Bill Cowher: No Team

Ever since Bill Cowher resigned as the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach following the 2006 season, he’s been in the back of everyones mind as a comeback story. One of the League’s most respected and successful coaches, Cowher will definitely come up as a potential candidate.

While any GM in the NFL would love to fill a head coaching vacancy with Bill Cowher, the fit may not be true for Cowher. Certainly a franchise with ownership and front-office acumen like Atlanta would be an enticing option for most coaches. However, Cowher recently settled his family in North Carolina and seemed quite happy to settle in. Now just about everyone has a price. But the number required to unroost the League’s most powerful chin and his family may be higher than McKay and owner Arthur Blank are willing to part with.

Jason Garrett: Dallas Cowboys Offensive Coordinator

In a surprising and unorthodox move, Cowboys owner and General Manager Jerry Jones hired the young Garrett during Dallas’ head coaching search at the beginning of this season without specifying Garrett’s position. While most head coaches prefer to bring in their own staff, Wade Phillips was hired as the Cowboys head coach and told Garrett would serve as his offensive coordinator.

The move paid off and Phillips couldn’t be happier. Garrett inherited an already good offense. But heavier speculation centered on whether the young coach would be able to improve the unit or if he would simply coast on the system and players installed by previous Head Coach Bill Parcells and former offensive coordinator Sean Payton.

Garrett blew away all expectations by improving the Cowboys offense to second in the league and first in the NFC. Many, including former Cowboys quarterback and current NFL Analyst Troy Aikman feel that Garrett is being fast tracked into a head coaching position and Atlanta may be the first team to come calling. Aikman, who played for several years with Garrett backing him up, feels that Garrett is well ahead of his years in ability and is ready to be a head coach.

Monte Kiffin: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defensive Coordinator

Atlanta Falcons GM Rich McKay has a long history with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that includes building a tremendous defense with former Bucs Head Coach Tony Dungy and Bucs Defensive Coordinator Monte Kiffin.

Kiffin is a coach that carrys tremendous respect from a long list of premier NFL players and coaches alike. Over the years, Kiffin’s defensive staff has been pillaged by several other NFL teams while Kiffin has remained loyal to Tampa Bay. However, since Tony Dungy was replaced by offensive-minded Jon Gruden and McKay was replaced by Bruce Allen, Kiffin has had to try and maintain his elite defense while getting much less of the new personnel acquisitions dedicated to defensive players. Kiffin has ties to McKay and to Falcons veteran running back Warrick Dunn.

Emmitt Thomas: Atlanta Falcons Defensive Backs/Interim Head Coach

The Falcons may or may not be giving the 64 year-old Thomas a fair shot at winning the position long-term. However, the locker room cred Thomas carries cannot be ignored.

“I respect Emmitt the utmost,” said center Todd McClure. “He’s been a player. He has a ton of experience. I know he’s going to lead us in the right direction. I think everybody in this locker room is looking forward to playing for him.”

Interim head coaches are almost never given serious consideration no matter how well they play out the season. Many times, the reasons are mystifying. However, if Thomas can squeeze out a few wins, he deserves some consideration as well.

The Cowboys need to play the first half of the game like they play the second half. Week after week, the headlines read how Dallas stomped some opponent with gaudy scores like 35-7 or 34-10. Their closest game came in a 45-35 week 1 win against the New York Giants. Those Cowboys sure can score. But not until after half time.

In their 4-0 schedule, the Cowboys have played teams with a combined record of 3-13. The Giants are an anomaly. If the Cowboys faced the Giants in week 4 instead of week 1, the dynamic, if not the outcome would be completely different. Both defenses have gotten much better since week 1 and the Giants offense has found more of a stride.

However, the Cowboys allowed the hapless Dolphins to play them to 10-6 going into half time. The Chicago match-up was 3-3 at halftime. Over four games, Dallas has scored 44 points in the first half, and 107 points in the second half. The difference is significant. Even the Rams, who entered the game 0-3, kept the Cowboys within one touchdown. The Rams trailed 14-7 at the half.

Okay, I hear Dallas fans all over the country shouting at me.

“The Dallas Cowboys are 4-0! They are the top scoring offense in the NFL!”

Yes, I do not disagree. The Cowboys also seem to know how to put teams away. But they haven’t faced a real challenge. Next week, the Cowboys will take on the 1-3 Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson stadium. And the boys wearing the star better learn to come out the gate with guns blazing by then. The Bills are a better team than their record indicates. But the Bills are not the test of the Cowboys in my mind.

The week after the Cowboys play Buffalo, they will face the New England Patriots. Fortunately for the Cowboys, the match up will take place within the friendly confines of Texas Stadium. But if the Cowboys haven’t learned to explode into form in the first quarter, the Patriots will shell them in the first half. Then the Cowboys will find that their second half heroics will fall short unless they double their average second half score. They’ll have to make up for their lost first half unless they learn to come out of the gate with guns blazing.

Anyone who has seen the Patriots play knows that you can’t come from behind against the Pats like that. Looking past the Patriots, the Cowboys face a completely different Giants team in November than the one they faced in September. No one is yet sure what the Eagles are this year but the Cowboys still face two games against McNabb and company. Green Bay looms at the end of November as well.

So Dallas looks great after dismantling the winless Rams at Texas Stadium. They went on a two game road trip and came back with two wins, including one over the reigning NFC Champion Bears. The have the top scoring offense in the NFL. However, they seem to start games with a hangover.

The Cowboys could be a serious contender for the NFC title. But even if they get that far and face what will likely be the Colts or Patriots in the Super Bowl, the Cowboys need to prove that they can play all four quarters the way they’ve been playing in the second half. Otherwise, they don’t have a chance.

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For those of you who hold up Rex Grossman’s first full year as a starter against Peyton Manning’s rookie season and point at how many 100+ quarterback rankings each received: Shut up and sit down.

You can’t compare a player who has had three years to gel with a team and compare him to a rookie. Even if that rookie is Peyton Manning. Plus the quarterback rating is a squirrelly stat at best. Where do the numbers come from? I don’t find that argument worth investing the time to research exact numbers but there are plenty of great quarterbacks with low quarterback ratings.

But if you must hold those numbers up, please remember that Rex Grossman did have quarterback ratings like 1.3 and 10.7 that season as well.

Grossman is not good enough. He’s either wildly good or dismally bad. That kind of constant swing with no consistent time in the middle stinks of luck and relying on the rest of the team a bit too much. So the Bears, after doggedly standing by Grossman have swung the other way. Grossman gets benched for Brian Griese.

Griese is obviously not a long term answer. But he’s a player with gas in the tank and a track record for success in the NFL. He was a Pro-Bowl quarterback in Denver. He led the Buccaneers into the playoffs. Griese has done something Grossman has not. Griese has led teams to success.

Before I hear a bunch of crap about the NFC championship game and a Super Bowl appearance, allow me to ask this question first.

“Did Rex Grossman lead the Bears into the playoffs?”

Mull that over. The last time Brian Griese was given any real playing time, he took a Buccaneers team with a suspect offensive line and a good but aging defense to a 10-6 season and a playoff spot. The Bucs decided that their future was with their young quarterback Chris Simms and decided to let Griese walk.

The Bucs haven’t returned to the playoffs since.

Chicago has an excellent offensive line. Chicago has arguably the best defense in the NFL. Now that they have the blinders off and can finally see that Rex Grossman belongs on the sideline, Chicago has a proven quarterback.

Griese may not be the long term answer. But Grossman isn’t either. Until the Bears find that answer, Griese can give them the consistent balance and leadership that they need on offense.

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I’m not saying if both men deserved to be punished, I’m asking if both punishments were leveled fairly. Coach Belichek earned a $500,000 personal fine. Thats like hitting me with a 25 cent fine for spitting. His salary is around 8 million dollars a year. So 500K comes out to about 6.25% of his yearly salary. This is just punishment?? He should be suspended for the remainder of the season and the Patriots should lose both first-round draft picks! Why? Because he cheated, and cheating should not be tolerated.

On to Coach Wade Wilson, the Dallas Cowboys quaterbacks coach. He claimed he took a banned substance (unsubstantiated media reports have named both anabolic steroids and human growth hormone) for his diabetic condition. Wilson stated that the intent was “to improve the quality of his life.” While I can relate to that, being a diabetic myself, if you are in a job that has certain rules about what you can and can not take medically, wheather you are a coach or player, you have to follow those rules.

OK, so Coach Wilson took a banned substance. If it was HGH, I move that it was probably to improve the quality of his “adult” functions. He was caught. He agreed to cooperate with the legal investigation. Sure, he should be punished. But should that punishment be almost one third of his 325K a year salary?

Because his actions were against league rules, but did not hurt another person (meaning not punitive in nature) just maybe $100.000 is a bit excessive here. I barely Make 1/6th of Coach Wilson’s Salary, and if you took away one third of that I’d throw a royal fit. Wade Wilson has a right to question the punishment leveled at him, but not weather he should be punished.

If the Head Coach of a professional football team needs to “collect” data on other coaches’ signals, it’s time for him to get out of the game. If I were Patriots owner Bob Kraft, I would simply terminate the Coach and hire someone else 10 minutes ago!

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Scoring Format Dictates IDP Draft

Many first time IDP players often use old paradigms to determine when to start looking at defensive players. In team defense formats, defenses are seldom worth more than your tight end except in very few cases. By that valuation, most owners simply decided whether to take a kicker or a defense with their last or next to last pick.

Major mistake.

Since you are dealing with individual players, you have to start by evaluating the scoring system your league employs. In many cases, IDP players can be worth drafting before your second wide receiver based on expected weekly produciton.

Theoretical: You are in a league that scores 10 receiving yards = 1 point, touchdowns = 6 points, 25 return yards = 1 point, return touchdowns = 6 points, tackles = 1 point, INT = 2 points, forced fumbles = 2point.

You are in your fifth round of the draft. You have two solid running backs, a starting quarterback, a starting wide receiver. You look on your board and see that you can take Broncos receiver Javon Walker or linebacker Demeco Ryans of the Houston Texans.

Ryans had 155 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 interception and a forced fumble. That amounts to 166 fantasy points or about 10.3 points per week on average.

Walker had 1084 receiving yards, 8 touchdowns. That comes to a 9.75 points per week average.

This formula is obviously simplistic. Variables such as the Bronco’s quarterback change and the amount of time the Houston defense is on the field are all relevant. But in the end, value baselines can be established in this manner. Incidentally, I’d probably take Javon Walker here simply because many people drafting IDP don’t evaluate the defensive player’s value and Ryans will probably be available long after all his offensive equivalents are gone.

Production over Highlight Reels

Many first-time IDP owners will go after headlining defensive names and pay no attention to the difference between a player who produces numbers versus a player who makes highlight reels. Fantasy football is a numbers game. So pay attention to the numbers that matter.

Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor wreaks havoc with 60 tackles, 13.5 sacks and a whopping 9 forced fumbles. He even pulled down two INTs for touchdowns last year. Aaron Kampman of the Green Bay packers had 15.5 sacks last season in addition to amassing 89 tackles, and three forced fumbles.

These ends work in a 4-3 defense that frees them up to do these types of things. However, you can’t rely on these stats to produce consistent weekly fantasy numbers.

If you extrapolated Taylor’s season out, it comes to about 7.3 fantasy points per week on average. Since you should never consider interceptions for touchdowns when assessing a defensive end’s fantasy value, the average is closer to 6.6. Kampman averages out to about 7.9 points per week.

But on those same teams, you have players who are freed up to make plays because of the way their teammates disrupt opposing offenses.

Dolphins Lineback Zack Thomas tallied 165 tackles, 3 sacks, an interception, 2 forced fumbles to rumble up an average of 11 fantasy points a week. That’s a better average than many second teir fantasy receivers.

Aaron Kampman’s teammate A.J. Hawk rolled up 116 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 2 interceptions and a forced fumble to average 8.4 points per week.

Remember that most format allow you to place linebackers in defensive line slots. For those formats that don’t, remember players like Kampman and other defensive linemen that generate a lot of tackles on a consistent basis. These players add to your fantasy value more regularly than sackmiesters. A player may get 8 sacks all season and those sacks will get celebrated in the media. But there’s a big fantasy difference between averaging .5 sacks a game and having 7 tackles a game. A fantasy owner wants the tackles.

Scheme Can Make a Good Player Put up Great Numbers

A very superficial knowledge of defensive schemes will help you find value in your fantasy draft. For example, the one-gap, Tampa-2 defense made popular by Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin in Tampa Bay, funnels plays to athletic weakside linebackers. Since Dungy’s original defensive staff members have dispersed through the NFL, the scheme is widely implemented. Finding some of these players based on scheme may end up giving you an IDP sleeper gem.

Chicago Bears: Head Coach Lovie Smith was the linebacker’s coach in Tampa Bay. He implemented the scheme in Chicago. True to the formula built around Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks in Tampa, the Bears use disruptive tackle Tommie Harris to wreak havoc. The scheme funnels plays to weakside linebacker Lance Briggs who consistently outplays Urlacher from a fantasy standpoint.

Tampa Bay: Go to the source. Derrick Brooks is still a fantasy machine. If his age shows, Cato June will continue the legacy both on the field and on fantasy rosters. June showed he could do so under Dungy in Indianapolis as well.

Kansas City: Herm Edwards was a defensive backs coach under Dungy in Tampa Bay. Look for young, athletic Derrick Johnson to produce consistent fantasy numbers.

Indianapolis: Freddy Keiaho is slated to replace the departed Cato June on the weakside. Keiaho is unproven but could be gold in the extra late rounds of your fantasy draft.

The Tampa-2 defense is only one example. Many players are set up by their coaches to make highlight reels by absolutely throwing offenses into disarray. But while they are basking in the spotlight, a teammate is usually accumulating the less sexy but more consistent stats.

Hidden Fantasy Points Make all the Difference

A point we often make on the Field Position Podcast is to remember those hidden yards that result in hidden fantasy points. When you play in IDP leagues, return yards go to individual returners. Pay close attention to your scoring format and see which players are scored for kickoff and punt returns. Some scoring formats may only award those points to defensive players. Some may award these points to offensive players as well. Buffalo’s Terrance McGee is an excellent cornerback who also returns kicks for the Bills. Cornerback Chris Carr returns kick-offs and punts for the Raiders. Dallas’ Terrance Newman is slated as a punt returner. If the league scores return yards for receivers, look at players such as the Patriots’ Wes Welker. Welker is not only an excellent returner, he was a productive member of the offense in Miami last season. Ted Ginn, Jr. in Miami could be intriguing. Return monster Devin Hester is also slated to be a wide receiver and slot back for the Bears. If he sees the field consistently, Hester could be fantasy gold as well.

IDP definitely increases the amount of information owners need to consider for their fantasy drafts. But if evaluations are done properly, IDPs can have the same effect as having two extra top receivers in your line-up every week. So take the notions involved when drafting team defenses and throw them out the window. Take what you see on Sports Center highlights and put it in the peripheral. Look at the hard numbers and rank your players where the numbers say they belong. You may get some comments on draft day, but you’ll have the last word. As in Championship.

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Chad Pennington knows his limits. When he drops back, you can tell when he’s going deep because his leading shoulder ends up pointing so high you’d think he was shooting ducks with his shoulder pad. And when he windmills his arm to launch a deep pass, it amazes scouts that there is any velocity at all on his deep ball. But Pennington isn’t the spiritual leader of the New York Jets because of his arm strength.

Both of these quarterbacks have something that tons of cannon-armed quarterbacks don’t have. They are leaders. Their intensity and painful desire to win oozes out of them every time they take the field. But it doesn’t end on the field. It carries over into practice, into the weight room, into the film room.

During training camp, speculation is rampant when it comes to key position battles. There’s always some one out there trying to manufacture a story where there isn’t one. Suddenly, reporters are hounding coaches in post practice press conferences about why a third string quarterback took three more snaps than the starter. Why did the second string linebacker run with the first team? Does the fact that the back up center spent seven seconds talking to the starting guard indicate a shuffle in the starting line?

During camp the media will look for drama under every corner.

For the Jets, young, strong armed Kellen Clemens has fans and media members salivating over his tight spirals and whizzing deep outs. Clemens had an excellent game last week and the calls for Clemens have started. Suddenly, the world forgets that Pennington just completed an injury free season. Instead they are talking about Clemens arm strength. Pennington has clearly been the best quarterback in camp. But Clemens is that greener pasture.

For the Panthers, David Carr is suddenly looking like the heir apparent to Jake Delhomme. The Panthers quarterback was once affectionately known as the Ragin Cajun for his firey leadership style and his reckless abandon on the field. Now, the media and fans alike are salivating over Carr’s cannon arm and athletic style. Delhomme is coming off of a down season but the fact that Delhomme has piloted the Panthers to two NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl in the past three years doesn’t seem to matter anymore.

David Carr even turned my head when the Panthers signed him. While I think Delhomme’s margin of error has slimmed considerably with Carr’s arrival, the idea that Delhomme is on the hot seat is more valid for stirring up headlines than accurate reporting. Carr is the polar opposite of Delhomme in terms of leadership. Carr is quiet. Doesn’t jump around and try to rally teammates the way Delhomme does. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s just something that Carr would take away if he was the starter. Delhomme has earned his job and has yet to deserve a demotion. Carr has not earned that job. Just being talented isn’t enough to earn a starting NFL job.

Pennington would have to end up on injured reserve in the first quarter of the season for Kellen Clemens to get enough snaps to initiate a true quarterback controversy. Of course, the second Clemens leads a garbage time drive for a touchdown, the media will immediately place Pennington on the hot seat. But Eric Mangini isn’t in the business of letting the second best player play. If Clemens were so much better than Pennington that one drive could change Mangini’s mind, then Clemens would be the starter going into the season.

In the NFL, every one has talent. It’s the rare player who puts superlative talent together with all of the intangibles. That is where you find Peyton Manning, LaDanian Tomlinson, Chad Johnson, Rodney Harrison to name a few. The rest are a give and take. Since most of the time, coaches have to rely on the measureables to place a player atop the depth chart, it’s rare that a player with more intangibles than measureable talent gets the nod. When they do, they are usually the first to come under fire in the press. But sometimes these guys end up being winners. Like Delhomme and Pennington, they overcome their shortcomings and seem to will the “Ws” into being.

Every year some one from Field Position has won a first place prize. Can you end that streak?

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Never heard of him, you say? Well, you have football highlights and game study footage because of Blanton Collier. Walsh took much of Collier’s development of film study and molded it into his own planning. Walsh was a master of planning going back to his days as head coach of the Stanford Cardinals. Walsh served as an assistant with Brown in Cincinnati before resigning to become an assistant to Tommy Prothro in San Diego. Then it was on to Stanford for Walsh. There, he made wine out of water until the NFL came calling again.

Walsh would say years later that he never wanted to come back to the NFL, but he loved a challenge. The 49ers were just that. He was 47 when he took over in the bay area. In just a decade the Niners went from the bottom to the top. They won 3 Super Bowls, including two over Walsh’s former pupil Sam Wyche of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Former 49ers quarterback Joe Montana said, “Outside of my own dad [Walsh] was the closest person to me. The most influential person in my life. I am going to miss him.”

Another who spoke on the condition that he remain nameless told us late Monday night, “I never met a kinder gentleman in my entire life. I was truly blessed to know him even briefly.”

Many said that Coach Walsh had a temper. But it only came out when something truly angered him. He was once so enraged at a player for a cheap shot in a practice that he cut him on the spot. Then following him with a security guard to the locker room screaming “Don’t even let him get a f—— shower!”

The most prolific quote however comes from Seattle Head Coach Mike Holmgren who says, “He was an artist. The rest of us were blacksmiths.”

Some said that Walsh was falling behind the times when the 49ers lost to the Giants 49-3 in a 1986 playoff game. Attending that game personally, I scanned the sidelines looking for the coach to see if he was visibly upset. If he was he didn’t show it. Walsh just shrugged it off and reloaded the Niners again. Many will miss him, and all loved him.

Thanks for reading.
Bill

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Tommie Harris is already scary enough. Darwin Walker is a tackle cut of the same cloth. He’s quick, athletic, instinctive. Walker can play the run, collapse a pocket, and he is paired up with on of the few tackles in the league that is arguably as good or better than he is.

The Bears suffered mightily when Harris was lost to injury. With Walker on the roster, the defensive front has another pressure player who does the same kinds of things and has caused the same kind of havoc throughout his career. If the two are both healthy and start side by side, the Bears will have an push up the middle rivaled by very few teams in the league.

So the Bears waved good bye to Tank Johnson after he proved too much trouble off the field. I don’t think anyone in Chicago is going to realize he’s gone. Those that do, will be glad to say they don’t miss him.

In Cleveland, Couch never had a chance. He got pummeled regularly behind an awful offensive line. He had no running game to lean on. He battled injuries to his throwing arm that were never allowed to heal. Then Browns Head Coach Butch Davis played head games with Couch and back up Kelly Holcomb. Couch was given every opportunity to fail. Fail he did.

After a short stint in Packers training camp, Couch fell away from football but he never stopped working. He had surgeries on his throwing arm. He worked on his mechanics. He stayed in shape. In 2006 he worked out for two teams but neither signed him.

Now, Couch is a wild card. Coming out of college, Couch was considered one of the best. He has a strong arm. He was accurate. Much better than his 55% completion numbers in Cleveland indicated. Couch has ability and if his head is right, if he has shaken those awful beatings he took in Cleveland, he is a contender.

Byron Leftwich is the anointed starter for the Jaguars. But most agree that Leftwich’s job security is tenuous at best. David Garrard has proven he is a solid back up but no more than that. Couch, if he is at all back to his former self, could threaten Garrard as the second quarterback. If Leftwich continues to struggle with turnovers, Couch could conceivably be a starting quarterback in the NFL again.

I don’t know what to expect from Tim Couch. But I love a good Rocky Balboa story. Couch has worked hard to get this chance. To make more of it in Jacksonville is a major long-shot. But given their quarterback situation and Couch’s potential, it’s a situation worth paying close attention to.

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