5421

Reid should have been on my list. I forgot about him. I don’t think its likely he’ll be fired, but it would not be a shock if he was.

I just don’t see the Raiders making a move. Jackson is in his first year and the Raiders are competing for the division. Yeah, you can blame him for some poor moves, but I don’t see those as being the kind of thing that will cost him his job. If anything, the problem is that the post-Al ownership let Jackson have too much control. And that illustrates the bigger issue, which is that we have no idea how to view the current ownership situation there. Who would make that kind of decision? I think its safer to guess they may hire a GM or something like that and give Jackson another year at least. Its not like they can dump Palmer without massive negative cap impacts either. They are committed to him so they might as well give Jackson another year to make it work.

5422

Yeah I can’t see the Eagles dropping Reid unless they had a firm agreement with Cowher. Reid wouldn’t be on the open market for very long. A guy who gets his teams to the playoffs nearly every year? Sign my team up for him!

5423

Didn’t Haley tell Tony Gonzalez his services were no longer required? I know no one needs another reason to hate him, but that would be the top reason on my list.

5424

Raiders letting Hue Jackson go? Not going to happen.

My Tebow theory is that Romo borrows Tebow’s skills for the last three minutes and Tebow borrow’s Romo’s.

Also letting go of Coughlin? Hahaha. If they do, then maybe the Raiders getting him would work.

5425

Could you imagine the undisciplined Raider players under Coughlin? They’d quit on the spot.

5426

Or Coughlin would die of apoplexy after their 30th penalty of the game.

5427

I don’t think that’s how it went. Gonzo wanted to play with Tyler Thigpen (EVERYBODY!) as his quarterback, but Haley and the front office wanted a more proven QB, so they grabbed the guy who lucked into Moss and Welker for a season instead. Gonzo then wanted a trade to a team with actual playoff hopes, since he has never won a playoff game in his life. The Chiefs agreed to his terms and traded him away.

That’s how I heard it, at least. Kansas City misses Gonzo greatly, but we might as well have shown up to the train station waving white hankies and fighting back tears, telling him we’d always have September, and you go out there and you win one for all of us back home who have always loved you.

That might have just been me, though. I still have the hanky.

5428

Hahaha although to be fair, the Giants were a pretty rough bunch when Coughlin took over there, weren’t they balut?

5429

No source yet other than “Twitter,” but Football Outsiders says that the Dolphins have fired Tony Sparano.

PFT has it up as well, Jay Glazer reporting.

5430

Yep, Sparano out, Todd Bowles is the interim coach.

I’m glad they pulled the trigger, as I was starting to become afraid that, if they somehow beat the Jets and/or the Pats in the final weeks, they might actually reconsider keeping Sparano around. Thankfully they ripped the bandaid off and we can move on.

5431

Is there any pressing reason to fire both THE HALEY and Sparano right now, rather than wait a few weeks and do it at the end of the season?

5432

This way they don’t need to issue Christmas bonus checks.

5433

Dolphins are looking like a playoff team right now, don’t want controversy later.

5434

As the Dolphins found out firsthand last year, it’s super awkward to try to interview people when you haven’t fired your current coach yet. And once teams start jettisoning coaches, you don’t want to wait too long to get in line, or else you start running the risk of letting some coaches slip away.

As a Dolphins fan, my best case scenario would be to bring in Cowher and let him take over the entire operation. But if he has no interest, I’d be more than happy if they ended up with Jeff Fisher. After that, I’m worried what the rest of the field looks like.

5435

As someone watching Glorious Leader destroy the world in Washington, why do you want an old coach like Cowher vs. promoting a new coordinator?

My current thought is that hiring a new guy or a coach with moderate success is better than bringing back an old guy out of retirement, but I could be swayed.

5436

Cowher’s not ancient, and he’s a very good coach. Like sluggo said though, unless the 'Fins are going to give Parcell’s-esque control over to him, he’s not going to be that interested in the job.

5437

I don’t think you can point to Shanahan and say “just hire an assistant” because the guys who are getting fired right now were all on their first head coaching gig. Mike Singletary wasn’t old and washed up. Neither was Josh McDaniels. The bottom line is that the NFL is super competitive, and it’s really hard to put all the pieces in place. Is Mike McCarthy a great head coach? Or is he a good head coach with a really talented team? Remember, McCarthy was with the Niners when they chose Smith over Rodgers. Caldwell looked like a pretty good coach until Peyton got hurt.

Marty Schottenheimer got the Chargers to 14-2, and he was ancient. Dick Vermeil was head coach when the Rams won their Super Bowl. For every example of a guy who meets some blanket criteria and is successful, there is a counter-example of a guy who meets the same criteria and was unsuccessful. That’s why it’s stupid anytime someone says “defensive coordinators don’t make good head coaches” or so-and-so is too young or old. There are way too many factors in play for it ever to be that simple.

5438

I can’t think of the next hot coordinator who I’d want as my head coach. Anyone?

One talk show suggested the possibility of Brian Schottenheimer from the Jets, which, IMO, would be a great way to sink your franchise for the next 3-5 years.

5439

Not at all. He cost us two games last year out of stupidity.

5440

But Jeff Ireland stays.

Steve Ross really is a moron…