Cardinals’ Arians decides to retire
Say goodbye to “No risk it, no biscuit.”
Bruce Arians, one of the NFL’s biggest personalities, is retiring from coaching after five mostly successful and usually entertaining seasons as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
The 65-year-old two-time NFL coach of the year, known for his Kangol-style hats, colorful vocabulary and wide-open “no risk it, no biscuit” offense, announced the decision in an emotional session with the media on Monday.
“It’s been an unbelievable journey,” he said. “The tears you see are really tears of joy and peace. I’ll miss the players. I’ll miss coming out of the locker room hearing the national anthem because it still gets to me.”
Arians said he told the players of his decision Sunday after the team’s 26-24 win at Seattle and the players never leaked it to reporters.
“And they lied to you because of that,” he said. “There’s really no greater feeling in the world to know your players have your back.”
Arians, who spent more than four decades in coaching, has had health issues in recent years, including treatment for diverticulitis as well as a successful fight against kidney cancer last off-season.
Cardinals President Michael Bidwill said the search for a new coach would begin immediately, and he had requests to other teams for permission to speak to assistant coaches going out Monday.
Broncos keep Joseph: The Denver Broncos are retaining rookie coach
Vance Joseph, who went 5-11 in his first season.
General manager John Elway tweeted: “Vance and I had a great talk this morning about our plan to attack this off-season and get better as a team. We believe in Vance as our head coach. Together, we’ll put in the work to improve in all areas and win in 2018.”
There was speculation that Elway would be on the lookout for his fourth head coach in five years with Joseph losing 10 of his last 12 games, including eight straight at one point. Eight of the team’s losses were by double digits.
Jackson apologizes: Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson feels fortunate to be back after a historic, losing season.
Jackson hung onto his job despite going 0-16 this year and 1-31 in two years with Cleveland. Jackson apologized Monday, a day after the Browns lost in Pittsburgh and joined the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only teams in NFL history to lose all 16 games.
Jackson says he understands why some Browns fans are angry and knows the organization has to “rerecruit” some of them. Jackson said he’s grateful that owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam trust him to turn around a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2002 and has gone 22-41 since its last road win.
“It is awful,” Jackson said. “We all have to wear it. I don’t think anybody wants to be associated with that. No one started the season thinking that this is how it would turn out. I’m sorry and I apologize if people think that we are not distraught about it, but I don’t think us talking about it over and over and over again (helps) because I think everybody else will.” Positive news for Bills: Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott says medical
test results on LeSean McCoy’s injured right ankle were negative, giving the running back a chance to play against Jacksonville in the AFC wild-card game on Sunday.
McDermott would not go into detail except to say the team received “some good news” Monday, a day after McCoy was hurt in a 22-16 win at Miami.