TheFunPolice

remember when he was getting HC hype? Cautionary tale and the reason why so many coordinators jump at any chance they get to be a HC

Who wins the Bills/Rams Super Bowl that year? And how weird would it have been for Thurman, Andre, Bruce and all those guys to finally win one with Kelly retired?

I've seen this reported elsewhere too. In a way, a college coach is coach/GM/everything and runs the entire football program. There's nobody above you weighing in on anything football related. the AD and Board of Trustees will fire you if you don't win enough, but they aren't telling you who to recruit or who to sign or who to play. I can see Bill wanting to do it his way with his people and be left alone to coach and run the program, which will never happen in any NFL position. If you're a legendary football coach in college everyone works for you in the athletic program in all practicality.

I have been skeptical of McDermott's ability to take the team where it needs to go, mostly because he's a defensive HC and the defense has been disappointing in the playoffs. As far as game management, every coach has issues, and McDermott seems to learn from his mistakes for the most part. I think McDermott can absolutely get to and win a Super Bowl. If you're good enough to get there you're good enough to win, and they often could go either way. For example, if Aaron Donald is half a second later on 4th down in the SB Burrow hits a wide open WR for the game winning TD. The question will be the defense. This time around we're finally healthy. Will McDermott's defense get the job done? Will they make the plays when needed? Can he scheme up a way to stop the best offenses? This is why I agree with Madden's take on the "can't win the big one" arguments. First, tell me which ones are the small ones. Second, you can't win the big one unless you're good enough to get there. And if you're good enough to get there you're good enough to win it. To this point, McDermott has not gotten the Bills to the biggest game, but he certainly can (I think).

so much for Brady and Bill not getting along... Of course the dynamic would be reversed now with Tommy hiring him. At the end of the day, Bill doesn't want to coach against the GOAT HC in his own division.

Raiders also requested interview with Spags. That actually makes a lot of sense, as Tom Brady is supposedly involved heavily in the HC search. He knows how good Spags is better than most.

Agreed! Plus, the NFL LOVES snow games in Buffalo and Green Bay. It's made for TV. Lest we forget, this is a TV product, and there's few backdrops in all of pro sports quite like Bills fans on a snowy gameday in WNY Snow and cold don't really slow down offenses. Wind can. Remember the Wild Card game vs NE when it was like -10? We never punted the entire game and pretty much scored at will. I think it was that same season that we played the wind game vs NE during the regular season where nobody threw the ball.

I want at least one of the 3rd rounders spent on a DT who has to turn sideways to get through the doorway I want a guy willing to put the work in in the dining room as well as the weight room

Callahan was terrible this season and definitely deserves to be let go, same with Steichen in Indy. Keeping a failing coach dooms your next season as well. Might as well make the move now instead of week 7 next season.

IMO Rex Ryan is exactly what the Jets need right now. A bombastic cheerleader type coach who will get fans and players excited about being NY Jets again. Whether it will actually mean wins or not is another story. They have a lot of great defensive pieces on that roster, so I would predict Rex could get them into the 7 seed, especially because Miami is about to implode (IMO) and NE is a year or two away.

I think about that playoff possibility a lot... Very well could have been Bills/Rams in the SB that year, which just goes to show... if Kelly's body could have held up a few more years they finally could have faced a regular old NFC team instead of super team dynasties Imagine those Kelly, Andre, Bruce, Thurman Bills vs teams like the Carolina Panthers and STL Rams instead of the Pro Bowl rosters of Washington and Dallas IMO Kelly's career would end like Elway's did, with finally getting over the hump and winning it all.

I see that and just imagine all the HR paperwork...

What's incredible is that Mike Mularkey was hired by 3 different teams as HC, so I wouldn't rule out an "out of left field" type hire somewhere, likely with the Raiders. My prediction for the Raiders is Pete Carroll.

it already feels like the last few weeks of the season are meaningless I'm excited to see a slate of NFL games that actually matter, everyone plays their best players and the coaches make a game plan and everything

Every time I see or hear McDaniel I'm amazed that he is an NFL HC. He always sounds confused or like he has no idea what is going on. I wrote a whole long post but it just came across as meaner than I wanted it to, so I'll just say that I feel sorry for McDaniel. He's obviously in over his head running an entire program.

I assume Vrabel will end up in NE but Kraft is now saddled with making it look like a real search.

I want this to happen so badly... Rex Ryan as the HC of the Jets again, preferably with Rodgers there too... Makes the Jets interesting, and this is entertainment!

Certainly fair, but it also corresponds with having (or not having) great QB play. Ironically the SB win with Big Ben was mostly the team around him. Once he started putting up numbers the post season success wasn't as good. They are in the playoffs so often because Tomlin is a great coach who coaches them up, then they're outmatched.

Anyone making the case that McDermott and Reid's playoff records are similar by comparing McDermott's playoff record with Josh Allen to Reid's playoff record with guys like Donovan McNabb, Kevin Kolb, and Jeff Garcia is not making a great case for McDermott. No disrespect to McDermott, but there's simply no comparison between him and Andy Reid, who I think is going to be known as the GOAT when he retires. Andy Reid was in the top 10 all-time in HC wins before Mahomes ever took a snap for KC. For comparison, McDermott is currently 54th on the all-time list with 86 wins. Reid is currently 4th with 273 wins, 29 behind Belichick. Reid is the all-time leader in HC wins for 2 different franchises. The knock on Reid was always "yeah, but he can't win the big one." So comparing his Eagles playoff career to McDermott's Bills playoff career doesn't make sense if you're trying to make a case for McDermott. Reid had McNabb and other assorted QBs, who were fine to good but not all time greats. McDermott has Allen, who will go down as an all time great. Not even close in terms of QB talent to work with. Now Reid has 3 SB rings as a HC. So much for that "can't win the big one" argument. What happened with Reid is he finally got his superstar QB prospect late in his career so he had a reputation as "can't win the big one" from coming up against better QB talent early in his career. Reputations get baked in early and it takes a lot to change them. It's the Brady/Manning argument all over again. Manning actually had a winning record against Brady in the playoffs (3-2) but Manning "couldn't win the big games" to many NFL fans. All the above said, the stories of all these guys' careers are still being written. McDermott can absolutely win a Super Bowl. But he has to prove he can do it.

My theory on the Jets search is that they are going to hire Rex Ryan but don't want it to seem like it was a done deal so they're "casting a wide net" and interviewing everyone and anyone. Their interview list is insane.

That's actually a pretty classy move by Mara then. He's basically taking accountability for that.

They had a shot at setting an NFL record and didn't do it because scoring 77 vs 70 would have hurt the Broncos feelings. In doing so, they denied their players a chance at immortality. Glory. A spot in the record books. This displeased the football gods, and they have been punished ever since. When fans of other teams in your division are cheering for you to lock up your "franchise QB" you know it's a bad deal! although I must say, if Tua needs to know these things the GM openly blasting him in public is probably the best way!

The Steelers constant presence in the playoffs is proof that Tomlin is a top notch coach. What if he had a top notch QB? He did, and when he did he led the team to 2 SB appearances in an era when Manning and Brady dominated the AFC and combined to appear in 13 Super Bowls.

McCarthy had 13 seasons of Favre and Rodgers and went 10-8 in the playoffs, with 1 SB appearance which they won. That's pathetic, honestly. Especially since the NFC had no consistently great team EXCEPT Green Bay. They were the consistently great team who always lost in the playoffs. Seattle, SF, Arizona, the Giants, all popped up here and there along the way, but had no really long lasting staying power. The AFC had Manning, Brady, the and Ravens defense for Tomlin to get past. 2 unquestionable HOF QBs, and a loaded Ravens team that was always tough. Now Big Ben was also great, and Tomlin was able to get to 2 Super Bowls and win 1 with prime Big Ben, even with all of the competition in the AFC. McCarthy's Packers can best be understood like this: The Belichick/Brady dynasty if NE lost its first playoff game most years and only got to 1 SB. Tomlin has done more with less and got more out of a great QB. It's not even close, IMO. Yes, the Steelers get to the playoffs and do nothing. But why? Because their coach is good enough to coach them to enough wins to get there but they just don't have the talent to beat the great teams. McCarthy's teams are almost always the favorites, and get upset. This was definitely true in GB and usually also true in Dallas. Tomlin's teams are almost always the underdogs, and sometimes pull an upset. or think of it this way: McCarthy had the QB advantage in every single NFC playoff game during his time in GB, and it wasn't even close. How often could you say the same for Tomlin's teams?

It definitely seems much colder and much more consistently so than recent winters.