Tag: Josh McDaniels

Smokin Jay Cutler is Back!

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You thought this guy was going to go quietly into the night? I don’t think so. Not if there’s a $10 million offer on the table from the Miami Dolphins. I think Jay Cutler is a better QB than he’s ever gotten credit for, but I also think his biggest problem has always been perception. He looks like a guy that does not give a shit and doesn’t really want to play. Whether thats actually true or not nobody except maybe Kristin Cavallari knows, but hey perception is reality.

Which is why Cutler signing with the Dolphins is very interesting. Its the best team he’s been on, at least offensively, in years plus its in the warm and comfortable city of Miami. Maybe he puts the Menthols down for a few months and has a mini career resurgence a la Kurt Warner in Arizona. Or maybe he collects $10 Million to half-ass a season before going into the FOX booth.

Cutler started his career off as a promising young QB, then became salty as fuck when new Denver coach Josh McDaniels tried to trade him for Matt Cassel, forced a trade, landed with the Bears, played pretty well there for a couple of years with Brandon Marshall, then the team started to get worse before bottoming out last year and becoming a complete dumpster fire. Add all that to the fact that Chicago is a miserably cold city during the football season and I can see how Smokin Jay Cutler was born.

BUT, Cutler’s also only thrown for 4,000+ yards once in a season, and thrown 25+ TDs 3 times in 10 years. For a quick AFC East comparison, Tom Brady has thrown for 4,000+ yards 8 different times and has thrown 25+ TDs 12 times in his career. So Tom Brady he is not.

But the Dolphins don’t really need him to be. They just need him to be similar, if not better, than the level of production they were getting out of Ryan Tannehill. I think its a pretty safe bet to assume most Dolphins fans are pretty lukewarm on Tannehill. He’s been good, not great. He hasn’t made the jump to a top tier QB like most hoped he would. Again for comparisons sake, Tannehill has thrown for 4,000+ yards twice in five years and thrown 25+ TDs just once in his career. His career completion percentage of 62.7 is just a tick higher than Cutler’s 61.9. Tannehill is more mobile, but the difference is not as much as you would think. The last four years Tannehill has rushed for 164, 141, 311, 238 and 211 yards (4.9 Yards per Attempt for his career) with 6 TDs. In that same timespan Cutler has rushed for 24 (limited to 5 games by injury), 201, 191, 118, and 233 (4.5 Yards per Attempt for his career) with 3 TDs. So not a huge difference.

My point is the Dolphins aren’t completely and totally fucked. Cutler is not Tom Brady, but he’s better than most people think.

Okay, okay, you want to see how he stacks up against the most famous free agent QB ever in Colin Kaepernick too? Despite his gazelle like speed, Kaepernick “only” averages 6.1 Yards per Rushing Attempt. People remember those who huge runs in the playoffs a few years back and it skews perception. In the 2012 playoffs he rushed for 264 yards and in the 2013 playoffs he rushed for 243 yards and 4 total TDs, which is 9.9 Yards per Attempt). Overall though? Not that much better. Not so much better you want to deal with bitchy questions from everyone holding a microphone for the next 6 months. His passing stats? Career completion percentage of 59.8 (lower than both Cutler and Tannehill). He’s never thrown for 4,000+ yards. He’s never thrown for 3,500+ yards. Never threw 25+ TDs, he’s only topped 20 once. Kaepernick obviously has a much smaller sample size of games started than Cutler, but those are the numbers guys.

So if anything the Dolphins will be interesting to watch, assuming Jay Cutler wants to do more than just collect a paycheck. But if he truly just wanted to snake another check, Cutler could have signed with the Jets months ago. Maybe he sees a legit opportunity here with Miami. The Patriots have had the AFC East on lock for a while now so its not like they will suddenly contend for the division. But similar to the Vikings getting Sam Bradford last year, except much better because Miami didn’t have to give up a FIRST round draft pick to get Cutler, brining in a solid, veteran QB probably keeps them in contention for a Wild Card spot. Smokin Jay Cutler is back indeed.

Chip Kelly is Meeting with Belichick and the Patriots After Not Getting Jaguars OC Job

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Man I feel like I saw someone predicting this weeks ago. Oh right it was me.

Sure McDaniels may not be off to San Francisco, but tell me the Patriots and his good friend Bill Belichick would not welcome the offensive brain of Chip Kelly. I predicted Chip coming on as an offensive analyst for the Patriots earlier this month after SF dumped him. The guy needs to reboot his career after a couple of rocky years in San Fran and Philadelphia. Most of the NFL jobs are already dried up and I don’t think he wants to go back to college. Plus Oregon hired a new coach like 2 weeks before he got fired by the 49ers, which may be the only reason he’s not back in the NCAA ranks already.

Bill has a history of bringing on guys he trusts during playoff runs too. In 2011 he brought McDaniels on as an offensive analyst while Bill O’Brien was still the OC. Maybe it doesn’t happen in the playoffs, but I still see him ultimately joining the Patriots staff. It just makes too much sense.

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LA Rams Hire the Youngest Coach in NFL History and I Love It

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If you wanted to move on from the shit storm that was the Jeff Fisher era AND make a splash in LA, this is how you do it. Hire the youngest coach in NFL history. 30 year old Sean McVay, the offensive coordinator of the Washington R-words, is the new coach of the LA Rams.

Don’t make the mistake of hiring another mediocre coordinator or a guy who’s already been a crappy coach in the past. Inject some new blood, some excitement and a guy who actually has created a great offense and built up a QB in Kirk Cousins. Thats what the Rams needed. God knows Jared Goff needs it. Plus it will be wild to see a guy who looks like a ball boy calling the shots from the sideline.

I *love* wunderkinds, especially in industries that are dominated by old boring guys. Bill Belichick is the best coach in the history of the league and I would take a bullet for him, but he is an old boring guy. If a dude who’s basically the same age as me can succeed as an NFL head coach then that makes all the blood, sweat and tears I’ve poured into Madden over the years all worth it.

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It reminds me of when Theo Epstein was named GM of the Red Sox back in 2002 when he was TWENTY EIGHT! Thats insane. I can barely pay my bills at 28 and I certainly can’t balance a check book and he was managing one of the biggest franchises in all of sports at that age.

So yea, I always root for young guys getting a shot in front office and coaching positions, mainly because it just happens so rarely. Hopefully he pans out better than Josh McDaniels first go as a young head coach in Denver, which blew up in less than 2 years.
Sports are tricky because all of the players will be around his age, if not older, so it can be easy for that to become a distraction. It looks like McVay is already doing his best to combat though, surrounding himself with very experienced coaches to counteract his inexperience, which is smart. He just brought on 70 year old Wade Phillips to be his defensive coordinator. A 30 year old head coach with a 70 year old DC is still a hilarious image to think of. That is a can’t miss TV sitcom. Its too bad the Rams were on Hard Knocks last year because I would watch the shit out of that show.

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Does Chip Kelly Firing Pave the Way for Him as the Next Patriots Offensive Coordinator?

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Black Monday came early this year with several coaches getting axed, some more deserving than others (looking at you Gus Bradley w/ the 14-48 record). Among those was Chip Kelly who got fired after just one year as the 49ers head coach. The 49ers are starting over again after the abortion that was the Jim Tomsula 12 month era. Props to the reporter for asking the owner why he shouldn’t be fired himself and drawing this hilariously tone-deaf response:

On the other end of the spectrum we have Josh McDaniels who is getting tons of interest from other teams (which I touched on a few weeks back) as a head coach. It would seem like McD is probably as good as gone, leaving a big void in the Patriots staff.

With all the history Bill Belichick and Chip Kelly have, it doesn’t take a huge leap to see BB inviting him to come join the best team in the league. These guys go back a long way as they’ve always seemed to admire the other’s football innovations. Back when Chip was at Oregon, Belichick would regularly have him in to talk shop. And it wasn’t just for show, you regularly saw the Pats adopting offensive philosophies made popular by the run n gun Oregon Ducks. The 70+ plays a game running the no huddle almost exclusively throughout the game being the primary one. Lining up for a 2 pt conversion, to test the defense, only to audible back into a traditional extra point FG formation. A lot of things designed to keep the defense on its toes all game long. Now theres finally an opening for the two to work together?

Its a perfect scenario for Chip, who has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to go back to coaching in college. He gets to right his own ship by learning under the best coach in the NFL while also working with the best QB in the league. It’s tough to blame him for the 49ers lack of success this year with that disaster of a roster (49ers GM got canned too).

I always held out hope that Chip would continue to run Oregon, win a couple national championships until Belichick decided he wanted to retire and hand the keys to his buddy Chip.

Now the only thing standing in the way is actual historical precedent. Belichick almost always promotes from within. Matt Patricia, Josh McDaniels, Bill O’Brien, all the way back to Eric Mangini. It seems BB prefers to hire young guys, mold them to the system and then slowly promote them up the ranks. He rarely brings in a big name from outside the organization. Hell I remember a few years back the Patritots intentionally didn’t even have a defensive coordinator. Bill just left the role vacant and had his staff of younger coaches act as assistants while he took over a larger role in play calling.

So thats probably the most likely scenario if McDaniels does in fact take a HC job; we’ll see Chip potentially come in as an offensive assistant/analyst. Quack. Quack.

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Does the Firing of Jeff Fisher Pave the Way for Josh McDaniels as the Next HC of the Los Angeles Rams?

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So after getting smoked by the Falcons on Sunday the Rams would have to win out to even be lucky enough to have “7-9 bullshit.” With Fisher suddenly out as the Rams coach there is now an opening in Southern California, with a new stadium coming, a huge market, the 2016 No. 1 overall pick at QB and an opportunity to really build a franchise.

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I know there have been reports this season saying that Josh McDaniels is indeed interested in head coach openings. So does this pave the way for McDaniels to leave the Pats and head for LA? With another deep playoff run and an already strong body of work running offenses obviously through Brady, but also Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett this season McDaniels seems to be lining himself up nicely for a new gig.

McDaniels was definitely humbled by his flameout in Denver (great story by Bleacher Report on those lessons he learned here) and already has some familiarity with the Rams, albeit in St. Louis, having been their offensive coordinator in 2011. All before coming back to the Patriots as an offensive assistant and then once again as the OC after Bill O’Brien took the Texans HC job. So its not a stretch to make the connection. And while I’d love to have McD stick around, it doesn’t look like Bill Belichick is going anywhere any time soon. So can you really fault the guy?

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This may be the best job opening in the NFL. Usually when a job opens up its in a shit market like Cleveland, which I think McDaniels has made obvious he does not want to do. He’s also gotta be real careful what situation he ultimately decides to go with because this will probably be his last shot to show he can be a successful head coach in this league. So it really comes down to Jared Goff, who has looked absolutely abysmal in his brief experience as a starting QB. Does McDaniels believe he can work with Goff and make him a star? Because if he does, take the job. If not, he may want to rethink it. But this is the same guy who helped get the Pats to 11 wins with Matt Cassel and had a record of 3-1 with 2nd and 3rd string QB’s this season.

Who the hell wouldn’t want this job?

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