Last year at this time we took a look at the coaching carousel to fill space at the beginning of the column. Since I don't have any better ideas, let's do that again!
Cleveland Browns
Out: Mike Pettine
In: Hue Jackson
Jackson had a one-year stint as head coach of the Raiders & actually got them to .500 somehow but still got let go because reasons. He's done a good job with the Bengals offense the last couple of years & knows all the teams in the AFC North really well. On paper I really like this hire, and I think Hue would be a really successful head coach in the right situation.
Unfortunately, it's the Browns. The organization is going through tons of changes right now and maybe there's some hope that things will get better someday, but we're saying this about the Browns every couple of years and the more things change the more they stay the same. I wish the guy luck, but I don't like his chances.
Miami Dolphins
Out: Joe Philbin & Dan Campbell
In: Adam Gase
Gase built up a reputation as an offensive genius with the Denver Broncos, serving as offensive coordinator when Peyton Manning came in. I thought Peyton was his own offensive coordinator, but whatever. He followed John Fox to Chicago last season and did what he could with a Bears team missing most of their wide receivers and having Jay Cutler. The Dolphins hope he'll be able to do something with Ryan Tannehill...I would have been a lot more optimistic about that last year. I like that they went with youth, but I'm not sure what qualifies Gase for the position.
New York Giants
Out: Tom Coughlin
In: Ben McAdoo
After what seems like 15 years of Coughlin being on the hot seat, he finally stepped aside this year & the Giants opted to replace him with his offensive coordinator. McAdoo did well in that role, as the Giants offense went from 28th in scoring the year before his hiring to 13th in 2014 & 6th in 2015. Of course this didn't translate to victories, but the improvement of Eli Manning & the rest of the offense under McAdoo has to be considered a good sign. The Giants didn't need overhauling and this slight change could be enough to get them to the top of the NFC East next season.
Philadelphia Eagles
Out: Chip Kelly
In: Doug Pederson
Pederson started his NFL coaching career in Philly & followed Andy Reid to Kansas City in 2013 to be his offensive coordinator. KC had a not-so-good passing offense and a pretty good rushing offense...they got to the playoffs because of their defense. But Pederson is familiar, they know he won't go power crazy or anything like that, he's a safe choice.
Of course, his offense just lost a playoff game because they took 6 minutes to score at the end of the game when they were down two touchdowns. Pederson's explanation that they didn't want to put the ball in Tom Brady's hands would have made sense if they were down by 1 TD & wanted to play for overtime, sure. It's not the kind of decision-making that would make Eagles fans very optimistic. Then again, I'm not sure what kind of a new head coach could make Eagles fans very optimistic at this point. I don't expect much from Pederson.
San Francisco 49ers
Out: Jim Tomsula
In: Chip Kelly
The 49ers got rid of Jim Harbaugh because he was an asshole. They hired Jim Tomsula because he was easy to control. They fired Jim Tomsula because the team sucked. Time to bring in a new asshole! I'm not sold at all on Chip as an NFL head coach, but the 49ers will be infinitely more interesting next season because he's there. You need guys like Chip & Rex Ryan coaching teams to make things fun, regardless of whether they're actually good or not.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Out: Lovie Smith
In: Dirk Koetter
Lovie getting the axe was a bit surprising because the Bucs had improved their win total by 4 games this year, but apparently ownership really didn't want Koetter to leave for somewhere else because of his relationship with Jameis Winston. There have been rumors of a coup, which would make this a lot more interesting than it actually probably is. Tampa seems to be heading in the right direction, and if Koetter knows how to work with Jameis, this could end up working out for the best.
Tennessee Titans
Out: Ken Whisenhunt
In: Mike Mularkey
Whisenhunt's 3-20 record was pretty inexcusable, but Mularkey's career record of 18-39 ain't a heck of a lot better. His career best was 9-7 with the 2004 Buffalo Bills, he then got fired after going 5-11 in 2005, and then got fired after one 2-14 season in Jacksonville. His 2-7 record as interim coach of the Titans doesn't exactly inspire confidence, but I guess if you want your franchise to continue to remain irrelevant it's a fine way to go about things. Expect the Titans to be looking for another coach in two seasons or less.
Yeah, I'm not overly thrilled with most of the new hires. Let's talk about some teams that don't need new coaches!
Sunday, January 24
New England (-3) at Denver: You knew it had to come to this. Brady vs. Manning for the AFC Championship yet again. We could have skipped the entire season & put these teams in this game, and there would have been a lot fewer concussions. As usual, the NFL does not care about the health of players. Denver as the underdog is a wee bit surprising considering they're the home team and beat the Patriots in Week 12 in Denver. But we do give the Patriots a lot of credit and tend to assume that they won't lose to the same team twice in one season. There's also the fact that Tom Brady beats Peyton Manning a lot. 11-5 all time. HOWEVA, Peyton is 2-1 against Tom in AFC Championship Games, which are the most important games these men can face each other in.
The Broncos struggled against the Steelers last week, and the Patriots might have struggled to beat the Chiefs if they didn't get a two-possession lead and give an Andy Reid team the football with 6:29 left in the game. It was academic from that point. The thing that worries me about the Broncos this week is they're talking way too much junk about Tom Brady. You don't talk junk about Tom Brady and end up beating him. Doesn't happen.
I'd really like to pick the Broncos because they're the underdog and at home, but I picked the Patriots in the preseason and have to be loyal to the idea of Roger Goodell being forced to give his boys Bobby Kraft & Billy Belichick the Lombardi Trophy. Anything that makes Roger Goodell look silly is good in my book.
Arizona at Carolina (-3): One of my main problems with the rise of the Carolina Panthers this season is that we don't know a whole lot about them. There isn't a lot of pre-existing material on the Panthers outside of Cam Newton. Sure, Cam is polarizing & fun & all that, but since I don't get offended by touchdown celebrations there isn't a lot for me to talk about there. They also do the Dab dance a lot, which is either a cool Atlanta-based thing or a drug reference depending on who you ask. Either way, it's not really something I can relate with since I'm a nerdy old white dude.
This week though, I finally found something that gives me some level of interest in the Panthers. Linebacker Ben Jacobs, tight end Greg Olsen & athletic performance analyst Brett Nenaber have taken to the habit of Creedbombing each other & their teammates. Remember Creed?
Back when I was in high school they were all over pretty much every radio station. It's the style of music that gets a ton of airplay because people respond to it. If you're not a fan, you really really really really don't like it. I had a friend that was super into them and got me more into their stuff. It was right around the time that WWF was doing those Desire videos where they used the song "My Sacrifice". Still some of the best work that they've done with music in my opinion. Of course, they split up not long after that time period & came back for a reunion tour in 2009. Yup, I went to it. Good thing I did too, because they went their separate ways again & Scott Stapp went insane. So nothing will probably come of all the new publicity for Creed, but most of the guys are in Alter Bridge and that's a good band that isn't as overexposed.
I also liked Josh Norman dropping a gingerbread man reference in an interview this week. Now we're starting to find out about these guys, and it's all right. I'd probably root for them this week if they were playing anybody else. But they're playing my guy Carson Palmer & the Arizona Cardinals. Carson's selection by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2003 NFL Draft was a key moment in the transition of 3-13 football every year for the Bengals to losing in the 1st round every year. Regardless of how things ended, Bengals fans owe him a debt of gratitude for helping change the culture in Cincinnati. There's nothing I'd like to see more than Palmer leading the Cardinals to their first NFL Championship since 1947, when the Chicago Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Eagles 28-21 for the title.
My sentiment towards Palmer leads me to take the Cardinals and the points. It should be a low-scoring game with two top-notch defenses doing all they can to shut the offenses down. But at the end of the night, Carson Palmer will lead Arizona towards the Super Bowl...
WITH ARMS WIDE OPEN.
Last Week: 2-2
Playoff Record: 3-5
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