NFL Regular Season Thread

[worstblogever]

WEEK 14 "WHO'S COOKIN' ON THE HOTSEAT?/FIRE THIS COACH!" DISCUSSION
(ALREADY FIRED BEFORE WEEK 9): Josh McDaniels (Raiders), Frank Reich (Panthers) FIRED! THEY’RE FIRED!



10. Jonathon Gannon, Cardinals: Gannon was hired via a tampering charge against the Cardinals, who interviewed him DURING Super Bowl week, and who were already are under investigation by the NFL because allegedly, their old GM, Steve Keim, was still barking orders to subordinates while under suspension via burner phones handed out on the orders of owner Michael Bidwill, who reportedly runs his team under a “culture of fear”. So that’s a great start to this discussion.

The first win of this team was an upset of the Dallas Cowboys that went a LOOOOONG way to giving Jonathon Gannon job security, just by avoiding being the first 0-17 team and exceeding expectations, particularly at the expense of a rival that abused this team all through its first days in the desert. Their third, against the Steelers, was the first time they beat Pittsburgh in several tries, allowing them to finally avenge their Super Bowl loss 15 years ago.

The good news for Jonathon Gannon Arizona is… the bar is set low enough for Jonathon Gannon that he just has to be a better coach than Kliff Kingsbury. Nobody locally believes this team was doing anything this year, and were already looking forward to the 2024 draft, when the front office will have both their own high 1st round pick, as well as the one that the Texans traded them to move up in the first round in 2023.

It’s past time for moral victories. Kyler’s back. Budda Baker’s healthy. The offense got James Connor back. If they can’t get another win or two against lesser teams in the back half of their schedule like Chicago, or the struggling Seahawks … well, that might not bode well for JG… but it seems like he’s gonna be safe if the team improves to “mediocre” going into 2024. BUT DON’T MESS UP HAVING THE #3 PICK. THE OTHER TWO ARE SNAGGING QBS YOU DON’T NEED. TAKE THE BEST NON-QB IN THE DRAFT.

They’re 3-10 after upsetting the Pittsburgh Steelers but will be likely to be destroyed after their BYE week in what should be a Week 15 drubbing against the 49ers.

9. Robert Saleh, Jets: Four plays into this season, Robert Saleh was in trouble. Zach Wilson is the biggest problem, and OC Nathaniel Hackett is probably the silver medal winner for the next biggest. The former had been benched, and the latter might be a sacrificial lamb, unless this franchise remains the hostage to the whims of Aaron Rodgers. Saleh hasn’t been able to have any member of his coaching staff get Wilson or anyone else at QB playing any sort of respectable football, and they always finds a way to f*** up whatever the rest of the Jets EXTREMELY TALENTED ROSTER have done to still put him in position to win the game.

Saleh’s on the hot seat with the Jets at 5-8, and it’s mostly that there were higher expectations for this team… they’ll say, “It’s not his fault that Aaron Rodgers went down…” and they’ll be right. But while we think Saleh’s job is still “wait and see” at this time, we will remind everyone that the offense is being run by OC Nathaniel Hackett, who coached Russell Wilson into an oubliette in Denver last season he still hasn’t fully recovered from.

Let’s just say that this franchise is a complete mess from top to bottom, has fallen ass-backwards into one of the best defensive units in the NFL, and that in their desperation to solve their offensive woes, they entrusted all the decision making to an egomaniacal, moody, emotionally-stilted moron of a franchise QB who has convinced this team to sign any receiver, backup QB, or coach he’s ever gotten on with, but without any consideration if those players or coaches can actually make the team better before having his Achilles tendon explode, and continuing to call the shots while playing roughly one series for the team.

8. Chris Tabor, Panthers: Frank Reich was the guy Jim Irsay fired halfway through last year, and the Panthers looked at their own inept coach, Matt Ruhle, then their interim coach, Steve Wilks, and were like, “YES, WE WOULD ABSOLUTELY TAKE FRANK REICH, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.”

They probably should have kept Wilks.

Carolina has a solid front seven on defense (well, HAD, injuries have kind of made that moot and they’re now 31st in defense PPG), but has been searching for a QB ever since Cam Newton fell apart half a decade ago. They’ve put Teddy Bridgewater in, Baker Mayfield out there, Sam Darnold, they almost made P.J. Walker a thing, but kept putting Cam’s moldy corpse out for seemingly only nostalgia… but Reich’s mission was to work to develop the #1 pick in the draft they took Bryce Young out of Alabama, and… t

Based on the fact that they picked him over C.J. Stroud, who’s tearing it up in Houston… that failure to make Young look in any way encouraging is more damning.

Carolina has the worst record in the NFL and would be working towards the #1 pick in the draft with their terrible record, but the Bears own it… because they traded up for Bryce Young. They’re this bad, and they can’t even pretend to be tanking to explain it.

Panthers owner David Tepper pulled the plug on Frank Reich only 11 games into Reich’s tenure in Carolina, and fired a bunch of offensive assistants while he was at it… and Chris Tabor will be unlikely to get a W the rest of this season (he just coached them to a 28-6 loss against the mediocre Saints, who managed the rare Punt Block Return for a TD). We’re expecting a full coaching search in the offseason and Tabor will just be looking to find himself in someone’s staff.

7. Matt LaFleur, Packers: Green Bay last year at one point was 4-8, then went on a win streak that meant going into their season finale, they just had to beat the traditionally lowly Lions at Lambeau to get back into the playoffs. They blew it.

There have been points the first few weeks where Jordan Love has looked like he might be at least a capable starter. Maybe not “League MVP” level of talent, but still, he’s had time to sit and learn and he hasn’t blown the Packers’ chances in a game. From Week Six through Eight… that was not the case. In those games, Love has thrown SIX interceptions and had not found the end zone and now, it’s becoming pretty clear that maybe Green Bay might be hoping to end up in or around the top of the NFL Draft next year to try a different guy. Not since Brett Favre suited up for them have the Packers needed to enter an offseason in need of a QB. And the failure to develop Jordan Love falls right on the shoulders of Matt LaFleur.

The Packers managed to get back to .500 against the Kansas City Chiefs, and Thanksgiving week, they beat the Lions, sending them into a spiral. LaFleur had never lost a game in December as a coach! Was he about to stage a late win streak to charge into the playoffs? They had the New York Giants on MNF, who were fielding Tommy DeVito at QB…

With about a minute and a half left, Jordan Love led the Packers into the lead… only for their defense to immediately cave against a third-string rookie QB out of Illinois and lose on a last minute FG. HOW. DOES. LAFLEUR. ALWAYS. BLOW. IT. IN. LATE. GAMES?

There’s a lot of second, third, and fourth year coaches sitting with a record of 6-7 right now and might get a pink slip if they don’t nab one of those last few NFC playoff spots (see also the logjam in the NFC South lead, the Rams, and the Seahawks). After losing on national TV last night, LaFleur is currently at the bottom of that pile.


6. Matt Eberflus, Bears: Throughout most of last season on this list, we left Eberflus, a first year coach alone for awhile because, y’know… first year coach. It’s hard to fire a guy in his first year. But the Bears finished 3-13 and on a ten game losing streak, getting the #1 pick in the draft (and trading it to Carolina). Chicago led the NFL in rushing yards (getting over 1,000 out of Justin Fields sure helps), but they were also dead last in passing, 31st against stopping the run, and their scoring defense was dead last in the NFL. That losing streak grew to 14, and were it not for a Thursday Night Football win against the Washington Commanders in a game preceded by the death of Bears legend Dick Butkus to motivate them, could have become the longest overall losing streak in team history.

Chase Claypool blamed the coaches for his lackluster numbers this season going into Week Four against a pathetic Broncos team, and the coaching staff responded by making him a healthy scratch (and only got a sixth rounder in exchange for Claypool AND a seventh round pick. They gave up the 32nd overall pick in the draft to get him prior to his disastrous time in Chicago. They might end up with the top two picks in the 2024 NFL draft, though, between their pick and Carolina’s, whose first round pick they own after trading out of the #1 overall spot. (The two teams battle on Thursday Night Football in a game that should be a miserable watch.) While the Bears have now managed to get their fifth win on the year by beating the Lions, Eberflus is still 7-23 as a head coach. Any momentum they picked up is due to getting to play some injured squads, and nabbing Montez Sweat at the trade deadline.

The Bears’ owners, the McCaskeys might hit the EJECT button on Eberflus, but they’re notoriously cheap and might not fire him just to avoid having to pay him to stay home (he’s still a long shot as a mid-season firing). Tell their fans, “Hey, it’s just one year, it’ll get better…” It might, but this team needs to build around Fields before he loses the threat of being a running QB.

[worstblogever]

5. Mike Vrabel, Titans: The Titans managed to dominate the AFC South during the prime of Derrick Henry, but it looks like Father Time is converting him from “most dominant back in the league” to “respectable veteran RB” right now. Ryan Tannehill has never blown anyone’s mind while he’s been in Tennessee, or for that matter, his first few years in Miami… and even with DeAndre Hopkins added to his WR corps this offseason, the Titans managed only five FGs in Week One, so I guess congratulations to anyone with Nick Folk on their fantasy team. But enough about the players, let’s get back to the coach… Mike Vrabel had his time on top of the AFC South, but it’s beginning to look like he’s not evolving to handle the reality that his RB is getting older, and his QB is mediocre at best.

They’re in the cellar in the AFC South, even after getting a big comeback win on MNF against the AFC East leading Miami Dolphins. Mind you, the ‘Phins have all of their interior line out with injuries, and Tyreek Hill turned an ankle mid-game.

There are rumors of Vrabel’s mentor, Bill Belichik’s time in New England coming close to an end… and the rumors are if the Titans drop him, Robert Kraft is going to take on the guy who is, perhaps by default… the most successful of his disciples to succeed him. That’s… a lot of things contingent on each other, but as far as Tennessee dropping Vrabel… he’s 12-18 over the past two seasons. This isn’t one rough year now… it’s a clear downward trend.

4. Antonio Pierce, Raiders: Short version: Like many interim coaches, Pierce won his first game after getting his field promotion. He won his second game right after. Mind you, those two victories were against the Giants, and Jets respectively…

Facing the Dolphins and Chiefs after that, Las Vegas regressed again against serious competition. They had a BYE week, but it’s hard to say how coached up his defense to hold Minnesota to 3 points and they benched Josh Dobbs in frustration! The problem is… they all forgot to coach Aiden O’Connell, and they were shut out in the first 3-0 contest since 2007. And they played in a dome, so you can’t blame that on weather. Did we mention they had a BYE week to prepare? We did? We’re saying it again, just to underline that point.

While we would think an interim coach would become the new permanent head coach if they managed to get to .500 by the end of the year… we’re not seeing that in the cards for this team. Also, if being a quality interim guy was something to guarantee job security, Rich Bisaccia would still be in Vegas, and they’d never have hired Josh McDaniels in the first place.

3. Ron Rivera, Washington Commanders: We hate putting his name on this list, but we’ve done it for four years now. Why’s it hard? The guy risked Covid-19 while coaching through fighting cancer and BEAT IT. That battle is probably the only positive news story you can find about the Washington Football Team from the past half decade. He coached four players onto last year’s Pro Bowl roster. The new front office absolutely wants a guy they can champion who’s been up against something as reviled as cancer, because it’s only slightly better regarded than Daniel Snyder is and was. The Commanders also failed to trademark their new team name in court, meaning it could be “back to the drawing board” on choosing a team name already at some point in the future.

We have been, and continue to rooting for Riverboat Ron, and for all the nice things we can say about him, this franchise still has not had a franchise QB since… does Mark Rypien’s tenure count? Or are we going to say Joe Theismann? They’re now 4-9, and just got throttled 45-15 in front of their own fans in DC, the second straight game they’ve given up as many points in two thirty point losses. Oh, and they’re dead last in scoring defense, which isn’t actually an endorsement of a defensive coach like Rivera (who going back to Carolina, has a pattern of one year where he gets a team to .500 and the next where the team is awful). They’re 31st in point differential as well… and it’s pretty close. Which is odd, given the team ahead of them is Carolina, and they have three fewer wins.

After their fourth loss by more than 20 points this season… the new ownership group are likely to jettison Rivera going into the 2024 season./


2. Bill Belichik, Patriots: The Patriots finished 8-9 last year and are trying to see if they can’t avoid finishing in the cellar in the AFC East, hoping the Jets don’t get better QB play than well… than what they’re getting. Mac Jones is likely riding out his final year as “the schmuck that had to fill Tom Brady’s shoes and was never gonna anyway”, Ezekiel Elliot isn’t even averaging 3 yards a carry at the ripe old age of 28 (it doesn’t help Belichek’s case that he’s making Jerry Jones look smarter than him for letting him walk out of Dallas), and this team’s defensive roster is built mostly on bricks made of Darth Hoodie’s arrogance that he needs “smart” players that do what he says, and the wins pile on in. His coaching staff also features former LB Jarod Mayo, his own sons Brian Belichek, Steve Belichek, Steve Belichek’s mullet, and the abject failures Bill O’Brien and Joe Judge.

There have been a lot of embarrassing lopsided losses for New England this year, New England have now been shut out twice in one season, something they didn’t even do at their worst in the 1980s… and in three consecutive games they averaged 4 points per game. They held opponents to 10 points or fewer in those games and lost all three. That’s the worst run of elite defense and failed offense since the 1938 Chicago Cardinals. On the season, they’re averaging 13.0 PPG, which is precisely dead last. They wisely kept Mac Jones on the bench against the Steelers on TNF, and Bailey Zappe (who is not the lost Marx Brother) led them to a 21-18 win in a game that had an over/under point total of THIRTY.

Belichik’s Patriots are now 3-10. One of the supposed landing spots for Darth Hoodie should he be fired is back with the Giants, where he started as a Parcells assistant. Mac Jones has been benched in four different games this year, and we’re pretty sure in the last four on their schedule, we’re going to see a lot more of Bailey Zappe, but not so much that this team doesn’t blow their chances at picking #1 or #2.

How the mighty can fall.

They host the Kansas City Chiefs this week, who after a very salty post-game reaction to their loss to Buffalo, are highly likely to take out their frustrations on this squad.


1. Brandon Staley, Chargers: The L.A. Chargers sit at 5-8 now, and will need to win out to finish above .500. They’ll be doing that without Justin Herbert who has a broken finger. Yes, we’re going to be seeing the Easton Stick experience for the next four weeks.

This game may have moved the Chargers to 29th in total defense, and 31st in pass defense with the impressive effort (and Washington’s abysmal performance)… but it also has to make you stop and go… hold up… how did New England hold Justin Herbert to two FGs? Is he starting to regress under this coach?

Since Staley’s tenure began, he’s coached 44 games. In that time, he’s a mediocre 23-21. Of those 44 games dating back to the start of the 2021 season, the Chargers have played in 30 one-score games, the most in the NFL… and are 14-15.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

In the first halves of games during Staley’s tenure, this team’s point differential is +135. In the second halves of games during his tenure, they’re -110 in point differential.

At this point, you have to look at halftime adjustments, and why other coaches manage to run circles around Brandon Staley’s ability to hold a lead… because these are numbers you can’t just pin on “bad defense”. If you can go up by multiple scores by the end of the second quarter, you’d think you would trend on finishing the game with a similar one. You’d think.

Staley opened this season with two losses where he blew second half leads, had a third game against the Vikings where he went for it on 4th and short from inside his own 25 with under two minutes remaining (Kirk Cousins ran the worst 2 minute drill to hand the victory back to thim), got back to .500 against the Raiders, and dropped games to the Cowboys, Chiefs, and Ravens in primetime games. (The Jets did them a solid on MNF, at least.)

After three years, the Chargers are likely to move on, because they have their QB situation on lockdown, and yet… Staley can’t do a damned thing with him.

[BeastieRunner]

A.bunch of insiders are saying Steelers are ready to get a new coach.

[babyblob]

A.bunch of insiders are saying Steelers are ready to get a new coach.

With all the coaching jobs that will be open at the end of the year Tomlin wont be unemployed long.

[BeastieRunner]

With all the coaching jobs that will be open at the end of the year Tomlin wont be unemployed long.

Radio guy pointed out Darth Hoodie has 2 SB wins since Tomlin's last playoff win.

Which is why I don't think Bill is going unless he wants to.

And why Tomlin probably should have been let go awhile ago.

[Ghost Rider TheHellfireDemon]

Well I'm not surprised I was proven wrong about the Packers defeating the Giants because it was an entertaining competitive game that the Giants won since they were able to kick a game-winning field goal, and Devito did have fewer miscues than Love.
3 consecutive wins for Devito as the Giants starting QB. Devito continues to be Dynamite Devito which is him playing pretty good or great with the result of the Giants benefiting by finding ways to win games.

I was very happy as a Titans fan that I was proven wrong about the Dolphins steamrolling the Titans in an entertaining embarrassment because the Titans Dolphins game was an entertaining competitive game that the Titans won 28-27.
The Titans overcame 3 turnovers, and trailing 27-13 to defeat a pretty good Dolphins team that was 9-0 vs below 500 teams this season.
The Titans found a way to win an ugly game.

[Scott Taylor]

The Chargers definitely need to get rid of Staley, but at this point they are playing for draft picks anyhow.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the Rams in the later part of the season. Even though they lost to the Ravens in OT, that team is basically the class of the AFC and they played it in Baltimore. The Rams could still make the playoffs.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

With all the coaching jobs that will be open at the end of the year Tomlin wont be unemployed long.

Well, if Tomlin gets the sack in Pittsburgh, his next employer had better have a solid quarterback and offensive coordinator, because it’s been demonstrated Tomlin doesn’t know a whole lot about either.

[babyblob]

It is official Justin Herbert is out for the rest of the season as he is going to have surgery on his broken finger.

[The Big G]

Stick vs O'Connell on TNF

who would have thought...

[useridgoeshere]

Every coach needs a solid quarterback and OC. The highly sought-after coaches make the QB a reason to choose where to go.

I think that Tomlin has gotten a pass recently because he's over-performed projections. Like this season, before the last two games, people were amazed at how he'd achieved seven wins with this team. He should've won these past two so now, he's under-performing.

I'm not sure Tomlin has his choice of jobs.

[Scott Taylor]

Tomlin probably should retire from coaching. He might be interesting in a booth somewhere. But the guy is no way getting fired, in spite of all the hubbub around that. Yah, they are 7-6 and have a couple of embarrassing losses, but Tomlin's been doing it in a cave with a box of scraps.

[Surf]

Tomlin probably should retire from coaching. He might be interesting in a booth somewhere. But the guy is no way getting fired, in spite of all the hubbub around that. Yah, they are 7-6 and have a couple of embarrassing losses, but Tomlin's been doing it in a cave with a box of scraps.

I agree he ain't goin' nowhere. He's got to find an answer at QB one of these years, not even sure what dude's 'philosophy' is in regards to the offense but I wouldn't wish the signal callers he's had on me ever. He booted Canada and I'm sure he understands he's wasting prime Watt seasons. Oh and he beats up on the Colts which continues to haunt and disturb me. That said it's been 16 years and not much to show for it the past 5 other than keeping up with the North.

[Surf]

Stick vs O'Connell on TNF

who would have thought...

The line is -3 for the home team, not to be taken literally this week, please.

I've intercepted the internal memo that's been provided to both locker rooms ahead of the game.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Looks like Al Michaels will no longer be at NBC. Him and the network haven’t gotten along the past few years and now they are parting ways before the playoffs begin.

It’s how this business is at times. New executives come in and treat the older guard like trash. Michaels is considered the greatest play by play man in sports. So he should likely be scooped up by FOX to ride out his career.