McDaniels’ name hot again
Pats’ OC subject of coaching speculation
Josh McDaniels is once again turning up as a hot name on the lists for expected coaching vacancies. Wasn’t he the guy who supposedly blow-torched his chances of getting a head coaching job in the near future by backing out on the Colts at the eleventh hour and bolting back to New England? Well, if all the recent speculation is true, it didn’t take long for teams to forgive and forget him leaving the Colts in the lurch, not to mention the staff he hired, coaches who were also left in temporary limbo after he backed out of the Indianapolis job in February. Maybe the need for good coaching candidates simply outweighs any past transgression. That being said, it’s also easy to see why he’d be attractive in many of the places he’s being rumored as a so-called whether it’s Cleveland, Green Bay, Baltimore, New York Jets. Several of these teams have young quarterbacks to mentor. The NFL remains an offensive-driven league. He’s considered one of the best at what he does. So McDaniels still fits the bill. Just connect the dots. But before we have McDaniels fleeing Foxboro, let’s just wait and see what transpires. NFL Network commentator Charley Casserly, a former league general manager, wonders what kind of arrangement McDaniels made with the Patriots after he returned. “For his name to come up, or be thought about, that’s not surprising from his performance on the field,” said Casserly when reached Thursday. “Could teams be leery from what happened, yes, I’m sure, there’s two sides to the story. I guess I’d be more thinking about, what commitments did Josh McDaniels make to the New England Patriots going forward? Not what they made to him, what did he say to them?” Back in January, McDaniels spurned the Colts and became the highest paid coordinators when he signed a five year deal to remain with the Patriots, with one of the years worth more than $4 million according to one report. Patriots owner Robert Kraft, not wanting to be left without a viable successor in-house for the eventual departure of head coach Bill Belichick, thought it best to keep McDaniels. Kraft was also encouraged and prompted by Tom Brady to bring McDaniels back, according to a source. The Patriots quarterback didn’t want to lose his offensive coordinator, not to mention his buffer between him and Belichick. So the Patriots owner made a last ditch effort. With McDaniels getting cold feet, he was willing to listen to the eleventh hour pleas by the Patriots. The question now, is McDaniels truly willing to listen to job opportunities outside of New England? Reports claim McDaniels would be interested in a head-coaching opportunity, if it was the right one. That’s basically all we’ve heard from him, every time the question is asked. “Right now, it’s just noise on the outside, until somebody asks permission,” said Casserly. “Then what does Josh do at that point in time?” Can’t imagine the Patriots owner being too happy with all this chatter given all the cash he handed over to his head coach-in-waiting, but it is what it is. So who might ask for McDaniels? The Browns fired Hue Jackson. Greg Williams, who was the defensive coordinator under Jackson, is running the team on an interim basis, and has done a good job with the team currently at 2-1. But they still might broaden the search following the season. McDaniels is an Ohio native. He did connect with Baker Mayfield prior to the draft, and right now, the Browns are all about Mayfield and his development. So that might be a fit. The Ravens? If John Harbaugh doesn’t survive, someone will have to build an offense around Lamar Jackson. That someone isn’t likely to be a defensive coordinator. Jackson was linked to the Patriots prior to the draft, so that could be another possibility. In Green Bay, it looks like Mike McCarthy needs a miracle to keep his job. He appears gone. Most people would jump at the chance of coaching Aaron Rodgers in the latter stages of his career. Tampa Bay is another possibility, and other job openings will become clearer in the coming weeks. McDaniels is 42. He still wants to be a head coach. If he’s making it known he’d listen to offers, perhaps something has changed with the dynamics in Foxboro. Maybe Belichick has decided to coach longer than anticipated. And McDaniels doesn’t want to wait. Or maybe something has changed with Brady’s timeline. Beyond McDaniels, John DeFillippo, who’s in Foxboro with the Vikings today, would be another candidate. He’s currently running the Vikings offense, and had some interest last year when he was Philadelphia’s quarterbacks coach. Some of the hot college coaches are Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley and Iowa’s Matt Campbell. And, if Jim Harbaugh wants to leave Michigan and give the NFL another try, he’d certainly be on the interview list.
Decem ber surge?
The Patriots exploits in December are well-known. It’s typically their best month, as they enter the final stretch of the eason having swept the month eight times since Brady took over as the starter in 2001. Overall the team is 62-11 and 36-5 at home. No other NFL team has been as dominant during that stretch of time. It’s no secret Belichick likes the team playing its best football toward the end of the year. “It’s just the mindset of the guys they have in the locker room. The guys are willing to put in the extra time, put in the extra work during the off season, during training camp. It doesn’t allow for them to have a let down in December,” said former Patriot Dan Koppen, when asked about the usual December surge. “They get stronger as the year goes on. Some teams fade away as the year goes on. New England is one of those places, with the guys they have, they just keep getting better, keep getting stronger.” Koppen, who played with the team from 2003-11 as a center on two Super Bowl winning teams, isn’t expecting anything different from this team with four conference games to follow after today’s match-up with the Vikings. “Why not? The groups, since I’ve retired, have carried on that tradition,” he said. “I wouldn’t expect anything else.” Koppen, by the way, just opened the LineSider Brewing Company brewery in East Greenwich, R.I. Koppen and his partner produce the beer in the establishment. “We started with six different beers but we’ve got a lot of home brew recipes we’re going to take on a larger scale. We’re going to keep tweaking it and try to get better . . . kind of like football, you’re always trying to get better. We’re going to take it day by day.”
Talking trash
Tonight’s Chargers-Steelers matchup will have significant implications in the AFC pecking order. The Patriots are currently the second seed behind the Chiefs. The Steelers are the fourth seed behind the Texans. The Chargers hold one of the wildcards along with the Ravens. During the week, Steelers players were talking about Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers and his ability to trash talk. Naturally, Brady’s name entered the conversation. Courtesy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Steelers put Rivers in a Hall of Fame class of trash talkers. Anyone else? “Tom Brady, sometimes, if he gets upset,” said cornerback Joe Haden .“Cam Newton, too. He talks a little bit of trash. But not like Philip. Him and Tom are the only two non-mobile guys who really talk.” Fellow corner Mike Hilton agreed. “I can see Cam, for sure, and Brady once he gets rolling,” Hilton said. “But you have to poke the bear with Brady. Rivers? He’ll talk to you from the jump, man.”
Pees back to work
Titans defensive coordinator Dean Pees has been back to work despite dealing with an undisclosed medical issue that forced him to leave the Titans’ Week 11 game against the Colts in the first half. “This isn’t going to get resolved to the season’s over, so there’s nothing that is really going to get done until the season’s over,” Pees said via the Tennessean. “And so, I tell the players to suck it up, I’ve got to suck it up.” Pees has been touched by the support he’s received the past few weeks by former players, among those players he’s coached with the Patriots. “I can’t say enough about the people that have sent me texts and ‘Get well’ and coaches and coaches around the league, college guys, an awful lot of players,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of players that are in broadcasting now, and so all those guys, Rodney (Harrison), (Tedy Bruschi), all those guys texted and called. Ed Reed just called again the other day to follow up on me. It’s meant a lot to me.”