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These are only excerpts from this article. Any mention of the Rams is first to save you the time looking for it. To read the whole article click the link below.
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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/01/04/nfl-coaches-fired-wild-card-schedule-week-17-peyton-manning
It’s Playoff Time. But First...
There’s some coaching news to clean up as the regular season ended Sunday. The latest on the firings, plus Peyton Manning's triumphant return, the Manziel mess in Cleveland, a sneak peek at wild-card weekend and more
by Peter King
I think this is what I liked about Week 17:
With nothing to play for, against a top-five NFL defense, Blaine Gabbert put up a 354-yard passing day—and the Niners, with their coach getting ready to walk the plank, gained 458 and beat the Rams 19-16 in overtime.
NaVorro Bowman, ending his comeback season with a nine-tackle, one-forced-fumble day against the Rams.
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• There could be five or six coaching changes, lighter than expected. Out: Mike Pettine (Cleveland), Jim Tomsula (San Francisco), Chip Kelly (Philadelphia). A matter of time: Dan Campbell (Miami), Chuck Pagano (Indianapolis). Leaning toward leaving: Tom Coughlin (Giants). Fifty-fifty: Asshole Face (New Orleans). Looking safer than we thought a week ago: Mike McCoy (San Diego), Jim Caldwell (Detroit), Mike Mularkey (Tennessee). Announced he’ll return but with Jerry Jones you never know: Jason Garrett (Dallas).
• The playoff field is set, and is it possible that the best two AFC teams are the 5 and 6 seeds? Kansas City (five) opens at Houston, while explosive Pittsburgh (six) could be without DeAngelo Williams (right ankle) at rival Cincinnati.
• Peyton Manning’s career is not over. San Diego 13, Denver 7, mid-third quarter, and a loss means dropping from first seed to fifth seed in the playoffs. Pretty big. Off the bench came Manning, playing for the first time in 49 days. “Sometimes you just feel the team is looking around for ‘that guy,’” said coach Gary Kubiak. Manning led Denver to scores on four of the next five drives, and suddenly he’s That Guy for Denver’s playoff stretch.
• Charles Woodson’s career is over. I told Woodson, 45 minutes off the field after his last game in Kansas City, that Manning (1998 draft: Manning first pick, Woodson fourth) had just come off the bench to lead Denver to a comeback victory. “Are you kidding me?!” Woodson said. “You kidding me?! Wow. I guess the 1998 draft class ain’t done winning.” But the 39-year-old Woodson’s done, for sure. I asked one of the great defensive backs of all time how he felt walking off the field for the last time. “Tired,” he said. “Just tired. I’m ready.”
• Winning his third rushing title leaves Adrian Peterson “haunted a little bit.” Make no mistake—at 30, he’s thrilled to win the title (327 carries, 1,485), and he loves being the outlier as the only back in football this year with more than 290 carries. But he wants to pass Emmitt Smith’s all-time rushing record and … well, I’ll have his story for you lower in the column.
• “With the second pick in the 2016 NFL draft, the Cleveland Browns select …” The Browns have been so horrible at first-round picks lately (Taylor, Richardson, Weeden, Mingo, Gilbert, Manziel) that I hate to sentence Jared Goff or Paxton Lynch to a life on the Lake, but draw straws, gentlemen. Short one goes to the Browns. Tennessee picks first and could get a package of picks to move down with any number of QB-needy teams (San Francisco at seven, Chicago at 11, Philadelphia at 13, St. Louis at 15).
• Speaking of Johnny Manziel, he went AWOL Sunday. I reported on NBC last night that Manziel, who was supposed to be in the NFL’s concussion protocol (I am not so sure about the legitimacy of that, by the way) but was reported by USA Todayto be at a casino in Las Vegas on Saturday instead, violated team rules by not showing up for a 9 a.m. Sunday appointment with a team medical official—then the team couldn’t find him for hours. Seems like he’s trying to party his way off the Browns. The team doesn’t want him anymore, but won’t say it now for fear of eliminating any trade value for him. Too late for that. I bet 25 teams in this league, at least, wouldn’t take Manziel off waivers right now.
• Kickers missed 71 PATs this year. Kickers converted the 32-yard extra point at a fairly predictable rate (94.2 percent). “I think it’s here to stay,” said Competition Committee member Marvin Lewis, who’s not crazy about it but understands it turns a ceremonial play into a competitive one, one that on Sunday made Buffalo kicker Dan Carpenter (who has missed six this year), slam his helmet to the ground in anger and have it ricochet off his face. Nice replays, CBS.
• Didn’t you used to be Green Bay? It’s going to be a short postseason for the Packers unless they find some miracle cure for what ails the offense.
• New England played a four-corner offense in losing to Miami. But the stall didn’t work. Tom Brady still got his ankle rolled by Ndamukong Suh and took three or four other killer shots. They’d better use the 13 days between games to get some offensive linemen and weapons healthy.
• Rex came, Rex saw, Rex conquered. Nov. 12: Buffalo 22, Jets 17 … Jan 3: Buffalo 22, Jets 17. Let there be no doubt about the continued impact of Rex Ryan on all things Gang Green: The former coach of the New York Jets, relocated to Buffalo, is the person most responsible for the New York Jets not making the playoffs this year. Which is a good reason why the back page of the New York Daily News this morning blares: WRECKS RYAN.
Wild-Card Weekend
A quick look at all the games...
SATURDAY (AFC)
4:35 p.m. ET: No. 5 Kansas City (11-5) at No. 4 Houston (9-7), Reliant Stadium (ESPN/ABC). The Texans have taken the Chiefs into their web of early wild-card-gamedom. Twice previously the Texans have played wild-card games, in 2011 and 2012, and, like this one, it was the 3:35 Central Time playoff-opener; all three were Houston home affairs. This game matches the postseason’s two psycho teams. On Halloween, both squads were 2-5. Since then, they’re a combined 16-2. So you assumed that because the Chiefs enter with a 10-game winning streak, the longest current streak in the game, they’re the unbeatable ones here.
But Houston, in its last nine games, has allowed 6, 6, 17, 6, 30, 27, 10, 6 and 6 points, and now the Texans might have a legitimate partner in crime for J.J. Watt. Outside ‘backer Whitney Mercilus (12 sacks) has emerged as a strong bookend rusher to Watt, and look for them to pressure Alex Smith and make him throw quicker than he wants. Looks like Brian Hoyer came through his first post-concussion game unscathed and will start for Houston. But make no mistake: This will be low-scoring, and the Texans’ defense is going to have to make some game-changing plays to win it.
8:15 p.m. ET: No. 6 Pittsburgh (10-6) at No. 3 Cincinnati (12-4), Paul Brown Stadium (CBS). Baaaad flashback for Marvin Lewis and many Cincinnatians. Jan., 8, 2006—10 years ago this week—Carson Palmer went back on the first pass drop of the game, released a bomb downfield for Chris Henry, and got his knee caved in by defensive tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen of the Steelers. Completed pass; gain of 66. Torn ACL, however. And the Steelers stole a 31-17 win from the division champion Bengals. Lewis still hasn’t won a playoff game.
This is his 13th season, and he’s 0-6. This time, Andy Dalton hopes to be coming back from a broken thumb on his throwing hand. He’ll see a hand specialist today and hopes to get his cast removed and have enough range of motion to play a playoff game and exorcise recent playoff demons. Dalton’s pushing it, though, to think he can be normal and pick up where he left off 27 days after breaking the thumb in the first place. “Andy’s very optimistic,” Lewis told me Saturday. “I feel he’s got an opportunity to play next weekend—but we’re going to err on the side of caution.”
The problem for Cincinnati: Backup AJ McCarron has played well in Dalton’s absence, but it’ll be hard enough to win a shootout with Ben Roethlisberger if Dalton’s on the other side of the field. That just adds more pressure on Dalton to come back and win his first playoff game after losing the playoff opener in his first four NFL seasons.
SUNDAY (NFC)
1:05 p.m. ET: No. 6 Seattle (10-6) at No. 3 Minnesota (11-5), TCF Bank Stadium (NBC). The Seahawks took their turn as The NFL’s Unstoppable Team, beating up the Cardinals 36-6 on Sunday. You wonder how much motivation Arizona really had, knowing it had already clinched a bye week. The Cards certainly didn’t play with the urgency we’re accustomed to seeing in a Bruce Arians team. Minnesota, meanwhile, rolled to a 20-3 lead at Green Bay and seems to be a more diverse team than the one that got steamrolled by the Seahawks 38-7 at Minnesota a month ago. “Our confidence is pretty high,”
Adrian Peterson said from Green Bay early this morning, before the Vikes returned home to prepare for the the first outdoor playoff game in Minneapolis since 1976. “This feels like a real changing of the guard [with Minnesota and Green Bay].” Maybe. But it had better be a changing of the guard with Seattle from a month ago if the Vikings are to advance. Seattle outgained Minnesota 433-125 that afternoon, and could have Marshawn Lynch (hernia) back for the first time in eight weeks.
This needs to be an Adrian Peterson game. Minnesota has to play keepaway from Russell Wilson, who’s on the hottest streak of his career. One picky point: Seattle will be playing this game at 10:05 a.m. Pacific, and a win would send the Seahawks to Carolina for another 10:05 a.m. PT game a week later. Not very favorable scheduling for the NFC champs two years running.
4:40 p.m. ET: No. 5 Green Bay (10-6) at No. 4 Washington (9-7), FedEx Field (FOX). Great post-game nugget Sunday night from respected Packers guard Josh Sitton, asked about Green Bay’s 6-0 start. (The Pack is 4-6 since.) “Was that this year?” Sitton told Packer beat man Jason Wilde. Everything for Green Bay is a struggle right now. The team would be 3-7 in the last 10 without the gift of the Hail Mary against Detroit. And the team on the other side of the field in Landover late Sunday has scored 33 points a game in its four-game season-ending win streak. Really: Who’d have thought two months ago that Washington would be favored to do anything but show up if it met Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in the playoffs?
But Washington opened as a two-point favorite and frankly, I’m surprised it’s not more. Rodgers hasn’t eclipsed 16 points in five of his past 10 games. Meanwhile, Kirk Cousins is playing like Aaron Rodgers over the last half of the season (19 touchdowns, two picks, seven of eight games with a passer rating higher than 101). On the one hand you could look at the playoff draw if you’re Green Bay and say, “Lucky we didn’t get Minnesota, at Minnesota.” I’d look at it this way: As well as the Vikings are playing, Washington’s been better. And the Packers will be going home for a long, cold winter if Rodgers and his receivers can’t make four or five very big plays Sunday.
On Jan. 17, the one seeds (Carolina at 1:05 ET, Denver at 4:40 ET) will host the lowest remaining seeds from wild-card weekend. On Jan. 16, the two seeds (New England at 4:35 p.m. ET, Arizona at 8:15 p.m. ET) will host the remaining two teams.
Adrian Peterson is on a mission
Peterson turns 31 in March, when he will be the defending rushing champion. Only one player as old as 31—Curtis Martin in 2004—has ever won a rushing title. But that doesn’t mean Peterson is thinking about the end.
After winning his third rushing title this season, Peterson has something bigger on his mind: playoff wins—plural. And then something else significant: Emmitt Smith’s rushing record.
Peterson has 11,675 yards rushing after eight seasons (plus one game in his aborted 2014 season, when he was sidelined by the league while his discipline of his son was investigated). He needs 6,681 yards to pass Smith. That means five more very good seasons, minimum. That has never happened, nor come close, a player in his mid-thirties consistently running for more than 1,000 yards—and staying healthy.
“So I’ll have to work overtime,” he said from Green Bay early this morning. “I still think I can do it.”
Peterson said his goals before the season were winning the NFC North, rushing for 2,000 yards, and advancing to the Super Bowl. The division title, won last night, “feels like a changing of the guard,” he said. But his personal goals, he said, made him feel “to be honest, bittersweet.” His 1,485-yard winning total is not 2,000, and that’s a number that he burns to achieve every year.
Though he told me a month ago he felt like his break from football in 2014 gave him the ability to play more refreshed and healthier this year, he said from Green Bay that he does think about what he lost in a football sense by not playing last year. It’s a balancing act, though. He said several times this morning that his faith in God helped him, and he felt he was a better-balanced person after being charged with excessively disciplining his son.
“Not once did I doubt, ever, that I would be able to get back to the same level,” Peterson said. “I came in this year thinking it was very possible to get 2,000 yards again, and I still think it is.”
Wait till next year.
Three notes about the PAT …
Change is usually hard, even controversial, when it comes to the traditional NFL. But the automatic nature of the point-after touchdown was making it such a waste of time—teams missed 37 of 6,153 kicks in the five seasons between 2010 and 2014. And so they voted last May to move the line of scrimmage from the two-yard line to the 15-, making the PAT, essentially, a 33-yard kick. This season, NFL teams were 1,146 of 1,217: 94.2 percent efficiency.
The notes:
1. “I give the commissioner [Roger Goodell] a lot of credit,” said Competition Committee co-chair Rich McKay. “We had a league meeting where he asked every team and made them answer this question: ‘Is the extra point a competitive play?’ And of course it wasn’t. That was good setting the table. So by the time we got to the meeting this year [2015], everyone knew it was a change that was good for the competitive nature of the game.”
2. McKay, like Lewis, said he didn’t think the teams would turn back from it. “I think the teams mostly are happy with the change,” McKay said. “We replaced a ceremonial play and interjected a competitive play.”
3. The Competition Committee estimated the efficiency in year one would be between 92 and 94 percent. It was 94.2 percent.
The next step—I think—will be moving the line back a few more yards. Maybe as many as 10. Because if the efficiency of the field goal attempts between 20 and 39 yards is 93 percent (which it was this year), is that the level of efficiency you want for a scoring play? I’d prefer it be less, and if the percentage creeps up close to 95 percent next year, it’s conceivable Goodell or the committee, or both, could push for the line to move back.
A year too soon
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, on coach Chip Kelly, on Sept. 11: “He's an excellent coach in this league and there’s no question about it. He doesn’t need to prove anything. He’s a builder of a roster, a culture-builder. He’s everything that we all thought when we all interviewed him and more … I watch him relate to players. His door is always open. I’ve never even seen that before. He cares about the people, the players. I am just very proud and have complete respect for him as a person and as a coach.”
Lurie, on firing Kelly, on Dec. 30: “It was a clear and important decision that had to be made … This was a three-year evaluation of where we are heading, what is the trajectory, what is the progress or lack thereof and what did I anticipate for the foreseeable future … The end result was mediocrity.”
That first quote was Sept. 11, 2015. Sixteen weeks ago. In those four months, Kelly must have installed a dungeon in the Eagles’ NovaCare training complex in South Philly.
Three years ago today, Lurie and the Eagles management team fell in love with Kelly. Do you remember how hard the Eagles worked to get him? Lurie and his team spent nine hours with Kelly the day after Oregon’s Fiesta Bowl rout of Kansas State. Oregon was the second-ranked team in the country, and Kelly was the rising star. But Kelly didn’t take the Philly job, nor did he take the Cleveland job after a seven-hour interview with the Browns.
Instead, Kelly went back to Oregon, said he was staying in college, and went back on the recruiting trail. It wasn’t until 10 days later that he began to waffle and the Eagles, willing to let other candidates slip through their grasp, decided to wait until Kelly told them no again. At the opening press conference, Lurie talked about Kelly like he was a combination of Bills—Walsh and Belichick. He was a coach ahead of his time.
And so last Tuesday—48 games into the Kelly Era, 23 days after Kelly and the Eagles went to Foxboro and shocked the World Champion Patriots (and the world) with a 35-28 win—Lurie fired Kelly.
I’ve heard there were three key reasons why Lurie fired Kelly: the downward trajectory of the team in 2015 (duh), the lousy personnel moves, and how Kelly buried Lurie favorite son Howie Roseman, removing him from any football authority after last season. (To a lesser degree, Lurie disliked that there wasn’t harmony in the building. He likes harmony.
There are huge posters of Mother Theresa, Dr. Jonas Salk and Martin Luther King Jr., in the lobby; Lurie likes to remind players and visitors there’s another world out there, and that employees need to be good and harmonious people too. But the fact that the building was disconnected from Kelly wasn’t a big reason for the firing.)
Three interesting things I can confirm. One: Kelly had no idea this was coming. He was shocked. He figured the organization would rally at the end of the season and make a plan for 2016 that he hoped would include signing Bradford long-term. Two: Lurie never offered him a chance to stay if he ceded personnel control. Lurie wanted Kelly out. Now. Three: Bradford won’t be motivated to return to Philadelphia over any other team now that free agency looms.
His agent, Tom Condon, is a get-the-most-you-can-regardless-of-team guy, and Bradford isn’t crazy about Philadelphia the city anyway. He probably wishes there was a team in his favorite place, Oklahoma City. And who’s to say the next coach—current offensive coordinators Adam Gase and Doug Pederson are popular early names—will want Bradford at $18 million a year or more?
I get the personnel thing. It’s valid. Kelly went 10-6 and 10-6 while running off some of his team’s best players (some because of the cap, some because they wouldn’t get in line with The Kelly Way) and going all in on a cadre of new guys this year—quarterback Sam Bradford, running back DeMarco Murray, cornerback Byron Maxwell and middle linebacker Kiko Alonso.
Bradford has been a C player. The other moves have been disastrous. Kelly as personnel czar had an awful year. There were other problems, namely rebellion. All-pro tackle Jason Peters left last week’s game against Washington, and there were reports that Peters physically could have played but chose not to because of the lost Eagles season. Not good. None of it good.
For 14 years, Lurie stuck with Andy Reid, and the Eagles went to one Super Bowl and won none. Lurie went all-in before the 13th year, when the Eagles spent a jillion dollars in the Nnamdi Asomugha/Dream Team free-agency season, and the year was an unmitigated disaster at 8-8. Lurie kept the faith. Reid stayed. Then Reid went 4-12. Then he got fired.
Lurie used to have Steelers-like patience. Now? Less than four months after talking about Kelly like he’s a young Paul Brown, saying he’s a “culture-builder” and an “excellent coach” whose “door is always open” and he is “everything we all thought when we interviewed him and more,” Kelly is a culture-wrecker, a bad coach, a poor communicator, and shown sides they never saw in the interview. Interesting how none of those things surfaced in his first 31 months on the job. Only in his last four.
Owning an NFL franchise is tough when the team’s losing. It’s a cauldron of hate in Philadelphia when the Eagles are losing. It’s tough to get slapped in the face, day after day, by fan and media anger with a disappointing team. But this move is so 2016 NFL. So precipitous. So impatient. So unlike the 2010 Lurie. He succumbed to pitchforks instead of ignoring them. Even the trigger-happy Art Modell kept Bill Belichick (20-28 in his first three years) after Belichick fired the beloved Bernie Kosar in year three. And Kelly (26-21) gets fired?
I can see Lurie this season questioning, deep down, the Kelly hire. I can see him quietly telling his close friends, Maybe I made a mistake. But there should have been someone in the building or in his life to tell him to buck up, go one more year with a man in whom he’d invested so much.
There’s no guarantee it would have worked, and that Kelly would have won. But firing a coach with a different philosophy struggling with a different program but beating the Super Bowl champion on the road during that struggle? I don’t like it. I just think it’s wrong.
Now from the land of make-believe …
Fun facts about Jimmy Haslam’s 39-month tenure as owner of the Cleveland Browns:
• The Browns have employed 61 coaches in those three-plus seasons.
• Haslam has fired two presidents/CEOs (Mike Holmgren, Joe Banner), and, by Monday noon, three general managers (Tom Heckert, Mike Lombardi, Ray Farmer) and three coaches (Pat Shurmur, Rob Chudzinski, Mike Pettine).
• Record since league approved Haslam as owner: 18-40.
• There have been four offensive coordinators on Haslam’s watch: Brad Childress, Norv Turner, Kyle Shanahan, John DeFilippo.
• The five first-round picks since Haslam bought the team: Barkevious Mingo, Justin Gilbert, Johnny Manziel, Danny Shelton, Cameron Erving.
Examining continuity in Haslam’s reign …
• Dec. 31, 2012, after coach Pat Shurmur was fired:
“We’re well aware that this has been a carousel,” Haslam said. “It’s our job to find the right coach and the right GM and bring stability long term for the organization.”
• Dec. 30, 2013, after coach Rob Chudzinski was fired:
“We understand the importance of continuity,” Haslam said. “But I think it’s really important to hear this: We also understand the importance of getting it right.”
• Feb. 12, 2014, after CEO Joe Banner and GM Mike Lombardi were fired:
“There’s no training manual for being an NFL owner,” Haslam said. “I do know from previous experience how important continuity is. Right now we have to make this change and suffer the pain.”
• Aug. 1, 2015, vowing not to make big changes no matter how the Browns play in 2015:
“We’re not going to blow things up, okay?” Haslam said. “We are not going to do that. I think we have the right people in place to over a period of time be successful. I feel good that we have the right people in the building now.”
• Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, after Mike Pettine was fired as coach:
“I don’t think anyone anticipated going 3-13,” Haslam said. "We were naïve when we came into the process. It’s much harder than we thought it would be.”
You don't say.
Haslam is extremely well liked by his fellow owners, and by nearly everyone he’s met in Cleveland since taking over. He’s really trying. I’ve had three or four conversations with him, and he wants to win badly, and his heart’s in the right place. But his actions are simply inconsistent with those of winner-builders. I can’t defend the performance of Pettine or Farmer. This isn’t about making some grand case for them to keep their jobs. It’s about making a grand case for an owner being mindful of longtime Browns owner Art Modell. “Art’s motto,” said one former team employee, “was always, ‘Ready, fire, aim!’” Not literally, but it’s how Modell acted.
Haslam has done piecemeal things, which this administration shows: having Banner and Lombardi oversee the Pettine hire, firing Banner and Lombardi, installing Farmer (a stranger to the coach, basically, before his hire), Farmer overseeing a ruinous first round (Justin Gilbert, Johnny Manziel), Farmer almost trading a franchise left tackle (Joe Thomas), the roster of coaches and players continually roiling, and now firing another coach and another GM and presumably a staff of coaches with a year left on most of their contracts and starting over. For the second or third time—but who’s counting?—in 3.3 years.
Already, I’ve heard, Pettine tried twice last week to get clarification on his job, and the jobs of his assistants; twice he got no answer from Haslam. And Haslam already has an interview lined up for Tuesday—with former Buffalo coach Doug Marrone.
It looks like the Browns will hire a coach first, then take a longer view with a GM. That worked with Pete Carroll (first) and John Schneider (second) in Seattle, but most places hire the GM first and then the coach. If they’re interviewing Marrone first, maybe Haslam is going the experienced coach route, not the hot-coordinator route.
Whatever the coaching choice, this time, today hopefully, Haslam should do only one thing: Stand in front of his beaten-down fan base and say these words: “I—not we—I have abused your trust. And this I vow: The next general manager and the next coach will have a minimum of four years, guaranteed, to turn this team around.
Those three years will happen with me standing on the outside, without interfering unless asked by them for assistance. Players and fans should know they need to get behind these two men and whomever they pick to play and coach the team, because they’ll be here through the end of the 2019 season. Guaranteed.”
If he says anything else, why would any Browns fan believe him?
No one wants to play the big, bad Chiefs
No matter they’re the fifth seed and will have to play three road games to get to the Super Bowl. Kansas City’s 23-17 win over Oakland in the season finale Sunday gives the Chiefs a 10-game winning streak entering the playoffs. The Chiefs’ path could go like this: at Houston (where K.C. won 27-20 in September), at Denver (where K.C. won 29-13 in November), at New England (K.C. won a 41-14 decision at Arrowhead last season). Plus, Justin Houston is getting healthy at the right time after missing a month with a hyper-extended knee suffered Nov. 29.
Then there’s the approach of coach Andy Reid. When Reid stands in front of his team, those in the audience in Philadelphia once told me, neither fire nor brimstone happens. Mostly it’s a matter-of-fact recitation of the message Reid wants to get across, with the expectation that the players will act on it appropriately. If they don’t, there will be different players in the team meeting room in due course.
So it was a slightly befuddled Reid who stood in front of his team in mid-October, when the Chiefs had just lost to Minnesota. Their biggest offensive star, Jamaal Charles, was lost a week earlier with a torn ACL. Their record was 1-5. Seemed to be just one of those years—a mulligan, a good team playing bad, a contender having to wait until next year. Reid recalled the scene last week, over the phone from Kansas City. In the same tone of voice—presumably—a player would recognize from Reid, he said he remembered clearly what he told his players:
“I just told them, ‘I’ve never been 1-5. It’s a new experience for all of us, probably. The question is, What are we gonna do about it?’”
What they did, essentially, is what a Reid team always does—work consistently hard, without feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders from a coach dishing out the pressure to perform. In some places, high pressure works. But it’s just not Reid’s way. People in Philadelphia grew to hate his way. The move to Kansas City has been good in many ways for Reid, and not just because of the change of scenery. Kansas City has its share of desperado fans, but the culture isn’t as rabid and football-Armageddon-like as Philadelphia. A 31-17 regular-season record in Kansas City has been the result.
“I’d say a couple of the big things for us,” said Reid, “center on the fact we weren’t really all there early in the season. I really liked this team in training camp, but we had some important guys on defense coming back from injuries and illness—Eric Berry (cancer), Mike DeVito (Achilles tear), Derrick Johnson (Achilles tear), Dontari Poe (back surgery)—and we missed a starting corner, Sean Smith, with a [three-game substance-abuse] suspension. So in September, we were still really a work in progress.
“On offense, [wideout] Jeremy Maclin came in and brought a certain attitude, and it took some time to mesh there.
“And there’s some stat that probably says something—at one point we were playing more rookies than any team. So you take all those things, and it’s probably not unexpected that you’re not the same team early that you’re going to be.”
The imprint of Reid and GM John Dorsey shows in the lineup the Chiefs are fielding. An AFC-high 13 rookies and first-year players were on the Chiefs’ 53-man opening day roster. In the ninth straight win, over Cleveland, Kansas City started 10 players on offense and seven on defense that had been imported since the Reid-Dorsey regime took over 35 months ago. And the depth of the roster has been important. Kansas City is 10-1 without Charles, as a pair of street free-agent backs, Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware, have done well. They’ve combined to rush for 989 yards, at a combined 4.5 yards per rush, since the Charles injury. With 10 touchdowns. That’s approaching Charles territory.
The feel-good story of the year has helped too. Berry, diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the middle of last season, emerged from treatment at a slow, steady pace, and is now playing at near the same level that made him a Pro Bowl safety. Berry’s first interception returning from cancer treatment came in the first of the 10-game winning streak.
Then there’s Alex Smith. No quarterback is more an extension of his head coach than Smith. Be smart, don’t make mistakes, go through your progressions, lead the team … that’s part of the Reid mantra for his quarterback. Smith, the model for much of that, has four interceptions in his past 13 games, and finally a field-stretcher, Maclin, to take the heat off the intermediate routes Reid loves. “It all goes around Alex,” Reid said. “It’s good when your quarterback is your hardest worker and your most unselfish player and as smart as he is.”
The way the Chiefs are playing, no playoff win is impossible. They’ve not been dominating all the time, but there’s something to be said in January for not beating yourselves. One stat Reid loves: Kansas City is second in the league in ball-protection, with just 15 turnovers in 16 games. In the current 10-0 run, the Chiefs have seven turnovers. Any team that careful with the ball is going to be a tough out in the playoffs.
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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/01/04/nfl-coaches-fired-wild-card-schedule-week-17-peyton-manning
It’s Playoff Time. But First...
There’s some coaching news to clean up as the regular season ended Sunday. The latest on the firings, plus Peyton Manning's triumphant return, the Manziel mess in Cleveland, a sneak peek at wild-card weekend and more
by Peter King
I think this is what I liked about Week 17:
With nothing to play for, against a top-five NFL defense, Blaine Gabbert put up a 354-yard passing day—and the Niners, with their coach getting ready to walk the plank, gained 458 and beat the Rams 19-16 in overtime.
NaVorro Bowman, ending his comeback season with a nine-tackle, one-forced-fumble day against the Rams.
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• There could be five or six coaching changes, lighter than expected. Out: Mike Pettine (Cleveland), Jim Tomsula (San Francisco), Chip Kelly (Philadelphia). A matter of time: Dan Campbell (Miami), Chuck Pagano (Indianapolis). Leaning toward leaving: Tom Coughlin (Giants). Fifty-fifty: Asshole Face (New Orleans). Looking safer than we thought a week ago: Mike McCoy (San Diego), Jim Caldwell (Detroit), Mike Mularkey (Tennessee). Announced he’ll return but with Jerry Jones you never know: Jason Garrett (Dallas).
• The playoff field is set, and is it possible that the best two AFC teams are the 5 and 6 seeds? Kansas City (five) opens at Houston, while explosive Pittsburgh (six) could be without DeAngelo Williams (right ankle) at rival Cincinnati.
• Peyton Manning’s career is not over. San Diego 13, Denver 7, mid-third quarter, and a loss means dropping from first seed to fifth seed in the playoffs. Pretty big. Off the bench came Manning, playing for the first time in 49 days. “Sometimes you just feel the team is looking around for ‘that guy,’” said coach Gary Kubiak. Manning led Denver to scores on four of the next five drives, and suddenly he’s That Guy for Denver’s playoff stretch.
• Charles Woodson’s career is over. I told Woodson, 45 minutes off the field after his last game in Kansas City, that Manning (1998 draft: Manning first pick, Woodson fourth) had just come off the bench to lead Denver to a comeback victory. “Are you kidding me?!” Woodson said. “You kidding me?! Wow. I guess the 1998 draft class ain’t done winning.” But the 39-year-old Woodson’s done, for sure. I asked one of the great defensive backs of all time how he felt walking off the field for the last time. “Tired,” he said. “Just tired. I’m ready.”
• Winning his third rushing title leaves Adrian Peterson “haunted a little bit.” Make no mistake—at 30, he’s thrilled to win the title (327 carries, 1,485), and he loves being the outlier as the only back in football this year with more than 290 carries. But he wants to pass Emmitt Smith’s all-time rushing record and … well, I’ll have his story for you lower in the column.
• “With the second pick in the 2016 NFL draft, the Cleveland Browns select …” The Browns have been so horrible at first-round picks lately (Taylor, Richardson, Weeden, Mingo, Gilbert, Manziel) that I hate to sentence Jared Goff or Paxton Lynch to a life on the Lake, but draw straws, gentlemen. Short one goes to the Browns. Tennessee picks first and could get a package of picks to move down with any number of QB-needy teams (San Francisco at seven, Chicago at 11, Philadelphia at 13, St. Louis at 15).
• Speaking of Johnny Manziel, he went AWOL Sunday. I reported on NBC last night that Manziel, who was supposed to be in the NFL’s concussion protocol (I am not so sure about the legitimacy of that, by the way) but was reported by USA Todayto be at a casino in Las Vegas on Saturday instead, violated team rules by not showing up for a 9 a.m. Sunday appointment with a team medical official—then the team couldn’t find him for hours. Seems like he’s trying to party his way off the Browns. The team doesn’t want him anymore, but won’t say it now for fear of eliminating any trade value for him. Too late for that. I bet 25 teams in this league, at least, wouldn’t take Manziel off waivers right now.
• Kickers missed 71 PATs this year. Kickers converted the 32-yard extra point at a fairly predictable rate (94.2 percent). “I think it’s here to stay,” said Competition Committee member Marvin Lewis, who’s not crazy about it but understands it turns a ceremonial play into a competitive one, one that on Sunday made Buffalo kicker Dan Carpenter (who has missed six this year), slam his helmet to the ground in anger and have it ricochet off his face. Nice replays, CBS.
• Didn’t you used to be Green Bay? It’s going to be a short postseason for the Packers unless they find some miracle cure for what ails the offense.
• New England played a four-corner offense in losing to Miami. But the stall didn’t work. Tom Brady still got his ankle rolled by Ndamukong Suh and took three or four other killer shots. They’d better use the 13 days between games to get some offensive linemen and weapons healthy.
• Rex came, Rex saw, Rex conquered. Nov. 12: Buffalo 22, Jets 17 … Jan 3: Buffalo 22, Jets 17. Let there be no doubt about the continued impact of Rex Ryan on all things Gang Green: The former coach of the New York Jets, relocated to Buffalo, is the person most responsible for the New York Jets not making the playoffs this year. Which is a good reason why the back page of the New York Daily News this morning blares: WRECKS RYAN.
Wild-Card Weekend
A quick look at all the games...
SATURDAY (AFC)
4:35 p.m. ET: No. 5 Kansas City (11-5) at No. 4 Houston (9-7), Reliant Stadium (ESPN/ABC). The Texans have taken the Chiefs into their web of early wild-card-gamedom. Twice previously the Texans have played wild-card games, in 2011 and 2012, and, like this one, it was the 3:35 Central Time playoff-opener; all three were Houston home affairs. This game matches the postseason’s two psycho teams. On Halloween, both squads were 2-5. Since then, they’re a combined 16-2. So you assumed that because the Chiefs enter with a 10-game winning streak, the longest current streak in the game, they’re the unbeatable ones here.
But Houston, in its last nine games, has allowed 6, 6, 17, 6, 30, 27, 10, 6 and 6 points, and now the Texans might have a legitimate partner in crime for J.J. Watt. Outside ‘backer Whitney Mercilus (12 sacks) has emerged as a strong bookend rusher to Watt, and look for them to pressure Alex Smith and make him throw quicker than he wants. Looks like Brian Hoyer came through his first post-concussion game unscathed and will start for Houston. But make no mistake: This will be low-scoring, and the Texans’ defense is going to have to make some game-changing plays to win it.
8:15 p.m. ET: No. 6 Pittsburgh (10-6) at No. 3 Cincinnati (12-4), Paul Brown Stadium (CBS). Baaaad flashback for Marvin Lewis and many Cincinnatians. Jan., 8, 2006—10 years ago this week—Carson Palmer went back on the first pass drop of the game, released a bomb downfield for Chris Henry, and got his knee caved in by defensive tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen of the Steelers. Completed pass; gain of 66. Torn ACL, however. And the Steelers stole a 31-17 win from the division champion Bengals. Lewis still hasn’t won a playoff game.
This is his 13th season, and he’s 0-6. This time, Andy Dalton hopes to be coming back from a broken thumb on his throwing hand. He’ll see a hand specialist today and hopes to get his cast removed and have enough range of motion to play a playoff game and exorcise recent playoff demons. Dalton’s pushing it, though, to think he can be normal and pick up where he left off 27 days after breaking the thumb in the first place. “Andy’s very optimistic,” Lewis told me Saturday. “I feel he’s got an opportunity to play next weekend—but we’re going to err on the side of caution.”
The problem for Cincinnati: Backup AJ McCarron has played well in Dalton’s absence, but it’ll be hard enough to win a shootout with Ben Roethlisberger if Dalton’s on the other side of the field. That just adds more pressure on Dalton to come back and win his first playoff game after losing the playoff opener in his first four NFL seasons.
SUNDAY (NFC)
1:05 p.m. ET: No. 6 Seattle (10-6) at No. 3 Minnesota (11-5), TCF Bank Stadium (NBC). The Seahawks took their turn as The NFL’s Unstoppable Team, beating up the Cardinals 36-6 on Sunday. You wonder how much motivation Arizona really had, knowing it had already clinched a bye week. The Cards certainly didn’t play with the urgency we’re accustomed to seeing in a Bruce Arians team. Minnesota, meanwhile, rolled to a 20-3 lead at Green Bay and seems to be a more diverse team than the one that got steamrolled by the Seahawks 38-7 at Minnesota a month ago. “Our confidence is pretty high,”
Adrian Peterson said from Green Bay early this morning, before the Vikes returned home to prepare for the the first outdoor playoff game in Minneapolis since 1976. “This feels like a real changing of the guard [with Minnesota and Green Bay].” Maybe. But it had better be a changing of the guard with Seattle from a month ago if the Vikings are to advance. Seattle outgained Minnesota 433-125 that afternoon, and could have Marshawn Lynch (hernia) back for the first time in eight weeks.
This needs to be an Adrian Peterson game. Minnesota has to play keepaway from Russell Wilson, who’s on the hottest streak of his career. One picky point: Seattle will be playing this game at 10:05 a.m. Pacific, and a win would send the Seahawks to Carolina for another 10:05 a.m. PT game a week later. Not very favorable scheduling for the NFC champs two years running.
4:40 p.m. ET: No. 5 Green Bay (10-6) at No. 4 Washington (9-7), FedEx Field (FOX). Great post-game nugget Sunday night from respected Packers guard Josh Sitton, asked about Green Bay’s 6-0 start. (The Pack is 4-6 since.) “Was that this year?” Sitton told Packer beat man Jason Wilde. Everything for Green Bay is a struggle right now. The team would be 3-7 in the last 10 without the gift of the Hail Mary against Detroit. And the team on the other side of the field in Landover late Sunday has scored 33 points a game in its four-game season-ending win streak. Really: Who’d have thought two months ago that Washington would be favored to do anything but show up if it met Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in the playoffs?
But Washington opened as a two-point favorite and frankly, I’m surprised it’s not more. Rodgers hasn’t eclipsed 16 points in five of his past 10 games. Meanwhile, Kirk Cousins is playing like Aaron Rodgers over the last half of the season (19 touchdowns, two picks, seven of eight games with a passer rating higher than 101). On the one hand you could look at the playoff draw if you’re Green Bay and say, “Lucky we didn’t get Minnesota, at Minnesota.” I’d look at it this way: As well as the Vikings are playing, Washington’s been better. And the Packers will be going home for a long, cold winter if Rodgers and his receivers can’t make four or five very big plays Sunday.
On Jan. 17, the one seeds (Carolina at 1:05 ET, Denver at 4:40 ET) will host the lowest remaining seeds from wild-card weekend. On Jan. 16, the two seeds (New England at 4:35 p.m. ET, Arizona at 8:15 p.m. ET) will host the remaining two teams.
Adrian Peterson is on a mission
Peterson turns 31 in March, when he will be the defending rushing champion. Only one player as old as 31—Curtis Martin in 2004—has ever won a rushing title. But that doesn’t mean Peterson is thinking about the end.
After winning his third rushing title this season, Peterson has something bigger on his mind: playoff wins—plural. And then something else significant: Emmitt Smith’s rushing record.
Peterson has 11,675 yards rushing after eight seasons (plus one game in his aborted 2014 season, when he was sidelined by the league while his discipline of his son was investigated). He needs 6,681 yards to pass Smith. That means five more very good seasons, minimum. That has never happened, nor come close, a player in his mid-thirties consistently running for more than 1,000 yards—and staying healthy.
“So I’ll have to work overtime,” he said from Green Bay early this morning. “I still think I can do it.”
Peterson said his goals before the season were winning the NFC North, rushing for 2,000 yards, and advancing to the Super Bowl. The division title, won last night, “feels like a changing of the guard,” he said. But his personal goals, he said, made him feel “to be honest, bittersweet.” His 1,485-yard winning total is not 2,000, and that’s a number that he burns to achieve every year.
Though he told me a month ago he felt like his break from football in 2014 gave him the ability to play more refreshed and healthier this year, he said from Green Bay that he does think about what he lost in a football sense by not playing last year. It’s a balancing act, though. He said several times this morning that his faith in God helped him, and he felt he was a better-balanced person after being charged with excessively disciplining his son.
“Not once did I doubt, ever, that I would be able to get back to the same level,” Peterson said. “I came in this year thinking it was very possible to get 2,000 yards again, and I still think it is.”
Wait till next year.
Three notes about the PAT …
Change is usually hard, even controversial, when it comes to the traditional NFL. But the automatic nature of the point-after touchdown was making it such a waste of time—teams missed 37 of 6,153 kicks in the five seasons between 2010 and 2014. And so they voted last May to move the line of scrimmage from the two-yard line to the 15-, making the PAT, essentially, a 33-yard kick. This season, NFL teams were 1,146 of 1,217: 94.2 percent efficiency.
The notes:
1. “I give the commissioner [Roger Goodell] a lot of credit,” said Competition Committee co-chair Rich McKay. “We had a league meeting where he asked every team and made them answer this question: ‘Is the extra point a competitive play?’ And of course it wasn’t. That was good setting the table. So by the time we got to the meeting this year [2015], everyone knew it was a change that was good for the competitive nature of the game.”
2. McKay, like Lewis, said he didn’t think the teams would turn back from it. “I think the teams mostly are happy with the change,” McKay said. “We replaced a ceremonial play and interjected a competitive play.”
3. The Competition Committee estimated the efficiency in year one would be between 92 and 94 percent. It was 94.2 percent.
The next step—I think—will be moving the line back a few more yards. Maybe as many as 10. Because if the efficiency of the field goal attempts between 20 and 39 yards is 93 percent (which it was this year), is that the level of efficiency you want for a scoring play? I’d prefer it be less, and if the percentage creeps up close to 95 percent next year, it’s conceivable Goodell or the committee, or both, could push for the line to move back.
A year too soon
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, on coach Chip Kelly, on Sept. 11: “He's an excellent coach in this league and there’s no question about it. He doesn’t need to prove anything. He’s a builder of a roster, a culture-builder. He’s everything that we all thought when we all interviewed him and more … I watch him relate to players. His door is always open. I’ve never even seen that before. He cares about the people, the players. I am just very proud and have complete respect for him as a person and as a coach.”
Lurie, on firing Kelly, on Dec. 30: “It was a clear and important decision that had to be made … This was a three-year evaluation of where we are heading, what is the trajectory, what is the progress or lack thereof and what did I anticipate for the foreseeable future … The end result was mediocrity.”
That first quote was Sept. 11, 2015. Sixteen weeks ago. In those four months, Kelly must have installed a dungeon in the Eagles’ NovaCare training complex in South Philly.
Three years ago today, Lurie and the Eagles management team fell in love with Kelly. Do you remember how hard the Eagles worked to get him? Lurie and his team spent nine hours with Kelly the day after Oregon’s Fiesta Bowl rout of Kansas State. Oregon was the second-ranked team in the country, and Kelly was the rising star. But Kelly didn’t take the Philly job, nor did he take the Cleveland job after a seven-hour interview with the Browns.
Instead, Kelly went back to Oregon, said he was staying in college, and went back on the recruiting trail. It wasn’t until 10 days later that he began to waffle and the Eagles, willing to let other candidates slip through their grasp, decided to wait until Kelly told them no again. At the opening press conference, Lurie talked about Kelly like he was a combination of Bills—Walsh and Belichick. He was a coach ahead of his time.
And so last Tuesday—48 games into the Kelly Era, 23 days after Kelly and the Eagles went to Foxboro and shocked the World Champion Patriots (and the world) with a 35-28 win—Lurie fired Kelly.
I’ve heard there were three key reasons why Lurie fired Kelly: the downward trajectory of the team in 2015 (duh), the lousy personnel moves, and how Kelly buried Lurie favorite son Howie Roseman, removing him from any football authority after last season. (To a lesser degree, Lurie disliked that there wasn’t harmony in the building. He likes harmony.
There are huge posters of Mother Theresa, Dr. Jonas Salk and Martin Luther King Jr., in the lobby; Lurie likes to remind players and visitors there’s another world out there, and that employees need to be good and harmonious people too. But the fact that the building was disconnected from Kelly wasn’t a big reason for the firing.)
Three interesting things I can confirm. One: Kelly had no idea this was coming. He was shocked. He figured the organization would rally at the end of the season and make a plan for 2016 that he hoped would include signing Bradford long-term. Two: Lurie never offered him a chance to stay if he ceded personnel control. Lurie wanted Kelly out. Now. Three: Bradford won’t be motivated to return to Philadelphia over any other team now that free agency looms.
His agent, Tom Condon, is a get-the-most-you-can-regardless-of-team guy, and Bradford isn’t crazy about Philadelphia the city anyway. He probably wishes there was a team in his favorite place, Oklahoma City. And who’s to say the next coach—current offensive coordinators Adam Gase and Doug Pederson are popular early names—will want Bradford at $18 million a year or more?
I get the personnel thing. It’s valid. Kelly went 10-6 and 10-6 while running off some of his team’s best players (some because of the cap, some because they wouldn’t get in line with The Kelly Way) and going all in on a cadre of new guys this year—quarterback Sam Bradford, running back DeMarco Murray, cornerback Byron Maxwell and middle linebacker Kiko Alonso.
Bradford has been a C player. The other moves have been disastrous. Kelly as personnel czar had an awful year. There were other problems, namely rebellion. All-pro tackle Jason Peters left last week’s game against Washington, and there were reports that Peters physically could have played but chose not to because of the lost Eagles season. Not good. None of it good.
For 14 years, Lurie stuck with Andy Reid, and the Eagles went to one Super Bowl and won none. Lurie went all-in before the 13th year, when the Eagles spent a jillion dollars in the Nnamdi Asomugha/Dream Team free-agency season, and the year was an unmitigated disaster at 8-8. Lurie kept the faith. Reid stayed. Then Reid went 4-12. Then he got fired.
Lurie used to have Steelers-like patience. Now? Less than four months after talking about Kelly like he’s a young Paul Brown, saying he’s a “culture-builder” and an “excellent coach” whose “door is always open” and he is “everything we all thought when we interviewed him and more,” Kelly is a culture-wrecker, a bad coach, a poor communicator, and shown sides they never saw in the interview. Interesting how none of those things surfaced in his first 31 months on the job. Only in his last four.
Owning an NFL franchise is tough when the team’s losing. It’s a cauldron of hate in Philadelphia when the Eagles are losing. It’s tough to get slapped in the face, day after day, by fan and media anger with a disappointing team. But this move is so 2016 NFL. So precipitous. So impatient. So unlike the 2010 Lurie. He succumbed to pitchforks instead of ignoring them. Even the trigger-happy Art Modell kept Bill Belichick (20-28 in his first three years) after Belichick fired the beloved Bernie Kosar in year three. And Kelly (26-21) gets fired?
I can see Lurie this season questioning, deep down, the Kelly hire. I can see him quietly telling his close friends, Maybe I made a mistake. But there should have been someone in the building or in his life to tell him to buck up, go one more year with a man in whom he’d invested so much.
There’s no guarantee it would have worked, and that Kelly would have won. But firing a coach with a different philosophy struggling with a different program but beating the Super Bowl champion on the road during that struggle? I don’t like it. I just think it’s wrong.
Now from the land of make-believe …
Fun facts about Jimmy Haslam’s 39-month tenure as owner of the Cleveland Browns:
• The Browns have employed 61 coaches in those three-plus seasons.
• Haslam has fired two presidents/CEOs (Mike Holmgren, Joe Banner), and, by Monday noon, three general managers (Tom Heckert, Mike Lombardi, Ray Farmer) and three coaches (Pat Shurmur, Rob Chudzinski, Mike Pettine).
• Record since league approved Haslam as owner: 18-40.
• There have been four offensive coordinators on Haslam’s watch: Brad Childress, Norv Turner, Kyle Shanahan, John DeFilippo.
• The five first-round picks since Haslam bought the team: Barkevious Mingo, Justin Gilbert, Johnny Manziel, Danny Shelton, Cameron Erving.
Examining continuity in Haslam’s reign …
• Dec. 31, 2012, after coach Pat Shurmur was fired:
“We’re well aware that this has been a carousel,” Haslam said. “It’s our job to find the right coach and the right GM and bring stability long term for the organization.”
• Dec. 30, 2013, after coach Rob Chudzinski was fired:
“We understand the importance of continuity,” Haslam said. “But I think it’s really important to hear this: We also understand the importance of getting it right.”
• Feb. 12, 2014, after CEO Joe Banner and GM Mike Lombardi were fired:
“There’s no training manual for being an NFL owner,” Haslam said. “I do know from previous experience how important continuity is. Right now we have to make this change and suffer the pain.”
• Aug. 1, 2015, vowing not to make big changes no matter how the Browns play in 2015:
“We’re not going to blow things up, okay?” Haslam said. “We are not going to do that. I think we have the right people in place to over a period of time be successful. I feel good that we have the right people in the building now.”
• Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, after Mike Pettine was fired as coach:
“I don’t think anyone anticipated going 3-13,” Haslam said. "We were naïve when we came into the process. It’s much harder than we thought it would be.”
You don't say.
Haslam is extremely well liked by his fellow owners, and by nearly everyone he’s met in Cleveland since taking over. He’s really trying. I’ve had three or four conversations with him, and he wants to win badly, and his heart’s in the right place. But his actions are simply inconsistent with those of winner-builders. I can’t defend the performance of Pettine or Farmer. This isn’t about making some grand case for them to keep their jobs. It’s about making a grand case for an owner being mindful of longtime Browns owner Art Modell. “Art’s motto,” said one former team employee, “was always, ‘Ready, fire, aim!’” Not literally, but it’s how Modell acted.
Haslam has done piecemeal things, which this administration shows: having Banner and Lombardi oversee the Pettine hire, firing Banner and Lombardi, installing Farmer (a stranger to the coach, basically, before his hire), Farmer overseeing a ruinous first round (Justin Gilbert, Johnny Manziel), Farmer almost trading a franchise left tackle (Joe Thomas), the roster of coaches and players continually roiling, and now firing another coach and another GM and presumably a staff of coaches with a year left on most of their contracts and starting over. For the second or third time—but who’s counting?—in 3.3 years.
Already, I’ve heard, Pettine tried twice last week to get clarification on his job, and the jobs of his assistants; twice he got no answer from Haslam. And Haslam already has an interview lined up for Tuesday—with former Buffalo coach Doug Marrone.
It looks like the Browns will hire a coach first, then take a longer view with a GM. That worked with Pete Carroll (first) and John Schneider (second) in Seattle, but most places hire the GM first and then the coach. If they’re interviewing Marrone first, maybe Haslam is going the experienced coach route, not the hot-coordinator route.
Whatever the coaching choice, this time, today hopefully, Haslam should do only one thing: Stand in front of his beaten-down fan base and say these words: “I—not we—I have abused your trust. And this I vow: The next general manager and the next coach will have a minimum of four years, guaranteed, to turn this team around.
Those three years will happen with me standing on the outside, without interfering unless asked by them for assistance. Players and fans should know they need to get behind these two men and whomever they pick to play and coach the team, because they’ll be here through the end of the 2019 season. Guaranteed.”
If he says anything else, why would any Browns fan believe him?
No one wants to play the big, bad Chiefs
No matter they’re the fifth seed and will have to play three road games to get to the Super Bowl. Kansas City’s 23-17 win over Oakland in the season finale Sunday gives the Chiefs a 10-game winning streak entering the playoffs. The Chiefs’ path could go like this: at Houston (where K.C. won 27-20 in September), at Denver (where K.C. won 29-13 in November), at New England (K.C. won a 41-14 decision at Arrowhead last season). Plus, Justin Houston is getting healthy at the right time after missing a month with a hyper-extended knee suffered Nov. 29.
Then there’s the approach of coach Andy Reid. When Reid stands in front of his team, those in the audience in Philadelphia once told me, neither fire nor brimstone happens. Mostly it’s a matter-of-fact recitation of the message Reid wants to get across, with the expectation that the players will act on it appropriately. If they don’t, there will be different players in the team meeting room in due course.
So it was a slightly befuddled Reid who stood in front of his team in mid-October, when the Chiefs had just lost to Minnesota. Their biggest offensive star, Jamaal Charles, was lost a week earlier with a torn ACL. Their record was 1-5. Seemed to be just one of those years—a mulligan, a good team playing bad, a contender having to wait until next year. Reid recalled the scene last week, over the phone from Kansas City. In the same tone of voice—presumably—a player would recognize from Reid, he said he remembered clearly what he told his players:
“I just told them, ‘I’ve never been 1-5. It’s a new experience for all of us, probably. The question is, What are we gonna do about it?’”
What they did, essentially, is what a Reid team always does—work consistently hard, without feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders from a coach dishing out the pressure to perform. In some places, high pressure works. But it’s just not Reid’s way. People in Philadelphia grew to hate his way. The move to Kansas City has been good in many ways for Reid, and not just because of the change of scenery. Kansas City has its share of desperado fans, but the culture isn’t as rabid and football-Armageddon-like as Philadelphia. A 31-17 regular-season record in Kansas City has been the result.
“I’d say a couple of the big things for us,” said Reid, “center on the fact we weren’t really all there early in the season. I really liked this team in training camp, but we had some important guys on defense coming back from injuries and illness—Eric Berry (cancer), Mike DeVito (Achilles tear), Derrick Johnson (Achilles tear), Dontari Poe (back surgery)—and we missed a starting corner, Sean Smith, with a [three-game substance-abuse] suspension. So in September, we were still really a work in progress.
“On offense, [wideout] Jeremy Maclin came in and brought a certain attitude, and it took some time to mesh there.
“And there’s some stat that probably says something—at one point we were playing more rookies than any team. So you take all those things, and it’s probably not unexpected that you’re not the same team early that you’re going to be.”
The imprint of Reid and GM John Dorsey shows in the lineup the Chiefs are fielding. An AFC-high 13 rookies and first-year players were on the Chiefs’ 53-man opening day roster. In the ninth straight win, over Cleveland, Kansas City started 10 players on offense and seven on defense that had been imported since the Reid-Dorsey regime took over 35 months ago. And the depth of the roster has been important. Kansas City is 10-1 without Charles, as a pair of street free-agent backs, Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware, have done well. They’ve combined to rush for 989 yards, at a combined 4.5 yards per rush, since the Charles injury. With 10 touchdowns. That’s approaching Charles territory.
The feel-good story of the year has helped too. Berry, diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the middle of last season, emerged from treatment at a slow, steady pace, and is now playing at near the same level that made him a Pro Bowl safety. Berry’s first interception returning from cancer treatment came in the first of the 10-game winning streak.
Then there’s Alex Smith. No quarterback is more an extension of his head coach than Smith. Be smart, don’t make mistakes, go through your progressions, lead the team … that’s part of the Reid mantra for his quarterback. Smith, the model for much of that, has four interceptions in his past 13 games, and finally a field-stretcher, Maclin, to take the heat off the intermediate routes Reid loves. “It all goes around Alex,” Reid said. “It’s good when your quarterback is your hardest worker and your most unselfish player and as smart as he is.”
The way the Chiefs are playing, no playoff win is impossible. They’ve not been dominating all the time, but there’s something to be said in January for not beating yourselves. One stat Reid loves: Kansas City is second in the league in ball-protection, with just 15 turnovers in 16 games. In the current 10-0 run, the Chiefs have seven turnovers. Any team that careful with the ball is going to be a tough out in the playoffs.