It's a Sunday I really enjoy.
But yesterday was different. My space was invaded by a dozen screaming kids on the occasion of my child's birthday. So, in other words, my bye-week Sunday was even better than usual. (Hey, stop laughing.)
I tried to keep up on what was happening around the league. As e-mailer Bill from
I didn't see the nine hours of football I usually watch on the bye Sunday, but I saw enough to make a few observations:
--Bill Belichick, whom I think is brilliant as a head coach, looked as if he had never managed a football game before. My No. 1 pet peeve is going for two points at any point prior to the fourth quarter. The Patriots' failed two-point attempt midway through the third quarter changed the complexion of that game. He also botched a replay challenge. (Insert timely 49ers joke here.)
--With Andy Lutzky as my witness, a year ago at this time I said Joe Flacco was the best pro prospect in college football. Man, he seems to really get it. However, the Falcons' Matt Ryan is looking very good, too. I thought Ryan's decision-making would really get him into problems at this level. Through the midpoint of the season, that's looking like a major swing-and-miss on my part.
--If you ask again whom I consider the top candidate for the 49ers' head-coaching job from outside the organization, I'll stick to my guns and go with Inspector Gadget: Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey.
--Pleasant surprises: Titans (obviously), Falcons, Dolphins, Ravens, Bears and Cardinals. And, you know what? I thought the Giants would be hard-pressed to even make the playoffs.
--Disappointments: Chargers, Seahawks, Cowboys, Packers, Jaguars, Colts and Browns.
--The league's only unbeaten team is getting a huge contribution from a former 49ers player - and I'll bet you don't even know his identity. The Titans have one of the top defenses in the league, and defensive tackle Tony Brown (49ers, 2004-'05) is a big reason why. He gets a lot less attention than Albert Haynesworth, but he's having the best season of his career.
--How 'bout Jeff Garcia and Antonio Bryant hooking up for that big, last-minute touchdown that helped the Buccaneers to an overtime victory against the Chiefs?
And that got me thinking about the former 49ers playing around the league . . .
Here is my All-Former 49ers Team (some of these guys are actually pretty good):
Offense
WR--Terrell Owens, Dallas; Antonio Bryant,
G - Justin Smiley,
C - Jeremy Newberry,
T - Kwame Harris,
TE - Nate Jackson,
QB - Jeff Garcia,
RB - Maurice Hicks, Minnnesota.
FB - Moran Norris,
PK--Ryan Longwell,
Defense
DE - Andre Carter, Washington; John Engelberger, Denver; Corey Smith, Detroit; Marques Douglas, Baltimore; Travis Kirschke, Pittsburgh;
DT - Tony Brown,
LB - Julian Peterson, Seattle; Chike Okeafor, Arizona; Jamie Winborn, Denver; Dontarrious Thomas, Minnesota; Derek Smith, San Diego.
CB--R.W. McQuarters, NYG; Joselio Hanson,
S - Mike Adams, Cleveland;
* * *
NFL Network's Jamie Dukes sat down with 49ers interim coach Mike Singletary for an interview that aired yesterday. Here's what Singletary had to say:
On showing emotion during the press conferences: "I will tone it down a little bit."
On his disciplinary action against
On his coaching philosophy: "My philosophy comes from the respect of the game and it starts with Lombardi, Parcells and Coach Ditka. When I had the opportunity to become a head coach, the most important thing to me was to honor all of those (coaches) who came before me. ... Football to me, is 11 men coming to understand what the vision is and to play as one."
On locker-room actions being made public: "We are not in the era of 'what is said in this room stays in this room.' I've seen some things in the locker room that would blow your mind. So it's one of those things that you have to take stock, learn from and move on."
* * *
Titans coach Jeff Fisher, also appearing on the NFL Network, had this to say about Singletary:
"Mike's a very passionate person, as we all know. He's emotional and competitive. That's how he played, and that's how he's going to coach. You have to appreciate his heart and passion and the fact that he's going to say what he feels. As he gets more experience, he may realize that just because you feel it doesn't mean you have to say it and if you need to say it, do it when the doors are closed."
* * *
"--If you ask again whom I consider the top candidate for the 49ers' head-coaching job from outside the organization, I'll stick to my guns and go with Inspector Gadget: Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey."
Please tell me thats a joke! Have sources told you that or is that just pure speculation? I'm praying that they don't settle for retreads when there are names like Josh McDaniels(who is doing a great job in a tough situation) out there.
I say stick with Coach Singletary and let
him hire his peeps. I agree with sup3r that
Mularkey is a joke.
It's not speculation. I'm saying this is somebody who makes the most sense.
You don’t know what you’re getting with a first-time coach, though some of those hires appear to be working out quite well this season. (That's generally not the case.) But if you get someone who has already gone through it – and Mularkey was not exactly a disaster with the Bills – you’ll be getting someone who already should know what works and what does not.
There is no question Mularkey will become a hot head-coaching candidate at the end of the season for the way he's turned around the Falcons offense and worked well with a rookie QB.
By the way, here are some “retreads” or current NFL coaches on their second jobs: Bill Belichick, Tom Coughlin, Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Tony Dungy, Mike Holmgren and Dick Jauron.
The first five of those coaches won Super Bowls with their second teams. Six of the past seven Super Bowls have been won by "retread" coaches. --Matt M.
Matt, can you tell me if you think the Niners would try to get K.G.B.?
Matt, you made the point recently that the real loser this year is Alex Smith because if he hadn't been hurt he would be the starting QB the rest of the way. I was thinking about that, and thinking about your comments of Mularkey when I was at the Raider game yesterday. Mularkey ran a lot of 2 TE, FB, 1 WR sets. Would that not be an offense tailor made for Alex Smith or Shaun Hill?
Diet soda? I took you for an Anchor Steam kind of guy.
"By the way, here are some “retreads” or current NFL coaches on their second jobs: Bill Belichick, Tom Coughlin, Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Tony Dungy, Mike Holmgren and Dick Jauron."
Those guys are retreads with a ton of credibility to their name, whether it's a superbowl ring as a coordinator( Shanny, Belichick, Coughlin, Holmgren) or had a ton of success in their previous stint(all but Shanny).
Mularkey had a decent first year with buffalo but that was more of a product of their #2 ranked defense and not their 25th ranked offense. Sure he may be better his second time around but it would be to big of a gamble for the front office. The fans are not going to be patient with him and I could se a lot of empty seats at the stick on opening day next year.
Josh McDaniels.....Excellent choice!
Matt, I can see how someone looking from outside could see Mularkey's Buffalo record and think "hey, he wasn't too bad", but as someone who lives 2 hours from Buffalo, I have to tell you, he did an awful job as head coach of that team, in terms of game management, personnel choices, and more.
As Pittsburgh OC, he was very up and down, sometimes getting surprising play from players like Tommy Maddox, other times underperforming drastically. But he took a team with all the weapons to run and made them very pass wacky.
He is doing well in Atlanta. Or rather, Atlanta is doing well. But is he a great tutor for Ryan, or is Ryan just a great talent? And what makes you think there will be anyone of that caliber available for the niners to choose?
I know that this idea will not be popular, but personally if I had to pick a HC candidate I'd say Marty Mornhinweg. I consider him a better coordinator than Mularkey, he'd bring the WCO back to town (and I think that would suit our personnel for next year; S Hill, Morgan), and he's been around quite awhile and could probably put together a quite decent staff.
I don't mind re-tread but I'd like to see some real success between stops. Shanahan was fired in Oakland but he was the OC of a great offense in San Francisco before he got the Denver job. Mularkey is impressing people because the Falcons aren't terrible. I'd like to see a guy who has been on a winner. If I had to chose from Mularkey or McDaniel, I'd take McDaniel in a heartbeat.
Having said all that, I'd like to see the pool of candidates include Pete Carroll, Marty Schottenheimer, and Bill Cowher. My top choice would be Carroll. He's an NFL retread but he's had a great deal of success at USC.
Aww man I LOVE wings and nachos.
Neyvn: That's a retread I wouldn't mind. He's a brilliant play caller and steve young raves about him every chance he gets. I could see him doing much better his second time around.
Sup3r, he's also a retread that never really got a fair shot, with 2 years to coach, 1 with a rookie QB with no weapons, Millen as his GM, and getting fired early basically because Mariucci was available.
Only thing I don't know is whether the Yorks would hire someone that closely tied to the Mariucci days.
matt...i have to agree whole-heartedly with sup3r on your list of "retreads." all of the guys had previous tangible NFL success, in the form of winning as a head coach or coordinator.
my additional problem with mularkey is two-fold:
1) he fits my preferred definition of retread, which is a guy who is a great coordinator wherever he goes, but flames out as head coach over and over and over. examples? norv turner, wade phillips, dave wannstedt. yeah, they win some, but the honeymoon ends before any real playoff success.
2) he manifests one of my ultimate pet peeves in nfl coaching: a guy who is a great coordinator on one side of the ball, but then that side of the ball is horrible when he becomes head coach. examples? nolan, marvin lewis. the guys you listed who were previously coordinators all successfully translated their offense/defense to new personnel.
one last thing, i think any of us could throw out seven retreads who crashed and burned, so you selecting seven who have been highly successful does not an argument make.
What makes Josh McDaniel’s such a great choice? He has the best 0-line in football, two of the top 5 receivers, a mid-tier tight end, two good young running backs and the last few years the best player in Football (Brady). He was 100% outcoached in the Super Bowl and had no answers for the pressure New York put on Brady and his O-line. This season they have been ok without Brady, but I don't see anything that special out of Josh. Per Matt's pick, I like a couch that is making something out of nothing in Atlanta. He had to piece together a new RB (former LT back up) and rookie QB, a few rookie O-lineman, and an entire new system for a defunct franchise that was not very good.
marty moronweg??? didn't we just get rid of a coach who is clueless when it comes to gameday decision making? choosing to kick at the start of overtime??? also, 5-27 record in 2 seasons? i don't care what kind of pop warner talent he had, or who his GM was, even mike nolan won twice as many games in his first two years (11-21). oh, and he also fits the great coordinator, garbage head coach definition of retread. c'mon nevyn, you can do better than that.
MIke in SF: I like McDaniels because of his play calling, offensive system they run(high % passes, screens and power running) and the fact that he's been in Belichecks system since 2001(learning both sides of the ball). Their offense was also great before they got Moss and Welker. They were in the top 10 offensively in 2005 and 2006 with a subpar running game and below average receivers.
Another name I'd try to pursue would be Charlie Weis. He may not be the greatest college coach but I think he'd be great in the pros.
Oh look, it's the reply I was expecting.
In Marty's defense, that was a windy road game and his offense sucked, and he was playing a team with a good defense and not much offense.
Besides, here's our problem when it comes to coach hiring: The big names would never take the job, nor would the York's want to pay them 5-10 mil per season. All the retreads have negatives.
As for first timers, most of them end up retreads, especially when they take over bad franchises. McDaniels could be very good, but there is an old saying "don't confuse genius with a bull market".
What I like about Mornhinweg is that he is probably the best qualified WCO coordinator who could be available for a HC job, and especially if we're going to have Hill and a rookie next year I'd like to go back to WCO. He could set up a good system, and bring good assistants with him, maybe even stealing Philly's QB coach as our OC.
For the record, since his Detroit days, he's also had 4 years as assistant head coach to Andy Reid (including of a super bowl team) to get some perspective on game day decisions.
I should add that Marty's success with Jeff Garcia on two different teams bodes well for him coaching another noodle armed accurate passer (Hill) next year.
That list of former 49ers currently playing was great Matt, thanks. Although it made me angry, reads like the Warriors castoffs who have gone on to bigger and better things.
Two thumbs up for Bay Area Sports team ownership!
Sigh....
Hey Matt, stop complaining at least you can watch all the Niners games and some others during the season and get fater duty on the bye week. I get father duty every Sunday, get to watch football one full Sunday a month, and maybe one of the 2 night games. And I live in Costa Rica where I`m lucky if I get 2 Niners games a year. Also I just wanted to tell that I`ve been humming the Matt Maiocco song the whole weekend, and laughed everytime I noticed. Ok, enough of that... how about Tom Moore, he can single handedly be considered Peyton Manning's mentor as well as the master mind behind the offense. How come no one has come after him after some many years?
Matt Ryan...the way that kid plays and scans the field, the way he hangs in the pocket, the way he rolls to the right and does that ballerina toss on the run…ZING...I swear during that game I was watching Joe Cool. A couple of his throws had HOLY COW coming out of my mouth…running around looking crazy then squares up and ZING! Between the number on the run TD’s Falcons
That kid is going to the HOF if he stays healthy.
Has anybody considered that if Holmgren takes over as the President that he may want to bring in Mariucci who lives locally, knows the WCO and it would be an early test of how much authority he really has.
I would be surprised if Mr. Holmgrem could
not endorse Coach Singletary.
Kwame Harris as your best T???
Really? You obviously haven't seen enough Raiders games this season... Or simply have a short memory of Kwame "Holding" Harris
Kwame Harris and Anthony Clement are the only 2 former niners playing OT in the nfl at the moment, waretare. And Clement would have been cut by the Pats if he hadnt got hurt and put on IR.
The clue for you should have been that a football team needs 2 OTs and Matt only listed one ....