Another two head coaching jobs are off the board with Jim Harbaugh heading to the Chargers and the Panthers reportedly hiring Tampa Bay OC Dave Canales. And then there were three…and Bill Belichick is still out there, Atlanta (one of the remaining vacancies) still the only team to even interview him, and Dan Quinn and Raheem Morris, too.
The latter two have interviewed in DC, where Ben Johnson ‘sure seems to be the guy,’ so it’s down to Atlanta and Seattle it seems, which makes JP/Brian wonder: does anyone actually want Belichick, or another DC, or is even Atlanta’s moves with Bill just a case of due diligence?
Louis Riddick, who of course was once in the Washington front office, said that not hiring defensive coaches ‘has been an issue for years and something that should not be held against those defensive coaches that do have a plan – and the talking point about whether defensive versus offensive coaches making the best head coaching candidates has always been narrow-minded and shallow.’
JP read his entire comment, including the idea that ‘if you're an NFL defensive coordinator, looking to get a head coaching job, you need to go into the interview with a plan,, offensive coordinator and what you'll do if you lose that guy’ – and
“You know who knows how great quarterbacks are? Defensive-minded coaches,” BMitch said. “If you have a defensive-minded coach and he picks a quarterback and that quarterback is exceptional, he would know that he got to get somebody of a certain standard or status to make sure they could take that guy and take him to the next level.”
GRAPH
“I think what happens is we have gotten to the point where we separate everything, but defensive coaches do watch the offensive stuff, and vice versa,” Brian continued. “At the end of the year a lot of teams take the offensive coaches and have them view all the defensive stuff, and vice versa, so Louis is on to something there.”
“I think the notion that you can't hire defense is silly. I would still lean offense, I just try to poke holes in what I think is nonsense, and to me, that tends to be more nonsense,” JP replied.
But all that said, is it crazy no one seems to want Belichick, at least?
“I don't think it's crazy; if you thought you were gonna hire a young GM, then go hire Bill Belichick, then I think you're crazy,” Brian said. “If you're going to hire Bill Belichick, you're gonna either have an older established guy, or you're gonna let Bill Belichick handle it. A young guy is about to get challenged on at every turn, and I don't think that's what you wanna do here.”
Maybe that explains why Atlanta has been the lone suitor?
“I think Bill has gone to a situation where Blank understands Bill and knows Bill very well – h knows he was up 28-3 in the Super Bowl, and he understands that he may have to give him that credit,” Brian said.
“They are now talking about how they have to establish a certain level of control, and so I feel that is where Bill going to end up.”
“It’s remarkable in Washington that you've got an ownership group with resources, right, and they're not going after Harbaugh or Belichick…I kind of find it refreshing that they're trying to put the structure in place,” JP replied. “That’s here, but I do find it kind of crazy looking around the league that Belichick hasn’t interviewed anywhere else.”