National Football Post Tavern Talk

Here is the scenario

Woody Johnson wants "the meal ticket" Jet Favre back at all costs.

Situation 1
If Favre returns

They hire a stop gap, older, experienced coach. And go for it all again next year.

Schottenheimer, Callahan, and Westhoff will all be retained. Schottenheimer may get a pay bump to stay so that Stuck in his old ways QB doesn't have to change coordinators.

The whole defensive staff will be purged and the hiring will be a perk of the new coach.

Situation 2
Favre decided to hang it up. The whole staff gets purged if this decision happens sooner rather than later. Think bad MRI.


Situation1 is more likely to happen

What's the chance of Mangini ending up as a DC next year? He did well with the Pats prior to being hired in New York, so its a logical choice for him to get a job in one of the four teams you listed that needs a new coordinator.

The only thing is, Mangini is a 3-4 guy. None of the teams you listed currently run that scheme, but what's the chance of a team switching its scheme, because clearly whatever they were doing this year was not getting the job done.

Would a team like Jacksonville, who was already axed Gregg Williams, get Mangini, and what would his immediate impact have on the defense?

I assumed until now that someone would take an Atlanta-style gamble and bring in McDaniels and Cassel together, but maybe you're right that McDaniels will go where Pioli does (if he leaves New England). Could you see the Browns moving for Cassel with all that money tied up in Brady Quinn? I think it's unlikely.

Agree that we have little choice now but to franchise Cassel. Until Brady's status becomes more clear, we cannot afford to risk letting Cassel walk away for nothing.

Will not be surprised to see both Pioli and McDaniels in Cleveland. Both are Ohio natives, and Pioli's good friend Shapiro is nearby. I would be surprised if MDaniels becomes HC- that would be overestimating his capabilities right now and giving into HCS (Hot Coordinator Syndrome).

Woody's desire to have Favre back is the 2nd most boneheaded move (first is JJ's retaining Wade for HC next year) and is tunnel-visioning on filling up those PSL's for the new stadium. This will backfire on him if Favre returns. It was an open secret that Mangini detail-oriented approach to the game clashed with geriatric Favre's headstrong gunslinging and 4th grade study habits. This is why Woody will not land a high-profile coach if he insist on retaining Favre.

All the more to appreciate Kraft's genius and acumen in being hands off. Like Lincoln who learned to stay out of General Grant's way, Kraft has understood his own limitations when it comes to judging football talent.

The idea of Pioli and McDaniels in Cleveland is interesting to say the least. McDaniels has shown that he can work and be successful with a superstar QB (Brady) and a no name QB (Cassel) who didn't even start for his college team. In Cleveland, he would have to make a decision between Anderson and Quinn pretty quickly to finally put that chapter behind the Browns. That, coupled with the fact that he grew up and played high school football at Canton McKinley which is 40 miles south of Cleveland and played his college football just outside of Cleveland, makes it interesting to think about.

The mangenius has a better chance of getting some owner to give him another HC opportunity than he does of getting a coordinator's job.

After throwing Belichick under the bus, why would any HC want him on the staff, I know I wouldn't....

While it is true the Jets have talent, mismanagement of talent is almost as egregious as not having talent at all, right Lombardi? That's why you have to have competent coaches in place. In any case, Lombardi, do you think that the Broncos would be wise to go after Romeo Crennel as a defensive coordinator? I can easily see Rex Ryan in Ram blue and gold while I'll admit Pioli/McDaniels in Cleveland sounds right. The Patriots and Browns seem to be indeliably linked together and it should be a natural fit. One more Jets comment: perhaps the time is right for Kellen Clemens to assume the role as signal-caller.

If you try and make it a GM/coach/player triumvirate, you will be setting the team up for future challenges. Change is the only constant, and the assumption of success is not a given. Any one of the three changes you may suddenly see the others ready to change from your team.

That isn't even counting the agents involved, that makes the entire process more complex.

All the Browns would need is for a Rodney Harrison deal, a Corey Dillon deal, a Randy Moss deal, to fall in their laps. Those deals grow on trees. Remove the Bledsoe and Milloy compensation, what exactly did the team draft?

No solid corners, the one they had who was servicable bolted for shutdown cash the first time he could. Middling linemen with the exception of one. A slew of free agent signings. You don't build teams through free agency.

Moss showed enough slack effort early into Brady's absence, and they end up missing the dance by a one game margin. You don't get to take time off during games....

This isn't a Brees/Payton deal either. The QB in question has to fill in thousands of pass attempts in practice and games to even come near him on the radar.

Who could the Cowboys bring in to help Jason Garrett shore up the offense?

Does anyone have any thoughts on who could be a good fit for this role?

It seems to me that the Cowboys will have trouble filling this need as few quality coaches will want to take on the role of co-offensive coordinator or offensive quality control or whatever the Cowboys want to call the position??