Tag: Chad Pennington

Despite All the Dirt Thrown On Him, Josh McDaniels Still Drawing Interest from Multiple Teams as Head Coach

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CBS Sports – Less than one year after spurning the Colts, it doesn’t appear that Josh McDaniels is going to have any issues finding a head coaching job this offseason if he wants one.

The Patriots offensive coordinator is expected to land multiple interviews over the next few weeks and it looks like one of those will be going down in Green Bay. According to NFL.com, the Packers are expected to hold an interview with McDaniels on Friday. Since the Patriots have a bye this week, McDaniels is allowed to interview for open jobs this weekend. The Packers moved quickly to land an interview with McDaniels with the team sending in a formal request to interview him just one day after the NFL regular season ended.

Despite all the dirt thrown on his name after backing out of the Colts job, Josh McDaniels is still very much in on several head coaching job openings this offseason.

And I love it.

This may be the height of my “Patriots against the world” complex, but hey thats what happens when everyone calls you a cheater and openly roots for your demise for over a decade. Thats also what makes winning so much sweeter though. So yes, rooting for Josh McDaniels to get a head coaching job primarily out of spite against anyone that talked ill of a Patriots employee is petty, bizarre even; I fully admit that. Doesn’t change the facts though.

“Besides the Packers, the Browns and Bengals have also requested to interview McDaniels. CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora reported on Dec. 30 that the Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is “very high” on McDaniels, which could make Cleveland a wild-card in the sweepstakes for the Patriots offensive coordinator.”

This comes less than a year after talking heads around the interwebs all but buried the guy under Gillette Stadium. The simple fact of the matter though is who would you rather have? There are a TON of head coaching vacancies this offseason and not nearly enough competent names to fill them. Eight to be exact. Yup, the Browns, Packers, Jets, Broncos, Dolphins, Bucs, Bengals, and Cardinals are all in the market for a new head coach.

Now as always, this comes with the disclaimer that Josh McDaniels has worked under potentially the greatest head coach of all time along with the greatest quarterback of all time for years. Lets be honest, I could be Tom Brady’s offensive coordinator and the Pats would probably still win the division. So aside from a brief stint with the Broncos (11-17), it’s hard to really peg McDaniels’ true value.

But thats also what makes him such an intriguing candidate.

If I’m the owner of an NFL franchise do I want someone from the Belichick Coaching Tree (more on this in a moment) that is young, innovative, and has worked with the best in the business for the past 10+ years? Or do I want to hire a guy thats already been a head coach for a long time and has already proven multiple times that he’s not a difference maker? Would you rather hire Josh McDaniels or Jeff Fisher?

Granted the Belichick Coaching Tree hasn’t exactly flourished when Bill’s assistants have gone on to set up their own programs, but this is a quarterback driven league. A lot of these coaches simply haven’t had “the guy.”

Romeo Crennel (28-55) had Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, Matt Cassel, and Brady Quinn again at quarterback over the years before being axed for the final time. Eric Mangini (33-47) had Chad Pennington, 39-year-old Brett Favre, Brady Quinn (again!), and Colt McCoy at QB before he got axed for the final time. Charlie Weis (41-49) went over to the NCAA, which is an entirely different animal and failed at multiple schools. More recently we’ve seen Bill O’Brien (42-38) have moderate success in Houston, relatively speaking. Sure, he was rumored to be on the hot seat this year, but they’ve made the playoffs 3 out of the last 4 years. Before Deshaun Watson, O’Brien had Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, Brock Osweiller (which was his own fault), and Tom Savage. So now that he has an actual QB in Watson you see what that team is capable of. Not a lot of Pro Bowl quarterbacks in there guys. Then theres Matt Patricia (6-10), who’s first season in Detroit can be described as nothing but disastrous.

So 1 out of 5 ain’t good, but hey I’d rather take a chance on a young guy with a great pedigree than hire a guy that I KNOW will have my team going 8-8 every year.

Here are some of the other candidates with previous head coaching experience just to name a few.

  • Mike McCarthy (125-77-2, 10-8 in the playoffs)
  • Adam Gase (23-25, 0-1 in the playoffs)
  • Todd Bowles (26-41)
  • Bruce Arians (49-30, 1-2 in the playoffs)
  • Vance Joseph (11-21)
  • Jim Caldwell (62-50, 2-4 in the playoffs)

Do ANY of those candidates excite you if you’re a fan of one of those teams that has an opening at HC? Maybe Bruce Arians, but he retired after the 2017 season and would be the 3rd oldest coach in the NFL, were he to come back, behind only Belichick and Pete Carroll. I’m looking for someone at least *a little* bit different if I’m an owner. Hell I’d take a shot on Lincoln Riley (Riley legit just signed an extension with Oklahoma yesterday) or Kliff Kingsbury over any of those guys. Am I biased because I’m 29 and I want to see more young blood in the league? Yea, probably. But these teams that are mired in mediocrity year after year, make the same dumb decisions every season and wonder why they never go anywhere. Hell it took the Bengals 16 years to get out of their own way before finally firing Marvin Lewis and his 0-7 playoff record. (Although they might step right back into their own way and hire Hue Jackson)

So yea McDaniels is kind of a dick for leaving the Colts at the altar last offseason (and hosing a few assistants in the process). I can understand why you wouldn’t want to grab a beer with the guy. But this is the NFL where the only thing that matters are results and Josh McDaniels has 5 Super Bowl rings working with the Patriots in various roles. And before you say it’s all because of the head coach and the QB, whether thats true or not, the Offensive Coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs, Eric Bieniemy is rumored to be a hot head coaching candidate despite this being his FIRST year as an OC. Why? Because of what the head coach and the QB have been able to do this season. This comes less than a year after Bieniemy’s predecessor Matt Nagy was hired by the Chicago Bears as their new head coach who also had just one year as an OC on his resume. So you can’t have it both ways folks — the OC matters or he doesn’t.

TLDR; I think Josh McDaniels is as good as gone this offseason and I’d take McDaniels over a ton of other guys in this league as a head coach. Now, Bill Belichick isn’t one of them though so if it’s between him and McDaniels? Best of luck, Josh!

I Miss Peyton Manning (and his Playoff Woes)

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pro-bowl-mvp

It’s Wild Card Weekend and, as usual, the Patriots have the weekend off. The Patriots have reached the playoffs 14 times in the Brady Era, and have received a first-round bye 11 times in the Brady Era. Peyton Manning wasn’t able to take this weekend off nearly as often, though.

Peyton Manning reached the playoffs 15 times in the 17 seasons he played, including each of his last 13 seasons. His teams received a first-round byes in eight of those seasons, meaning he made semi-regular appearances on Wild Car Weekend, unlike Brady.

Manning’s teams were 3-4 on Wild Card Weekend, and 3-5 after a first round bye. That adds up to nine one-and-dones, by far the most of any NFL quarterback. That means Manning’s teams only won a game in the playoffs 6 out of the 15 times he took them to the playoffs. His career playoff record stood at 11-13 before last year’s magical run gave him his second Super Bowl ring and a just-barely-over-.500 career postseason record of 14-13.

I must give Manning his due. He did knock down the Patriots more times than I care to remember in the playoffs. The Colts win in the 2006 AFC title game is still in my top five worst Boston sports moments. But I can give Manning his due, and still look back at some of his more memorable playoff losses.

[I’ve omitted the Foxborough Follies from this list for the sake of brevity, and because those are obviously well-remembered by Patriots fans.]

2002 Jets 41 – Colts 0. Not much else needs to be said about this playoff disaster. Manning had a dreadful night in Giants Stadium as the Colts lost to Chad Effing Penington. This loss put Peyton at 0-3 in the playoffs, and really started the “Peyton sucks in the playoffs” conversations in earnest.

2005 Down 3 to the Steelers with 1:20 to go, Peyton Manning took a sack on fourth down at his own 2-yard line. Looking to put the Colts away,  Jerome Bettis coughed it up and gave Peyton and the Colts one last shot. Peyton got the Colts into field-goal range, but Mike Vanderjagt couldn’t connect on a 46-yard attempt, and Pittsburgh held on to win this wild one. [As a side note, this was Vanderjagt’s last game as a Colt. That offseason, the Colts went out and got Adam Vinatieri. That’s all I’ve got to say about that.]

2007 Looking to defend their Super Bowl title, the Colts received a first-round bye and hosted the San Diego Chargers in the divisional round. The Colts led 24-21 in the fourth, but the Chargers took the lead late and Peyton Manning had to orchestrate another last-minute comeback. He led the Colts inside the 10, but couldn’t put it in the end zone thanks to pressure from Shawne Merriman (remember him?). The Colts would actually get the ball back one more time, but that drive also stalled out. This was also the last game to be played at the RCA Dome.

2012 New team, same result. Peyton’s first trip to the playoffs with the Broncos ended the same way so many of his previous trips did. Much of this loss can be pinned on the Broncos defense, but this Peyton Manning Playoff Meltdown receives special mention because of how excruciating this loss was. The Ravens trailed the Broncos 35-28 in the final minute. That’s when Joe Flacco connected with Jacoby Jones for a 70-yard touchdown with 31 seconds remaining. The Ravens would go on to win the game in overtime, and defeat the Patriots the next week en route to winning Super Bowl XLVII.

 

With Andy Dalton and the Bengals sitting the playoffs out this year, no other quarterback playing in the playoffs this year immediately comes to mind when thinking of another quarterback to carry on the legacy of Peyton Manning Playoff Meltdowns. With backup quarterbacks all over the place in the AFC, though, this should still be a fun (and sloppy) Wild Card Weekend to watch.