Mel Kiper pegs the Browns with Jared Goff in first Mock Draft of 2016
January 14, 2016Browns expected to part ways with Johnny Manziel
January 14, 2016Professional sports are all about exclusivity. Such a small percentage of people in their youth have the drive and ability required to reach the level of any professional sport. The scarcity of the elite athlete is even further defined within the NFL as there are a scant few players of the quality of Aaron Rodgers, Calvin Johnson, Joe Thomas, and Adrian Peterson to go around. Similarly, while there are many thousands of football coaches throughout the country, there are only 32 head coaching jobs in the NFL, and even fewer Pete Carrolls to fill them.
So, when a coach has the opportunity to obtain such a job, they will usually jump at the chance. Sometimes, the coach taking the job is not yet ready or prepared for the responsibilities of running the entire football side of an organization. Other times, the coach takes too much responsibility upon themselves such as controlling the personnel side of the organization as well. There are even coaches who are merely better in a lesser role.
NFL organizations seem to understand a head coach who was not great his first time in the job has the capability of learning from his mistakes and becoming a better head coach in the future. Bill Belichick was not the success he had hoped to be in Cleveland, but he still received a second chance in New England to prove his ability. Romeo Crennel had a mere one fun season out of four leading the Cleveland Browns, but the Kansas City Chiefs still gave him another opportunity. And, Eric Mangini did not even have time to reflect on his faults when the Browns allowed him to immediately transition from the New York Jets to the Browns lead chair.
Of course, there is a catch. NFL owners are famously impatient as seven of the 32 teams had openings for head coach in 2016 with another three teams being rumored to have heavily considered it. The San Francisco 49ers became the latest team to fire a head coach after only one season in command. So, winning better happen rather quickly or the stay in the job will be rather short-lived.
Fool me once, then you might learn. Fool me twice, and a coordinator job is all you can earn.
Fool me once, then you might learn. Fool me twice, and a coordinator job is all you can earn.
Additionally, owners of struggling teams are in the business of selling hope. The unknown of a new regime offers the fan-base the prospect of hope on which to cling upon. Even in the cases maintaining organizational stability might have proven to be more prudent, the siren call of hope is an easier sell to the public. There is potential the new coaching staff will be better than the old coaching staff. This time things will be different.
Therefore, hope is an invaluable trait to have as a prospective coach looking to obtain one of these 32 positions. However, hope is in short supply once a coach receives two chances as the head man without success, which is a big reason why third chances are in short supply. Fool me once, then you might learn. Fool me twice, and a coordinator job is all you can earn.
What it means for the 50 year old Hue Jackson is that the Browns are the last time he will get to captain a NFL ship. He needs the Browns to be successful even more than the Browns need him to be successful. For the Browns, as painful as it is to admit, there can always be another coach. But, now that Jackson made his commitment to the Browns, he must do everything in his power to turn around the moribund organization. And, he must do it rather quickly.
Hue Jackson was the correct hire for the Cleveland Browns. He has sparked a collective positive energy into a fan-base that has not been present since 2007 in a way that other candidates such as Sean McDermott and Matt Patricia would not have done. The honeymoon period is in full effect as Jackson charmed the media and fans alike in his opening press conferences with mentions of the Dawg Pound and winning the Super Bowl.
But, Jackson knows well that honeymoon periods are short-lived, press conferences become more difficult if losses pile up, and the only way to ensure a long tenure is to push a team uphill that seven different head coaches have failed to gain much traction in their attempts.
So, yes, Jackson is a desperate coach. But, please note desperation is not necessarily a poor quality. The drive, energy, and focus can all be fine-tuned within its constructs as coal does not turn into diamonds without the proper amount of pressure applied. It is now time for Jackson to utilize every positive trait he has developed in his career.
Jackson has built his NFL legacy upon his ability to mold offensive systems to best fit his players, to push players on the field to their highest levels while ingratiating himself to them off the field, and by simply being a person whom others flock towards. Each of these traits will now be tested to their uppermost limits.
Jackson has employed the Air Coryell offense, he has employed a West Coast style offense. He led T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chad Johnson to their best seasons, and he has mentored Joe Flacco in his first seasons in the NFL. Much like Bill Walsh, Jackson prides himself on finding an offense to make his players successful rather than finding players to make his offense successful.
With the Browns, Jackson will need to determine if his preferred power running style will work with our offensive line or if he needs to adjust to more zone concepts. He will need to determine if the current batch of wide receivers can cut it or if he needs to tell Sashi Brown and whoever takes the general manager role to go out and get him someone there. He needs to determine what the heck went wrong with the defense in 2015 and what underlying strengths are present beneath the mess there.
Jackson will need to convince players such as Travis Benjamin, Alex Mack, Mitchell Schwartz, Tashaun Gipson, and Craig Robertson his history demonstrates everything they need in order for them to come back to the team. Starting with a roster that went 3-13 is difficult enough. Losing five of the best fifteen players off that roster makes everything even more difficult. He then needs to work with the personnel guys to identify the free agency targets and use the many former players who rave about him to help recruit those free agents to the Browns.
And, Jackson will have to hire a strong staff of coaches to report to him. Whether he is calling the plays or not, he needs to have a support system of coaches who he can rely on to do their jobs under his direction. Working with five different NFL teams over fifteen years of experience has allowed him to create a large coaching network. Now is the time for him to reap the benefits.
For the sake of the sanity of us all, here’s hoping Jackson is successful, and he proves to be the bastian of stability for which we have sought.
15 Comments
Okay, what’s the over/under on how long it takes for us to beat the Hue puns to death. Put me down for tomorrow.
What do Hue mean?
hi MG … if hue can get all / most of the players you mentioned above to stay , and provided the new brass wants to try to keep them , that will be worth it’s weight in gold. it would be nice to go into free-agency & the draft knowing you don’t have to worry about the O-line so much.
Hue crack me up.
Hue got me.
Hue got me.
As I told my brother yesterday, if Hue Jackson got out of Oakland without getting stabbed or getting infected by Al Davis’ open sores, this guy is a survivor.
In all seriousness, I always thought he got a raw deal there. He was thrust into first time head coach coupled with personnel decision making power, with a mess of a roster, and a dying Davis. He still managed to steer that barge of waste to an 8-8 record.
Thank Hue.
Coach Hue! Coach Hue! Coaccccchhh Huuueee!!
…this cold-and-flHue season is really getting to me.
Here’s my question. People keep talking about how Jackson went 8-8 and that’s an amazing thing because he wasn’t a total failure and he has head coaching experience. However: let’s say that Pettine got fired after his first year. Would he be a hot commodity after 4 years? Dude went 7-9 with a dysfunctional franchise, with no talent, he dealt with major distractions (Josh Gordon and JFF), he had a losing streak to end the season (ala Jackson) but he’s learned from it, the players loved playing for him (see comments from, among others, Joe Thomas after this season), he clashed with the front office (ala Jackson)….
I think that’s a great hypothetical. If Pettine had gotten canned, I think you’re right…there would have been praise for him and people saying he was a bright spot in a bad org. He probably would have gotten another shot elsewhere. However, we saw what happened afterwards when he got to coach another year, which Jackson didn’t. Now, was this dumped over port-o-potty all the fault of Pettine? No, but he certainly played his part and showed his flaws.
Jackson didn’t get that chance. What he did do afterwards, however, is have some coaching success. So, he’s still a question mark.
Agreed. He’s definitely a question mark and I don’t think anyone is saying anything to the contrary. However, I keep seeing the 8-8 record and “previous head coaching experience” bandied about and I just want to urge caution on relying on those attributes.
And, who knows – maybe in a few years, Pettine *will* be a hot commodity in precisely the same way that Jackson was a hot commodity this year.
Yes, I think it is fair to assume such. Also, Hue’s Carson Palmer trade looks better w/ Palmer doing well in Arizona. So, that helps perception too.
If Pettine goes somewhere and resuscitates his images by being DC for a playoff team for a few years, then he might get another shot too.
I think that is the key. Hue didn’t get a fair shot in Oakland and I don’t think anyone can say Pettine got a fair shot here. However, Hue proved he deserves another chance.
It will be interesting to see where Pettine will land. I’m sure he’ll get a chance somewhere. At least I hope so. He had to deal with so much crap here and carried himself very well through it all.
His Defense was horrible this past season but I think we’ll see him work his way up to another D-Cord position somewhere else down the line.