David Blough and the Offensive Staffing Thread

[Faithful Fan]

McVay seems to have worked out pretty well as a first time head coach at 33.

Joe Gibbs and Cowher were the youngest coaches in the league when hired and had no previous experience at that level.

Getting a 50 plus year old coach or coordinator is no guarantee of success.

Just ask the Cowboys about their DCs in recent seasons or the Raiders hiring 72 year old Pete Carroll because he had 'been there before'

Boone just addressed McVay’s years of coaching experience before his head coaching gig.

Gibbs had 15 years coaching experience before the Redskins hired him in 1981, beginning under Don Coryell at San Diego State in 1964.

Cowher worked his way up from special teams coach to defensive backs coach to defensive coordinator before becoming head coach.

Blough has no such resume. He’s a complete unknown. Maybe it works out. Maybe the people who have worked with him closely see something we don’t. But all we have to go on is hope.

 

[Riggo44]

I'm not sure Quinn thinks his job is in jeopardy. I agree with you that another stinker should make his seat very hot, but I don't know that Quinn shares that POV.

Ok wonder if he cares. You can't coach scared (unless of course your QB is Josh Johnson)

 

[burgold]

I wonder if the parallel we should think about is Kevin O'Connell.

I remember right before he went to the Vikings thinking Kevin's shown nothing here and his work seemed poor at best, but in NFL circles there was this belief that he was the next big get. After he was hired by the Vikings, he's proven himself to be pretty good. He's not a Sean McVay or a Kyle Shanahan, but he's done some very fine quarterback whispering.

 

[Boone]

The only thing that is going to keep me from losing sleep over this is the Detroit interest was real. This isn't promoting Jim Zorn on a whim. Other, successful organizations had their eye on him.

As others have said, will this work--who the hell knows. We'll see. It will be interesting at the very least.

One other thing: Keim was all over this this morning--he said it was McDaniel or Blough; and the decision could come quick. Never question Keim.

I am curious who the OL coach will be.

Zorn had 20 years of coaching experience when he was named our head coach. So no, it's not like that lol...

 

[Riggo44]

Zorn had 20 years of coaching experience when he was named our head coach. So no, it's not like that lol...

So it's the COMPLETE OPPOSITE, and Zorn was a swinging gate of failure, this will be wildly successful!

 

[Conn]

I get that his lack of a resume is scary but why is everybody acting like its unheard of?
Lots of brilliant coaches are promoted way before their resume suggests they should be.
Obviously we're yet to know if blough falls into that category but a whole lot of people smarter at football than me have recognized his potential and thats good enough for me to be ok with this swing for the fences.

I would be interested if you could find an Assistant QB Coach who was ever elevated directly to OC. Not being a smartass, I’m serious, I think that’s pretty crazy on its face.

(Yes he’s technically the QB coach but only because his boss got hired away to a college position 6-8 weeks ago, not something that had to happen. Would he have been elevated above his own superior? Strange situation to consider)

 

[Boone]

I wonder if the parallel we should think about is Kevin O'Connell.

I remember right before he went to the Vikings thinking Kevin's shown nothing here and his work seemed poor at best, but in NFL circles there was this belief that he was the next big get. After he was hired by the Vikings, he's proven himself to be pretty good. He's not a Sean McVay or a Kyle Shanahan, but he's done some very fine quarterback whispering.

That is a better comparison, but even there O'Connell had 3 full years as a QBs coach (plus another year as an assistant) before getting his chance.

 

[Boone]

I would be interested if you could find an Assistant QB Coach who was ever elevated directly to OC. Not being a smartass, I’m serious, I think that’s pretty crazy on its face.

(Yes he’s technically the QB coach but only because his boss got hired away to a college position 6-8 weeks ago, not something that had to happen. Would he have been elevated above his own superior? Strange situation to consider)

I doubt it's ever been done, but just a guess. Pritchard as previously mentioned has been coaching since 2010. I cannot imagine Blough getting this gig if Pritchard is still here. And that begs the question, what kind of 'succession planning' is in place if you plan on replacing Kingsbury and you let Pritchard walk?

 

[prodigy]

can't say I'm ecstatic about blough. I thought that if blough got the OC job, it would be more likely at the last minute when higher priority candidates left the hiring pool. coming from complete ignorance about blough, I think I'm happier with him than some of the other names that were floated around. I really wanted McDaniel but at least it fast tracks us to cutting ties with DQ if things go awry. I think a lot of us are beginning to sour on DQ, so we might as well figure it out sooner than later.

 

[Boone]

I have spent so many years talking myself into strange moves working out, I just can't drink the Koolaid on this one. I hope he's great. Maybe he will be. I just don't know what one would look towards to firmly believe that is likely.

 

[Faithful Fan]

The only thing that is going to keep me from losing sleep over this is the Detroit interest was real. This isn't promoting Jim Zorn on a whim. Other, successful organizations had their eye on him.

As others have said, will this work--who the hell knows. We'll see. It will be interesting at the very least.

I agree it would be some consolation if the Detroit interest was real. Maybe this is just cope and I’ll admit it’s far fetched, but Lions fans on Twitter are celebrating how they bluffed us out of the Mike McDaniel race.

 

[prodigy]

I agree it would be some consolation if the Detroit interest was real. Maybe this is just cope and I’ll admit it’s far fetched, but Lions fans on Twitter are celebrating how they bluffed us out of the Mike McDaniel race.

I doubt it was a bluff. rumors circulated about blough 2 days before McDaniel was fired. lions might (probably will) come out on top if they get McDaniel, but fans claiming it was some 3d chess move to fool us are idiots.

 

[Higskin]

Pretty sure Kellen Moore went from QB coach to coordinator with Dallas so it's been done. I'm too lazy to look it up but I think Moore had success.

Meanwhile, at least we know DQ isn't worried about his job otherwise he'd have hired a retread.

 

[Riggo44]

Given McDaniel's and Quinn's relationship there is 0.00% chance they didn't talk. I get the sense he's not interested in an OC position. But given my record with this OC mess, he's going to end up with the Eagles.

 

[burgold]

I have spent so many years talking myself into strange moves working out, I just can't drink the Koolaid on this one. I hope he's great. Maybe he will be. I just don't know what one would look towards to firmly believe that is likely.

I still have one more in me.

I think one reason is this.

For so many cycles, I wanted the Redskins to go out and get the hot candidate, a guy who could make his name here. Instead, time after time, I got Schottenheimer, Shanahan, Rivera, and Quinn. Even the first timers never really felt like the hot shot inspired picks. Spurrier was new to the NFL, but he was a very veteran coach. Gruden and Zorn just seemed like just guys.

So, maybe we are finally rolling the dice with someone who isn't a retread or a "safe" pick. Maybe this is super high risk, but isn't that what I have wanted? Isn't that why I wanted Ben Johnson or McDonald over Quinn? Blough is the ultimate craps throw. Hopefully, they know much more than we do so maybe it's not as high risk from their perspective, but damn I'm sick of safe bets and keeping it "medium."

 

[Dlts20]

Kliff Kingsbury probably has a different viewpoint. We don't know who Quinn is behind the scenes. Just saying.

The problem with Kliff is that he's such an Offensive genius that you don't want to doubt him or question him even when you know that everything in your whole IQ of football life tells you that it is insane for us to never ever be under center, to run the ball strictly up the gut for like 10 games in a row, to be in the gun on short yardage and goal line, to abandon the run even when it's going well, to pass the ball 3 straight times on 2nd and goal from the 1, to seemingly never make no in game adjustments, just stick to the game plan even when it's clearly not working.

That goes in all walks of life. You will follow something or someone because you can't envision them possibly being wrong at something they are so good at and knowledgeable in even when your whole being is feeling like what they are doing is actually not the best option. Many people have fallen off the Kliff that way (no pun intended).

I think that DQ just truly got to a point where he was like, a genius can be wrong also and may not be putting us in the best position. If I'm going to be fired then I want it to be with something I believe in and DQ stopped believing in just blindly following the Kliff magic when he sees the flaws in it and sees Jayden both regressing and not even being able to finish games anymore. He was over it.

 

[Boone]

I get what you are saying. But he has less than 2 seasons of coaching experience - at any level - and all but a month of it was as an assistant. The guys you reference were crafty veterans by comparison. I'm not intending to beat on Blough - good for him. For people wanting 'boldness' and 'aggressiveness' I'm glad you are excited. Just remember sometimes those instincts result in bankruptcy or getting your ass kicked at the local bar.

 

[prodigy]

I still have one more in me.

I think one reason is this.

For so many cycles, I wanted the Redskins to go out and get the hot candidate, a guy who could make his name here. Instead, time after time, I got Schottenheimer, Shanahan, Rivera, and Quinn. Even the first timers never really felt like the hot shot inspired picks. Spurrier was new to the NFL, but he was a very veteran coach. Gruden and Zorn just seemed like just guys.

So, maybe we are finally rolling the dice with someone who isn't a retread or a "safe" pick. Maybe this is super high risk, but isn't that what I have wanted? Isn't that why I wanted Ben Johnson or McDonald over Quinn? Blough is the ultimate craps throw. Hopefully, they know much more than we do so maybe it's not as high risk from their perspective, but damn I'm sick of safe bets and keeping it "medium."

my feelings exactly. also, I think most of us wanted to get an offensive minded head coach because of this awkward dance of trying to retain a hot OC or find the next one. worst case, this becomes a dumpster fire and we get a chance to try to redo this the preferred way, while Jayden is still pre-5th year option.

 

[Boone]

Pretty sure Kellen Moore went from QB coach to coordinator with Dallas so it's been done. I'm too lazy to look it up but I think Moore had success.

Meanwhile, at least we know DQ isn't worried about his job otherwise he'd have hired a retread.

Moore is probably the best comparison, but even there he had a full year as independent QBs coach before being elevated.

 

[burgold]

I get what you are saying. But he has less than 2 seasons of coaching experience - at any level - and all but a month of it was as an assistant. The guys you reference were crafty veterans by comparison. I'm not intending to beat on Blough - good for him. For people wanting 'boldness' and 'aggressiveness' I'm glad you are excited. Just remember sometimes those instincts result in bankruptcy or getting your ass kicked at the local bar.

Oh, it's totally a "go bust" or "hit the jackpot" roll of the dice. That's why it's exciting.

This could be a crazy bellyflop. It could be inspired genius. It likely won't be somewhere in that blah zone like giving Scott Turner his first turn at the wheel after decades of being a position coach or Joe Whitt for that matter. Besides, I'm Burgold. I start with hope.