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The NFL is a bottom-line, often cut-throat business.
The excuse department is on the third floor. Most NFL complexes are two stories.
I really get into the injury report when writing about games, whether it’s about Jets games or for national previews.
I’m not making excuses, just dealing with what key players might not play. If you are missing a bunch of key players, obviously it’s going to hurt the performance of your team.
But a lot of owners flat-out don’t care.
The Giants had 20 players on injured reserve. Tom Coughlin was fired nonetheless.
Most owners just look at the record and whether you made the playoffs or not.
What just happened in Tampa Bay is another example of what I’m talking about?
One reason Lovie Smith was fired was the performance of his defense.
In preparing for the show I do every Saturday on SiriusXM NFL Radio, over the last couple of months of the season, I constantly talked about how banged-up the Buccaneers defense was, especially in the Front Seven. Man did they have a lot of defensive linemen hurt.
But it clearly didn’t matter to the Glazer Family, owners of the Buccaneers, who fired him yesterday.
Where are I going with this?
As I mentioned on numerous occasions, the Jets’ personnel department didn’t do a great job of providing Bobby April with the tools, proper players, for his unit, especially in regards to kick return and punt coverage.
But that didn’t matter. The Jets’ brass was disgusted with the play of that unit this year, and fired April and his assistant.
It doesn’t matter what Mike Maccagnan did or did not provide.
In this bottom line business, the Jets’ special teams were substandard this past regular season.
There is no doubt, whoever the next special teams coach is, will have better pieces to work with.
It’s kind of like saying Joe Danno is a much better secondary coach than the prior one. Perhaps he is, but Tim
McDonald wasn’t the beneficiary of a $150 spending spree. Now I don’t think the Jets’ secondary lived up to the money, but you understand my point. It’s easier to be a better coach when given the proper tools.
A better example would be Marty Morhinweg compared to Chan Gailey. Now while I think Gailey is a better coordinator than Morhinweg, there is no doubt having Ryan Fitzpatrick and Brandon Marshall was great for Chan. Morhinweg didn’t have those two guys like that.
So the new coach will have a better chance of succeeding because of the focus the Jets’ personnel department will have on improving the special teams.
Who should the coach be?
It’s kind of a no-brainer the Jets need to make a bee-line for Philadelphia’s Dave Fipp. The Eagles special teams the last few years were superb.
In 2014, they were ranked #1 by the Dallas Morning News. They did an extensive yearly study of all 32 teams and their special teams and rank them.
This year’s final rankings aren’t out yet, but they will be up there again.
I can’t recall which game, but there was a game-call this year where I heard the legendary Eagles announcer Merrill Reese say, “I can’t remember a special team’s unit as productive as this one.”
Another guy to consider is Cleveland’s Chris Tabor. He’s so good he survived two head coaching changes.
Both of these guys will be in demand, and there is a good chance the new head coach in each city will try to keep them.
There is no doubt the Jets will make a run at each.
And they need to spend the money to land one of them.
January 7, 2015
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