Category: NFL (Page 813 of 1282)

      Is Tom Cable qualified to be the Raiders’ head coach?

      January 29, 2009 /

      According to sources at ESPN.com, the Oakland Raiders have chosen Tom Cable to become their full-time head coach. The team hasn’t officially announced the decision yet, but it appears like it’s a done deal.

      Cable of course coached the Raiders for 12 games last season after Al Davis fired Lane Kiffin. But before those 12 games, Cable had just three years head coaching experience at the University of Idaho (in which he complied an 11-35 record), which begs the question: is he qualified to take over the mess in Oakland?

      Cable coached in the collegiate ranks from 1987 to 2005, mostly as an offensive line coach and as an offensive coordinator. In 2006, he took over as the Falcons’ offensive line coach for one season and then coached the Raiders’ O-line in 2007 and six games in 2008 before taking over as interim head coach after Kiffin was fired.

      In 12 games last year, the Raiders went 4-8 under Cable, with impressive victories over the Broncos, Texans and Buccaneers over that span. But the team also showed little to no effort in losses to the Falcons, Chargers and Patriots.

      Possibly the main motivation behind the Cable hire was that the players seem to favor him. He has become known as a motivator, which is certainly one of the things that the Raiders need. But can he develop JaMarcus Russell? Can he help Davis build a roster via free agency and the draft? Or is he just another “yes man” that Davis can control and that’s the main reason he got the full time gig? (Remember, Kiffin was fired in Oakland largely because he wanted to do run the team his own way and that never sat well with Davis.)

      The key to the Cable hire might be whom the team chooses at the coordinator positions. If Cable can find two respected coordinators to run the offense and defense, then he can do what he does best in keeping the team motivated throughout the year.

      Regardless of the overall inexperience he has at the NFL level, Cable deserves a shot because he’s built a good relationship with the players and that could go a long way in Oakland. Now he just has to build a competent staff and hope that Davis doesn’t spend another offseason overspending on overrated players.

      NFL

      Dimitroff is classic example of why teams should hire from winning organizations

      January 28, 2009 /

      January 13, 2008 was officially the day the Atlanta Falcons turned their misfortunes around. No, that wasn’t the day they drafted Rookie of the Year Matt Ryan (that was April 26, 2008) or the date they signed free agent Michael Turner (March 2).

      January 13, 2008 was the day the Falcons hired former Patriots’ director of college scouting Thomas Dimitroff to be their next general manager. Without Dimitroff, there might not have been a Matt Ryan, Michael Turner or Mike Smith, who recently won the NFL’s AP Coach of the Year Award.

      On Wednesday, Dimitroff was named Sporting News magazine’s NFL Executive of the Year – and for good reason. Not only was he responsible for hiring Smith, signing Turner and drafting Ryan, but he was also behind trading overrated cornerback DeAngelo Hall to Oakland, releasing aging veterans Alge Crumpler, Rod Coleman and Warrick Dunn, as well as selecting Sam Baker, Curtis Lofton, Chevis Jackson, Harry Douglas and Kroy Biermann in last year’s draft, all of whom were major contributors as rookies in 2008.

      There’s no doubt the Falcons were in bad shape in 2007. Michael Vick was arrested and sent to federal prison because of dog fighting, Bobby Petrino quit in the middle of the night and ran back to the college ranks, and players like Hall started to act above the team. Making matters worse, late in the year it looked like Bill Parcells would join the team as the new general manager, but as it turns out he was only using the Falcons as leverage to get the Dolphins’ front office job.

      Heading into 2008, the Falcons needed a new general manager (Rich McKay was relegated to team president after the ’07 season), a new head coach and a new direction. So after the Parcells debacle, owner Arthur Blank hired Dimitroff, which turned out to be one of the best decisions Blank has made since buying the team in 2002.

      Looking back, it was no surprise Dimitroff had so much success in just his first year. He came from a winning organization in New England, so he knew what it took to build a winner elsewhere. He hired Mike Smith because he knew he had to have a coach he could work with in constructing personnel. He drafted Matt Ryan because he knew most Super Bowl-caliber teams needed a Super Bowl-caliber quarterback. He parted ways with Hall, Crumpler, Dunn and Coleman because he knew their production probably wasn’t going to match their contracts and the team needed a new core group of players. And finally, he built an offense first because he knew dome teams have advantage on that side of the ball and that Smith (the Jaguars’ former defensive coordinator) could do more with less in terms of the defense, at least in their first year until Dimitroff had the chance to bring in better defensive personnel.

      But it all comes back to Dimitroff’s previous success. He learned in New England what it takes on a day-to-day basis to win in the NFL. He had hands on experience in helping the Patriots win so when Atlanta came calling, he took that same formula and instilled it into the Falcons. And wouldn’t you know it – it worked.

      NFL

      Top 10 Failed Super Bowl Ads

      January 28, 2009 /

      RealClearSports.com ranks the top 10 failed Super Bowl ads:

      #3 Napster – 2005
      Everyone remembers Napster when it was the cool, albeit illegal, way to download music. Few remember it’s failed attempt to be a legitimate entity (which surprisingly still exists).

      #2 Sales Genie – 2007
      Further proof that ads featuring Pandas with stereotypical (and offensive) Chinese accents don’t work.

      #1 Silestone – 2005
      Jim McMahon, Mike Ditka, William “Refrigerator” Perry and Dennis Rodman. What is this star-studded ad for? Countertops and baths, of course!

      What always amazes me is that someone actually had to pitch these ideas and they were accepted. Someone actually had to say, “Yeah! That’s a great idea – let’s run with it!”

      Not only that, but they had to say, “Yeah! That’s a great idea – let’s run with it! And spend millions of dollars on it…”

      NFL, Super Bowl

      Fitzgerald contract story overblown?

      January 28, 2009 /

      On Tuesday, a report surfaced that Cardinals’ wideout Larry Fitzgerald was willing to restructure his contract in efforts to keep teammate Anquan Boldin in Arizona. But apparently that story was a bit overblown.

      From Rotoworld      :

      Larry FitzgeraldAsked about possibly restructuring his contract Wednesday, Larry Fitzgerald said, “I don’t know where that came from.”

      Fitzgerald spoke to Rotoworld’s Gregg Rosenthal among a media throng Wednesday morning and seemed perplexed by the story, but didn’t exactly shoot it down. “Someone asked me if I’d be willing to do something to help the team and I said absolutely. … This is an amazing feeling and I’ll do anything I have to do to get back to this point.” It sounds like Fitzgerald is open to the possibility, but he was just answering a question vaguely. Ultimately, his agent will have the biggest say in the matter and probably hopes Fitz will decline to discuss the matter more publicly.

      Okay, so apparently some overzealous reporter ran with a story that didn’t exist. It was a nice idea and maybe it’ll still happen, but for now the Boldin-contract situation is still as much of a mess as it was in preseason.

      According to ESPN.com, Cardinals’ GM Rod Graves says he plans to meet with Boldin after the season in attempts to resolve the issue. But money talks in the end and if the team doesn’t pony up, this situation won’t be resolved any time soon.

      NFL, Super Bowl

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