NFL Thread

[Salacious Kitty]

Out as coach, but looks to be moving upstairs in some capacity. 

[roamyn]

20 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Out as coach, but looks to be moving upstairs in some capacity. 

Yeah sounds like not a firing, per se, but being allowed to move into a different capacity w/in the organization.  Makes me wonder if retiring was something Carroll was leaning toward.

[Carey]

Yep.  That's the plan.  Here is the article from ESPN.

Sounds like a true parting ways scenario here.  It was surprising since he survived Black Monday & mentioned coaching for the 15th season, and then BOOM.

Pete's under contract so I guess that if he wanted to go somewhere else he might've stayed one more year, but at his age, there isn't really nothing else left

[mojoween]

Ok apparently for realsies this time Wink is out as DC for the Giants.  No takebacks!

[JTMacc99]

From what I'm hearing, I wasn't wrong about Wink simply not being happy that his boss told him what to do. 

Oh well. 

[Carey]

Probably for the best.  As far as Brandon Staley goes: I probably would try to look for someone else in terms of a new DC.  If he struggled with his side of the ball, to a big level, then he probably isn't the best hire to replace Wink.  However, I would go for him immediately if the choices were him and Patricia

[baldryanr]

Looks like the slap on the wrist has come

I have no doubt he'll be back when the next season starts up.

[Carey]

I didn't even need to hover over the hyperlink to know what that content was all about

[mojoween]

Should have been told that *last* Wednesday.

[Salacious Kitty]

At least McAfee showed some remorse.  But let's face it, he's enabled Rodgers for far too long. 

Edited January 11 by Salacious Kitty

[Bastet]

I love how McAfee paints himself as a victim in this, like he had to deal with Rogers' drama and, oh thank heavens, now he doesn't.  Please.  If you hire a lying nutjob, you don't get to claim surprise when he uses your platform to spew crazy lies -- especially when you keep letting him. 

[roamyn]

26 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I love how McAfee paints himself as a victim in this, like he had to deal with Rogers' drama and, oh thank heavens, now he doesn't.  Please.  If you hire a lying nutjob, you don't get to claim surprise when he uses your platform to spew crazy lies -- especially when you keep letting him. 

He encourages it, as well.  Laughing along w/Rodgers, making sounds of agreement.

So while McAfee didn't build the weed that is Aaron Rodgers, he watered the seeds in helping it grow.

[Wildcard]

6 hours ago, mojoween said:

This is how I read that news

Wow. The off-season coach search is gonna be fun.

 

 

[Irlandesa]

17 hours ago, bluegirl147 said:

My question is if they are in the V formation can the defense go after the ball? Because it doesn't seem fair the offense can do something like that but the defense can't do anything but stand there and lose.

Once the ball is snapped to the QB in a V formation, he immediately kneels down and the play is blown dead.  It's a short, quick play that doesn't give a defense much time to try anything so they don't even though they technically could.  But it's a lot of effort and injury risk for a futile endeavor.

Now, if that snap gets fumbled, then anything goes. 

16 hours ago, Johannah said:

It's a hollow victory, not really earned and, frankly, how many people are going to celebrate this one touchdown as opposed to how many just remember a team's poor sportsmanship?   I don't even know the guy's name even though it was mentioned above, but I remember the team's tackiness.

It's Jamal Williams.  He led the season last year in rushing touchdowns and I guess he hasn't had any this year.  (He was on the Lions last season.)   I remember Jamal from when he spent his first years with the Packers.  He has an awesome personality and he was a favorite of his teammates.  The move was tacky and undisciplined, but I do believe it was out of genuine love for him.

10 hours ago, baldryanr said:

Looks like the slap on the wrist has come

I have no doubt he'll be back when the next season starts up.

I doubt they've told him it's a slap on the wrist. He's probably only contracted through his football season and the only thing they're changing for this off season is not allowing him to make sporadic ad hoc appearances after the season the way he has done in the past.

Edited January 11 by Irlandesa

[roamyn]

52 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

The move was tacky and undisciplined, but I do believe it was out of genuine love for him.

It's not just tacky , it's insubordination.  They outright defied their coach.  And Jameis bragged abt it.

If they wanted to get him a TD, just run a regular play.  

[mojoween]

Am I crazy, or is Belichick’s record *without* Brady rather pedestrian?

[Carey]

Rather pedestrian?  To be respectful to the guy that is fair enough.  The Brady-less Belichick is the one Western PA saw in the 90s.  Basically a de facto bye week or open date.  That's why things felt vexatious when New England won out of nowhere the following decade when those deserving or someone else was "slated" to win the whole thing instead

[baldryanr]

42 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Am I crazy, or is Belichick’s record *without* Brady rather pedestrian?

Yes it is because a good coach can't win with crappy players.  Belichick the GM crippled Belichick the coach with some of his moves.

Now we'll see how much Belichick wants the all time wins record.  He's 26 behind Shula, so that's realistically at least 3 more seasons.  Plus as long as Mahomes is still going strong Andy Reid is in decent shape to eventually catch him.

Oh, and two of his kids are on the Pats coaching staff (nepotism!).  I wonder if they convinced dad to work out some deal to keep them gainfully employed.

Edited January 11 by baldryanr

[mojoween]

I mean, not gonna lie, even at 70something I would not hate him returning to where it started in the Meadowlands.

[Salacious Kitty]

Is it official? 

[roamyn]

2 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Is it official? 

Yes, it broke moments ago.

[Carey]

As they say, things come in 3's.  I haven't seen something like this since the network news anchors all bowed out from their post in 2004-2005.  FWIW, Pete, Nick, and Bill were about the same age with the difference about 7 months and a day

[Salacious Kitty]

8 minutes ago, roamyn said:

Yes, it broke moments ago.

I just saw the "expected" headline. Nothing concrete. 

[Carey]

ESPN Report via Adam Schefter & Mike Reiss

[Fukui San]

Alright, here we go.

Fans of teams who are currently coachless, would you want your team to hire BIll?

I do think he is the greatest coach of all time legitimately, but that his coaching has devolved in the past few years. A lot of his assistants left and/or retired around the time McDaniels left and they have not been replaced adequately. He wasn't flexible enough to hire enough from outside and we were left with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge running the offense and one of the genuinely dumbest teams of all time in 2022.

Mac Jones became a victim of this, if he ever had the chance to become a franchise QB. I think in previous eras of Belichick's tenure Jones would have turned out better. The Patriots managed to develop Matt Cassell, Garrappolo, Jacoby Brissett, and Brian Hoyer under Brady's shadow, and they were all able to start for other teams. Mac should have been at least that good under normal Belichick coaching.

I'm interested in seeing where he goes, and how he goes about coaching in his new position, if he gets hired. If I'm an owner, I have some reservations about which Bill Belichick we'd be getting before I sign on.

(And there's also the GM'ing part, which is it's own thing)

[JTMacc99]

I don't think Belichick should move on to another team to be honest. 

He is still the absolute top at working up strategies and football in general. But is he the guy who can right now also build an entirely new staff somewhere, and what's his thought on working with a front office as opposed to running it? And all of the things a new HC has to do in an organization, is he really interested in taking all of that on?

I mean, if he wants to come back home to the Giants and just be a football coach without all of the other BS that a head coach has to do, I'd welcome him with open arms to run the defense. 

(Can you imagine that scenario?  Guys, I'd like to introduce you to our new defensive coordinator...)

Belichick has good memories of his time with the Giants.

[Black Knight]

I read some rumors that the Raiders are interested in Belichick because they still want to do Patriots West even though the first incarnation of that with McDaniels didn't go well.

Mark Davis loves a splashy hire. Hopefully Belichick is going to go to a team with an established QB, and Davis will have to do the sensible thing and make Pierce the permanent coach. I know Pierce is inexperienced, but you look at the Raiders defense after he took over and man, I haven't seen a decent Raiders defense in so long.

[Carey]

Some might argue that Mark Davis & his place is one that he doesn't deserve.  For me, I think he's done alright.  However, I don't think he's very smart.  Otherwise, he'd pick someone that actually wins games (after all, that was their standard once upon a time ago).

I'd be okay with a splash hire if it's Jim Harbaugh.  But that's it.  That way, I'm not reading yet another story related to someone getting fired in Week Five during the 2024-2026 season.

Do I think Pierce is the best candidate?  No I do not.  If the guys are full of energy & are winning, I'd give him a shot since it's not costing any money.  Why spend money when that's what's happening with Gruden & McDaniels.  If Pierce doesn't work out (like Cable didn't), the contract expires and then you move on

[kathyk2]

I watched the Belichick and Kraft press conference. They were both gracious and I'm still in shock that he won't be the Patriots coach next season. I'm old enough to remember before he was the coach and losing seasons were common. Who ever replaces him will have huge shoes to fill.

[Carey]

Tom Brady is the successor.  Whatever the opposite of filling shoes fits here

[JTMacc99]

1 hour ago, kathyk2 said:

I watched the Belichick and Kraft press conference.

I listened to it on the radio. It sure sounded like Kraft believes that Belichick will be coaching somewhere next season.

 

[kathyk2]

22 hours ago, Bastet said:

I love how McAfee paints himself as a victim in this, like he had to deal with Rogers' drama and, oh thank heavens, now he doesn't.  Please.  If you hire a lying nutjob, you don't get to claim surprise when he uses your platform to spew crazy lies -- especially when you keep letting him. 

Aaron Rodgers was on McAfee's show after the Patriots press conference so his suspension didn't last long.

1 hour ago, JTMacc99 said:

I listened to it on the radio. It sure sounded like Kraft believes that Belichick will be coaching somewhere next season.

 

I think he'll coach until he breaks Don Shula's wins record. I don't think Belichick will go somewhere for just a year.

[JTMacc99]

15 minutes ago, kathyk2 said:

I think he'll coach until he breaks Don Shula's wins record. I don't think Belichick will go somewhere for just a year.

I think he simply loves coaching football and doesn't want to stop doing it. And yeah, I don't think he would go anywhere with the idea of just being there for one year.

I could certainly be wrong about this, but the man has eight Super Bowl rings. I just don't feel like he's sticking around to chase records or seek validation that he can win without Tom Brady. I feel like he's not lacking self confidence and pride in what he's done.

 

[Bastet]

6 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

Belichick has good memories of his time with the Giants.

And I rather liked him when he was there, but that feeling is long gone and I don't want to see him dressed like a homeless person on "my" sidelines now.  That brief nightmare of Jason Garrett as offensive coordinator was bad enough.

[meowmommy]

1 hour ago, kathyk2 said:

I think he'll coach until he breaks Don Shula's wins record. I don't think Belichick will go somewhere for just a year.

Given that he needs fifteen wins to break the record, and given that the teams hiring coaches right now are ones looking to rebuild, you'd have to think it could take him at least three seasons.  What franchises are going to hire him just so he can pad his record?

[mojoween]

I know that another storm is coming this weekend, but I didn’t think they were calling for snowpocalypse, so what’s this scuttlebutt about moving the game to Cleveland?

[JTMacc99]

2 hours ago, meowmommy said:

Given that he needs fifteen wins to break the record, and given that the teams hiring coaches right now are ones looking to rebuild, you'd have to think it could take him at least three seasons.  What franchises are going to hire him just so he can pad his record?

The Chargers are not in a rebuild; they are more of an underachieving bunch that got hit hard with injuries. 

[Fukui San]

2 hours ago, meowmommy said:

Given that he needs fifteen wins to break the record, and given that the teams hiring coaches right now are ones looking to rebuild, you'd have to think it could take him at least three seasons.  What franchises are going to hire him just so he can pad his record?

There's also the possibility that a playoff team who flames out in the first round might axe their coach to go after a big name, whether it be Belichick, Harbaugh, or even Pete Carroll.

[Carey]

Belichick in Tampa would be...I guess that would be okay

[roamyn]

4 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

On 1/10/2024 at 5:37 PM, Bastet said:

 

Aaron Rodgers was on McAfee's show after the Patriots press conference so his suspension didn't last long.

McAfee is a sneaky lying dastardly, and I am never watching him again, since he deigns to give human waste a mouthpiece. 

I used to enjoy the refreshing attitudes and rebellious nature.  Now he's just a kiss ass, and not even to Corporate America, but rather to Right Wing Wack Jobs.

[Carey]

Meh.  It's possible it's due to the Belichick thing & wanted to give his thoughts in the aftermath of it.  If he shows up beyond that & prior to next year, then it would be a bogus "suspension" for AR12.  Though regardless, Aaron hardly faced New England so there's that

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, Carey said:

It's possible it's due to the Belichick thing & wanted to give his thoughts in the aftermath of it.  If he shows up beyond that & prior to next year, then it would be a bogus "suspension" for AR12.  Though regardless, Aaron hardly faced New England so there's that

I think the issue is ESPN really wanted it to seem like they were giving Rodgers a suspension because of his comments.  Some "inside sources" in articles flat out said that was the reason.

And yet, not 24 hours later he's back.  If he were really "suspended," he wouldn't be there.  He doesn't really have special insight into Bill.  They weren't in the same conference.  They never met in the playoffs.  He only played as a starting QB against him three times. Pat could get numerous other former players on his show to weigh in.

He wanted to weigh in because he wanted to make sure everyone knew he still called the shots on his appearances.

 

[Carey]

Mayo is the guy

[Lamb18]

Bellichik (?) at Minnesota? I don't think it will happen as I don't think they would fire O'Connell to get Bellichik. Otherwise I wouldn't mind because I'd like to see what he could do with Kirk Cousins.

[roamyn]

14 minutes ago, Carey said:

Mayo is the guy

Naming their new coach so soon, makes sense if they already had the line of succession set up.

I still like Pierce in LV, as he has the respect of his team, he'd be inexpensive, and has proven capable.  Please don't send Vrable or Ben Johnson to die in Carolina, tho I do think Vrable could handle Tepper.  Rumor here is he wants Bellicheck, but Washington makes more sense to me.  You want someone to establish a new culture, setting things up for a few years before retiring, and Bill loves the East Coast.  Ol Khakhi Pants will coward out to the NFL so he doesn't have to face NCAA sanctions and go to the Chargers if Spanos can find the $ to pay him.  Maybe Ben Johnson to the Titans and Dan Quinn to Seattle?

[JTMacc99]

Washington is actually a desirable job for the first time in forever. They have (one would assume) a stable ownership group, some decent talent already on the roster, and a very high draft pick in a year where it appears they can land a solid QB prospect.

Chargers is also desirable. They really weren't a BAD team under Staley, they just weren't good enough. They also have high picks this year and they have a real QB. (Downside is that they have some salary cap issues and may need to part ways with some high paid talent, and they're short on fan support.)

Seattle has a very stable organization and good winning culture, so that's also a place where a veteran coach would feel like he could step right in and do well, provided he believes they have the answer at QB.

Tennessee, Las Vegas, Atlanta are all to me middle of the road kind of jobs. Rosters are okay, but who is playing QB for you?  The ownership isn't terrible. A good coach could make those teams work.

And then nobody in their right mind would take the Panthers job, so I would expect that one to go to a first time guy looking for an opportunity.

[Fukui San]

A podcast suggested Pete Carroll should go to the Chargers, both because of football reasons and because of his roots at USC he actually could raise the profile of the Chargers because of that residual goodwill.

Mayo getting the Pats job was expected, though a little surprising that they didn't even go through a search process. Mayo being a minority means they get to bypass the Rooney rule. After retirement but prior to getting into coaching, Mayo worked in business but also made appearances on football podcasts with local beat reporter Tom Curran, where he was fun, personable, and energetic. I don't think he's going to try to do a Belichick impression like so many of his other assistants, but we'll see. The Pats still need a GM, and you have to think that Kraft also has that name lined up as he's had quite some time to think about all this and if nothing else, he's been decisive.

[roamyn]

25 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

Mayo being a minority means they get to bypass the Rooney rule.

That's not the reason.  They still would have to interview at least one more minority candidate. 

According to Schefter, it's because the plan of succession was on file in the League office. Similar to when Decosta took over as GM for Newsome in Baltimore.

[BlackberryJam]

I don’t actually listen or watch any of the sports “talk” shows. I’m kind of a bitch about it, but when I go to a sports bar and they only have talk shows on, I ask them to switch to actual sports. I don’t care if it’s cricket or cornhole or timber sports (which are FUN) or anything. Just not a bunch of assholes talking about sports.

Most of my lunch haunts have found that people enjoy watching sports rather than the talk shows and have switched things up. 

All of that to say, who the fuck is McAfee? I mean, there is a HVAC guy in my state by that name who got nailed for racist tweeting by that name, so I have an immediate negative reaction. Is there something I am unknowingly purchasing that is supporting this dude?

I am eternally frustrated by airtime given to idiots. 

 

[JTMacc99]

15 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

I am eternally frustrated by airtime given to idiots. 

I stopped listening to the local sports talk radio programs 20 years ago. I got the gist of it, which was very entertaining for a while to me, which is that the hosts need to voice their opinions in the form of declarative statements.

That gets people listen and feel compelled to call up and phrase their own opinion as a declarative statement.  And round and round they go. Now days I only listen to the NFL Radio on Sirius, as the hosts are rarely if ever making statements just to get people riled up. The fans are still insane, but that's okay as long as the hosts are NOT saying stuff just to make sure they hit ratings targets. 

And McAfee was a kicker in the NFL. A good kicker actually, who made a couple pro bowls and one All Pro recognition. Because he has that voice and enough charisma (like or or hate it) to be analyst, that's where he landed after his career ended. He also has made connections with pro wrestling, which I didn't know until I just looked him up, and that makes perfect sense.