Reeling the changes at HQ
I suppose I should say a few words about the 2 main head coaching jobs that are now up for grabs. Bear in mind we are only a few days past the end of the season here.
Dennis Green has been axed in Arizona: This should come as no surprise due to the poor showing of the Cards this season. I know the Cards get a lot of stick because of their history of poor seasons but Green built a good offensive arsenal. He had a veteran QB who still had ‘it’ to some extent, he had an almost 2000 yard all purpose back and a pair of WR that could and did frighten opposing defences. However, he neglected to address the Cards major flaw for the last several seasons, the O’Line.
I have no sympathy for Green; he paid no attention to his O’line and therefore clearly didn’t put an emphasis on protecting his QB and giving his RB a head start. Now a poor O’line is never acceptable on any team, even when your QB is Vince Young or Michael Vick, but when your QB has the mobility of a large freight tanker it’s going to affect the offensive flow. It’s like putting a cardboard wall around your house when there is a herd of elephants coming your way. And why put your least mobile O’lineman in the most important position? Leonard Davis struggled at guard so lets put the 380lb man on the QB blindside and see what he produces!!! In all Green flunked because he let his QB get sacked and gave his RB no push up front. The Edge is a great RB, but I doubt that even LT2 could avoid 3 or 4 men in the backfield when the ball arrives in his midriff.
Jim Mora Jnr has been axed in Atlanta after getting steadily worse through his 3 seasons of being head coach.
Main problem? Vick. Not necessarily Vick’s seeming inability to pass accurately, more a complete miss management of his assets, which happen to be his legs and is ability to chuck the ball effortlessly down the field, whilst on the run as well. I couldn’t for the life of me see why they wanted Vick to be a pocket passer! Anyone who is anyone can see that when Vick is in the pocket he looks nervous and twitchy, hence the amount of times he misses WRs. He wasn’t helped by poor O’line work when in the pocket, nor by his WR deciding that being covered was better than staying open. I may be a bit harsh there though; Vick did make a few errors, more than a few but why not let Vick be Vick? It worked at the start of the season, then they seemingly reeled him back in again. He had 2 wonderful passing games back to back where he seemed relaxed was rolling out and therefore looking at only half the field. Then they changed the plays again!! They had Vick making 7 step drops, running backwards almost and Vick is not a drop back passer.
And towards the middle/end of the season, Mora’s defence that was stingy as you like during the first 4 or 5 weeks started to go A.W.O.L. Yes injuries played a part but with the state of the NFC (The Giants are in the playoffs at 8-8) and with a good record bettered only by the Saints the Falcons D collapsed. So I feel a slight hint of sadness for Mora, he was a fantastic D’Coordinator at my beloved 49ers and seemed to have jumped into head coaching and made a bed for himself instantly taking the Falcons to the NFC championship game in his 1st year. However, bad man management complete with the fiasco with comments made by his father and all the ‘joking’ about jumping at the chance to coach the University of Washington even if the Falcons were in the middle of a playoff run have sealed Mora’s fate. Will he coach another NFL team? Yes, but maybe not straight off the bat, maybe a stint at Washington Uni is on the cards!!??
The Dogg
Dennis Green has been axed in Arizona: This should come as no surprise due to the poor showing of the Cards this season. I know the Cards get a lot of stick because of their history of poor seasons but Green built a good offensive arsenal. He had a veteran QB who still had ‘it’ to some extent, he had an almost 2000 yard all purpose back and a pair of WR that could and did frighten opposing defences. However, he neglected to address the Cards major flaw for the last several seasons, the O’Line.
I have no sympathy for Green; he paid no attention to his O’line and therefore clearly didn’t put an emphasis on protecting his QB and giving his RB a head start. Now a poor O’line is never acceptable on any team, even when your QB is Vince Young or Michael Vick, but when your QB has the mobility of a large freight tanker it’s going to affect the offensive flow. It’s like putting a cardboard wall around your house when there is a herd of elephants coming your way. And why put your least mobile O’lineman in the most important position? Leonard Davis struggled at guard so lets put the 380lb man on the QB blindside and see what he produces!!! In all Green flunked because he let his QB get sacked and gave his RB no push up front. The Edge is a great RB, but I doubt that even LT2 could avoid 3 or 4 men in the backfield when the ball arrives in his midriff.
Jim Mora Jnr has been axed in Atlanta after getting steadily worse through his 3 seasons of being head coach.
Main problem? Vick. Not necessarily Vick’s seeming inability to pass accurately, more a complete miss management of his assets, which happen to be his legs and is ability to chuck the ball effortlessly down the field, whilst on the run as well. I couldn’t for the life of me see why they wanted Vick to be a pocket passer! Anyone who is anyone can see that when Vick is in the pocket he looks nervous and twitchy, hence the amount of times he misses WRs. He wasn’t helped by poor O’line work when in the pocket, nor by his WR deciding that being covered was better than staying open. I may be a bit harsh there though; Vick did make a few errors, more than a few but why not let Vick be Vick? It worked at the start of the season, then they seemingly reeled him back in again. He had 2 wonderful passing games back to back where he seemed relaxed was rolling out and therefore looking at only half the field. Then they changed the plays again!! They had Vick making 7 step drops, running backwards almost and Vick is not a drop back passer.
And towards the middle/end of the season, Mora’s defence that was stingy as you like during the first 4 or 5 weeks started to go A.W.O.L. Yes injuries played a part but with the state of the NFC (The Giants are in the playoffs at 8-8) and with a good record bettered only by the Saints the Falcons D collapsed. So I feel a slight hint of sadness for Mora, he was a fantastic D’Coordinator at my beloved 49ers and seemed to have jumped into head coaching and made a bed for himself instantly taking the Falcons to the NFC championship game in his 1st year. However, bad man management complete with the fiasco with comments made by his father and all the ‘joking’ about jumping at the chance to coach the University of Washington even if the Falcons were in the middle of a playoff run have sealed Mora’s fate. Will he coach another NFL team? Yes, but maybe not straight off the bat, maybe a stint at Washington Uni is on the cards!!??
The Dogg
posted by J_Yarwood at 10:16 AM
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