As a Bucs fan, you’ll forgive me if I don’t cry for you because your team hasn’t made the playoffs since its inception.
Anyway, you had the Colts soundly beaten, and were denied by three boneheaded plays by your backup quarterback. You beat the Dolphins, which you refer to as “cellar dwellers” - who were coming off back-to-back wins over the Chargers and Patriots. You lost to the Jaguars, widely predicted to win the AFC South and even the AFC itself, in overtime. You lost to the Titans, who are currently undefeated and have squashed everyone else they played, too. You lost to the Steelers, who have lost only one game despite being without their star tailback and his backup, both of whom played against your team.
I think just looking at the W-L record might be a bit unfair.
I’m a bit surprised by the Nolan firing. What do they gain by getting rid of him now? The team is playing about as well as can be expected, given that the offense is Frank Gore, Frank Gore, and Frank Gore.
Good Riddance! Nolan was a whole lot of dumb ass crammed into a suit. Word is that York made the decision to fire Nolan after the Giants game but that the word got back to Nolan so his hand was forced to avoid a week with Nolan as a lame (figuratively, not much we could do about the literal part) duck. I’m not sure why the pick of Singletary over Martz, I’m intrigued though, as a hall of fame linebacker himself, he has to have some idea how to use the defense effectively.
That’s a very interesting move. People have been talking about Singletary as a head coach for a long time now. He was considered for the Bears job that went to Lovie and has been one of those unusual “assistant head coach” guys for a long time. He’s a very smart and cerebral guy and between his time with the Bears under Buddy Ryan and his time as the LB coach for the Ravens he should have all it takes to coach up the defense and command respect. However, the fact that he’s been a head coach candidate for so long yet never seemed to get the job makes be really wonder what those GMs and Owners have been seeing to put them off.
It’ll be interesting to see what the outcome is with the Niners and if having a former HC like Martz on the staff will help or hinder him. He doesn’t strike me as the type to have an open mind to shared control or outside opinions. For as smart as Singletary is he’s also really confident in those smarts in a way that can come off as egotistical.
I’ll be pulling for hm and am glad to not see him in the NFC North or on a team that I don’t like.
I didn’t know he’d been considered as a head coach before, but I like your description of him. I’ll be watching to see what kind of mark he makes with the players. His LBs love him, and Manny Lawson considers him a role model.
If I’m Mike I’d take a mostly hands off approach to the offense and let Martz run the show with maybe an advisory role in short yardage and fourth down situations. Gore is a beliver in Martz and Martz a believer in O’Sullivan, so I don’t think you harm those relationships lightly.
Regarding Singletary, he was strongly considered for another Bears job as well, that as head coach for Baylor before they went with Guy Morriss from Kentucky back in '02. The deal was close enough that he’d already found a house, then for some reason it fell through.
Singletary is an interesting choice. We started Baylor the same year and had a couple of classes together, then he really took to my dad, a professor and Director of the banking center there. I don’t know if I’ve ever been around anyone as intense about everything, and I do mean everything, he does. During dinner one night at my parents it was pretty intriguing to see him ask and probe and question everything he could about policy and economics as he approached most things as having some central truth that, if found, would make everything related make sense, a Rosetta epiphany if you will, and he was relentless in trying to uncover it.
Thanks goodness I didn’t take the offer to walk on there as Mike broke some ridiculous number of opposing players helmets his freshman year in practice, somewhere between 11 and 13. I would have lined up directly across from him and he would have eaten my lunch.
Yes, he will most certainly be interesting to watch. I really hope this works for him and think he’s earned the chance.
What depresses me is that I really thought we had the GM spot locked up. Phil has done a lot in his time here. But the fact that Romeo can conceivably still be employed when he was overdue for firing 3 years ago has to reflect badly on Phil’s judgement unless his hands are tied by ownership (and there’s no indication of that).
There’s an unwarranted institutional fear of change around the NFL - if you get a new coach, you’ll be starting again from scratch!
The success of many new coaches in the NFL recently proves that it’s not the case. If the guy is head coaching material, it’ll demonstrate itself pretty quickly.
I hear what you are saying, but I can assure you that Singletary will not tolerate that pass-happy, disregard the run bullshit. He remembers Payton and Jamal Lewis and he’ll expect Gore to get 20-25 carries a game.
Wait wait! The Browns did make a change! They suspended Winslow for a game. That’s gonna fix all our problems.
Winslow had the audacity to publically criticize the team after they lied about him wanting to keep his illness undisclosed (it was yet another staph infection - they wanted to cover it up, not him) and apparently failed to give a shit about him, no one from the organization even called.
Fantastic.
Edit: There may be more going on behind the scenes. Apparently the offensive huddle has been a shouting match. Coincidentally (?) the offense was at its best for that MNF game where Winslow was suspended. Hmm…
Either way, the organization didn’t treat him correctly regarding the medical thing.
The Browns would clearly be in the top 5 teams in the all important “soap opera” statistical categories. Once that takes the place of turnovers as vitally important to wins, the Brownies will be the team to beat in the AFC.
Man, the Winslow thing is just ridiculous, comically so. Phil Savage and Romeo Crennel have to be the worst 1-2 punch left in the league, now that Matt Millen is gone in Detroit. Right? I mean, you’re 2-4. Your quarterback has been so bad that the word “Anderson” on the back of his jersey has slowly morphed into the word “Leaf.” Your hypothetically best offensive weapon has dropped more balls in six games than most number one WRs drop in a career. Your second best offensive weapon had to miss a game because he got a staph infection, and while we can’t definitively assume that the fact that players on the Browns seem to get a lot of staph infections means that the Browns are doing something wrong, it certainly isn’t a good thing.
But for all that, you have two wins in your last three, and even though one was against a total cupcake and the other looks a lot like a fluke, 2-4 and a little momentum means you can do something this year. You have a highly touted prospect on the bench, that you’ve paid a lot in terms of money and draft picks to obtain. He couldn’t be worse than Derek Anderson if he wore his helmet on backwards. And your second-best offensive weapon is healthy and ready to return.
So they continue to sit the former and Phil Savage suspends the latter. Why? Hookers and blow? Slapping his girlfriend? Strangling Derek Anderson to death in the crapper? Oh, he said something mean about Phil Savage.
Fuck the Browns; I hope they lose every game they play until Savage gets fired. Suspending one of your best offensive players because he was rightly miffed that you ignored him when he was sick and then lied about his illness situation is a joke.
