Coaches on the Hot Seat
Each week I’ll do a countdown of the five coaches most likely to lose their job after this season. The Chiefs, Dolphins, Giants, Eagles, Rams, Vikings, Panthers, Panthers, Cardinals are all teams who have been disappointing, which of these coaches are on the hot(test) seat.
#5 Tom Coughlin (Getting warmer)
Fun little fact: the Giants have stared 5-2 (or better) in every season under coach Tom Coughlin. not so fun fact? They have been pathetic in the second half of the season the last two years. Tom Coughlin is a good coach and the Giants are a very loyal organization. But, this team has a lot of veteran leaderships, a quality quarterback, and a talented pass rush and they have had terrible second half’s two years in a row that cost them the playoffs and then are coming out flat and playing poorly already this year. They barely squeaked by the Cardinals and then lost at home vs the Seahawks, after they played poorly vs the Cardinals. This can’t happen anymore. How does this happen with such a talented team? Coaching has to take some of the blame. Coughlin still has a shot at starting 5-2, they play the Bills (have a bye week) and then the Dolphins the next three weeks, but their second half of the schedule is brutal. Two games vs Dallas, a game each vs Washington and Philadelphia, and then games vs the Patriots, Packers, Jets, 49ers, and Saints. It could be a long year, especially if they continue to play the way they are playing now.
#4 Andy Reid (sizzling! but will cool off)
When you’re buying the groceries and making the meal, you better make sure everything is right because there is no where else for the blame to go but you. This is Andy Reid’s predicament. He wanted to add playmakers on the outside, and despite routinely drafting defensive and offensive linemen in the first round of the N.F.L. draft, the Eagles look suspect (to say the last) in the middle. Reid has had many poor starts to seasons before, but he’s the anti-Coughlin in that sense. Andy Reid Eagles teams usually get better as the season progresses, which gives fans hope. I don’t think their offensive line problems are going anywhere and fans will still be driven crazy by some of the whacky Reid in game coaching decisions, but I still think this team is playoff bound in a very down N.F.C. East
#3 Todd Haley, Chiefs-Simmering down after two straight victories
He fights with everyone on the team, and they are not going to win very many games. They just beat two bad teams in the Vikings and the Colts who have a combined 1 victory between them, but the games remaining outside of their division are against the Dolphins (worse than the Chiefs are), New England, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Jets, and Green Bay. That looks like a lot of losses for Haley and the Chiefs. With his decisions (or influence on the decisions) to let Charlie Weiss go, as well as Chan Gailey (and that offense is humming over there in Buffalo) Haley is sitting on a pretty hot seat.
#2 Jack Del Rio-Warning! Warning!
Jack Del Rio is not long for Jacksonville and I’m surprised he’s still the coach. I don’t think there is any way he makes it out of this season as the head coach. He is a pretty decent N.F.L. coach, but it’s just time for change in Jacksonville.
#1 Tony Sparano. Fire!!!!!!!!
Bye bye. What else can you say. Before the season I had the Dolphins ranked as the lowest team in my power rankings because Sparano was the head coach, so this isn’t surprising to me. And to those Dolphins fans who ripped me feel free to email me at bartolisj@Gmail.com with your apologize (hey I get called out enough when I’m wrong, it’d be nice to get some love when I’m right). Team’s can’t try to jettison their head coach, fail to find another coach, only to bring the coach back and not expect problems. That was a terrible move by ownership. Losing Chad Henne isn’t going to help either. This team is playing in one of the better divisions in football. This is the coach most likely to be fired mid-season.
Just missed the cut: Steve Spanuolo