Pink Slip Virus – 10 More NFL Coaches Who Could Get Fired By The End Of The Season…

December 16, 2011 By 1 Comment
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In a league where results are being demanded as swiftly as ever, no less than three National Football League coaches have been axed in a two-week period – starting with Jack Del Rio (after nine-plus years) in Jacksonville and escalating this week with Kansas City’s Todd Haley (less than a year removed from a playoff berth) and Miami’s Tony Sparano.

Is the head coaching turnover about to get as bad as the NHL or even the NBA (where all 15 Eastern Conference teams changed coaches in a two-year period in the mid-2000s)? That remains to be seen, but I see no less than 10 additional changes that may be made when the 2011 regular season closes January 1, or even after the playoffs.

Maybe it’s just global warming, but here are the coaches skating on the thin ice that JDR, Haley, and Sparano have already broken through. [Read more...]

Filed Under: NFL Tagged With: andy reid, coaches fired, head coaches, Jason Garrett, Jim Caldwell, leslie frazier, mike shanahan, NFL coaches, Norv Turner, pat shurmur, raheem morris, steve spagnuolo, tom coughlin

3 Reasons Leslie Frazier Is a BIG Upgrade Over Brad Childress

August 4, 2011 By 9 Comments
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It was only last November when the Packers defeated the Vikings 31-3 in the last game Brad Childress would serve as head coach for the Minnesota Vikings. What should have been a close game turned into blowout on home turf. The Vikings were 3-7, and it was time for an upgrade.

So upgrade they did.

The Monday after the Vikings-Packers game, Childress was fired. No more fights on the sidelines, no more shots being fired at the starting quarterback, no more poor play calls that “break” the game—at least not from Childress.

For the remainder of the season Leslie Frazier— the Defensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach—was named Interim Head Coach. After their season came to an end, the Vikings officially made Frazier Head Coach.

There are three reasons why Frazier is an upgrade from Childress:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: NFL, Sponsored Posts Tagged With: leslie frazier, Minnesota Vikings

Breaking Down Christian Ponder and the Rest of the Minnesota Vikings 2011 Draft Class

May 2, 2011 By 5 Comments
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I love the NFL Draft.

Actually, I love the thought of the NFL Draft.

For some reason, I spend three months every year trying to find the perfect scenario for the Vikings when it comes to the last weekend in April, only to sit and stare at the screen when everything falls apart. It’s just another thing to add to the list of things that make me hate sports.

For some reason though, I come back every year, and this year was no different.

The Vikings are entering a season with a new head coach and a lot of questions. What better way to get a head start on everything than with a great draft right? Well, I wouldn’t call this year’s draft a great one, but I wouldn’t call it a terrible one either. I’m not one to assign or even look at draft grades. I’d rather assess the picks by need and caliber, which we are about to do.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Christian Ponder, Kyle Rudolph, leslie frazier, Minnesota Vikings, nfl draft

St. Louis Rams Coaching Search: Leader Wanted in St. Louis to Show Male Sheep the Way

December 30, 2008 By 7 Comments
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St. Louis Rams Coaching Search - Short ListThe search has begun for the St. Louis Rams as they try to find someone to lead the team back to prominence and out of the cellar of the NFC West.

New general manager Billy Devaney will interview Green Bay assistant head coach/linebackers coach Winston Moss sometime this week to lead off the parade.

Moss has never been a coordinator in college or the NFL, but that is of little importance to Devaney, who told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the next coach of the Rams, first and foremost, “needs to be the leader in our building. He needs to change the atmosphere inside our building. This leader, whoever it is, has to reconnect with our fan base.”

That’s not saying that Winston Moss is the leading candidate for the spot vacated by the fired Scott Linehan, who gave way to interim coach Jim Haslett. But apparently Moss fits the criteria that Devaney has laid out.

Devaney will lean on an experienced group of football men as he canvasses the league for the right candidate. He said Tuesday that Bobby Beathard, a four-time Super Bowl-winning executive at Washington and his former boss at San Diego, will be a sounding board along with Rams director of player personnel Lawrence McCutcheon. In addition, former Big Red tackle and Hall of Famer Dan Dierdorf and former league MVP Marshall Faulk will be asked for their input.

Having those people in his corner will give Devaney the best chance at trying to pinpoint the right man for the job, not to mention, discover any warts that might be hidden by prospective candidates. He might be anxious to get an outsider’s opinion of Jim Haslett, who will also get to interview for the job he kept “cold” for the final 12 weeks of the season. Haslett went 2-10 during his audition and lost his last 10.

The fact that Devaney highlighted leadership in his criteria means he is more interested in substance rather than style points or trying to lure the circuit’s hottest coordinator.

Devaney was part of a coaching search last year when Atlanta was looking to replace Bobby Petrino. The Falcons interviewed the likes of Baltimore defensive coordinator Rex Ryan before settling on relative unknown Mike Smith, who was previously the defensive coordinator at Jacksonville. We know how that turned out — Smith’s Falcons won the NFC South a year after the franchise sank to new depths during the Michael Vick saga.

That’s proof that a struggling team doesn’t need to throw big bucks at someone like Bill Cowher to have success. They don’t have to have the hot name like Jason Garrett (last year), Steve Spagnuolo (last year and this year) or Josh McDaniels (see Spagnuolo).

Rex Ryan is an intriguing possibility. For the time being, he’s off limits because the Ravens are preparing for this week’s AFC Wild Card playoff game at Miami. Once the Ravens’ season is over, Ryan is worth taking another look at. He’s an excellent schemer who has been able to put pressure on offenses in 4-3 and 3-4 sets. Then again, he is able to deploy players such as Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Bart Scott, Terrell Suggs. What do those players have in common? They don’t play for the Rams.

Is Ryan a “leader” who has the qualities that Devaney is looking for? Or is he the beneficiary of having premier talent at his disposal? If Devaney passes on Ryan again, we should know Devaney’s opinion. But picking his brain is worth the time and effort.

If I was pressed with compiling a list of candidates for the Rams, I would start with these two men:

Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz — Schwartz has been the Titans’ defensive coordinator for eight seasons and is labeled as intense by some, a numbers freak by others. Bottom line, he has gotten great production out the Titans on defense the last two seasons.

Minnesota defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier — Frazier knows a thing or two about defense, having played for the Chicago Bears when they won the Super Bowl following the 1985 season. He helped turn around Philadelphia as an assistant before moving on to Cincinnati and Indianapolis, places where his charges showed marked improvement. He’s in his second season in charge of the Vikings’ defense and is well-respected around the league.

Who do you think is the best candidate for the St. Louis Rams?

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Filed Under: Featured Column, NFL Tagged With: Jim Haslett, jim schwartz, leslie frazier, NFL, St. Louis Rams, winston moss