Rumor mongering on Black Monday
Dec 29, 2008 Fire Richard Smith
I just wanted to bring everyone’s attention to something I noticed over at profootballtalk.com. In an article describing Eric Mangini’s firing, Mike Florio said this:
Mangini could land somewhere as a defensive coordinator. In Houston, for example, coach Gary Kubiak reportedly will be dumping his entire defensive coaching staff.
He goes on to talk about what a weasel Mangini is, which is funny, because that’s what I was typing in an e-mail to bfd and Matt about potential defensive co-ordinators. Plus, he’s a 3-4 guy. Kubiak is probably going to enter next year with some heat on his seat, and he can’t afford to transition to a 3-4. At any rate, I wish he would have fleshed out the “Kubiak reportedly will be dumping his entire defensive coaching staff” part! There’s no reference or anything.
So I ask, why hasn’t there been any talk about Ray Rhodes being defensive coordinator? OK, I guess he falls under “entire defensive coaching staff.” But he does have a pretty decent resume; does it all just come down to him having a mild stroke a few years ago and not wanting to take on a heavy load?
There are two other guys I’ve seen floated around as possibilities for other teams at DC: Sean McDermott and Dave McGinnis. The first one is the longest-tenured assistant under Jim Johnson in Philly. He’s a finance major, too.
The second is the current Asst. Head Coach / LBs coach in Tennessee, Dave McGinnis. Jim Schwartz is probably going to get hired away from the Titans this year as a head coach, and with McGinnis already as the “assistant head coach” in Tennessee and presumably next-in-line to inherit a stellar defense, I have a hard time imaging him leaving, but you never know. It’s worth clicking on that link if only to see the ridiculous photo they have of him.
I looked at the coaches I think are reasonable shots at being fired and none of them really make sense to me as hires for the Texans: Rod Marinelli (Cover-2, 0-16 stink); Marvin Lewis (probably won’t get fired by cheap owner, Cover-2 guy); Romeo Crennel (3-4 guy); Mike Nolan (already fired, 3-4 guy); Wade Phillips (3-4 guy, Jones says he won’t fire him); Herm Edwards (Cover-2 guy, plus I don’t think he has any co-ordinator experience); Dick Jauron (probably won’t be fired, a 4-3 guy though). I’m probably missing a few there, too. I suppose a Cover-2 is reasonable, although it wouldn’t be a Colts/Bucs type of Cover-2 since our players are pretty big for that.
Who have you guys seen floated as possibilities?
UPDATE: Totally stolen from Stephanie, Jay Glazer is the one reporting that Kubiak is making changes on defense. I’ll just link to Stephanie’s page so that you can get to Glazer’s report from there, as Steph’s blog is always worth checking out anyway. Update 2: From the mothership, Kubiak sez (on reports of defensive coaching changes) “That’s unfortunate, but that’s part of our job.”
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December 29th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
The Rhodes thing is simple. If you look at his resume as a DC, he’s not just good – he’s HISTORICALLY GREAT, meaning – if he wanted to be a DC, he would be one somewhere. It’s all about his health issues. 100%.
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Greg Williams’ name is out there as well. I think he’d be a solid fit. He has a pretty good resume, and this team cannot afford to take a chance on a college guy who may or may not be the next big thing as a coordinator, and they can’t take a chance on a position coach. I think they need a proven DC. Williams had some FANTASTIC years as the Titans’ DC, and he only had one year in Jax, so I don’t think he should be judged too harshly on it. He has Houston ties, and of course coached with the Oilers.
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Of the names I’ve heard so far – I like Williams the most… but I’d also like to hear a lot more names because I’m not exactly “very excited” about Williams.
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In the end, I’m afraid we might just end up promoting from within with Frank Bush perhaps. I wouldn’t really be happy about that – but as long as Smith is gone, I at least won’t be actively angry.
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What do you think of Williams, Soc?
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December 29th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
@DiehardChris: Given the prospects out there, I think Williams has to be at the top of the list so far. I didn’t even think of him, although I did think that he was already fired from JAX.
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It makes a lot of sense, actually. Is he on the outs with JAX? I can’t remember where I saw that at…
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Isn’t he an aggressive blitzer, too? That would be welcome.
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December 29th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
@socctty:
They announced during the season that he would not return for 2009… and uh, I thought they already canned him but I guess not. Not officially.
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He is indeed an aggressive blitzer. He would fill every need we have for a DC (at least what we, the observers want) in that he’s aggressive, he’s a 4-3 guy, he’s got a good resume – and bonus – his previous season will have been with a division rival.
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December 29th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
The Texans could have some personnel for a Tampa 2 style base defense.
Adibi & Ryans both have the range to play Tampa 2 LBs. Maybe move a guy like Brandon Harrison or Dominique Barber up to be the 3rd LB. Another interesting guy to grab for this “scheme” might be Vilma if NO ends up letting him go.
We’d definitely need someone opposite Mario to bring the pressure necessary.
We’ve got the physical corners for it. Robinson & Bennett could do well in run support. Reeves has the speed to be a ball hawk in a short zone.
We don’t really have the safeties for it right now, but that’s a position that everyone is looking for the team to address in FA or the draft.
These are all pipe dreams right now, but it’s fun to scheme about improving the Texans.
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December 29th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
@DiehardChris: Well, I’m sold on Williams now! You’re right, they did say he wouldn’t be returning.
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@marroncito: I’ve always assumed that the difference between a Cover-2 and a Tampa-2 was Tony Dungy’s influence; that he preferred smaller players (which Ryans, Adibi, and bringing one of the safeties down would certainly qualify as), and that because of his penchant for smaller players, you can operate a defense on the cheap.
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I don’t think Bennett is a very good tackler. It definitely fits Dunta, though. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him leave to a team like New Orleans, actually.
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We ran a Cover-2 the last part of last year, IIRC, because of how decimated the secondary was.
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December 29th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Richard Smith’s final chapter:
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27th in Points Allowed http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?season=2008&seasonType=REG&d-447263-o=1&conference=ALL&tabSeq=2&role=OPP&statisticCategory=TEAM_PASSING&d-447263-p=1&d-447263-s=TOTAL_POINTS_SCORED&d-447263-n=1
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21st (tied) in INTs: http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?season=2008&seasonType=REG&d-447263-o=2&conference=ALL&tabSeq=2&role=OPP&statisticCategory=TEAM_PASSING&d-447263-p=1&d-447263-s=PASSING_INTERCEPTIONS&d-447263-n=1
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26th in Passer Rating: http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?season=2008&seasonType=REG&d-447263-o=1&conference=ALL&tabSeq=2&role=OPP&statisticCategory=TEAM_PASSING&d-447263-p=1&d-447263-s=PASSING_PASSER_RATING&d-447263-n=1
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22nd in Yards Per Game: http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=2&defensiveStatisticCategory=GAME_STATS&conference=ALL&role=OPP&season=2008&seasonType=REG&d-447263-s=TOTAL_YARDS_GAME_AVG&d-447263-o=1&d-447263-n=1 which is actually deceiving because of how good our offense was (the defense was only on the field 28:09 per game, 4th shortest in the league: http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?season=2008&seasonType=REG&defensiveStatisticCategory=GAME_STATS&d-447263-o=1&conference=ALL&tabSeq=2&role=OPP&d-447263-p=1&d-447263-s=TIME_OF_POSS_SECONDS_PER_GAME_AVG&d-447263-n=1) So let’s look at…
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28th in yards per play: http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?season=2008&seasonType=REG&defensiveStatisticCategory=GAME_STATS&d-447263-o=1&conference=ALL&tabSeq=2&role=OPP&d-447263-p=1&d-447263-s=SCRIMMAGE_YDS_PLAY_AVG&d-447263-n=1
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FootballOutsiders has the defense as the 29th ranked defense in the league: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef … after being the 30th-ranked last year and 31st in 2006. I guess he’s showing improvement! Next year with him we’ll be 28th!
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December 29th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
honestly i wouldn’t mind having rod marinelli as the new DC. i always thought he would have made a great DC, and since he runs a 4-3 we wouldn’t have to completely overhaul our scheme. and, let’s face it, he can’t be worse than richard smith. nothing could be worse than richard smith.
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December 30th, 2008 at 1:30 am
I was listening to some sports radio up here when Michael Holley (formerly of Around the Horn fame) was talking about some of New England’s offseason plans. He mentioned about the Pats going after Dunta…any truth to this or is this purely speculation on his part? He didn’t seem to have any real sources but just threw Dunta’s name out there as the kind of a player the Pats like.
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December 30th, 2008 at 1:46 am
@CT Texan: I guess I could see it, not sure how the salary cap numbers for the Patriots are. They certainly do need some secondary help, and Dunta fits their “shut up and play” approach. But I haven’t seen anything concrete about it.
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I’m sure a lot of teams are interested in Dunta Robinson, and they probably think they can get him on the cheap after his injury and the small amount of games he’s hand to prove himself since coming back. The market on him will be interesting; some team is going to be willing to pay him a lot of money and others will be skittish about his return from his injury. I think Dunta will go for the same amount of money that Corey Webster went for.
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Dunta is an Unrestricted Free Agent this year and Owen Daniels is a RFA; I’m not sure which is more likely to receive the franchise tag.
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December 30th, 2008 at 4:45 am
Thanks for the kind words.
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Gregg Williams was pretty much a short timer for Jacksonville because he signed a 1 year contract with them that he was okay with because he was still getting paid by Washington. They did a 1 year contract to give him flexibility–he was looking for jobs at a bad time because the Redskins strung him along with the head coaching thingy.
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Redskin fans are fussy, and a lot of them liked Gregg Williams. FWIW.
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December 30th, 2008 at 4:47 am
Oh also, the ESPNs rumor on Williams is that he may go back to the Titans if Schwartz gets a head coaching job. If the Texans want Williams, they should move fast before the Titans get done with playoff stuff.
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December 30th, 2008 at 7:04 am
@Steph: That would conceivably open up Dave McGinnis for hire, but obviously Williams is a more desirable hire for us. Seems to me like the Titans have a pretty good in-house hire, though, and (this is wishful thinking) might try to go the cheap route by promoting within. I expect the axe to drop on Smith within the next day or so, so I guess we’ll see here soon enough.
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In Kubiak’s press conference, he said that coaches were evaluating the players. Presumably this means Smith was evaluating the defensive players. But Smith HAS to know he’s about to be fired, right? Why would you invest anything in what this guy has to say at this point? Just fire him and hire your guy and go with whatever your new guy has to say after reviewing tape.
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December 30th, 2008 at 8:22 am
@socctty: What Kubes said about the process at his presser:
(on defensive coordinator Richard Smith’s future) “Like I said, I’m in an evaluation period right now. We’ll see. I’m dealing with players today. (Texans owner) Mr. McNair and I will have a nice visit here this evening, and then we’ll get into the coaching phase sometime tomorrow.”
In line with what you said and very non-commital(sp?)!
He’s gone today and with the fans and media circling, McNair feels the wind of change..I pray.
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December 30th, 2008 at 8:41 am
The team can’t afford to gamble with any 3-4 guys. Too many variables, ie: moving players around, drafting guys for the scheme, acclimation periods. And we sure as hell don’t have the players for the Tampa 2. An aggressive 4-3 guy (Williams fits) should be the priority.
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December 30th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Kubiak mentioned on the radio yesterday that the “coaches meeting” is tonight, whereas he met with McNair and GM Smith last night. So I expect if Richard Smith is going to be fired, it might come down this time tomorrow.
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Also – Steph is right on. If we’re going to pursue Williams, we need to move FAST. We won’t be the only ones chasing him – and I’m also starting to worry that he’ll be the type of coordinator that is going to command the same kind of salary that some of the lower-paid head coaches make… you know, like Kubiak.
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December 30th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
BRB is reporting that the Chronicle is reporting that Smith, Hoke and Franklin are out. Apparently Christmas has come early, er, late.
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December 30th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
No, no, no, NO on Williams. For a short answer why, see the Williams part of this post. (Most salient point: His system puts an insane amount of pressure on the CBs in press coverage AND requires a ballhawking FS.)
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For a longer explanation, talk to any Skins fan.
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Seriously, for this team, Williams is on the short list of worst possible choices. Consider me in the Marinelli camp unless the team decides to break the bank to hire Spagnuolo. (Won’t happen.)
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December 30th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
@Matt:
I want to see more names. I think Williams is the best of the names I’ve heard. It’s gonna be hard for me to shake the stench of 0-16 to accept Marinelli.
Really – Williams and Marinelli are the ONLY names I’ve heard so far that makes sense, because all I keep seeing are 3-4 guys, and guys who don’t have a proven record – and I think both of those types of guys should not even be under consideration. Obviously, we can’t install a 3-4 at this point, and it’s too important a hire to gamble on someone who isn’t proven.
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December 30th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
@Matt:
Hm. Your comments on Williams in that previous article are compelling… but I still haven’t heard a better name than his so far.
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Please, lord gawd, put more names on the plate.
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I could be swayed on Marinelli – even though he’s never been a DC.
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December 30th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Here’s the argument for Marinelli:
1. His coverage shell is the Tampa-2, not the straight Cover-2 (or, ugh, the Cover-1 that Dick loved), so DeMeco’s playmaking abilities are utilized.
2. Warren Sapp constantly refers to him as one of the best D-line coaches in football, which is awesome for the development of Amobi.
3. More than one Tampa player from the 90s/00s has said Marinelli was as important as Kiffin to their successes.
4. After 0-16, he’ll come cheap(er) and will be itching to redeem himself.
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Re: Williams. In addition to the problems with how he uses his secondary, I don’t think it’s an accident that Jax’s D was noticeably worse this year than last, do you?
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December 30th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
@Matt:
I don’t think it’s an accident, but I also repeatedly read that he and JDR had huge philosophy differences, and he was only there a year.
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But – Devil’s Advocate to that – it seems UNPOSSIBLE!!! to me that JDR would hire a DC, and then find out months later that they have philosophical differences. Weird.
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Matt, I know you’re pretty much a defensive guru – so honestly – I trust your opinion on this as much as probably anyone. You’re already making a compelling case for Marinelli. Really what I want are more choices.
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Prediction – the Texans DC in 2009 will be a guy that none of us have named yet. LOL
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December 30th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
[...] with Tampa Bay. He’s a 4-3 guy, and I think he’s definitely worth interviewing. Check out the post and the comments on this post over at Matt’s site. Socctty has a nice overview post and Matt makes a pretty compelling [...]
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December 30th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
@Matt: I’ve got skepticism regarding Williams as well, but I am also in the “best name I’ve heard” camp.
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Mr. McNair has shown a tendency to make the fans “take their medicine” and make initially unpopular decisions. Marinelli could be one of those. I have reservations about his having never been a coordinator.
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As a thought exercise, here’s how you cure your concerns with Williams: 1) Commit to signing Nnamdi Asomugha. 2) Draft Taylor Mays. Easier said than done because the Raiders could easily franchise Asomugha again, and Mays could end up getting drafted before we get a shot at him.
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December 30th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
@DiehardChris: “Prediction – the Texans DC in 2009 will be a guy that none of us have named yet. LOL”
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I buy that completely. My guess is that we get a guy who has not been a DC before, but who has shown some kind of promise as a coach/coordinator for a team that has made the playoffs in the last couple years.
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December 30th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
@Matt: Sean McDermott fits the bill. Again he’s the longest-tenured Jim Johnson guy around. Now, Steve Spagnuolu is a Jim Johnson protege as well. (There’s no way we get Spags, btw). The cynic in me suspects that a lot of Spagnuolu’s success last year had to do with the fact that he could choose between Fred Robbins, Justin Tuck, Mathias Kiwanuka, Osi Umenyiora, and Michael Strahan on his line at any given point, and that this year he’s had the league’s best offense to rely on.
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This will be an interesting search…. I mention McDermott not because I prefer him over anyone else, but because I think he’s a possibility.
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December 30th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Skins fan here. Let me start by saying congratulations on firing Richard Smith. You now are feeling the same satisfaction I felt, perhaps a tad more, when we got rid of GREGG WILLIAMS!!! Please, for the sake of my buddy Cam, do not sign Gregg Williams, Houston Texans.
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Gregg Williams is a gimmick, pure and simple. He builds a defense from the outside in, and when it collapses, he has no solutions for it. On top of all of that, he’s a moody bitch that could very easily cost you talent. What do I mean? Let’s look at his time as a Skin:
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1) The Aggressive Blitzer Myth: I’ve seen this one perpetuated on this thread a bit. Sorry to say, it’s only partially true, and it’s true at all the wrong times. G. Will is an aggressive blitzer, but only when he has full faith in his secondary–specifically, when he corners he can trust, and a god-like safety in the mold of Sean Taylor. When he has those guys, G. Will feels very comfortable sending his “looks like they were schemed by an autistic five year old playing Madden” blitzes–you know, the ones that have our best corner come off the edge 30 times during the course of a season to get 6 sacks (pretty impressive huh?), when fucking LAVAR ARRINGTON is sitting on the bench.
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But what effect do these blitzes have? At no point under G. Williams did the Redskins ever finish in the top 1/2 of the league in sacks, or turnovers under G. Will. At crucial points in the game, when the defense picked up the blitzes, our secondary left huge holes for mediocre offenses to throw deep on us, and that’s with (everyone say it with me now) a god-like safety in sean taylor (I’m looking right at you Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Even on shorter plays, our zones would leaving gaping areas short, through which running backs scampered around like fucking Bambi before hunting season (Jim Finn scores a 30 yard TD run in OT!!!–does anyone here even know who Jim Finn is? Shut up Ren). Slowly but surely, the Redskins’ D, which had been dominating in the early parts of seasons, begins to fade. Now, you’d think that after teams started picking up on the G. Will system, the defensive genius would start switching things up. But no, that wouldn’t befit a man of his coaching prowess–he’d keep running the same thing, over and over and over again.
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Of course, he didn’t do this all year–but what stopped him? Not the fact that the etch-a-sketch fever dreams he called a defensive scheme were exposed. Rather, it was because he started losing his trusted secondary players. So, when Shawn Springs goes down, we play passive, cushion coverage. Even worse, we play our best defensive player by far 30 yards off the line out of fear that because G. Will can’t blitz now [leaving aside that a depleted secondary is precisely the reason TO blitz], he can’t protect his secondary, so he needs he someone to cover his ass. Well, now offenses have G. Will right where they want him. Simple plays can be used to shift the safety, the lack of pressure gives a QB all day, and the secondary doesn’t hold up, so offenses start ripping off large chunks of yards. This is the G. Will defense I’m used to.
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Now, maybe it would all work out differently for the Texans. After all, they’ve got a premier d-end, something the Skins haven’t been able to acquire since Charles Mann. You’ve got a hopefully up-and-coming d tackle with some quicks, something else the Skins have lacked. After all, you give the man star talent and he must be able to do something with it. Not so fast….
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2) Headcase: Bluntly, G Will is a unmitigated, egomaniacal headcase. He believes in one thing–the G. Will system. What does this mean? Simply put, G Will is more interested in running his type of system than working with the talent he’s given, and will do what he can to bang that defense into that pitiful mold, no matter who he loses. Thus, the Skins lose Champ, they lose Lavar, they lose Antonio Pierce, they lose a pre-sex boat Smoot, they lose all these guys from which a normal defensive coordinator could build a solid defensive system (don’t believe me? check out what Marvin Lewis did with those same guys in 1999), with a little help. In their place stands a banged up Shawn Springs, a knee-less Rocky McIntosh, and a defensive line that looks more like a shit stain on o-linemen’s pants than a threat. Thanks G–can’t wait to see what you do with Demeco Ryans and Super Mario.
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3) Lack of foresight: The deal for G. Will when he came to the Skins was complete autonomy over the defense. The deal for Coach Gibbs when he came back was complete autonomy over team personnel. What did this translate to? Complete autonomy for G. Will over defensive personnel. Thus, I feel comfortable blaming him, among others, for failing to rectify the most glaring deficiency on a defense I’ve ever seen–namely, the lack of any cognizable pass rush. Before G. Will, the Skins had at least one viable pass rusher on every play–his name was Lavar, and as Cam remembers, he ended Kurt Warner’s first life as a the greatest comeback story in NFL history. While G. Will as there, our best pass-rusher became Shawn Springs. Now, a defensive genius like G. Will, particularly one who saw the influence that the Freak had on the Titans D during those dominant years, must recognize the importance of d-line play right? Nope. We did not draft a single d-lineman in, I believe, the first five rounds of any draft while G. Will was around. But that’s ok, cause we still have Lavar right? Wrong again amigo. Lavar now plays sparingly, and when he does he’s DROPPING BACK INTO COVERAGE. Ok, then we must be talking about replacing Lavar, right? Sure–with a 2nd round LB with DEGENERATIVE KNEES. Through all this, G. Will’s only answer, despite having a defense that repeatedly failed to get to the qb in the most desperate of times, was to play softer and softer, until finally, we looked like the Lions circa 1994. Never did he even try to fix it in the one way that made sense–bring in a pass rusher. Way to go G—a soft defense will work perfectly against Peyton and that running combo they have up there in Tennessee.
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While damning enough I think, these are just a few of the problems that come with a G. Will defense. Others include the fact that his defense and choice of defensive personnel leave the edge wide open, so that somehow, the Skins have been getting beat by the same toss play for the last 5 years (no seriously–compare what Tiki Barber used to do to us to what the Boys did with Barber in the last Skins-Boys game–same exact play–only difference is that Tiki took it to the house, b/c you know, he’s better than Marion the Librarian). Or that he insists on dropping his best pass rusher into coverage at least 10 times a game. The list goes on and on, and trust me Texans fans, you don’t want this to be your story three years down the line. We can debate about whether it compared to what you have now, but there’s no disputing that under G. Will, the Skins wasted some young defensive talent, and placed themselves in a hole for probably ten years. Hopefully the same won’t be said for the Texans down the road.
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Two sidenotes: 1) sorry for the caps and the drama—I get worked up when I talk about the men responsible for murdering one of the NFL’s great franchises (Snyder, you’re next, you little bitch) and 2) I think it was Steph who mentioned that Skins fans generally like G. Will. Whether or not it is true, little tip–using the opinion of the majority of Skins fans to justify your point is like investing a stock based on pack of Down Syndrome kids reading the Wall Street Journal. Food for thought.
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December 30th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
@socctty: Speaking of Fred Robbins, I’ll just say AGAIN that I think we need to sign him.
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McD is an interesting choice and one I kind of like. I’m trying to think of a knock on him and the only thing I’ve got is the whole “hasn’t done it before.” To that, I say that Richard Smith HAD done it before and that didn’t really mean much.
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@Sid: Wow. Tell us how you really feel.
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December 30th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
@Matt: I made the same sort of comment over at Chris’, but I’ll make it here too: I don’t see why Rod Marinelli is a “guy with a resume” that “has done it before”, but McDermott is disqualified. Marinelli was a head coach, and a terrible one. Before that, he was a position coach, which is exactly what McDermott is.
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At any rate, Frank Bush will interview for the job per Kubiak, and Ray Rhodes will assist in finding a coordinator. This probably bodes well for Bush, but it also sets the standard for what they are looking for on a resume.
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December 30th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
@Sid: A lot of what you are saying sounds eerily familiar: “…he insists on dropping his best pass rusher into coverage at least 10 times a game…”, refusing to blitz when you have a depleted secondary… pretty informative stuff.
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December 30th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I agree with whomever said it will be a “name we haven’t mentioned yet” – and that’s cool. I’d also be cool with Marinelli. Some guys are just meant to be coordinators (Monte Kiffin, Norv Turner, Wade Phillips, Cam Cameron) and suck as HCs. Maybe that’s Marinelli?
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December 30th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I wouldn’t really have a gripe with Marinelli. It just looks bad for anybody hiring him after that abysmal season. But hey, the Bucs picked up sacks left and right when he coached their D-line.
And fun fact: of the top twelve sack-leading teams this year, ten made the playoffs. Only Indy and San Diego (who only finished 8-8, with Merriman out for the season) were outside of the top 15. Meanwhile we were ranked 27th. There’s a lot of work to be done.
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December 30th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
@Sid: Hahaha. I love your passion.
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I sometimes fear that there is nobody that can fix the Texans defense. /abused by too much bad defensive play.
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December 30th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
@Matt: Richard Smith really hadn’t done it before. He was a co-coordinator for a 3-4 where it was really Nick Saban’s defense. (Saban attended all the defensive meetings). Smith has been a coaching vagabond.
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December 31st, 2008 at 8:58 am
@Steph: Well, that makes the hiring even dumber, but my point was that taking a guy because he’s had “DC” next to his name before doesn’t really guarantee much.
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January 1st, 2009 at 4:32 pm
@socctty:
I would think that if the Texans were going to tag someone it would be Dunta. With Daniels they have the ability to match another teams offer sheet and then sign him.
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January 4th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
good post home slice