm Edwards. Kansas City Chiefs. Throughout his coaching tenure he hasn't really proven to be all that good of a head coach going 54-74 with a .422 sample size. This year was no exception. But with a good organization and some smart drafting last year I wouldn't be surprised if the Chiefs win a lot of games next year. But it won't be because of Herm Edwards.
Jim Haslett. St. Louis Rams. The only two games the Rams won are the two games where Steven Jackson was healthy (essentially). When you have 14 games when you don't have your starting RB, you still need to win some fucking games. Lack of talent and loads of injuries don't help a head coach but Haslett hasn't done anything to make him worthy enough to keep his job.
Rod Maranelli. Detroit Lions. I don't care how untalented your team is (and the Detroit Lions were by far one the most untalented team of all time? you have to win at least one game. At least ONE FUCKING GAME! Come one really!? No wins. 0-16!? Now let's be fair, it's not 100% his fault. He had one of the worst GMs of all time (Matt Millen) and a really tough schedule but when you have games against Jacksonville, Packers, San Fransisco, Houston, and Washington and you don't win one game, you're a bad fucking coach.
Coaches Discussion Part I- 2008 NFL Coach of the Year
Originally I was going to do a top five list of who I thought were the five best coaches and use by previous post to determine that. But after looking at the teams and the head coaches, I could only come up with three. See, just because I team is good doesn't mean the head coach deserves praise. And just because a team did terrible last year and great this year does also not warrant coach of the year credit (although that's usually a determinant for who does get the CoY award). The vast majority of teams that have winning records is the result of great talent on the field. The New York Giants, for example. Their offensive line is amazing. They had TWO running backs go over 1000 yards. TWO! Most teams don't even have one. They also have some of the best talent and depth in pass rushers. That organization simple knows talent. Tom Coughlin deserves some credit for easing up on his harsh personality to create a cohesive locker room, but your personality alone should not get you CoY votes. So without further ado, here's my top three
3) Jeff Fisher, Tennessee Titans. I think the Hall of Fame praise he got in the beginning of the year is somewhat unwarranted, but the fact remains he did an excellent job this year. First of all, any team that dethrones the Indianapolis Colts deserves a HUGE pat on the back. But Jeff Fisher did it with essentially the same players as last year, where they only went 8-8. He helped develop his defense to put pressure on the QB (even AFTER losing pro bowl defensive end Kyle Van De Bosch) and still have a phenominal secondary just in case a QB ever got away. This defense was more than just talent alone because this same talent was never THIS good. He also did a great job playing to his strengths on offense. Kerry Collins is really not that good. But Chris Johnson and LenDale White are. And teams knew this. Yet Fisher was still able to run over teams and make sure his QB didn't throw picks. And in games where teams stopped his great running attacks (ie the one vs Chicago, he helped change strategy to end up winning the game in the second half. His team absolutely deserved to be the best team in the NFL.
2) Tony Sparano. Miami Dolphins. This roster from top to bottom was really not that good. They had some talent here and there (i.e. Ronnie Brown, Joey Porter) but their best weapon, Jason Taylor, was traded away. The only real difference between last year's squad and this year team was two things: Chad Pennington and not hearing a peep from Ricky Williams. Chad Pennington is not THAT much of a difference maker to just accrue 11 wins. So what does Sparano do with his lackluster squad- he plays to their strengths. A lot of dink and dumps and a lot of trickery. A lot of designing schemes to utilize your best defensive weapon (Porter) to attack the QB. The reason the Wildcat offense was prevalent throughout the NFL? Tony Sparano. You think the Dolphins would have scored five TDs on the Patriots without it? Nope. And when teams starting getting wise to the Wildcat, Sparano adjusted and played gold ol' smash mouth running football. Sparano has done so much with very little and helped turn this franchise around
1) Bill Belichick. New England Patriots. No coach is better at attacking his opponent's weakness. Oh, he's going to throw the ball. But where the ball is thrown and where he tells his receivers to run to is the few places you don't want the Patriots to be. Are you weak up the middle? Well, a lot of screen passes to where the receiver runs from the sideline to the middle. Is your right tackle not that good of a blocker? Well, guess which player his blitzes are going to attack. And he did this with lots of injures. Not only to Tom Brady but he lost a lot of his great star defensive players to free agency or the injury bug, yet STILL was able to thwart his defensive will. Are you beating the Patriots by 24 with one quarter left to go? Don't be surprised if the game is tied or if you lose at the end. No coach is better at half time and game time adjustments than Bill Belicheck. And his players love him. LOVE HIM. It's crazy to think but if Belicheck told his players to strip naked and do the Chicken Dance during half time, all 53 players would. Without question. (The only reason Bill probably doesn't do this is because he needs his players to make half time adjustments!)
Oh, and who makes the Patriots better: Tom Brady or Bill Belichick? Both. Belicheck helps the team win games, Brady helps the teams be absolutely fucking amazing. Plus Tom Brady doesn't play defense.
3) Jeff Fisher, Tennessee Titans. I think the Hall of Fame praise he got in the beginning of the year is somewhat unwarranted, but the fact remains he did an excellent job this year. First of all, any team that dethrones the Indianapolis Colts deserves a HUGE pat on the back. But Jeff Fisher did it with essentially the same players as last year, where they only went 8-8. He helped develop his defense to put pressure on the QB (even AFTER losing pro bowl defensive end Kyle Van De Bosch) and still have a phenominal secondary just in case a QB ever got away. This defense was more than just talent alone because this same talent was never THIS good. He also did a great job playing to his strengths on offense. Kerry Collins is really not that good. But Chris Johnson and LenDale White are. And teams knew this. Yet Fisher was still able to run over teams and make sure his QB didn't throw picks. And in games where teams stopped his great running attacks (ie the one vs Chicago, he helped change strategy to end up winning the game in the second half. His team absolutely deserved to be the best team in the NFL.
2) Tony Sparano. Miami Dolphins. This roster from top to bottom was really not that good. They had some talent here and there (i.e. Ronnie Brown, Joey Porter) but their best weapon, Jason Taylor, was traded away. The only real difference between last year's squad and this year team was two things: Chad Pennington and not hearing a peep from Ricky Williams. Chad Pennington is not THAT much of a difference maker to just accrue 11 wins. So what does Sparano do with his lackluster squad- he plays to their strengths. A lot of dink and dumps and a lot of trickery. A lot of designing schemes to utilize your best defensive weapon (Porter) to attack the QB. The reason the Wildcat offense was prevalent throughout the NFL? Tony Sparano. You think the Dolphins would have scored five TDs on the Patriots without it? Nope. And when teams starting getting wise to the Wildcat, Sparano adjusted and played gold ol' smash mouth running football. Sparano has done so much with very little and helped turn this franchise around
1) Bill Belichick. New England Patriots. No coach is better at attacking his opponent's weakness. Oh, he's going to throw the ball. But where the ball is thrown and where he tells his receivers to run to is the few places you don't want the Patriots to be. Are you weak up the middle? Well, a lot of screen passes to where the receiver runs from the sideline to the middle. Is your right tackle not that good of a blocker? Well, guess which player his blitzes are going to attack. And he did this with lots of injures. Not only to Tom Brady but he lost a lot of his great star defensive players to free agency or the injury bug, yet STILL was able to thwart his defensive will. Are you beating the Patriots by 24 with one quarter left to go? Don't be surprised if the game is tied or if you lose at the end. No coach is better at half time and game time adjustments than Bill Belicheck. And his players love him. LOVE HIM. It's crazy to think but if Belicheck told his players to strip naked and do the Chicken Dance during half time, all 53 players would. Without question. (The only reason Bill probably doesn't do this is because he needs his players to make half time adjustments!)
Oh, and who makes the Patriots better: Tom Brady or Bill Belichick? Both. Belicheck helps the team win games, Brady helps the teams be absolutely fucking amazing. Plus Tom Brady doesn't play defense.
The Qualifications of a NFL Head Coach
This post will help set up two later posts. First, who deserves to be Coach of the Year? Secondly, which coaches deserve to get fired, specifically, Lovie Smith.
Football more than any other sport, requires specific and careful game planning and coaching. In baseball, all a manager has to do to decide at the beginning of the year decide what order to place his healthy players in a line up and decide when to pull pitchers and who to replace them with. A very easy job. How a team does doesn't really matter on a baseball manager but which players a baseball GM chooses. Basketball, hockey, and soccer. Well those sports are even easier. Very little game planning by the head coach. All they have to do is decide which players to replace and have the players on the court/field/rink etc run around and have them make plays.
But football. Oh no. You can't just throw out players. You need to design specific schemes. Very meticulous game planning. But really, how much does the head coach do?
The game calling is done by the offensive coordinators (for the most part). Most of the heavy lifting is not done by the head coach himself. So what exactly does a head coach do or need to do? What makes a great head coach? Is a teams record an accurate judge of how well a head coach does?
Simple answer: Yes. But life is not so simple is it? The first person a team should blame on their success or failures is the GM. They are responsible for the players that are on the field. They draft and make trades to determine who starts.
Things an NFL coach IS responsible for:
1) The overall game plan
2) Second half adjustments
3) Ability to keep a cohesive locker room
4) Random game time decisions (like whether to go for it on 4th and X and when to challenge, etc)
And that's it. That's all they have to do.
The biggest thing you can blame a coach for is can they play to their strengths and expose another teams weaknesses. Now a coach is not responsible for the talent on the field but he can control what he does with that talent. You may inherent a team that has sub-par talent but if you're a good coach you still have professional athletes on your team and they still have some strengths. Is your offensive line kind of crappy? Use a lot of dink and dumps. Is your defensive line kind of crappy? Help design smart blitz schemes. Great coaches can do more with less. Any casual fan can notice that if your team is playing an offense that can run the ball well but not pass, then pull your safeties up to the line of scrimmage and force the team to pass (Maybe not THAT specific, but you get the idea). Not necessarily how your team does on one or two plays but how does your team play throughout the game. And if the GM has blessed your team with talent, as a head coach, you need to make sure that talent performs on the field.
After a head coach has seen what their opponent has done for two quarters, they need to adjust. Especially if your team is losing. A smart coach can analyze what their team and their opponent has done well and done poorly. Then you need to make adjustments. Even if you are winning, your opponent is making adjustments. You need to make some changes to win football games
You also need to have 53 players believe in you and each other (or most importantly the 22 starters). If a head coach does not have a cohesive locker room, then he can not effectively do what else he needs to do. If people don't listen or respect what the coach has to say, then the head coach can not initiate his game plan effectively. The vast majority of what a coach has to do is manage the personalities of his players. Like Wade Phillips. His players don't really listen to him. Therefore they don't really play the way Philips wants them to play and thus he can not initiate his will on the field. Basically, head coached need to be high paid babysitters.
Lastly, the coach needs to make quick, smart decisions on what to do in random situations on the field. He is the ultimate decider on whether to challenge a play. He is the ultimate decider on whether to do something like squib kick with 15 seconds of the game when only up by one and allow the opponent lots of yardage to kick a last minute winning field goal. He is the ultimate decider on whether or not to do a prevent defense on the last drive of the game to allow your opponents to score a game winning touchdown. He is the ultimate decider on whether or not to go for it on fourth downs. It's these multiple game time decisions that weed out the good coaches from the bad ones.
A head coach also has a big say in determining which coordinators the team has. So while coordinators do a lot of the heavy lifting, it is not unfair to blame a head coach for the follies of his coordinators. The head coach does have the ability to override what the coordinators do and have to continually agree with coordinators decisions, but individual game calling is not on the head coaches shoulders.
If a coach can effectively do all four things well, he is a coach worthy of Coach of the Year votes. If he fails to do all four things, especially year after year, he deserves to get the axe.
A part of what a head coach realistically HAS to do is play the expectations game. If his team is expected to win a super bowl and misses the playoffs, he will get fired. If he isn't expected to win many games and wins his division, he'll get a 3 year extension. If a team is expected to do well, then the team NEEDS to do well in order for a head coach to keep his job. But if the team isn't really expected to do anything, then the head coach is kinda safe. (However, a head coach can not be bad year after year. He can keep his job like one or two years if the team is expected to do bad but not for long. a team needs to show improvement.) It sucks, but that's what a head coach needs to do.
Blowing the owner also helps a head coach keep his job.
Football more than any other sport, requires specific and careful game planning and coaching. In baseball, all a manager has to do to decide at the beginning of the year decide what order to place his healthy players in a line up and decide when to pull pitchers and who to replace them with. A very easy job. How a team does doesn't really matter on a baseball manager but which players a baseball GM chooses. Basketball, hockey, and soccer. Well those sports are even easier. Very little game planning by the head coach. All they have to do is decide which players to replace and have the players on the court/field/rink etc run around and have them make plays.
But football. Oh no. You can't just throw out players. You need to design specific schemes. Very meticulous game planning. But really, how much does the head coach do?
The game calling is done by the offensive coordinators (for the most part). Most of the heavy lifting is not done by the head coach himself. So what exactly does a head coach do or need to do? What makes a great head coach? Is a teams record an accurate judge of how well a head coach does?
Simple answer: Yes. But life is not so simple is it? The first person a team should blame on their success or failures is the GM. They are responsible for the players that are on the field. They draft and make trades to determine who starts.
Things an NFL coach IS responsible for:
1) The overall game plan
2) Second half adjustments
3) Ability to keep a cohesive locker room
4) Random game time decisions (like whether to go for it on 4th and X and when to challenge, etc)
And that's it. That's all they have to do.
The biggest thing you can blame a coach for is can they play to their strengths and expose another teams weaknesses. Now a coach is not responsible for the talent on the field but he can control what he does with that talent. You may inherent a team that has sub-par talent but if you're a good coach you still have professional athletes on your team and they still have some strengths. Is your offensive line kind of crappy? Use a lot of dink and dumps. Is your defensive line kind of crappy? Help design smart blitz schemes. Great coaches can do more with less. Any casual fan can notice that if your team is playing an offense that can run the ball well but not pass, then pull your safeties up to the line of scrimmage and force the team to pass (Maybe not THAT specific, but you get the idea). Not necessarily how your team does on one or two plays but how does your team play throughout the game. And if the GM has blessed your team with talent, as a head coach, you need to make sure that talent performs on the field.
After a head coach has seen what their opponent has done for two quarters, they need to adjust. Especially if your team is losing. A smart coach can analyze what their team and their opponent has done well and done poorly. Then you need to make adjustments. Even if you are winning, your opponent is making adjustments. You need to make some changes to win football games
You also need to have 53 players believe in you and each other (or most importantly the 22 starters). If a head coach does not have a cohesive locker room, then he can not effectively do what else he needs to do. If people don't listen or respect what the coach has to say, then the head coach can not initiate his game plan effectively. The vast majority of what a coach has to do is manage the personalities of his players. Like Wade Phillips. His players don't really listen to him. Therefore they don't really play the way Philips wants them to play and thus he can not initiate his will on the field. Basically, head coached need to be high paid babysitters.
Lastly, the coach needs to make quick, smart decisions on what to do in random situations on the field. He is the ultimate decider on whether to challenge a play. He is the ultimate decider on whether to do something like squib kick with 15 seconds of the game when only up by one and allow the opponent lots of yardage to kick a last minute winning field goal. He is the ultimate decider on whether or not to do a prevent defense on the last drive of the game to allow your opponents to score a game winning touchdown. He is the ultimate decider on whether or not to go for it on fourth downs. It's these multiple game time decisions that weed out the good coaches from the bad ones.
A head coach also has a big say in determining which coordinators the team has. So while coordinators do a lot of the heavy lifting, it is not unfair to blame a head coach for the follies of his coordinators. The head coach does have the ability to override what the coordinators do and have to continually agree with coordinators decisions, but individual game calling is not on the head coaches shoulders.
If a coach can effectively do all four things well, he is a coach worthy of Coach of the Year votes. If he fails to do all four things, especially year after year, he deserves to get the axe.
A part of what a head coach realistically HAS to do is play the expectations game. If his team is expected to win a super bowl and misses the playoffs, he will get fired. If he isn't expected to win many games and wins his division, he'll get a 3 year extension. If a team is expected to do well, then the team NEEDS to do well in order for a head coach to keep his job. But if the team isn't really expected to do anything, then the head coach is kinda safe. (However, a head coach can not be bad year after year. He can keep his job like one or two years if the team is expected to do bad but not for long. a team needs to show improvement.) It sucks, but that's what a head coach needs to do.
Blowing the owner also helps a head coach keep his job.
