The rules of today's game significantly favor offensive football and it's more important than ever to have stability on that side of the ball. That means fewer changes, more consistency, and fewer distractions. By having a head guy who is bringing HIS scheme and plan to the offense it ensures that the most important component of of your team will maintain that needed consistency. Look at the 2 most successful QB's from the 2018 & 2019 draft (Kyler and Allen) and tell me what they have in common. They've been in the same offensive system as the day they were drafted. It may seem like an oversimplification but the simple fact is that having an offensive minded head coach gives your team a clear competitive advantage simply by providing stability to the most important component of winning football games.
In addition to that, b/c of the importance of offense, the majority of teams are hiring the hotshot OC's rather than their defensive counterparts. But if your scheme comes from the top, your team's next OC simply becomes the next man up with the guy who's been in your system for the past few years (QB coach, passing game coordinator, or someone other coach on the staff). Again...consistency.
Look at the final 8 teams in this year's playoffs:
Bengals - Zac Taylor - offense
Titans - Mike Vrabel - defense
Bills - Sean McDermott - defense
Chiefs - Andy Reid - offense
49ers - Kyle Shanahan - offense
Packers - Matt LaFleur - offense
Rams - Sean McVay - offense
Bucs - Bruce Arians - offense
Do we think it's simply a coincident that 75% of those teams have offensive minded head coaches who are running their own scheme? It's not.
Simply put, the NFL is all about identifying competitive advantages. Being that there is no question that hiring an offensive minded head coach gives you one, if it's at all close b/w two candidates, the decision should be an easy one. And yes, I believe Brian Daboll should be that guy.
How is that giving us a competitive advantage?
Bengals - Joe Burrow
Titans - Ryan Tannehill
Bills - Josh Allen
Chiefs - Pat Mahomes
49ers - Jimmy Garoppolo
Packers - Aaron Rodgers
Rams - Matt Stafford
Bucs - Tom Brady
6 of the 8 teams are/were led by 6 of the best QB's currently in the NFL. When it comes down to it, great to elite QB play is the competitive advantage.
Do you really think LaFluer is such a genius? Zac Taylor?
It's about the QBs. Period.
Bengals - Joe Burrow
Titans - Ryan Tannehill
Bills - Josh Allen
Chiefs - Pat Mahomes
49ers - Jimmy Garoppolo
Packers - Aaron Rodgers
Rams - Matt Stafford
Bucs - Tom Brady
6 of the 8 teams are/were led by 6 of the best QB's currently in the NFL. When it comes down to it, great to elite QB play is the competitive advantage.
Agreed...but per my original post, consistency in the offensive scheme also helps those QB's play at an elite level. Talent is obviously a pre-requisite as well but look what happened to Aaron Rodgers in his first season under a new offensive scheme with Matt Lafleur. It's no coincidence that he had a down year (by his standards anyway).
Jones had his beat season to date with Shurmur as HC.
Quote:
tho?
Jones had his beat season to date with Shurmur as HC.
Yea but what good did that do?
His DC was clueless and the rest of his staff was underwhelming. Maybe this guy Anarumo was capable but we never really heard about him when he was here.
To me, if anything, Pat Shurmur as HC reinforces the belief that it's not just about the "genius" offensive mind.
You need the QB first and then you need a guy capable of overseeing all 3 phases.
Bengals - Joe Burrow
Titans - Ryan Tannehill
Bills - Josh Allen
Chiefs - Pat Mahomes
49ers - Jimmy Garoppolo
Packers - Aaron Rodgers
Rams - Matt Stafford
Bucs - Tom Brady
6 of the 8 teams are/were led by 6 of the best QB's currently in the NFL. When it comes down to it, great to elite QB play is the competitive advantage.
All have great QBs (except SF) and the 4 left also have premium WRs in Chase, Deebo, Kupp and Hill.
And then when that offense is successful you bring in a new OC with a new scheme. Doesn't work.
Can't make chicken soup out of chicken shit
Proof - the past 10 years of Giant football
Reid
Pederson
Kubiak
Carroll (dc)
Harbaugh (st)
Coughlin (was only briefly a coordinator at Syracuse pre-BC and pre-NFL)
McCarthy
Payton
Tomlin (dc)
So yes, offensive head coaches do tend to fill more of the list but not to the point of closing your mind of alternatives or else you'd have not hired some of the best coaching hires in the last couple decades (Carroll and Tomlin especially).
Belichek and Parcells were obviously defensive coaches too which can't be ignored since they are 2 of the best coaches in the modern SB era.
I don't think anyone would be disappointed to hire the next Tomlin or Carroll, and since Flores is the candidate with the defensive background threads like these are intended to sideswipe it's meaningful to note he actually has some similarities to both Tomlin and Carroll. Pete Carroll's NFL record pre-NE was very similar to Flores'. His first 3 years were actually 6 wins, 10 wins, 9 wins, which is almost identical to Flores.
Is he as good of a leader as Pete Carroll? Can he similarly build strong staffs around himself?
Does he have the toughness and competence of Tomlin? Or is he really just difficult?
Those are the questions schoen has to answer and he's wouldn't be doing himself any favors by just x'ing out candidates because they didn't come up on the offensive side of the game.
Kyle Shanahan had wonderful success in TWO different OC jobs before he got the SF position.
Sean McVay is an anomaly. You could hire 1,000 guys before you find someone with his immediate success as a head coach.
Zac Taylor? That offense was horrendous before Joe Burrow came along.
Matt LaFleur? He’s coaching the best or second best regular season QB in the sport’s history. Forgive me if I don’t go crazy over his coaching acumen.
Bruce Arians is a proven offensive mind, but he also is dealing with perhaps the most talented offensive roster in the sport.
Brian Daboll is in his fourth different OC job. Before he got his hands on one of the greatest physical talents to ever play QB, Daboll’s offenses have consistently STUNK.
HC's are basically managers of the game and their coordinators. Also need to be a voice of the team and to keep team chemistry and focus intact.
We all should really be paying more attention to the OC hire then the HC.
Kyle Shanahan had wonderful success in TWO different OC jobs before he got the SF position.
Sean McVay is an anomaly. You could hire 1,000 guys before you find someone with his immediate success as a head coach.
Zac Taylor? That offense was horrendous before Joe Burrow came along.
Matt LaFleur? He’s coaching the best or second best regular season QB in the sport’s history. Forgive me if I don’t go crazy over his coaching acumen.
Bruce Arians is a proven offensive mind, but he also is dealing with perhaps the most talented offensive roster in the sport.
Brian Daboll is in his fourth different OC job. Before he got his hands on one of the greatest physical talents to ever play QB, Daboll’s offenses have consistently STUNK.
One could easily make the case his offense over achieved in previous spots some years with the personnel he was given.
Daboll's starting QBs: Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson, Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace (2009-2010 all with Cleveland), Matt Moore, Chad Henne (2011 with Miami), Matt Cassell, Brady Quinn (2012 Chiefs).
The players always dictate gow successful you are in football as a coach. Because they play the game.
The Bengals are there because of Burrow.
They've had decent defenses before and done nothing.
If the HC oversees the O then you'll have consistent leadership and scheme on O. Which is important
can interfere with or scare away a good offensive coordinator who wants to run his own show.
Joe Judge could have been an ideal head coach for a good OC who didn't need any hand-holding. But he was not able to fix Jason Garrett's offense.