Tag: Coach

Report: Mike Nolan ‘one to watch’ for Mike McCarthy’s Cowboys staff

New Orleans Saints linebackers coach Mike Nolan is reportedly under consideration to join Mike McCarthy’s newly-formed Dallas Cowboys staff.

The Dallas Cowboys have hired their new head coach, teaming up with longtime Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy. And he’s moving quickly to build a staff. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that New Orleans Saints linebackers coach Mike Nolan is someone being considered for a role in McCarthy’s organization.

And this story has legs. Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News reported that Nolan’s connections to the Cowboys run deep — his father Dick Nolan worked with legendary Cowboys coaches Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson, and the Nolan family still has roots in Dallas to this day.

Still, Gehlken added that nothing has happened yet. Nolan is busy conducting exit interviews with his players on Monday, and won’t entertain offers or interview with other teams until that is all wrapped up. But it wouldn’t be a shock to see him leave for a larger role with a new staff.

The Saints only picked up Nolan in the first place after he took a year off of coaching to try his hand in the media, making on-air appearances with NFL Network back in 2016. Before that, he served as defensive coordinator for several different teams, and even has head coach experience (with the San Francisco 49ers from 2005 to 2008). He’s been a valuable addition to New Orleans, helping scout and develop talent at a position that was lacking it for all too long. The Saints do not have an assistant linebackers coach on staff right now, so it’s unclear who would replace Nolan if he left.

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WATCH: Jack Del Rio ‘can’t wait to get started’ with Washington Redskins

Longtime NFL coach Jack Del Rio is back in the league after a two-season hiatus, joining the Washington Redskins’ staff as Ron Rivera’s defensive coordinator.

Longtime NFL coach Jack Del Rio is back in the league after a two-season hiatus, joining the Washington Redskins’ staff as Ron Rivera’s defensive coordinator.

He tweeted confirmation on New Year’s Day, saying he’s ready to get going:

Del Rio brings his 4-3 defense to Washington D.C., switching it up from the 3-4 scheme the team has used the past few seasons.

He last coached in the NFL in 2017, his final of three seasons as the Oakland Raiders’ head coach. Del Rio joined ESPN as an NFL analyst in August 2019.

Jets, Adam Gase continue pattern of struggling after the opening drive

The Jets won but looked bad on offense after an impressive opening drive. This, sadly, has become a trend for Adam Gase’s Jets in 2019.

The Jets heralded Adam Gase as the offensive genius whose play-calling would elevate them from the drudges of the AFC when they hired him in January. But even in the Jets 16-10 win over the Steelers in Week 16, Gase proved once again he doesn’t know how to craft sustained drives after the first offensive series of the game. 

After the Jets’ opening 11-play, 75-yard drive concluded with a beautiful touchdown pass to Robby Anderson from Sam Darnold, New York’s offense sputtered. The Jets averaged only 4.1 plays for 15.3 yards per drive through their next 12 possessions, which netted only nine points and one appearance in the red zone.

This continues a worrisome pattern for the Gase-led Jets. If you take a look at the six other games New York scored on its opening possession, the offense looked dynamic, powerful and dangerous on that first drive, averaging 10.8 plays for 74.8 yards with four touchdowns and two field goals. That’s the type of play-calling the Jets wanted from Gase. But after those first drives, the Jets’ offense looked much like it has throughout the season — horrid.

Let’s take a look at those six games:

Week 8 vs. Jaguars (loss)

Opening scoring drive: 11 plays, 98 yards

Average drive after first: 3.4 plays, 9.6 yards

Week 9 vs. Dolphins (loss)

Opening scoring drive: 11 plays, 80 yards

Average drive after first: 5.1 plays for 14.4 yards

Week 10 vs. Giants (win)

Opening scoring drive: 12 plays for 71 yards

Average drive after first: 4.2 plays for 11.6 yards

Week 11 vs. Redskins (win)

Opening scoring drive: seven plays for 70 yards

Average drive after first: 5.5 plays, 30 yards

Week 12 vs. Raiders (win)

Opening scoring drive: 10 plays, 79 yards

Average drive after first: 5.3 plays for 32 yards

Week 13 vs. Bengals (loss)

Opening scoring drive: 13 plays, 51 yards

Average drive after first: 6.8 plays, 22 yards

The pattern is obvious. Gase rarely, if ever, builds a drive better than his first one of the game. That makes sense from the perspective that coaches spend the entire week prior to crafting the perfect plays for their opening drive so they get points quickly. 

This wouldn’t be a big deal if Gase’s Jets scored on every opening possession. The problem is, those six games plus the Steelers’ win were the only times they did. It took the Jets until Week 8 to score a point on their first possession, which at the time was the longest streak in the NFL. 

Gase’s Jets have six wins after Week 16 – a miracle given the roster construction, injuries and play-calling by the coaching staff. But just because the Jets have won more games than anticipated shouldn’t take away from the fact Gase hasn’t been able to adjust his gameplan over the course of the contest. It’s a huge reason why the Jets ranked 28th in points, 31st in yards, 29th in plays and 32nd in yards per play heading into Week 16.

The win over the Steelers is nice, but in the grand scheme of things, it won’t matter for the Jets in 2019. Their season is over and they should be focused on the 2020 season – which means evaluating the current roster and correcting the mistakes that led to this disappointing season. This play-calling pattern is a huge problem that needs to be resolved this offseason if Gase is to succeed as the Jets coach.

Six wins look good on paper, but if New York doesn’t dive into the minutia of its games and fix the many problems it has (both from a personnel and coaching/play-calling standpoint), the same results could doom Gang Green in 2020 before the offseason even begins. 

Broncos coach Vic Fangio has an idea to fix NFL’s playoff seeding

Broncos coach Vic Fangio has an idea that he believes could fix the NFL’s playoff seeding problem.

The NFL’s playoff seeding system is flawed because division winners are ranked higher than non-division winners even if they have a worse record. A team that has a losing record (such as 7-9) could host a playoff game if they play in a bad division and win their division.

That kind of scenario could come into play in the NFC this year.

The Cowboys currently lead the NFC East with a 7-7 record. If the season ended today, Dallas would host the 49ers (11-3) in the first round of the playoffs. San Francisco would be punished for playing in a better division than Dallas. That shouldn’t happen.

Broncos coach Vic Fangio has an idea that would prevent that kind of scenario from happening in the future.

“Since the league went to 32 teams, which was when the Texans came in in 2002, my ideal suggestion — which has never been put forth in front of anybody important — I don’t think there should be divisions,” Fangio said on Dec. 11. “I think you’ve got 16 in each conference. Everybody should play each other once. That’s 15 games. Then if you want a 16th game, you play a natural rival from the other conference — Jets and Giants play every year, Eagles-Steelers, Texans-Cowboys, etc., play every year.

“Then keep it at 16 games, but you’ll avoid the problem that’s going to happen this year where probably an 8-8 team is hosting a 12-4 team. You’re going to get the six best teams in each conference. The divisions always float. There are some that are easy some years, some that have a bunch of good teams, that switches back and forth every couple years. I just think that’d be a good way to avoid it.”

The one drawback with Fangio’s plan would be the lack of non-conference games. If a team played a different non-conference opponent each season, it would take 16 years for an AFC team to play against every NFC team.

Would that be better than the current system? Fangio thinks so.

Fangio also isn’t a fan of the league’s proposed 18-game schedule. He suggested a reasonable substitution: two bye weeks.

“I just think 16 is more than enough,” Fangio said. “You can see some of these teams, us included to a degree, the injuries start to pile up. If they want an extra week of TV, give everybody two byes during the season.”

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Broncos players showing no quit under coach Vic Fangio

Broncos players are displaying great effort under coach Vic Fangio.

The Broncos haven’t been officially eliminated from playoff contention but their chances of reaching the postseason are less than one percent. With only three games left this year, Denver has little to play for.

With that being the case, it wouldn’t be surprising to see players pack it in early and look ahead to the next season. One could argue that some players appeared to do that under former coach Vance Joseph in 2017 and 2018. It’s not happening under Vic Fangio this season.

The Broncos went into Sunday’s game against the 8-4 Texans with just four wins of their own but they looked like the better team, claiming a 38-24 win. Denver might not reach the postseason, but Broncos players aren’t going down without a fight.

“I’ve gotten comments from a lot of people throughout the league, and I have a couple really good friends on this staff here, guys that wouldn’t BS me, and they’re really impressed with how hard our guys are playing and the energy, the intensity,” Fangio said after Sunday’s victory.

“And it’s not a bunch of BS. These guys have played their asses off all year from an effort, focus, try hard. [I’m] really happy to see them get rewarded.”

Denver would be unlikely to make the playoffs even if it won its final three games and ended the year with an 8-8 record. But closing out the season on a high note would be a positive going into the 2020 season. Up next for the Broncos is a road game against the Chiefs in Week 15.

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Twitter reacts to Georgia’s big time hiring of Matt Luke as OL coach

Georgia football made a big splash hiring Matt Luke and UGA Twitter reacted.

Matt Luke, who was fired as head coach of Ole Miss on December 1st, has accepted the position of offensive line coach at Georgia.

Luke fills a void left by former o-line coach Sam Pittman, who took the position of head coach at Arkansas.

For Georgia, this was about as good of a hire as possible. To get a head coach from an SEC school to come coach a position group is a big move, and Kirby Smart pulled it off.

A few hours before the news, former Georgia offensive linemen David Andrews and Brandon Kublanow both tweeted about how good of a hire this would be if Georgia were able to make it happen.

Now, with the hiring being confirmed by Georgia, Bulldog fans can breathe a sigh of relief and look forward to picking up where we left off with Pittman.

Here are some social media reactions to the news.

Broncos coach Vic Fangio disappointed by 19,094 no shows, hopes to draw them back

“We’re happy that the ones that did come and we’re working hard to get the ones that didn’t come to feel better about coming,” Fangio said.

Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Drew Lock made his NFL debut on Sunday and defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 23-20. More than 19,000 fans who purchased tickets to the game didn’t show up.

The game was played on Thanksgiving weekend in cold conditions and Denver was 3-8 entering the contest so fan spirits were low. Still, 19,094 no shows is an alarming number.

“I thought that the crowd that we had there was great,” Broncos coach Vic Fangio said during his Monday press conference. “It’s become very evident to me how much the fan base here loves the Broncos and depends on them.

“Our previous home game against Cleveland, it felt like a playoff game — the atmosphere in the stadium, the electricity. It’s disappointing that there were so many no shows [today], but we’re happy that the ones that did come and we’re working hard to get the ones that didn’t come to feel better about coming.”

After turning the offense over to Lock and getting a win over a division rival, Denver seems to be on the right track toward winning back fans.

The Broncos will play at home in Weeks 16 and 17 to close out the year.

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UT News: November 21, 2019

UT News: November 21, 2019

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The Tennessee Volunteers basketball program — both men and women — remain unbeaten after after the guys handily defeated the Alabama State Hornets last night, keeping Vols athletics on its current roll. Coming up this weekend, the football team will get its chance to continue the winning trend when it faces the Missouri Tigers on the road, and the swimming and diving team hosts the Tennessee Invitational over the course of three days beginning today. There is plenty on tap as the week winds down for Vols fans, and the teams are ready.

Vols are practicing at their best

The biggest news on the gridiron has been the Vols’ preparation for what amounts to a must-win game if Tennessee wants to keep its bowl hopes alive. According to head coach Jeremy Pruitt, the boys are putting in the work, and it appears to be paying off.

“The last two days have been our best practices all year here in the season and I like the way we practice. Our guys seem to be gaining some confidence, and I’m talking about confidence in what they’re doing. That comes with age and experience. We’ve got to take it from the practice field and take it to a Saturday.”

Pruitt added that the bye week allowed players who have been banged up a little more time to get back up to speed.

“We got guys that our banged up from the last game, but having a week off we tried to get them ready to play, but at the same time use common sense. There might be a couple of guys that might be a little bit limited, but we should have everybody ready to play.”

This news should be extremely encouraging to Vols fans, as the team appears to be peaking as the season wanes. Hopefully, the fruits of UT’s labors will be reaped on Saturday.

NEXT: Lady Vols golf coach honored with award

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