Reboot

Some teams are starting over for reals.  Some started early by firing their head coaches during the season but the Rams went a step further by firing both their head coach and general manager, Steve Spagnuolo and Billy Devaney.  It’s unclear if Spagnuolo’s 10-38-0 record in St. Louis satisfies the fine print in his deal with the Devil (that wasn’t the hand of God pinning that football to David Tyree’s helmet) so future employers should beware.  This move puts St. Louis in the chase for Jeff Fisher, his awesome mustache and his hit man sunglasses.  Fisher’s sunglasses have been tied to Indianapolis, Miami and Tampa Bay.  Jacksonville?  Not so much.

The house-cleaning in St. Louis also clears the way for offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to move on to Kansas City where he will be reunited with GM Scott Pioli and QB Matt Cassel.  McDaniel is the too obvious choice to join Romeo Crennel as OC/assistant head coach if (still officially an if) Crennel is named as non-interim head coach for the Chiefs.

Aren’t we all day to day?

By the way, given how owners dispense head coaches like used Chiclets, why bother with the “interim” term?  Aren’t all NFL coaches a 2-14-0 year away from being interim?

Where was I?

If McDaniels does join the KC staff, I’ll pencil in the Chiefs as early favorites to return to the playoffs in 2012.  McDaniels and Cassel had some good times in New England.  Kansas City could trade Kyle Orton to a QB-needy team for a player or an extra draft pick.  They’ll get RB Jamaal Charles and TE Tony Moeaki back on offense, and safety Eric Berry on defense; how much better do they need to get in a division that sent an 8-8-0 team to the playoffs in 2011?

As for St. Louis, I’ll pencil them in for last place in the NFC West.  New GM + new head coach + QB Sam Bradford working with his third offensive coordinator in three years = whatever the opposite of awesome is.

Two Tales of One City

The Giants are in the playoffs but not for long; I’ve got the Falcons winning in the Wild Card round.  Still, the Giants are in the playoffs, which is something that cannot be said for the Jets.   The NYJ hope somebody (Jacksonville?) wasn’t paying attention and will hire away beleaguered, besieged and apparently bewildered offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.  If that doesn’t happen, would firing QB coach Matt Cavanaugh really be enough?

Yeah, I don’t think so.  The Jets fell apart down the stretch.  Fell apart?  They exploded like a grenade in a toilet.  (Pardon me while I savor this salty-sweet spoonful of delicious schadenfreude… and this… and this… and – No.  No really, thanks but I couldn’t eat anything more.)  It’s hard to ignore the notion that Rex Ryan has lost the team.  A tearful “I love you man” from Ryan and an off-season course of chemo for Santonio Holmes is going to put the Jets back on track for the Super Bowl?

Yeah, okay, sure.

Who knows?  Maybe they will trade for Peyton Manning…

Rubbernecking

Watching the Colts blow themselves up has been like a second Christmas for Patriots fans.  Well, for me for sure.  VP Bill and GM Chris Polian are gone and just about everyone else in the organization has got to be spell-checking their curriculum vitae right about now (I’m looking at you Jim Caldwell).  It makes sense to get rid of the architects of a roster that could not recover from the loss of Peyton Manning.  It wasn’t that long ago the Patriots lost Tom Brady and nearly made the playoffs.  It was just two days ago Aaron Rodgers backup, Matt Flynn, threw for 480 yards and 6 touchdowns in a season-ending win.  So, you know, it can be done. 

Drafting Andrew Luck and trading Peyton Manning now starts to look like a very real possibility – as do double-digit losses in 2012.  It’s a tough call.  Is Andrew Luck the next John Elway?  Maybe, maybe not, but for sure the Colts are not rebuilding around Manning.  The more important questions are (a) how many teams are willing to mortgage their future for a short-term lease on Manning and (b) what do they have for collateral?  Even if he wasn’t zombie Manning, he’d still be starting his 15^th season in the NFL coming off a year where he didn’t throw a single pass.  Carson Palmer is hardly a reasonable benchmark for Manning but the consensus was the Raiders wildly overpaid for Palmer, giving up a 1^st and a conditional 2^nd, which could become a 1^st if the Raiders get to the AFC championship this year – oops! – or next. 

New Colts GM: The Raiders gave a 1^st and a 2^nd for Palmer; really two 1^st rounders if you think about it.  You know Manning is better than Palmer.  So, I was thinking –

Trading Partner GM: The Raiders are insane.  Personally, I’d like to see if you’re going to win more than six games with Andrew Luck on the books for $25 mil to hold a clipboard while Peyton is playing behind a leaky offensive line and your defense is giving up 27 points a game.