2014-2015 NFL Football thread

[GoSox05]

I would assume most of these teams that need a coach would really love to have Dan Quinn, but are just afraid to wait.

 

I think he is by far the best candidate this year. He just might not be available for 3 or so weeks.

[bmags]

I would assume most of these teams that need a coach would really love to have Dan Quinn, but are just afraid to wait.

 

I think he is by far the best candidate this year. He just might not be available for 3 or so weeks.

 

Correct, really sucks not to have a coach in place that late when assistants start getting gobbled up, plus all-star games. I'd love to get Quinn.

[Harry Chappas]

I want zero part of Schwartz. Undisciplined.

 

Did you see Detroit this year?

 

Two of their better players should have missed their biggest games fro stupidity. Is that still his fault?

[GoSox05]

Correct, really sucks not to have a coach in place that late when assistants start getting gobbled up, plus all-star games. I'd love to get Quinn.

 

Yeah, I'm not sure it would be fair to make everyone wait until after the Super Bowl to hire either. So it's just kind of one of those things.

 

 

It sounds like Quinn wants to go to Atlanta. That would be a great spot for him.

 

[Kyyle23]

While Jim Schwartz was in Detroit his highest ranked defense in points allowed was 15th. Bottom half of the league every other year.

 

 

Not sure he is all that great. Maybe I'm just biased cause he is a big idiot, who let his players go on the field and try to hurt other players. Not to mention the time he tried to attack another coach.

 

Just curious what his teams numbers were with both the Bills and Tennessee when he was strictly DC?

[GoSox05]

The players might just be dirt bags, but watch what happens with Caldwell. Both those players did that at the end of the year. I wouldn't be surprised if both of those players are gone next year.

Edited January 14, 2015 by GoSox05

[Harry Chappas]

The players might just be dirt bags, but watch what happens with Caldwell. Both those players did that at the end of the year. I wouldn't be surprised if both of those players are gone next year.

 

Suh is gone because they cannot afford him.

[GoSox05]

Just curious what his teams numbers were with both the Bills and Tennessee when he was strictly DC?

 

Ranked points allowed -

 

25

11

13

30

29

31

8

2

4

 

 

 

 

[GoSox05]

Suh is gone because they cannot afford him.

 

If they really want him back they could. They can make cap room if need be.

[Chisoxfn]

Rankings (Not near as good as I remembered):

 

2014 = Bills (DC)

2009 - 2013 = Lions (HC)

2002 - 2008 = Titans (DC)

PTS

2014 4

2013 15

2012 27

2011 23

2010 19

2009 32

2008 2

2007 8

2006 31

2005 29

2004 30

2003 13

2002 11

 

YDs

 

2014 4

2013 13

2012 23

2011 8

2010 17

2009 31

2008 1

2007 16

2006 26

2005 29

2004 27

2003 4

2002 11

[Chisoxfn]

I wonder if Vic Fangio is an option. He's a freaking stud DC.

[Chisoxfn]

Can't remember if this was posted on here or not, but Kyle Shannahan would likely be Fox's OC (Per Schefty & Others).

[witesoxfan]

Is Marrone's stock down right now? I thought it was the contrary but I know you're closer to that conversation.

 

Basically, yes. I think teams really looked down upon him bailing on the Bills like he did, perhaps indicating a lack of devotion and commitment to the job. Also, considering he is a supposedly a bright offensive mind and a cut from the Sean Payton tree, his offenses were incredibly bland and vanilla. Some of that is the QB under center, but it didn't seem he could stick with one thing (they talked about running the hurry up and running the ball a lot, but devolved into Orton throwing a lot, which is a bad idea) or work with the strength of the team (with no good QB and a plethora of running backs, they should have ran it much more than they did). He was also considered to be a great cultivator of offensive lineman and all the Bills saw was a decent to good line morph into mediocre to poor offensive line play. His family also indicated that the media was "unnecessarily unfair and overly critical of him [sic]" but that's what happens with head coaches in today's NFL and that's in technically the second smallest market but really the smallest market, thanks to Green Bay's popularity and proximity to Milwaukee. There was also a lot of in-house fighting between he and the GM Doug Whaley as well, escalating to a shouting match during training camp in front of members of the media. He was also very conservative and punted a ton in late short and 4th situations where the team was down.

 

Needless to say, even with a 9-7 record this past year, I was not impressed with Marrone in the least.

[Kyyle23]

Ranked points allowed -

 

25

11

13

30

29

31

8

2

4

 

ha. really good or really bad. not much in between

[Dick Allen]

If the players are bad, the defense will be bad, no matter who is coaching. Maybe not Mel Tucker bad.

 

A good offense would also help the defense.

 

Offensively, even with Cutler back, a new coach should be able to get that group to score more points.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Dick Allen

[Chisoxfn]

Kyle Shannahan

 

2014 = Cleveland

2013 - 2010 = Washington

2008 - 2009 = Houston

 

Pts

2014 27 (Hoyer)

2013 23 (Griffin)

2012 4 (Griffin)

2011 26 (Grossman)

2010 25 (McNabb)

2009 10 (Schaub)

2008 17 (Schaub)

 

Yds

2014 23 (Hoyer)

2013 9 (Griffin)

2012 5 (Griffin)

2011 16 (Grossman)

2010 18 (McNabb)

2009 4 (Schaub)

2008 3 (Schaub)

[2nd_city_saint787]

I wonder if Vic Fangio is an option. He's a freaking stud DC.

 

While throwing rankings out there, you might wanna look at what he did before going to San Fran.

 

 

[Chisoxfn]

While throwing rankings out there, you might wanna look at what he did before going to San Fran.

By the way, I take the rankings to an extent with a grain of salt. To me you compare the rankings to the personell and talent and say did he get as much out of the team (or more or less) as the talent level. With Kyle, the fact that 4 of his 7 years he had top 10 offenses (Yards) and 3 of the 7 years as OC his offenses ranked top 5 in yards, with Schaub and RG III, well that is impressive. I think the Browns on paper were a complete garbage offense (and I think Hoyer is about as bad as a lot of the piles of junk that the Bears had at QB, such as Henry Burris) so I don't think anyone could have saved that unit. The #'s posted with Rex Grossman as the leading passer (and McNabb when he was done) were actually relatively impressive to me (even though general ranking may not have been good).

 

The one question I have is context, how much of those yards were piled up because team was down, etc and why weren't those offenses able to convert the yards to points? I think the same thing on the defensive side of the ball. You evaluate coaches success while considering personnel they had to work with.

[bmags]

I agree, Shanahan, with the exception of the decent Texans teams (Foster/A. Johnson), has not worked with great offensive talent. Last years browns were awful, not a single good RB, or good WR, or good QB.

 

Under Hoyer, they were pretty good until all of his tendencies were countered.

[MurcieOne]

@AaronLemingNFL: It's not like I'm "breaking" much here but I will say that I have been told John Fox will indeed be the next HC of the #Bears

 

Take FWIW. This guy called the Pace hiring a day before anyone else. Love the hire.

[bmags]

Man, WCG is in full meatball mode.

 

I have to say, I have concerns that Fox does have a ceiling as a coach. It's clear that he, like apparently every coach, need talent to win.

 

But he has excellent connections for assistants, can handle the team, and will put the team in position where if luck hits we can make a serious run.

 

The arguments, thick with choking on their polish sausage neckfat, that he was only made because of Peyton Manning and the REAL John Fox is the 2-14 Panthers with Matt Moore and rookie Clausen at QB are just ridiculous.

[Jake]

The key question is whether a team can have a really, really bad season and it not be the coach's fault. Can a guy have some blemishes on his resume and that just be part of what happens when you coach for a long time or is it some proof that when certain circumstances aren't met, he's no good?

 

It seems Fox has a good reputation for leading an orderly locker room, hiring bright assistants, and generally having his team perform up to expectations. He's had some fabulous teams in Denver, especially the last two years. Last year was the year to win it, and they almost did. This year would seem to have been just as prime time, but perhaps it was Peyton's injury that cost them. My feeling is that if you give John Fox a 13-3 team, he'll get them to go 13-3 just about every time. Sometimes he'll make an 8-8 team a couple games better. I don't see him being the driving force behind a bad team.

 

If our problem is that the team only plays up to its talent level and merely makes the playoffs and usually wins there, we can cross that bridge when we get there.

[Chisoxfn]

Dennis Allen would reportedly be his DC. I hope everything is true. I'm really excited if it is the case. With Fox you know that if you have good personnel you will have a good team so the onous now really falls on Pace to bring in good people. Fox knows what he is doing and is a good coach, but good coaches still need talent. Pace...get Fox that talent. He'll coach it up and develop it, but you need to get it.

[Chisoxfn]

Same individual indicates that Pasqualoni may be the only assistant returning and that he will be interviewing for his job tomorrow. If Fox is the guy, I have full faith in him surrounding himself with great assistants (he seems to have done it everywhere he has been).

[Chisoxfn]

Damn it...announce Fox already. It would be such a major step in the right direction for the Bears. We can debate whether Fox can win a superbowl in the future, the reality is he's proven that he is a competent head coach who brings stability and has demonstrated an ability to hire top assistants (look at all of his assistants that went on to be HC's) and win with some pretty average to crappy QB's (Delhomme - Tebow) and obviously look amazing with someone like Peyton.

 

And before people say, well he only made the playoffs 3 out of 10 years in his coaching career without Peyton Manning, I'd point out to the fact that his career record with the Panthers, which included a year with Claussen as a rookie (2-14) was over .500 and included a trip to the superbowl where they were a missed field goal away from beating Beliceck. Belli's career record without Brady is about 20 games under .500. End of the day, I think it is critical to have a coach who stabilizes and can win, develop, and generally gets more out of a team than their talent level (I know people will say Denver on paper was stacked and they certainly were but Peyton Manning has a massive track record of choking in the playoffs and they still did make a superbowl in 1 out of the 3 years, which is no easy feat). The Bears have made the playoffs 7 times since 1990 where as Fox made it 7 times in the last 13 years. That is a major freaking upgrade for this franchise.

 

We have hired a ton of sexy assistants over the past 20 years as head coaches too and Lovie was the best we got (and to be frank, that was pretty good...Fox is an upgrade over him though as he has been able to actually hire good offensive assistants). We had Jauron, we had Wanny, etc...now we are getting a proven guy at a time that the organization really needs it (and yes, I think Trestman was that bad). When we look back on the Bears franchise, I think we will look at this off-season as one which put the Bears back on the map to being one of the elite franchises in the league again. The real question to me is, can Pace do his part and get Fox the talent.