WEEK 11 "WHO'S COOKIN' ON THE HOTSEAT?/FIRE THIS COACH!" DISCUSSION
ALREADY RESIGNED/FIRED BEFORE WEEK 6: Jon Gruden (Raiders) , [/B] RESIGNED/FIRED! THEY’RE FIRED!
GUYS WHO WERE ON THE HOT SEAT THIS SEASON, BUT FOR THE MOMENT LOOK SAFE: Kliff Kingsbury (Cardinals) , Mike McCarthy (Cowboys), Zac Taylor (Bengals)
YOU BETTER WATCH YOUR *** AND GET SOME WINS LIST: Nick Sirianni, Eagles; Kevin Stefanski, Browns; Matt Ruhle, Panthers; Arthur Smith, Falcons; Kyle Shanahan, 49ers
10. Pete Carroll, Seahawks Yes, Carroll gave this city a Super Bowl. That was… some time ago. So far this year, this team is 3-6 and that’s not necessarily because Russell Wilson missed 3 games. We knew it would be bleak any time they ran Geno Smith out there instead of Russ, and it was gonna be rough because Chris Carson’s done for the year. -This team's O-Line never got rebuilt from its Super Bowl runs… and even with Russell Wilson’s medical miracle month to come back from a severed tendon in the middle finger of his throwing hand…
Seattle just got shut out 17-0 at home versus Green Bay. That’s the first shutout of Russell Wilson’s career (and he wanted to leave during the offseason).
The Legion of Boom is GONE. This defense is no longer scary, it’s Bobby Wagner and a bunch of scarecrows in the secondary (Jamaal Adams is great against the run, but gets torched in coverage a LOT). Through their first nine games, they are 31st in yards allowed, and 29th against the pass. Just… Jesus. They’re kicker’s also only 63% accurate (31st in the NFL), so at this point, they’re failing at all three phases of the game.
Our reason why we think Carroll won’t be fired no batter how bad this year gets (they’re more likely to force his hand and make him retire)… Even though he’s a kooky 9/11 truther who keeps violating NFL policies for practices and getting the organization fined (he kind of has a track record of cheating, but he’s not Belichek so it’s not thought about)…. Our reason he won’t be fired is Pete Carroll is under contract now until 2025. That’s a lot of money to eat, no matter how awful this squad is going to get, and we think their best case scenario is once Wilson gets back will be to overachieve down the stretch and maybe end up third in the division... but we are thinking they’re going to finish last. And if they’re lucky, they can convince Carroll to retire, because we don’t think he has a rebuild in him.
9. Robert Saleh, Jets: Look, we’re gonna say it… we thought this was a solid hire. It probably still is… but the Jets looked AWFUL through the first 3 weeks, even for Gang Green. They got shut out against the Denver Broncos in Week 5, struggling to get even 162 total yards of offense. After that loss, they got an early BYE week so they had extra time to prepare to travel to New England, and they probably needed a whole MONTH if they were gonna have a chance based on how it went. The Jets lost 54-13 in a lopsided loss that is one of the worst in recent history for the Jets… and that’s saying something.
We know… Saleh’s a defensive coach, and he’s got a questionable talent in his rookie signal-caller Zach Wilson. And YET… after one stellar game, Saleh immediately put faith in Mike White, the guy who hadn’t started a game or taken a snap since he was a Hill Topper at Western Kentucky University (they still have one of the best Muppet-lookin’ mascots you’ll ever see). White torched the Bengals for 415 yards passing, and led the Jets to an upset victory that the New York media immediately started to ask… could this be the missing piece? Mike White and NOT Zach Wilson? And NOT Joe Flacco, redux? Hmm…
As nice as an underdog story as it might have been, White injured his throwing hand on the Jets’ first series against the Colts, and Gang Green fielded Josh Johnson (Flacco wasn’t ready with the new playbook yet), and I can’t even believe Josh Johnson is still in the NFL. Buffalo just beat the Jets in White’s second start… putting up 45 points AGAIN against this team. Remember, Saleh is a defensive coach and teams have scored over 160 points against the Jets the past four weeks. On the season, opponents are averaging rough 33 points per game against this squad.
A first year head coach usually doesn’t end up on the chopping block… But it can happen. Steve Wilks went 3-13 in one year in Arizona and the locker room knew his OC was a joke, and they just gave up on him. So no matter how fired up people were to play for Saleh in San Francisco, if things don’t reverse course with the Jets, he could end up a “one and done” guy.
8. Brian Flores, Dolphins (LUKEWARM SEAT) : The Dolphins are 3-7, and… don’t look now, but for the moment Tu’a is healthy and they’re… on a 2 game winning streak? And they get the Jets this week…? Could… Could Miami actually string together three wins in a row?
Look, step one for the Dolphins is to quit F***ing around with their quarterback situation. They were not subtle about whether or not they were looking to move on from Tagliavoa WAY too soon, and while he is already racking up an injury history, they shouldn’t pretend that when he’s healthy, he isn’t far and away the best option they’ve got. Second, you drafted Jaylen Waddle out of ‘Bama to play with this kid. Let HIM develop, because he looks like the real deal as well.
The real problem this team has? They’re 32nd in the NFL in rushing. If they want to keep Tu’a healthy, they need to get Miles Gaskin healthy and racking up yards.
We’ll note there are stories out there about Brian Flores saying “I’m not worried about my job security,” which usually is what coaches who are about to get fired say. But if Miami keeps winning, he could save himself from the chopping block at the end of this year. (We think it’s a long shot.)
7. Vic Fangio, Broncos : As of Week 10… 5-5… you would think a team around .500 wouldn’t have a coach on the chopping block, but you have to consider… This team started 3-0 and some chuckleheads thought they might win the division… But wiser people noted that trio of victories were against the Jets, Giants, and Jaguars, who were a combined 0-9 at that point?
Denver came back to Earth fast. They know this is a lost season and if you needed any more proof, it was when they traded Von Miller to the Rams for a 2nd and 3rd round draft pick in 2022. This is after spending weeks trading away every late-round draft pick they had to get any competency at the LB position they could. If you STILL needed proof, it would be this past week’s game where Teddy Bridgewater pulled a matador act on a turnover and let Darius Slay go the other way for the touchdown. Fangio has buried his starter in the press for it, and while Bridgewater deserves getting skewered for it… look at that replay. There’s MULTIPLE Broncos players on the field who flat out quit on that and made no effort. And that’s indicative that this team has quit on him, even for what their record is. He’s throwing Bridgewater under the bus, though, because he’s got to do SOMETHING to look like he hasn’t checked out, either, like his players.
A reminder, Fangio declared that Covid-19 is showing "who the whiners are" around the NFL, last season. Perhaps we should also mention that last year, the game that the Broncos played without an actual QB was because under Fangio’s leadership, the whole QB room broke Covid-19 protocols so they could sit right on top of each other in the film room, rather than socially distance in corners. If you can’t get guys to adhere to that simple thing… it might be because you yourself are fighting the regulations there to keep you alive. On the field, though... “Mr. Covid Tough Guy” Fangio led Denver to a 5-11 in 2020, and to paraphrase a wiser person on CBR than I… “Denver somehow found the only person who can make dumber decisions than Vance Joseph.” Prediction: The Broncos next head coach will not have a name that starts with “V”.
6. Joe Judge, Giants: We don’t believe Joe Judge should have ever been a head coach. His prior experience before getting the gig in the Meadowlands with the G-Men was serving as special teams coordinator/wide receivers coach in New England (a team not regarded well for its WR corps during his tenure). His QB is living blooper reel Daniel Jones. His team’s preseason was marred by a massive brawl with THEMSELVES where the pileup of players throwing haymakers tumbled onto their starting QB who ended up at the bottom of the mound of humanity, enraging Judge so he made his players run gassers like they were back in high school JV, and resulting in one veteran filing to retire immediately, rather than play for him any more. Two other veteran players announced their retirement before the preseason was over.
In Week One, this squad got the good fortune to play against the Denver Broncos, who are thought of as, at best, a mid-tier team at the moment. They got destroyed. The Giants lost to the WFT in Week 2, and on the sideline, their top free agent acquisition, WR Kenny Golladay, was thought to be screaming at his quarterback, but Golladay let the New York media know he was actually screaming at OC Jason Garrett… yeah… things are just fine in the Big Apple. In Week 6, Judge sent Daniel Jones out when he should have been in concussion protocol to get brutalized by the Rams’ defense in a blowout loss.
The Giants are now 3-6, and they’re coming off a BYE week to have to face… oh s***. The Buccaneers in Tampa Bay the week before Thanksgiving, and they’re getting dogged out by Bruce Arians to put more effort in after a lackluster game this past week. Don’t see another upset coming this team’s way.