NFL notes:
Jaguars look to their first coach to be their next coach.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are looking to their past to potentially find their future head coach.
General manager Dave Caldwell said Monday that former New York Giants Tom Coughlin “would be somebody we’d be interested in talking to” about the team’s coaching vacancy.
The Jaguars (2-12) fired Gus Bradley after the franchise’s ninth consecutive loss Sunday. Bradley went 14-48 in four seasons in Jacksonville, the worst winning percentage (.225) of any National Football League coach with at least 60 games.
The 70-year-old Coughlin was Jacksonville’s first head coach, leading the Jaguars to a 68-60 record in eight seasons (19952002). Coughlin resigned last January after 12 seasons with the Giants, but has made it clear he wants to return to the NFL. He is currently serving as a senior adviser to the league’s football operations department.
Caldwell could give him a shot at getting back on the sidelines.
“Tom’s a great man and a great person, and we’ll see where it goes,” Caldwell said. “There will be a lot of guys we’re interested in talking to.”
Coughlin won two Super Bowls with the Giants and led them to the playoffs in four consecutive seasons (2005-’08).
Caldwell picked offensive line coach Doug Marrone as the team’s interim coach for the final two games. Marrone went 1517 in two seasons (2013’14) as Buffalo’s head coach.
Caldwell declined to name any other coaching candidates aside from Coughlin and Marrone.
Caldwell acknowledged that part of the reason Jaguars owner Shad Khan fired Bradley with two games remaining was to get a jump on the coaching search, especially after the Los Angeles Rams parted ways with Jeff Fisher last week.
Khan and Caldwell discussed potential scenarios at the owners meetings in Dallas and decided later in the week to fire Bradley following Sunday’s game at Houston, win or lose.
Savage gets the nod: Tom Savage will start at quarterback for the Houston Texans on Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Coach Bill O’Brien announced the decision, a day after Savage took over in the second quarter when Brock Osweiler was benched against the Jaguars.
“We make decisions on what we think is the best way to help the team, what helps the team win,” O’Brien said.
Osweiler has struggled in his first season in Houston after signing a $72 million contract to join the Texans from Denver.
He threw two interceptions before he was benched Sunday to give him 16 interceptions and just 14 touchdowns this season.
Peterson plans to play: Running back Adrian Peterson was hoping his faster-than-expected return would help catapult the Minnesota Vikings into the playoffs.
Instead, the Vikings fell flat in a 34-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, a curiously uninspired performance that all but eliminated them from postseason contention.
Peterson, who had not played since September because of a torn meniscus in his right knee, had just 22 yards on six carries, including a crucial fumble in the first half on a rare trip into Colts territory.
Before he came back, Peterson said he would not play the remainder of the season if the Vikings were out of contention. He didn’t want to risk any further injury with an uncertain future.
But after the Colts loss, Peterson said he planned to play Saturday in Green Bay.