2003Contenders

Hmmm. If Clements was "fired" then that must mean that MM did the honors, as Ralph explained in the PC that the head coach is responsible for hiring and firing his assistants. That probably means that MM is staying.

Yea, we can only imagine what kind of mess we'd be in now IF Butler had stayed around. We'd have major cap problems IN ADDITION to our current situation. Thankfully Butler hit the road because he wasn't man enough to clean up the mess that he left behind. Also, I can never get over that last horrible draft that he oversaw, which was worse than anything TD did.

Maybe he and Marv haven't had a chance to touch base on MM's future -- and he wants to iron that our prior to introducing Marv as GM.

All of what you say is true. I wish there wasn't so much "absolutism" running rampant. By that I mean suggesting that TD is all good or he is all bad. He made some good moves for the Bills -- and he made some that unfortunately turned out to be not-so-good. The bottom line is that things just didn't work out -- and we need to move in a different direction. It doesn't mean that TD should be demonized. Just thank him for doing the best job he can -- and hope that his successor is able to do what he couldn't. Look at all of the embarassment that the team has endured in just the past few days alone: 1. Losing to the pitiful Jets 2. Having the coach of the defending college champs refer to the staff he worked with for this team back in 84 as "the worst ever". 3. With all of the Gregg Williams worshiping going on by the national press, we keep hearing that he deserves a reprieve, considering it was in Buffalo where he failed as a head coach. 4. And becasue of ESPN's ties to TD, we are going to continue to hear from Mort and his pals how foolish Wilson was for letting TD go. Can't you see that when TD winds up at ESPN or wherever else it is he's going, being the spin doctor that he is, he will point out what a no-win situation he faced in Buffalo? And hearing us as fans say cruel and foolish things about him as he heads out the door will only fan that flame.

Can't say that I disagree with anything that Mort said here. It is silly and blind to suggest that TD did not do some good things during his time in Buffalo. However, the bottom line is that the team failed to make the playoffs even once during his tenure, and it is time to move in a different direction.

For anything you ever want to say about Marv, I will say that he had two great strengths as head coach: 1. Understanding how to deal with a team full of egos 2. Delegating the actual coaching and play calling to his well qualified assistants. If he serves as nothing more than a mentor to MM, then it would really be worthwhile for MM to pick up on both of these two aspects of being a head coach. MM needs to forget about being recognized as some "top flight" offensive-minded coach, hire a genuine quality OC -- and make sure that everyone is doing what they are supposed to do. Its' really not all that hard.

Question what kind of relationship did/do Haslett and Marv Levy have? I only ask in wodering whether the rumors of Marv filling a role as at least an advisor to RW are true...

This news tells me that they have a specific candidate in mind and that Gray is the token minority interview. Otherwise, they would have selected a more serious candidate to satisfy that purpose. It's a shame that this well-meaning attempt by the NFL to ensure that minorities get a fair shake is actually back-firing.

I also vote for Turner. I know he's a horrible head coach, but he's a proven OC. He loves running the ball and has a long track of RBs who thrived playing for him. The problem is that I don't know if MM would go for that considering the confrontation he had with Norv after the Raiders "ran up the score" on us.

I can trace some of this all the way back to last February when Bledsoe was released. Remember that comment that Drew made at the time in reference to being angry about losing his starting job and having to be a backup to "J.P. in particular" without at least having the opportunity to compete for his job? I think the coaches (or TD or whoever it was) did JP a disservice by "handing him the job" without making him earn it. At least Bledsoe was willing to compete for the job -- and the coaches were unwilling to ask JP to do that. Their train of thought seemed to be that JP needed to be the unquestioned starter going in. The flaw to that logic is imagine how much more confidence the kid would have gained -- and the players around him in him -- if he had genuinely won the job in training camp? And even if he didn't, at least he would have been waiting in the wings if/when Drew stumbled. When the team elected to outright release Bledsoe and hand the job to JP, you can imagine how that may have rubbed some of the players the wrong way, especially the contingency that liked Drew. Even taking Drew out of the mix, JP became an easy scapegoat for the 1-3 start -- and cries to start the veteran Holcomb were inevitable. I guess what I am getting at is that the coaching staff likely muddied JP's water before the season ever started in relation to his comradare with his teammates. Now, a good coach would have disspelled some of that by being very hard on JP in training camp -- maybe to the point where his teammates would want to defend him. Instead, the coaches coddled him like a prima dona -- which may have led to this perception that the other players don't like him.

I see what Adam is saying... He isn't advocating keeping TD or even saying that he did a good job. He is just pointing out that his failure as a GM was not an intentional thing. In our every day jobs I am sure that we know of people that are lazy and deserve to get fired but don't for one reason or another. That wasn't the case with TD. I fully believe that he did the best he could. There are certainly mistakes that he made -- most of them in hind-sight -- but it wasn't because he was incompetent or not trying to do his job. He deserves credit for cleaning up a very messy salary cap situation. It was a mess that Butler left behind -- and one that Butler didn't have the decency (God rest his soul) to clean up before moving onto San Diego. He deserves credit for drafting some pretty good players for us -- that didn't necessarily come in the first round of the draft (McGee and Schobel, for example). He wasn't afraid to take chances -- and some of his gambles paid off (the Willis pick, trading up and down the draft board in 2001, franchising Price), while others didn't. I think, more than anything else, his fatal flaw was that he never got over the battle he lost with Bill Cowher in Pittsburgh. It made him paranoid about hiring a coach that he thought would ever usurp his authority. Thus, he instead hired two light-weights -- both of whom could one day be good head coaches but both of whom came to the table with too little experience and presence to lead the team to the next level. When it's all said and done, TD's legacy is that of a team that failed to make the playoffs in any year under his tenure, even though not all of the reasons for this were his fault. Still, as the GM, the buck ends with him. There's no need to kick him to the curb with animosity, as he tried to do what was best for the team. Let's just say that we're sorry that things didn't work out... and bid him adieu.

In a town like KC that already has a pretty decent team -- and a fine offense in particular, I think Gregg could do well in his second go-around, assuming that he doesn't monkey with the existing offense. The one key that is missed, I think, is his media and player dealings. Remember how sick we got of him here talking abut "execution" after each loss? Greggo has done enough things even this year (his handling of Lavar Arrington, for example) that could have been PR disasters (think of MM's bouts with Moulds and Adams) were it not for Gibbs' ability to defuse the situation -- at least in the public eye. Things have worked for him in Washington because he's been able to play the bad cop to Joe Gibbs' good cop. There are certain things that a coordinator can get away with that a head coach can't.

Besides, isn't Marv on the record saying he likes Mularkey?

Excellent post.

If we want to "blame" someone for the Losman pick, then that goes squarley on the shoulders of Sam Wyche, who scouted him at his public workout -- and gushed about how he had a better workout than Manning. I for one do not want to blame anyone for this pick, as I still think JP can work out if given proper coaching and supporting players (OL in particular).

I don't think it was JP he was talking about. In fact, Wilson went out of his way (even after "calling JP out") to emphasize that he wasn't blaming Losman. I think RW was pointing out how angry he was for believing the hype that the team would be good enough to win with a young, untested QB. (See Chicago) The team isn't good enough in A LOT of areas. I actually think RW's comment was more of a general one -- and I think a clear indictment of how he feels that he's been snowed by TD. In fact, for those of you who are worried that RW will maintain TD is some capacity, this is to me me the clearest indication that TD is gone. It is also scary to think that this may mean that RW will become overly meddling with whomever our new GM will be... That could scare good candidates away.

George, tell me like ya done before. Tell me about the rabbits...

This actually does bring up a good point. For as much criticism as MM has received for not running Willis enough on Sunday -- I seemed to recall TOO many times when Willis was on the sidelines sucking up air. To me there is clearly a conditioning problem here that is also evidenced by Willis' tailing off after the halfway mark of the season. Is this going to be an on going problem with Willis -- or is it a problem with the strength and conditioning coach? It is also a clear indicator that we need a second quality back to take up some of those carries when Willis is genuinely gassed. You know, someone a little better than Shaud Williams. Even Thurman had Kenneth Davis to spell him.

How'd McCown do the one game he played in Buffalo last year? Oh, that's right he made some comment about how he couldn't imagine how someone like Jim Kelly could have had a productive career playing in these weather conditions.

McGahee has ZERO leverage here. If he even threatens a hold-out, the front office should respond with, "Go ahead and do what you think's best."

One thing is, despite everything we heard to the contrary, Willis has yet to show the burst that he had at Maimi prior to the injury. Will he ever get it back?

I would advocate trading next year's #1 to move up to get him, as I think he is a player that will make an immediate impact. That gives us an entire year to work on re-acquiring that draft pick.

I just made reference to this in another post. I will have to say that MM really did show me somthing in last week's game. I'm not one that buys that the win was not a good one, considering that the Benglas CERTAINLY had something to play for. Here's what I would say... 1. Considering what was at stake for the Bengals, MM clearly out-coached Marvin Lewis, a guy who is on some lists as a Coach of the Year candidate. 2. MM had the team ready to play, when they could easily have been running for the bus. 3. For a change, the staff made some decent adjustments during the game. 4. They showed some heart in coming back practically everytime the Bengals looked to be taking the momentum. The on-sides call may have been the deciding bit for him. I know that it didn't matter because Holcomb ultimately threw that lame INT. However, the call was a good one -- and the execution was great. More important, maybe for the first time all year I didn't see that deer-in-the-headlights look when he and April pled their case to the refs. He was forceful enough to the point where the refs didn't even require the use of a challenge flag to correct the call. Maybe, just maybe this was a deciding moment for MM as a head coach in much the same way that players have a breakout game. Maybe we'll see againt next week against the Jets in another "meaningless" game. I just wish that we had seen more of this from him earlier in the year.

The team always looked pretty sharp and ready to play (save for the second NE game) at the outset of each game. The problems came from the 2nd quarter on. What does this mean? I think our coaching staff showed that they are pretty good Monday-Saturday, when the game planning is done. However, they are missing something on gameday -- when adjustments are made. That is one thing that I DID like about the coaching staff in the Cinci win. They showed some ingenuity -- and even some gumption in arguing their case related to the refs' near botch of the on sides kick. Really, it may have been an aberration -- but MM outcoached Marvin Lewis in that game. Let's see if the trend continues against the Jets. After all, MM himself can use a confidence booster heading into the off-season, supposing that he's back next year.

Josh Reed actually proved himself to be somewhat useful -- and even made some clutch catches here and there... Before the season I never thought I'd advocate bringing him back next year.