NFL - Are you ready for some Football - Week 4

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


You have to dance with the one who brung ya. The Chargers dumped the coach that brought them out of the basement.

Second time they've done it, too, and for the same general reason - ******* GMs who have personality issues with the head coaches.

First time it was Beathard getting rid of Bobby Ross, now it's A.J. Smith's turn. Next, you'll have a bunch of finger pointing, then the personnel changes, etc. The only personnel change you're not likely to see is Smith getting run out of town on a rail, and that's what should have been done rather than can Marty after saying they'd stick with him, and after both coordinators left.

Luckily, I'm a Pats fan. Cleveland should be another chump scrimmage, so I'm setting my sights on seeing what the Cowboys are made of.*


* Reminds me of a certain joke about a couple of cougars in Texas.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Yeah, your team looked incredibly scary to start with Koy, you just have had some wicked scary matchups...

I think I'm being punished for my lack of faith in Belichick's kool-aid by not taking Moss. Though it seems the real punishment for that is just not having him now...

[Lord Avalon]

Chargers' blame game

Owner, not GM, responsible for Schottenheimer's exit

Posted: Thursday October 4, 2007 10:24AM; Updated: Thursday October 4, 2007 12:08PM

The firing of Marty Schottenheimer last February was a shock to many people, but not to the former Chargers coach himself.

Schottenheimer not only expected his dismissal, he arranged it. He intentionally provoked club president Dean Spanos into making a change.

That reality has been overlooked, forgotten or purposely ignored in the wake of a 1-3 start in which new coach Norv Turner seems determined to prove that his failures in Washington and Oakland were no fluke. The focus instead has been on general manager A.J. Smith and how he is a goof for pushing out a coach who was 35-13 in his last three seasons for one who was 58-82-1 in nine seasons as a head coach.

No doubt, Smith disliked Schottenheimer. But he had nothing to do with the firing. The only person in the organization with the authority to fire a head coach is Spanos, and he did so in this instance because of a disagreement with Schottenheimer over the coaching staff.

Some background:

When Schottenheimer interviewed to replace Mike Riley in 2002, he told Spanos he wanted to bring along his son, Brian, to be quarterbacks coach and his brother, Kurt, to be defensive coordinator. Spanos told him that could be a problem because he didn't believe in having relatives on the same staff.

With the prospects of a deal diminishing, former general manager John Butler stepped in and recommended Schottenheimer be allowed to hire one relative. The Chargers were coming off their sixth consecutive non-winning season and Butler believed Schottenheimer was the right person to turn things around because he had had only one losing year in 15 full seasons to that point. Spanos reluctantly acquiesced and Schottenheimer and son were hired.

Now fast forward to last February, when the Chargers were looking for a defensive coordinator after Wade Phillips was hired as head coach of the Cowboys. Schottenheimer suggested promoting outside linebackers coach John Pagano, who was respected by the players and coaches but lacked coordinator experience. Spanos wondered if it would be wiser to go with someone who had a background calling plays, believing that the team possessed enough talent to make a Super Bowl run after finishing 14-2 in 2006.

Schottenheimer thought about it and recommended his brother, Kurt, who had five years' experience as a coordinator. The idea was greeted with silence. Spanos reminded Schottenheimer of how he didn't approve of relatives being on the same staff and asked him to reconsider. He said the two could discuss other candidates when Schottenheimer returned from the Pro Bowl in four days.

When they got together again, Schottenheimer remained firm that he wanted to bring in his brother. Schottenheimer's contract empowered him to choose his staff, but the veteran coach also knew that an owner's wishes trumps a contract's language. Clearly Schottenheimer was making a stand. During his five seasons in San Diego he often preached about the importance of "bright lines" to eliminate confusion about a person's role. By continuing to support his brother, he had to know he was drawing a line that Spanos would not allow him to cross. But he did it anyway because he already had lost two coordinators and two position coaches and he knew that 2007 -- the final year on his contract -- would likely be his last season with the Chargers. Ownership pretty much made that clear when it declined to offer him an acceptable extension a month earlier.

Schottenheimer figured that with only one season remaining on his deal -- and no relationship with Smith, whose personnel moves had won the support of Spanos -- he needed to be surrounded by people he trusted and respected if he was going to return. People such as his brother. So he refused to budge. Later that day he was fired.

Spanos cited the "dysfunctional relationship" between Schottenheimer and Smith as the reason for the move, but that was hogwash. Schottenheimer and Smith had barely spoken in a year and Spanos was fine with it. Plus, just a month earlier Spanos had announced Schottenheimer would return for a sixth season.

The dismissal was strictly because Schottenheimer stood up to the team owner. When he informed Schottenheimer of the change, Spanos told him he had never seen Schottenheimer act like that. He told Schottenheimer that he had changed. Spanos was right, of course. Schottenheimer was tired of feeling like an outsider in his own organization, so he drew a bright line and crossed. Then he collected his $4 million salary and returned to his offseason home in North Carolina, where he could spend time with his daughter and grandkids.

As popular as it is to lay the blame of Schottenheimer's ouster on Smith, Spanos is the one whose fingerprints were on the pink slip. There was no way he was going to allow an employee to openly defy one of his organizational tenets. So go ahead and rip Smith for hiring Turner, who came to town with a 58-82-1 record after failing in Washington and Oakland. But any venom about the firing of Schottenheimer will have to be spewed in another direction.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jim_trotter/10/04/chargers/index.html

[DanS]

To be honest, that article doesn't ring true at all.

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by Guynemer
Are the Lions the worst 3-1 team in NFL history?

Kitna promised us 10 wins. Just 7 more to go!

[snoopy369]

at which point they'll be the worst 10 win team in history

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by OzzyKP


Kitna promised us 10 wins. Just 7 more to go!

You can't be serious.


The only halfway decent team they've played this year beat them by about a billion points.

They might--MIGHT--hit six wins. Seven if the stars align.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Last year's Falcons started 3-1 .