Your Head Coach preference?

[Bulldog]

I had a similar 'blah' reaction to the Caps hiring Barry Trotz from Nashville in 2015 and yet 2 years later he helped deliver the title the organization couldn't seem to win with others.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

Blech! Dan Quin.

I mean... yay, Dan Quinn.

That's almost exactly my reaction. His HC record isn't great in my opinion.

I heard he is bringing someone from DAL, some passing game coordinator over, Joe Whitt Jr or something. I don't know, it just has an RR smell to it. A guy who had some success early as HC, fizzled out and ended with an overall 500 record as HC. I feel like the number one thing on all of this stuff has to be:
- how well do YOU evaluate talent?
--- for a GM, you need to evaluate HC talent if you are in that process; otherwise, at least, you need to pair HC with players and eval talent there
--- for an HC, you need to evaluate Coordinator talent. DQ's record post that Super Bowl (is that when he lost Kyle?) - I just don't know.

I agreed with Peters, an HC is not an Xs/Os guy; I think leadership as a quality is important too. That "leadership" is not just of the team/players, but importantly, of the coordinators. Honestly, it's leadership of an ORGANIZATION, which includes the selection/hiring. That is where I am left wondering. I guess we'll see!

Whatever happens, I hope for good accountability at all levels. If people struggle, they need to be held accountable and HELPED, not just left to learn on the job for years until they are fired, which is what I felt RR was doing with Scott based on many interviews/quotes (he talked about how he grew McDermott and others in his staff, and how he may disagree with things Scott does, a lot of hints).

 

[Bulldog]

Joe Gibbs brought a number of coaches he worked with in St. Louis and San Diego. I don't see a problem with that if they are qualified.

Of course if they are all 62 and 63 year old geezers who are looking for one last drink at the water fountain then that is another story.

In Rivera's case it was clearly the latter.

 

[SkinsBusDriver]

Before you all meltdown, here’s a fair read.

Dan Quinn Is Better Than You Think

Unflinching analysis of all things Seahawks

www.hawkblogger.com

The more I think about it - Dan Quinn exactly fits the vision that Peters shared. At this point, IMO the key is how Quinn fills out his staff. Then the game plan with the draft, which we really won’t know until it happens.

 

[Chris]

So did Ron Rivera.

 

[burgold]

I had a similar 'blah' reaction to the Caps hiring Barry Trotz from Nashville in 2015 and yet 2 years later he helped deliver the title the organization couldn't seem to win with others.

Yep, I've gotten excited about fool's gold too many times. Maybe a hire that doesn't scream, "Winning the off season," will work out better?

I mean who would have thought that Joe Barry would be a pretty good DC in Green Bay for several years? Billichick was a bum in Cleveland. Let's hope he and Peters can put together a good staff and this works out.

 

[Bulldog]

The offensive coordinator may come off the 49ers team - Brian Griese, etc.

Perhaps Peters as already spoken to Quinn about several candidates and they have agreed on guys to go after.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

Definitely not saying this is some guaranteed failure or anything of the sort. I was probably more interested in someone a bit more fresh, but as many have said here, a lot will be shown by the staff that gets put together, and then the draft. We will have to see how the org takes shape.

 

[Bulldog]

SkinsNumberOne, unfortunately it appears in this cycle that many of the younger coaches didn't have the confidence they could come in and take on a real rebuilding job and be successful.

We have to recognize that Ben Johnson and a Bobby Slowik are just not Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay, who at 30 both had their sights set on a head coaching opportunity.

 

[burgold]

The one good thing we can say about Quinn was that Dallas' D was a disaster before he came aboard and he turned it around almost immediately. If we are correct that our D actually has a good amount of talent that was mismanaged then maybe he can resurrect this D pretty quickly.

 

[burgold]

I guess the other good thing you might be able to say is taking Quinn away from Dallas weakens the Cowboys.

 

[Bulldog]

Dallas' lack of size on defense was exposed in the Green Bay game.

Mazi Smith is an apparent bust as a #1 pick and the team was counting on him coming in at 325 to help stop the run.

Vander Esch, the team's best linebacker against the run, was out for the season.

None of that hurt the team in games against teams where Prescott and the offense was able to build a lead and the defense could use its speed to make plays against teams that became one-dimensional.

Green Bay ran for 150 yards in the game. The one on one matchups along the line were 20-30 pound differences per man.

So, the unit had a weakness but it had been covered up during most of the season.

The other factor was that DaRon Bland had a season where he was in the right place at the right time repeatedly and lead the league in interceptions and TDs but he had never been that player before 2023.

Seems as if his horseshoe turned upside down and the luck ran out in this game as LaFleur and Love specifically targeted Bland and he failed to answer the call in coverage.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

SkinsNumberOne, unfortunately it appears in this cycle that many of the younger coaches didn't have the confidence they could come in and take on a real rebuilding job and be successful.

We have to recognize that Ben Johnson and a Bobby Slowik are just not Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay, who at 30 both had their sights set on a head coaching opportunity.

True, very true. Definitely against Ben Johnson after the Schlereth tidbit that SilentThreat posted. However, even a Weaver, or someone else. I get he may have had a good interview or two or three, I get that he may have been excited about the opportunity, but I just look at the DQ hire and see more to suggest it won't work out than to suggest it will. I see risk and less of the home-run potential. I think with other choices, there was home-run potential along with risk. With Quinn, especially given the HC history he had, I just don't see how that history should make anyone put him high on their lists.

 

[Chris]

True, very true. Definitely against Ben Johnson after the Schlereth tidbit that SilentThreat posted. However, even a Weaver, or someone else. I get he may have had a good interview or two or three, I get that he may have been excited about the opportunity, but I just look at the DQ hire and see more to suggest it won't work out than to suggest it will. I see risk and less of the home-run potential. I think with other choices, there was home-run potential along with risk. With Quinn, especially given the HC history he had, I just don't see how that history should make anyone put him high on their lists.

More like a ground-rule double hire.

 

[Bulldog]

If what we are hearing about too many cooks in the Commanders kitchen re these hires, perhaps hiring a veteran head coach that has navigated ownership issues in the past isn't the worst thing.

I would have assumed Peters and Quinn are going to be the ones to pull the plug on the draft picks in April and the free agent signings.

But now I wonder if Harris is going to drill down to that level as well - what to do with the #2 pick and who to sign to play left guard.

 

[Boone]

I think that would be a good question for the next presser... note how involved he was and that this was also a criticism of his predecessor and ask him if, now that we've got a GM and HC he intends to step back and let the football hires handle it from here.

I think he may NEED to be asked that question.

 

[Boone]

This rings true to me…

 

[Chris]

Why schedule a 2nd interview with a candidate you were ‘out on’? To gain further intel on offensive philosophies?

 

[Boone]

Due diligence. I don’t think they were ‘out on him’ but I think his own personal reservations about taking a HC job in 2024 probably came through in his first interview. And his rep is not being very ‘gregarious’ to begin with. I think his accomplishments put him in the mix but his leadership potential is what they were concerned about. I actually believe Macdonald quickly became their guy. I just wish they had moved more decisively when that became apparent and/or been willing to match Seattle’s contract offer.

 

[Bulldog]

Due diligence can’t be mistaken for over analysis.

What’s that old Army quip - it’s better to move forward with a good plan than to wait around for the perfect plan to develop