The Ringer: The NFL’s Head-Coaching Carousel Is a Crisis

[26CornerBlitz]

The Ringer: The NFL’s Head-Coaching Carousel Is a Crisis

Through a combined lack of patience and lack of creativity, NFL teams have managed to burn through head coaches at a faster rate than ever before while also shrinking the hiring pool at the same time. The result: a league where Ben McAdoo somehow gets a job in the first place and then loses it two years later.

 

Sean McDermott is the fourth Bills coach since 2012. He took over a team armed with an awkward pairing of win-now players from the Rex Ryan era and then made a series of moves designed to build for the future, but that led to one of the most embarrassing quarterback episodes in league history Sunday. Despite his team sitting in a playoff spot heading into Sunday, McDermott benched Tyrod Taylor for convoluted reasons. (McDermott specifically praised fifth-round rookie Nathan Peterman’s maturity at the time of the benching.) Peterman, then, promptly threw five interceptions in the first half of a game against the Chargers. If you want to see the fallout from years of coach churn, watch the Buffalo Bills organization. Even if the coach is good (and McDermott was doing a nice job before the Peterman-Taylor decision), the previous stops and starts of the organization make it nearly impossible for them to ever succeed. Teams that win find a plan and stick with it. Teams that don’t? They find plans and abandon them at the first sign of struggle, and the constant change adds up over the years.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

1 minute ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

The Ringer: The NFL’s Head-Coaching Carousel Is a Crisis

 

 

Sean McDermott is the fourth Bills coach since 2012. He took over a team armed with an awkward pairing of win-now players from the Rex Ryan era and then made a series of moves designed to build for the future, but that led to one of the most embarrassing quarterback episodes in league history Sunday. Despite his team sitting in a playoff spot heading into Sunday, McDermott benched Tyrod Taylor for convoluted reasons. (McDermott specifically praised fifth-round rookie Nathan Peterman’s maturity at the time of the benching.) Peterman, then, promptly threw five interceptions in the first half of a game against the Chargers. If you want to see the fallout from years of coach churn, watch the Buffalo Bills organization. Even if the coach is good (and McDermott was doing a nice job before the Peterman-Taylor decision), the previous stops and starts of the organization make it nearly impossible for them to ever succeed. Teams that win find a plan and stick with it. Teams that don’t? They find plans and abandon them at the first sign of struggle, and the constant change adds up over the years.

Which is what I've been saying all week.

 

but preaching to this congregation is pointless.

 

[dpberr]

Owners are paranoid because the success of the plan is not guaranteed by length of time nor commitment.  It is often influenced by luck and random events they can't control.

 

You can find a plan, sure.  How do you know it's the right one?  When do you know?

 

The Belichick plan is awesome largely due to one random event  and one lucky event.  He's a good coach but let's be honest about what influences the plan there.  

 

The Marvin Lewis plan is not so awesome.    Can't fault Mike Brown for sticking it out in Cincy.  

 

How many years would anybody give Chuck Pagano?    Dirk Koetter?

 

 

 

 

[aceman_16]

We are in the instant gratification age.... I hope and pray that a coach and GM on the same page means building a good foundation. I do not know if this is the case BUT I am willing to give them a few years to see. It is something we have not had in the recent past.

[quinnearlysghost88]

1 hour ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

The Ringer: The NFL’s Head-Coaching Carousel Is a Crisis

 

 

Sean McDermott is the fourth Bills coach since 2012. He took over a team armed with an awkward pairing of win-now players from the Rex Ryan era and then made a series of moves designed to build for the future, but that led to one of the most embarrassing quarterback episodes in league history Sunday. Despite his team sitting in a playoff spot heading into Sunday, McDermott benched Tyrod Taylor for convoluted reasons. (McDermott specifically praised fifth-round rookie Nathan Peterman’s maturity at the time of the benching.) Peterman, then, promptly threw five interceptions in the first half of a game against the Chargers. If you want to see the fallout from years of coach churn, watch the Buffalo Bills organization. Even if the coach is good (and McDermott was doing a nice job before the Peterman-Taylor decision), the previous stops and starts of the organization make it nearly impossible for them to ever succeed. Teams that win find a plan and stick with it. Teams that don’t? They find plans and abandon them at the first sign of struggle, and the constant change adds up over the years.

Here's a question for you: of all the QBs and/or coaches we've had since the drought, is there any one of them that you think we could've rode out for a few more years and they would've gotten us to the playoffs?

[26CornerBlitz]

1 minute ago, quinnearlysghost88 said:

Here's a question for you: of all the QBs and/or coaches we've had since the drought, is there any one of them that you think we could've rode out for a few more years and they would've gotten us to the playoffs?

 

My thought is only about the current regime.  Can't say any of the other coach/QB combos merited additional time that would have eventually yielded long term success.

[BuffaloHokie13]

3 minutes ago, quinnearlysghost88 said:

Here's a question for you: of all the QBs and/or coaches we've had since the drought, is there any one of them that you think we could've rode out for a few more years and they would've gotten us to the playoffs?

I know it's not exactly what you asked, but if I could cherry pick anyone to reprise their roles I think I'd take:

HC: McDermott - This would've been an easy decision prior to the past week, but I was pretty tempted to put Marrone here based on what we know currently

OC: Lynn

DC: Schwartz

QB Tyrod

[KD in CA]

1 hour ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

The Ringer: The NFL’s Head-Coaching Carousel Is a Crisis

 

 

Sean McDermott is the fourth Bills coach since 2012. He took over a team armed with an awkward pairing of win-now players from the Rex Ryan era and then made a series of moves designed to build for the future, but that led to one of the most embarrassing quarterback episodes in league history Sunday. Despite his team sitting in a playoff spot heading into Sunday, McDermott benched Tyrod Taylor for convoluted reasons. (McDermott specifically praised fifth-round rookie Nathan Peterman’s maturity at the time of the benching.) Peterman, then, promptly threw five interceptions in the first half of a game against the Chargers. If you want to see the fallout from years of coach churn, watch the Buffalo Bills organization. Even if the coach is good (and McDermott was doing a nice job before the Peterman-Taylor decision), the previous stops and starts of the organization make it nearly impossible for them to ever succeed. Teams that win find a plan and stick with it. Teams that don’t? They find plans and abandon them at the first sign of struggle, and the constant change adds up over the years.

 

So the carousel is a crisis, but when a young coach does something that doesn't fit the cookie-cutter model of coaching, we should all ridiculously overstate the impact ("....league history"  yeah, I'm sure they'll be talking about it decades from now ) and question why he has a job.  Got it.

[/dev/null]

1 hour ago, aceman_16 said:

We are in the instant gratification age.... I hope and pray that a coach and GM on the same page means building a good foundation. I do not know if this is the case BUT I am willing to give them a few years to see. It is something we have not had in the recent past.

I agree with the first sentence but the rest of your post got boring so I didn't finish it

 

 

[ddaryl]

Yep gottas stick with Beaner and Mick man for 5 years.. anything less just is not enough to build an organization that has seen a new coach on average every 2 years  into a consistent winner. It could turn out to be a disaster but that's exactly what we've been getting anyway so might as well try to do it differently and ride this one out.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2017 by ddaryl

[Rubes]

1 hour ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

The Ringer: The NFL’s Head-Coaching Carousel Is a Crisis

 

 

Sean McDermott is the fourth Bills coach since 2012. He took over a team armed with an awkward pairing of win-now players from the Rex Ryan era and then made a series of moves designed to build for the future, but that led to one of the most embarrassing quarterback episodes in league history Sunday. Despite his team sitting in a playoff spot heading into Sunday, McDermott benched Tyrod Taylor for convoluted reasons. (McDermott specifically praised fifth-round rookie Nathan Peterman’s maturity at the time of the benching.) Peterman, then, promptly threw five interceptions in the first half of a game against the Chargers. If you want to see the fallout from years of coach churn, watch the Buffalo Bills organization. Even if the coach is good (and McDermott was doing a nice job before the Peterman-Taylor decision), the previous stops and starts of the organization make it nearly impossible for them to ever succeed. Teams that win find a plan and stick with it. Teams that don’t? They find plans and abandon them at the first sign of struggle, and the constant change adds up over the years.

 

Which is pretty much why Peterman will start again this week.

 

[section122]

12 minutes ago, quinnearlysghost88 said:

Here's a question for you: of all the QBs and/or coaches we've had since the drought, is there any one of them that you think we could've rode out for a few more years and they would've gotten us to the playoffs?

 

Marrone/Schwartz.  I still think Marrone was a good coach even if his choice of OC was not good.  Those were the most prepared Bills teams in my memory.  Just needed a qb and since we know he didn't like EJ he likely would have looked at the draft.

[26CornerBlitz]

Just now, Rubes said:

Which is pretty much why Peterman will start again this week.

 

Not really. 

[Rubes]

2 minutes ago, 26CornerBlitz said:

 

Not really. 

 

Why not? They have a plan, they should stick with it.

[BillsFan4]

I've been saying this for years - bad teams stay bad by constantly changing coaches and GMs. Our Bills are a perfect example of this. The Browns too. 

 

We we have to stick with this current regime for at least 4-5 years. 

It would be so insane to even think of firing either of them now. They haven't even had the chance to start building their team yet. We are basically still in the tear down phase. Beane hired the right type of experienced staff to have a damn good shot at building something through the draft. Let's see what they do... 

 

Plus, the damage is done now anyway. They've torn the team down. Let's see how they build it back up. I like the types of players they have acquired so far - high character guys with talent, too - Hyde/Poyer/Jones/White/Benjamin/Matthews etc. 

I'm excited to see how they draft. 

 

 

[Wayne Arnold]

10 minutes ago, section122 said:

 

Marrone/Schwartz.  I still think Marrone was a good coach even if his choice of OC was not good.  Those were the most prepared Bills teams in my memory.  Just needed a qb and since we know he didn't like EJ he likely would have looked at the draft.

 

Aside from being a horribly over-conservative game manager, Marrone does mostly good things. However, he's too much of a headcase to be depended on. Many who have worked with him would even refer to him as "batshit crazy."

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

9 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

I've been saying this for years - bad teams stay bad by constantly changing coaches and GMs. Our Bills are a perfect example of this. The Browns too. 

 

We we have to stick with this current regime for at least 4-5 years. 

It would be so insane to even think of firing either of them now. They haven't even had the chance to start building their team yet. We are basically still in the tear down phase. Beane hired the right type of experienced staff to have a damn good shot at building something through the draft. Let's see what they do... 

 

Plus, the damage is done now anyway. They've torn the team down. Let's see how they build it back up. I like the types of players they have acquired so far - high character guys with talent, too - Hyde/Poyer/Jones/White/Benjamin/Matthews etc. 

I'm excited to see how they draft. 

 

 

 

You and I see eye to eye on this.

 

[somnus00]

"Teams that win find a plan and stick with it."

 

I don't think anyone would disagree with that statement. The question here is, "Is Tyrod the winning plan, and should we stick with him?" By playing Peterman, McDermott is telling us that he doesn't think Tyrod is part of the long term winning plan. So he starts Peterman to see what the kid has.

Anyone who sees Tyrod as a long term franchise QB will be upset by the move to Peterman. I happen to think that Tyrod would make a fantastic back-up QB. So I wasn't upset with his benching.

[section122]

3 minutes ago, Wayne Arnold said:

 

Aside from being a horribly over-conservative game manager, Marrone does mostly good things. However, he's too much of a headcase to be depended on. Many who have worked with him would even refer to him as "batshit crazy."

 

Yeah he might have even needed the humble pie the fiasco of him leaving served him.  I thought he was the best coach we had throughout the drought though.   Not that that is a glowing compliment lol

 

[26CornerBlitz]

Just now, somnus00 said:

"Teams that win find a plan and stick with it."

 

I don't think anyone would disagree with that statement. The question here is, "Is Tyrod the winning plan, and should we stick with him?" By playing Peterman, McDermott is telling us that he doesn't think Tyrod is part of the long term winning plan. So he starts Peterman to see what the kid has.

Anyone who sees Tyrod as a long term franchise QB will be upset by the move to Peterman. I happen to think that Tyrod would make a fantastic back-up QB. So I wasn't upset with his benching.

The article isn't about QBs or what decision was made last week. 

 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

2 minutes ago, section122 said:

 

Yeah he might have even needed the humble pie the fiasco of him leaving served him.  I thought he was the best coach we had throughout the drought though.   Not that that is a glowing compliment lol

 

 

If you had offered me the choice of St. Doug or Whaley, it's St. Doug 6 days a week and twice on Sunday.

 

[BuffaloBill]

32 minutes ago, quinnearlysghost88 said:

Here's a question for you: of all the QBs and/or coaches we've had since the drought, is there any one of them that you think we could've rode out for a few more years and they would've gotten us to the playoffs?

 

 

The real problem for coaches and QB’s in Buffalo is that NE has had such a stranglehold on the division that they have a mountain, not a hill, to climb.  To more directly answer your question maybe the Bills sneak in with Tyrod this year but so what?  I would rather see them build correctly for the future as the true path to success comes from finally toppling the cheats.

[section122]

Just now, BuffaloBill said:

 

 

The real problem for coaches and QB’s in Buffalo is that NE has had such a stranglehold on the division that they have a mountain, not a hill, to climb.  To more directly answer your question maybe the Bills sneak in with Tyrod this year but so what?  I would rather see them build correctly for the future as the true path to success comes from finally toppling the cheats.

 

Why can't they do both though?  Try to win this year AND in the future.

[BuffaloBill]

Just now, section122 said:

 

Why can't they do both though?  Try to win this year AND in the future.

 

 

The did so against the Jets and the Saints and look where that ended up.....

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

6 minutes ago, section122 said:

 

Why can't they do both though?  Try to win this year AND in the future.

 

Because when you rebuild something, you gut it.

 

it's step one. no man (or team) can serve two masters.

 

Edited November 21, 2017 by joesixpack

[Southern Bills Fan]

Learn from the Houston Astros. Stick with the plan.

[section122]

Just now, joesixpack said:

 

Because, when you rebuild something, you gut it.

 

it's step one. no man (or team) can serve two masters.

 

 

I don't know that a 7-9 team needed to be gutted though.  Improved sure but I don't agree with gutted.  

 

I think too that the process got off the rails as they were all about the future with every move they made.  The trade for Benjamin doesn't compute though.  That sure seemed like a win now move.  At the time the Peterman move was also pitched as a win now move.  "we are better than 5-4."  

 

I don't think tear down and rebuilds need to be done in the NFL anymore.  I can't think of the last successful one (not saying there aren't any).  What I would have liked to see happen was work with your talent (ie build a scheme to fit them) while bringing in your guys slowly and eventually fully running your scheme.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Just now, section122 said:

 

I don't know that a 7-9 team needed to be gutted though.  Improved sure but I don't agree with gutted.  

 

I think too that the process got off the rails as they were all about the future with every move they made.  The trade for Benjamin doesn't compute though.  That sure seemed like a win now move.  At the time the Peterman move was also pitched as a win now move.  "we are better than 5-4."  

 

I don't think tear down and rebuilds need to be done in the NFL anymore.  I can't think of the last successful one (not saying there aren't any).  What I would have liked to see happen was work with your talent (ie build a scheme to fit them) while bringing in your guys slowly and eventually fully running your scheme.

 

Philadelphia did it. And they did it in a quick turnaround.

 

[section122]

3 minutes ago, joesixpack said:

 

Philadelphia did it. And they did it in a quick turnaround.

 

 

Bad news for McD then because Chip didn't get to stick around and see it through! lol

[aceman_16]

53 minutes ago, /dev/null said:

I agree with the first sentence but the rest of your post got boring so I didn't finish it

 

 

You sound like my wife. ... lol

[26CornerBlitz]

59 minutes ago, Rubes said:

 

Why not? They have a plan, they should stick with it.

 

If Peterman is their long term plan at QB, they might as well quit now and let someone else undertake the task. 

[0-Technique]

38 minutes ago, BuffaloBill said:

 

 

The real problem for coaches and QB’s in Buffalo is that NE has had such a stranglehold on the division that they have a mountain, not a hill, to climb.  To more directly answer your question maybe the Bills sneak in with Tyrod this year but so what?  I would rather see them build correctly for the future as the true path to success comes from finally toppling the cheats.

This is so true. The Bills realistically have to go 10-4 to reach the playoffs because playing the Pats twice means you're starting at 0-2 every year. If the Bills were in any other division in the AFC; there would be no 17 year drought.

[quinnearlysghost88]

 

20 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

 

 

The real problem for coaches and QB’s in Buffalo is that NE has had such a stranglehold on the division that they have a mountain, not a hill, to climb.  To more directly answer your question maybe the Bills sneak in with Tyrod this year but so what?  I would rather see them build correctly for the future as the true path to success comes from finally toppling the cheats.

Once Brady's gone, the division will be up for grabs and we'll be able to fall backwards into the playoffs with underachieving teams a whole lot more. Us sneaking into the playoffs will become a possibility more and more in the future with a 5-5 November record. This whole idea of building correctly doesn't happen with the salary cap. Sure you may get a good QB in place, but do you think you'll be able to have a solid Oline, Dline, secondary, WR corp, RB and special teams unit all at once? It's not practical. Your best bet is to build a culture of expectations on performance, get a solid offensive and defensive scheme together and get lucky. 

[Shaw66]

21 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

I've been saying this for years - bad teams stay bad by constantly changing coaches and GMs. Our Bills are a perfect example of this. The Browns too. 

 

We we have to stick with this current regime for at least 4-5 years. 

It would be so insane to even think of firing either of them now. They haven't even had the chance to start building their team yet. We are basically still in the tear down phase. Beane hired the right type of experienced staff to have a damn good shot at building something through the draft. Let's see what they do... 

 

Plus, the damage is done now anyway. They've torn the team down. Let's see how they build it back up. I like the types of players they have acquired so far - high character guys with talent, too - Hyde/Poyer/Jones/White/Benjamin/Matthews etc. 

I'm excited to see how they draft. 

 

 

I haven't been saying for it years, but you're absolutely right about this group.   The Pegulas did their homework and bet on two young guys. Tthey had to know (I hope someone told them) that if they were going to bet on two young guys, they would have to ride with that bet for several years, because some of the ride in the early years was going to be bumpy.   Well, it's gotten bumpy, but you can't get off the bus right now.   You bought these guys for their potential, and you have to have the patience to see how they develop.

 

To change the metaphor, you can't plant seeds and then plow up the field because the first thing that came up was a weed.  

[Jackington]

There are an equal amount of examples of why you shouldn't stick with a coach. Not really sure the point of this.

[Shaw66]

5 minutes ago, Jackington said:

There are an equal amount of examples of why you shouldn't stick with a coach. Not really sure the point of this.

Yes, but I think Marrone, Rex and McDermott make a good case study.   I didn't like Marrone,  but if he hadn't quit I would have said the Bills have to stick with him, because he seemed to be some things right. 

 

Rex was a seasoned head coach.   Two years was more than enough to decide that he just didn't have it. 

 

These guys are young.   They are relatively inexperienced, and experience is the best teacher.   When the Pegulas signed him they were making a decision that they were willing to pay the price that goes along with giving them experiences, and that price is some mistakes.  

 

In Rex's case, mistakes are an indication that they made the wrong choice, because he had the experience and he was still making big mistakes.  But in the case of McDermott, mistakes aren't necessarily evidence that he won't succeed, because the Pegulas knew, or should have known, that some mistakes were coming.   If the Pegulas are going to make a coaching or GM change because these guys have made some mistakes in their first year on the job, then the problem with the Bills is the same place it's always been - with the ownership.  

[SoTier]

22 hours ago, Rubes said:

 

Why not? They have a plan, they should stick with it.

 

That presupposes McDermott and Beane have a plan, and that plan is a viable and logical blueprint for moving forward.  Neither McDermott nor Beane have demonstrated that their plan consists of anything beyond gutting the team of talent and stocking up on draft picks and scrub FAs ... and making sure that Taylor had virtually no chance at success.  McDermott's draft was nothing special, simply drafting to fill holes created by letting starters walk away in FA.  If they were going to sabotage Taylor, the least they could have done was found a more talented QB than Peterman to replace him.

 

 

21 hours ago, joesixpack said:

 

Because when you rebuild something, you gut it.

 

it's step one. no man (or team) can serve two masters.

 

 

Oh, so because you need to have your chimney repointed, a new roof put on', and the dry-rotted front porch replaced, you should tear down your house and rebuild it from scratch? 

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

I fully understand the idea of a coach coaches to a certain style, Rex wasn't going to coach Swartz defense. McDermott /Dennison aren't going to do exactly what Lynn did last year, etc.  And by no means are the Bills unique in that regard.  Every team and every coach does that.  It may not make sence to many fans, but that's just the way it is, so accept it.

 

Now the coach brings in his style of assistants for scheme he wants to run, then you go out and get the players to fit that style. The problem though is to get enough players to play your style and are good enough to make a difference in the number of wins a team has takes a couple of seasons usually to accomplish.  So if all goes well that works and you're deemed the next Bill Walsh.  But any type of hiccup in the process, above normal number of injuries, owner that has much less patience than others, etc; you don't get the wins.  Now instead you're fired and in comes the next guy to start all over.

 

So am wondering why the coaches haven't figured out that I really need to bring in coaches and play a style that fits the current players else by the time I can turn this ship around I'll likely be fired.

 

 

8 hours ago, SoTier said:

 

That presupposes McDermott and Beane have a plan, and that plan is a viable and logical blueprint for moving forward.  Neither McDermott nor Beane have demonstrated that their plan consists of anything beyond gutting the team of talent and stocking up on draft picks and scrub FAs ... and making sure that Taylor had virtually no chance at success.  McDermott's draft was nothing special, simply drafting to fill holes created by letting starters walk away in FA.  If they were going to sabotage Taylor, the least they could have done was found a more talented QB than Peterman to replace him.

 

 

 

Oh, so because you need to have your chimney repointed, a new roof put on', and the dry-rotted front porch replaced, you should tear down your house and rebuild it from scratch? 

 

 

But yet the draft experts praised the Bills draft.  But what do they know, I'm sure you're way smarter than people who do this for a living.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2017 by Ed_Formerly_of_Roch

[Hapless Bills Fan]

On 11/21/2017 at 3:07 PM, quinnearlysghost88 said:

Here's a question for you: of all the QBs and/or coaches we've had since the drought, is there any one of them that you think we could've rode out for a few more years and they would've gotten us to the playoffs?

 

Wade Phillips

[jimmy10]

On 11/21/2017 at 4:34 PM, Wayne Arnold said:

 

Aside from being a horribly over-conservative game manager, Marrone does mostly good things. However, he's too much of a headcase to be depended on. Many who have worked with him would even refer to him as "batshit crazy."

 

Can confirm. I have a buddy who was a manager for SU football. He described Marrone as a “paranoid and insufferable prick.”