Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb Talk Pat Shurmur
January 13, 2011Cavs Lose 12th in a Row in Blowout Loss to Utah
January 15, 2011
While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
Looking at the Shurmur hire with a skeptical eye: “Shurmur should at least be given a fair chance to do his job, so maybe it all works out. There’s at least a chance that Holmgren’s taken something important from his time in Seattle, and can accomplish something with his new hand-picked head coach here that he wasn’t able to do back there. But for now, it’s really hard to see how it’s any better than what Mangini had going after two years of the hardest kind of work that an NFL head coach could be asked to do.” [Cleveland Frowns]
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“The way it turned out, some fans might suggest that keeping coach Eric Mangini for a third year with a new offensive staff might have been a better alternative. We don’t know if Mangini would have been willing to go along with that. It may never have been an option offered by Holmgren…Since I thought Holmgren was the best candidate to replace Mangini, I guess I shouldn’t be upset that it looks like Holmgren is going to tutor Shurmur. But I need to hear more. For Holmgren and Shurmur, this could be a tough sell.” [Marla Ridenhour/Akron Beacon Journal]
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Infield spots up in the air: “The Tribe has issues. Many, many issues. Those issues will hopefully be solved quickly so that the team can re-enter the race for the American League Central sooner rather than later. The biggest, most gaping holes on the roster heading into the 2011 season are 2nd base and 3rd base. Almost every other spot on the roster is more or less spoken for, but that does not mean that there is no room for improvement. Coming off of the 2010 season the team’s injuries and poor performances of “Top Prospects” exposed the team as being farther away from contending than many believed. I, however, am a perpetual optimist and I think that if the team stays healthy and the players play to the potential and the expectations, than the Tribe could be a surprise contender in the tough AL Central.” [Zach/Lake Erie Soldiers]
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OSU fans spoiled? “So why is it so quiet in Columbus? In literal and figurative terms, this is the quietest time in memory for OSU’s two highest profile sports teams. Well, that is if you don’t count the occasional booing. Along with the phenomenal recent pairing of success enjoyed by the football and men’s basketball programs has come an unprecedented level of spoilage amongst Buckeye Nation. And it kind of makes me sick. It also legitimizes the use of words like “obnoxious” that fans of other schools’ teams use to describe us…While everything is subjective to the beholder, it is quite possible, even probable, that Ohio State is currently enjoying its most successful football and basketball in school history. At the same time.” [Michael/Our Honor Defend]
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Putting together the new Browns staff: “A couple of days before the Shurmur hire, reports surfaced that the Browns were interested in Dave Wannstedt as their defensive coordinator. Late last night, a new name emerged — Philadelphia Eagles defensive backs coach Dick Jauron…Jauron has a pretty good resume in the NFL…A source with knowledge of Jauron’s past tells me that Jauron is a fan of the 3-4 defense, and that it would be wrong to assume he would automatically switch the Browns to a 4-3 defense. Per the source, Jauron is a ‘run what your personnel dictates’ type of coach.” [Chris Pokorny/Dawgs by Nature]
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Another quick capsule breakdown of the Indians roster situation by position. A good primer with one month left before pitchers and catchers report. [Jordan Bastian/MLB.com]
(Photo: Amy Sancetta/AP)
11 Comments
LOL Ridenour:
“some fans might suggest that keeping coach Eric Mangini for a third year with a new offensive staff might have been a better alternative. We don’t know if Mangini would have been willing to go along with that.”
That’s just absurd, the idea that Mangini would have quit if Holmgren had fired Daboll.
Thanks for the link, Brendan. I think it’s more accurate to say I’m a Holmgren skeptic. Who really knows about Shurmur? Hope he’s great.
It’s nice to see someone at least being skeptical of the hire. I say give the guy a chance. As long as they draft well and pick up good free agents they have a chance to be good.
I wish we could hold on to Robbie Ryan. But he’s already setting up jobs I guess he’s going to take the Dallas DC job when he’s let go. I understand Holmgren wants to bring in his guys. But when there isn’t a better option for the job then the current staff you have to keep Ryan. Mangini was a schmuck and Holmgren found a guy who runs his system and has loads of experience coaching players like Mcnabb, Kolb, and Bradford. That is something Mangini didn’t have.
Back to what I was saying, Jauron isn’t as good as a schemer as Ryan is and Ryan was working with
Sorry didn’t mean to post that, allow me to continue.
Cont.
Ryan was working with practice squad players in his front 7. Get Robbie some hogs on the line and some nutjobs in the linebacker corp and his defense would be top 10. Or just sign Nnamdi Asomugha and he and Haden manning up would give our line the time to get at the QB. Ryan is too talented a game planner to fire him because he wasn’t “your guy”
For what it’s worth, I heard something pretty similar to what Marla is insinuating, that Mangini may not have been okay with having another OC put in place. Regardless of the likelihood, I can’t say it isn’t a fair question.
Why would Mangini tie his career to a dead horse, noble but dumb.
Shurmur absolutely deserves the chance to prove himself. Then again, so did Mangini, who instead got one season before he became a dead man walking in 2010. The one bit of news that does bother me is Holmgren stating that Shurmur will be the one calling the plays. Now, it’s possible that he was just trying to emphasize that it won’t be him (Holmgren) playing puppet master, but it came out sounding like “no OC will be brought in”, which concerns me deeply if that is in fact the case. Hopefully I’m just reading more into Holmgren’s statements than I should, and we will bring in an OC.
I don’t know that it’s Buckeye fans being “spoiled” any more so than fans of other top programs (Duke or UNC in basketball, Florida or Texas fans in football): sustained success brings with it greater expectations. It’s great to rack up wins consistently, but in sports the ultimate reward of such success is championships–THAT’S what we want. How many of those has all that consistent winning brought to Columbus? Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled with the overall successes of the past 10 years or so, but I also know that I often feel like I’d trade this year’s Sugar Bowl, last year’s Rose, and half of our recent Big Ten football titles for us to have beaten UF or LSU instead. Do we risk taking all of the winning for granted because we don’t have trophies to show at the end of it? Yes. Though, to be fair, there’s no guarantee we’d have trophies regardless, depending on how much we could sell them for. I kid, I kid.
Ohio sports fans (specifically Cleveland fans) seem to me to have become gun shy with time: too many letdowns (I won’t go through the list), so many “close but no cigar” moments or complete implosions on the big stage (hello, Buckeyes). The fans now expect the worse until proven wrong, so the crowds are now reactionary and cautious–you can FEEL it even when watching the game on tv that the folks at the game are tensing up en masse. It’s infuriating, but I can understand it. Add to that the fact that fan behavior has been cracked down on at many sporting events (standing up and yelling? How rude–YOU’RE DISTURBING MY CELL PHONE CONVERSATION AND/OR TWEETING!! I’M TEXTING SECURITY!!!), and weaker crowds will result.
As for the DC hire, I look forward to switching to a 4-3, whether its based on coaching philosophy or personnel (which I think would also dictate the change–we certainly don’t have the horses for the 3-4). I didn’t like the change from the start, and nothing I’ve seen has changed my opinion.
Unless Bob LaMonte is representing Rob Ryan, I think it’s safe to assume he’s gone.
Rob Ryan shouldn’t be missed and what makes anyone think Mangini would have stayed if he had to have new coaches? His ego wrote checks his brain and personality couldn’t cash. Not like Lovie Smith in Chicago who when faced with changes to his staff or possibly losing his job was smart enough to accept the changes. Enter Martz and Rivera and the Bears are in the playoffs.
So picking up Cutler had nothing to do with making the playoffs?
I will accept being called a “spoiled” Buckeye fan, it sure beats the hell out of my being a “jinxed” Browns fan! :^)