NFL 2015: Week 17

Gumbie wrote:

How the hell are Pagano and Grigson supposed to coexist? Especially with all the stuff that's been coming out the last few days. I would be blown away if Grigson doesn't get the boot now that Pagano isn't going anywhere.

Apparently Grigson is staying too.

I don't get it either. I mean, I do get keeping Pagano, he still would be my #1 wish list candidate for the 49ers if he were let go. But I don't get Grigson staying, and Pagano agreeing to return with Grigson still there.

If I were Pagano, the only way I could conceivably agree to stay is if some very clear boundary lines were drawn. I would bet $3.50 that that's exactly what happened in that meeting earlier today. I still wouldn't be thrilled at the arrangement, being stuck with a GM that made this kind of mediation necessary. But rough 2015 aside, Andrew Luck is still the kind of franchise-QB-to-be that can make a coach's career. I understand not wanting to walk away from that.

As for the 49ers, oh well. Let's go get Sean Payton. The Saints want a 2nd round pick and the 49ers can easily pay that and still have an oversized draft class.

garion333 wrote:

In Jacksonville Gus Bradley is still the head coach. I guess this makes sense as the team was always going to be a long rebuild project, but has any head coach performed this poorly and been given more time to fix it? Bortles looked better, but the defense regressed as, I assume, losing Dante Fowler put a huge damper on the entire unit. Are there bright spots on their defense?

Losing Fowler hurt, but losing Sen'Derrick Marks was lethal. His career caught fire coming to Jacksonville and stepping into Gus Bradley's scheme. 8.5 sacks last year as a 316 pound two-gapping 3-technique. Losing him just hurt the entire defensive line, and made things harder for the star-lacking pass rushers. Which made things harder on the back 7.

Telvin Smith is a bright spot, and Aaron Colvin came on strong this year as a quality starter after being an injury redshirt draft pick a year ago. That said, free agency and the draft will no doubt be pointed squarely at defense and offensive line, again.

And big shock, they effectively have the most free cap space yet again (technically 3 teams have more, but those teams have only 37-46 players on their books, while the Jaguars have 53), so they'll be dipping into the pool again. And what's more, they'll likely have even more free cap space by shedding three of their bigger contracts, Zane Beadles, Toby Gerhart and Chris Clemons, which would free another $13 million with 0 dead money. They'll be in the running for a lot of big free agents, hopefully a bit more successfully than last year.

*Legion* wrote:

As for the 49ers, oh well. Let's go get Sean Payton. The Saints want a 2nd round pick and the 49ers can easily pay that and still have an oversized draft class.

Question is does Payton want to get in bed with the Yorks and Trent Baalke? I think when the dust settles during the off season, the 49ers are going to get another Jim Tomsula because no one in their right mind would want to sign on with that organization in the state it's presently in.

Rat Boy wrote:

Question is does Payton want to get in bed with the Yorks and Trent Baalke? I think when the dust settles during the off season, the 49ers are going to get another Jim Tomsula because no one in their right mind would want to sign on with that organization in the state it's presently in.

I disagree with this, at least with the magnitude of the statement. I think the "state of the franchise" is greatly exaggerated in the fanbase's minds. Eagles fans say the same thing about Jeff Lurie, Lions fans about the Ford family, Dolphins fans about Stephen Ross, Browns fans about Jimmy Hasl... OK, bad example with that one. Point is, while I would not hand wave it away entirely, I think how the franchise is seen among those in the league is rather less dire than the fanbase's opinion, and not so terribly out of line from quite a few of the other head coaching vacancies. (Hell, the 49ers have nothing on what Payton is leaving behind in New Orleans, between the Benson family feud and the GM who now spends his day-to-day running Benson's basketball team instead)

With Payton specifically, I think there are a couple of issues that are far more likely to be roadblocks than any perception of team dysfunction. First is personnel control. He may want more than he would get under Baalke. Second is contract. He commands a high price, and it remains to be seen if York will pony that much up.

The 49ers ending up with Jim Tomsula was self-inflicted. He was Jed York's guy. They had Adam Gase ready to go until York forced the issue of having to keep Tomsula. Baalke loved Gase. It was York that blew that.

I think this season stung York. I think he was surprised at how strongly the fanbase has turned on him. I think people flying banners over the stadium hurt him. I've had that feeling since he's gone so quiet during the course of the season, and his press conference just strengthened that notion. His statements on Baalke and the coaching search might as well have been, "I'm staying out of it this time". I think meddling York is going to get replaced with absentee York, at least in the immediate term. He was playing big shot, and it bit him in the ass, and he didn't like how it felt.

I do think the 49ers are going to have to do a good job in selling themselves to candidates. But Chip Kelly and Mike Shanahan have both reached out to the 49ers on their own accord to express interest. Mike Holmgren wants the job. Will they be able to land someone like Sean Payton? That may be a taller order. But they're not going to have to settle for a defensive line coach nobody else would interview, and they didn't have to do so last year either.

According to ESPN Las Vegas, Johnny Manziel entered a nightclub in the MGM Grand on Saturday night wearing a blonde wig, a fake mustache, glasses, and a hoodie, and called himself, "Billy".

I can't tell if too absurd to be true, or too absurd to not be true.

If true, best NFL use of an alias since Ron Mexico.

Grigson and Pagano. I get keeping Pagano. I don't get keeping Grigson. But I guess if he didn't get fired for the Trent Richardson trade then he may never get fired.

That transcript of the Jed York press conference...YIKES.

Grandpa this, Uncle that. "I took the criticism too personally..."

Part of me really feels for him and his situation. Tremendous familial expectations, no experience to lean on to help put the whole situation into perspective, probably growing up way too rich and insulated and apparently no ability to look within himself to understand what's going on. I mean, seriously, who has a press conference and bares his soul like that to basically say, "I'm too immature to be doing this"?

The other part of me enjoys watching this douche get his comeuppance. Schadenfreude and all that.

Kickoffs at Levi's should all start with this:

Rams, Chargers, Raiders filed for LA relocation last night.

And the Browns have achieved Maximum Cleveland. Their new GM according to Jason La Canfora is...Paul DePodesta of the New York Mets.

Rat Boy wrote:

Rams, Chargers, Raiders filed for LA relocation last night.

How many damn teams do they need for one city?

Rat Boy wrote:

And the Browns have achieved Maximum Cleveland. Their new GM according to Jason La Canfora is...Paul DePodesta of the New York Mets.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/iWKad22.jpg?fb)

Rat Boy wrote:

And the Browns have achieved Maximum Cleveland. Their new GM according to Jason La Canfora is...Paul DePodesta of the New York Mets.

He's not the new GM, he's the Chief Strategy Officer.

Guess he's gonna be doing statistical stuff for them.

Stele wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Rams, Chargers, Raiders filed for LA relocation last night.

How many damn teams do they need for one city?

If it's L.A., based on past attendance, zero.

If you take the $550 million relocation fee the NFL is floating, plus the money Kroenke wants to spend on a stadium in LA, and drop it on a stadium in sports crazy town like St. Louis, I still think Kroenke would make more money than trying to lure southern California fans to the Rams when he will also have another team in town to compete with.

garion333 wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

And the Browns have achieved Maximum Cleveland. Their new GM according to Jason La Canfora is...Paul DePodesta of the New York Mets.

He's not the new GM, he's the Chief Strategy Officer.

Guess he's gonna be doing statistical stuff for them.

It's an interesting commentary on the state of sports in this country and/or the temptation value of dumptrucks full of money if someone's willing to leave the runner up for the World Series for the runner up for the first pick in the NFL Draft.

Rat Boy wrote:
garion333 wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

And the Browns have achieved Maximum Cleveland. Their new GM according to Jason La Canfora is...Paul DePodesta of the New York Mets.

He's not the new GM, he's the Chief Strategy Officer.

Guess he's gonna be doing statistical stuff for them.

It's an interesting commentary on the state of sports in this country and/or the temptation value of dumptrucks full of money if someone's willing to leave the runner up for the World Series for the runner up for the first pick in the NFL Draft.

The Mets almost made the World Series?

Rat Boy wrote:
garion333 wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

And the Browns have achieved Maximum Cleveland. Their new GM according to Jason La Canfora is...Paul DePodesta of the New York Mets.

He's not the new GM, he's the Chief Strategy Officer.

Guess he's gonna be doing statistical stuff for them.

It's an interesting commentary on the state of sports in this country and/or the temptation value of dumptrucks full of money if someone's willing to leave the runner up for the World Series for the runner up for the first pick in the NFL Draft.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CX-SmpcVAAAzv8K.jpg:large)

Taking a guy with a strong interest in analytics seems like a really good idea if you have a stable organization where that kind of data can really be used well with a view towards long-term growth.

So, basically, terrible idea for the Browns, because everybody's going to be fired the first week of 2018 anyways.

Honestly, a guy with strong analytics could be the right guy to help shape a rebuild based on an understanding of what actually contributors to winning football. I'd say that is something the Browns need before they start accumulating talent.

Jayhawker wrote:

Honestly, a guy with strong analytics could be the right guy to help shape a rebuild based on an understanding of what actually contributors to winning football. I'd say that is something the Browns need before they start accumulating talent.

I'd say they more need an ownership group willing to be patient and build the team the right way, but it's instead the guy who fired Chud after one year because he apparently didn't win it all with a bad team.

I would like the hire if somebody else did it.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
Stele wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Rams, Chargers, Raiders filed for LA relocation last night.

How many damn teams do they need for one city?

If it's L.A., based on past attendance, zero.

The Rams were in the top half of the league in attendance for the majority of their 48 years in Los Angeles.

garion333 wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
I assume the Chargers, Cowboys and Ravens aren't.

This is less assured. Rivers and Romo are 34 and 35. They're both secure for 2016 but they start to be realistically replaceable beyond that. Jerry Jones already wanted to draft JFF.

But the Ravens are the big target here. Flacco's contract is ballooning to league-leading numbers starting next year. The Ravens could easily decide to rip the bandaid and swallow the dead money now, helped along by starting a rookie QB and his low cap figure. Or they could draft a QB to sit behind Flacco and let Flacco go a year from now. They could also double down on Flacco and extend his deal, but until that happens, they are a threat to potentially draft a QB.

The Ravens are too conservative to move on from Flacco. They'll restructure his deal at some point, but it's not their MO to cut their Super Bowl winning QB.

Oh wait...

Spoiler:

Seriously though, they won't be getting rid of Flacco. I expect they'll get an edge rusher, d-lineman or a CB here.

I'd be floored if Flacco didn't restructure. He's got a good thing here, and you see that reflected in a lot of what UFAs on the team are saying.

*Legion* wrote:
garion333 wrote:

PFT's got a handy firing/hiring tracker. It currently starts off with the Browns and this gem:

Browns Owner Jimmy Haslam announced Sashi Brown has been promoted from general counsel to executive vice president of football operations. With this move, Haslam said the team will prioritize hiring a head coach before a general manager; the new GM will answer to Brown.

So, you want to coach the Browns? Good news, you'll be hired by the new puppet of Jimmy Haslam. The puppet will then hire your direct boss, the new GM, who had no hand in your hiring.

Tell me, who wants either of those positions?

I mean, I'll take the puppet GM spot for a year.

I'll be your HC then!

IMAGE(http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t22/Gumbie84/SmartSelectImage_2016-01-05-14-22-43_zpst4flaudc.png)

*Legion* wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:
Stele wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Rams, Chargers, Raiders filed for LA relocation last night.

How many damn teams do they need for one city?

If it's L.A., based on past attendance, zero.

Wasn't it terrible prior to moving, though? I'm going on memory here, but I thought the Rams attendance was terrible at the end, and that was before there was even worse traffic and about ten billion other entertainment options.

The Rams were in the top half of the league in attendance for the majority of their 48 years in Los Angeles.

Rams attendance dropped at the very end, the final 4 years. They dropped into the 20s, and only fell to last place (28th) in the farewell year.

Basically they've ranked as bad or worse in St. Louis for the past decade.

Also bears pointing out that those final poor years were after they moved to Anaheim. For the 33 years in Los Angeles, they ranked outside the top 10 only 3 times.

The Rams never had poor attendance in Los Angeles, and only briefly had poor attendance in Anaheim as everything fell apart. That's not to hand-wave away the bad part at the end there, as that did happen, but just to counterbalance the popular myth that there was chronic disinterest in NFL football in Los Angeles.

Ian Rapoport claims Sean Payton is deciding between San Francisco or staying in New Orleans.

Meanwhile, Mike Shanahan will interview with the 49ers tomorrow.

And they're also interviewing Bills RB coach Anthony Lynn, which a cynic might look at and call a token Rooney Rule interview.

Gumbie wrote:

IMAGE(http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t22/Gumbie84/SmartSelectImage_2016-01-05-14-22-43_zpst4flaudc.png)

Tomsula should land on his feet, apparently calls are already coming in for him for defensive coordinator or d-line coach openings.

Gumbie wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
Gumbie wrote:

Ok coming back from the ledge now that they at least got rid of GM Ruston Webster. Now please get rid of Mularkey.

They don't need to, not explicitly. Mularkey was only interim HC so he's going to interview for the position, they don't have to do anything to vacate him from it. And as for his employment on the staff, that will be taken care of when a new HC is decided.

Well that was all implied. "Get rid of" meant interview and then say thanks but no thanks.

Gumbie, I owe you an apology. I thought you were just being silly.

Then I read things like "Mike Mularkey has legitimate chance to be retained", as well as the team president basically giving him a pass for last year ("you look at [...] how he interacted with Ruston, what obstacles he faced in trying to use a system that was someone else’s design ...") ... and I now realize there is a real threat of Mike Mularkey being the head coach of the Tennessee Titans for real.

*Legion* wrote:

Then I read things like "Mike Mularkey has legitimate chance to be retained", as well as the team president basically giving him a pass for last year ("you look at [...] how he interacted with Ruston, what obstacles he faced in trying to use a system that was someone else’s design ...") ... and I now realize there is a real threat of Mike Mularkey being the head coach of the Tennessee Titans for real.

IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/l41lWhbbVYmHcWye4/giphy.gif)

As an old person, I love the Rams going to LA. I hate to see STL losing a team but I still think of the Rams as belonging in LA, it still seems weird to say "St. Louis Rams". Now if they can only get the blue and white jerseys back

IMAGE(http://img.spokeo.com/public/900-600/phil_olsen_1971_07_31.jpg)