Head Coach Ranking

New York Jets Coaching Staff Could Have Some Family Friction

By HCR Staff | Feb. 11, 2019

After an NFL team hires a new head coach, it’s always interesting to see how the newly hired head coach fills out his staff. In the case of Adam Gase and the New York Jets, the unveiling of the 2019 coaching staff could be just the beginning of an ongoing drama that the New York media will devour.

As Rich Cimini of ESPN pointed out, Gase’s defensive staff comes with some built-in friction.

Gase brought in Gregg Williams as defensive coordinator. He also hired Joe Vitt as a senior defensive assistant. Williams and Vitt worked together on the New Orleans Saints staff that was implicated in 2012 for the “BountyGate” scandal. As Cimini reported, Williams was suspended indefinitely (ultimately 11 months); Vitt was suspended for six games – his punishment perhaps lighter because he testified against Williams.

But wait, there’s more. Gase and Williams immediately got off to a rough start when Williams pushed for the hiring of his son, Blake. Blake Williams has worked for his dad with several teams. He was the Browns linebackers coach last season and called the defensive plays when Gregg Williams took over as interim head coach the final eight weeks of the season. Gase initially told Gregg Williams that he didn’t want family members on the staff. Eventually, he relented – though Blake Williams was hired as a defensive assistant, not a position coach.

And about that “no family” policy, there’s this: Vitt is Gase’s father-in-law. So what happenes if Vitt has a difference of opinion with either Blake or Gregg Williams? How does Gase mediate that situation without causing more friction?

Adding to the potential drama, Jets VP of player personnel Brian Heimerdinger was a scout with the Rams when both Williams were coaching there. Rumor has it that Heimerdinger is not a fan of Blake Williams, perhaps stemming from an incident in which the latter reportedly screamed at a draft prospect at the combine.

Stay tuned, Jets fans. Could be a bumpy flight.

Judge Adam Gase On Performance, Not On Memes From a Press Conference

By Craig Ellenport | Jan. 15, 2019

Adam Gase became an internet sensation mere moments into his tenure as head coach of the New York Jets, but off-putting facial expressions at his introductory press conference Monday will have no bearing on how he handles the task of turning around a franchise that hasn’t been to the NFL postseason since 2010.

Just as teams have been falling over themselves this month in a rush to hire the hot young offense minds in the game, that was the case three years ago when the Miami Dolphins hired Gase. Remember, he was the offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos when they set an NFL scoring record in 2013. In his first year at the helm, he finished 10-6 and took Miami to the playoffs.

After back-to-back losing seasons, however, Gase was fired. He had compiled a 23-26 overall record in Miami. Gase turns 41 in March. He is still developing, and while he made some missteps in his first stint as a head coach, he also showed signs of being a successful leader.

Here’s what we wrote about Gase in our 2018 season preview:

“We still see much promise in Gase. But we agree that while he was a great coordinator, we still don’t know if he is a great head coach. While he did have to labor under some adversity last year, we still expected the Dolphins to perform better than they did. Since they ended up performing badly, perhaps we have overestimated Gase’s abilities as a head coach. But it’s still early in his tenure, and if Dolphins owner Stephen Ross shows a bit more patience, he may have a long-term winner in Adam Gase.”

So much for Stephen Ross’ patience. Not to make excuses for Gase, but starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill continued to have trouble staying on the field in 2018, and the overall roster Gase had at his disposal was not exactly loaded with talent. And still, his team showed flashes.

There was the Week 6 overtime victory over Chicago, in which backup QB Brock Osweiler threw for 380 yards and put up 31 points against the vaunted Bears defense. In Week 12, on the road at Indianapolis, they took a red-hot Colts team down to the wire in a 27-24 loss.

And then there was the Week 14 stunner against New England. It took a miracle play as time expired to score the winning touchdown, but that fluke play overshadowed the fact that the Dolphins had already put in a tremendous effort against their AFC East rivals just to put themselves in position for that game-ending play.

Here’s what we wrote about Gase in our game post:

“Dolphins head coach Adam Gase did an excellent job in keeping his team poised throughout the game. It is puzzling why the Dolphins cannot put forth the same effort and concentration on a more consistent basis.”

Overall, Gase finished 2018 with a Head Coach Ranking score of 6.6, which was tied for 28th. His best factor ranking was 6.8 for Personnel, which makes sense considering he dealt with several key injuries and lineup changes throughout the season.

It remains to be seen how Gase will do in his new gig. What we do know is that the Jets are getting a young coach who has a) head coaching experience; b) a track record of offensive success; and c) a couple of big victories over the best team in the division.

Oh yeah, and he’s already an internet sensation…

Assessing the Eight NFL Head Coaches That Were Fired in 2018

By HCR Staff | Jan. 3, 2019

“Black Monday,” as they call it, is a sad day in the NFL. No one in the profession likes to see another coach lose his job. When an owner makes the decision to terminate a head coach, that decision has consequences far beyond the head coach. It affects a lot of families, and even the careers of many players, as those players’ styles of play may be particularly suited to that head coach. For each team hiring a new head coach, it is a good bet that nearly 60 percent of its roster will be turned over within the next two years.

Here is our assessment of each of the eight head coaches that were terminated in 2018:

Hue Jackson, Cleveland Browns
Most coaches feel that Jackson is a good, experienced coach — deposed Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis went out of his way to extol Jackson’s virtues during his own final press conference. Our primary criticism of Jackson would be that he seems to have a penchant for creating drama whenever he receives some measure of authority. For example, when he was head coach of the Raiders, owner Al Davis passed away during Jackson’s tenure. As soon as that happened, Jackson went full “Al Haig” (for those readers under the age of 50, here’s the reference), and it was highly unbecoming. Over the last two years as head coach of the Browns, Jackson seemed to have a new gimmick every week. On one occasion, it was something about jumping into Lake Erie. On another occasion, it was about withholding the stripe decal for the players’ helmets until they accomplished something in training camp. If Jackson gets another opportunity to be a head coach, our advice would be to keep the focus on the game, as opposed to himself.

Conclusion: Turn down the drama, Hue.

Steve Wilks, Arizona Cardinals
We believe that every head coach, with few exceptions, should be given more than one year to show progress. Wilks confronted a series of obstacles that he did not create and had no control over (e.g., rookie quarterback, a general manager who was arrested and suspended, a rash of injuries, the installation of a new system that did not fit the existing personnel, etc). We obviously don’t know how Wilks would have done in a second year, but based on what we observed this year, he did appear to have a longer learning curve than others.

Conclusion: Just a few more years experience as a coordinatorbefore next head coaching job.

Vance Joseph, Denver Broncos
We definitely saw progress with Vance Joseph in 2018. In his rookie season, he made far too many errors and his team seemed unprepared on too many occasions. This year, however, we saw significant progress, and that did play out on the field as the Broncos were a tough out for some of the best teams in the league. Like many defensive-minded head coaches, however, Joseph struggled with his offensive choices. While he was shortening his learning curve as a head coach, however, for whatever reason, Broncos general manager John Elway didn’t want to wait any longer. Based on the progress that we saw, however, we believe Joseph still has room to grow as a head coach in the future.

Conclusion: Have better offensive coordinator choices available to you in your next head coaching opportunity.

Dirk Koetter, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
We have watched Koetter as a head coach at Boise State, Arizona State, and now Tampa Bay. Our conclusion is that he is a good offensive coordinator.

Conclusion: Best of luck to you in your next offensive coordinator position.

Mike McCarthy, Green Bay Packers
We strongly believe McCarthy will be a success wherever he goes next. Clearly, the relationship between McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers had changed somewhat, and perhaps, they simply had been together too long. That doesn’t mean anyone did anything wrong, but sometimes in the coaching profession, the dynamic can get a bit stale and, like anything else, needs some new energy and refreshment.

Conclusion: Simple change of scenery is all that’s needed for McCarthy.

Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals
Marvin Lewis is a terrific coach and we believe he, too, will see success if he chooses to pursue being a head coach again. Our only constructive criticism would be that his teams tended to play tight and undisciplined at the same time. Having said that, it should be emphasized that Lewis had one of the most difficult head-coaching jobs in the league working for the Brown family in Cincinnati. This is an organization that lacks resources and just does not operate like most of the other franchises (and not in a good way). We feel Lewis did an unbelievable job covering up a lot of the ills in this organization. Finally, losing Jay Gruden as an offensive coordinator was a big blow to Lewis, and Gruden’s successors simply did not measure up.

Conclusion: Like McCarthy, Lewis will succeed with a change of scenery.

Todd Bowles, New York Jets
We believe Todd Bowles has significant promise as a head coach. However, he has a couple of prominent blind spots. The first is that, like many defensive-minded head coaches, he seems to lack a direction on what he really wants out of an offense, other than to simply not screw it up. The second blind spot would be his ability to evaluate players. There was a lot of hit-and-miss during his tenure as head coach, but we are sure much of that also was the responsibility of general manager Mike Maccagnan. If Bowles were paired with a more prominent general manager than Maccagnan, we believe he has a chance to be a winning head coach.

Conclusion: Get paired with a great general manager, and stay out of his way.

Adam Gase, Miami Dolphins
Obviously, Adam Gase is a good coach. Peyton Manning is as good an authority as any of us will ever see, and he is convinced of Gase’s ability. And that’s good enough for us. So what is the problem here? Based on some of the reports we’ve seen, Gase may have a problem relating to players of a certain ilk. That’s obviously not good. Another problem may not have been Gase’s fault at all: Simply put, he may have not been ready to be a head coach. Still only 40 years old, Gase had never been in a position where he was the ultimate decision-maker prior to the Dolphins job. All we know is that his Dolphins teams exhibited wild inconsistency and puzzling lack of energy at times. That is a reflection on the head coach.

Conclusion: With just a bit more maturity and better personal relationships, Gase will be a winning head coach.

Jacksonville Jaguars 17, Miami Dolphins 7 – Dec. 23, 2018

At Miami
1:00 p.m. ET
71 degrees, clear skies

TEAM PLAY
CALLING		 PERSONNEL GAME
PLANNING		 IN-GAME
ADJ		 CLOCK
MGMT		 HCR
JAC 7 7 6 6 7 6.6
MIA 5 6 6 5 6 5.6

Key Observations:
• Both teams scored touchdowns on their opening drives. Aside from these, there was only one other offensive touchdown scored on the day. Credit to both defenses, but there was not much salient offensive play calling on either side.

• Doug Marrone made nice use of a challenge when a tackle in the backfield was reviewed and led to a defensive fumble and recovery in favor of the Jaguars. Nice communication with his staff in the booth here.

• Miami called a halfback pass on a critical third-and-4 on their final possession of the game. This was a very poor play call for this type of game-critical situation.

NFL Coach Contrarian: Thumbs Up for Some, Thumbs Down for Others

By HCR Staff | Dec. 18, 2018

When the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens last met, on Nov. 4, the Steelers emerged victorious, one reason they maintain a half-game lead over Baltimore in the AFC North with two games left in the regular season. That’s good news for Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and not-so-good news for Ravens head coach John Harbaugh – who still has the Ravens in line for a wild card berth, but could see his job in jeopardy if they don’t make it.

That said, we here at Head Coach Ranking see more positives when we look at what Harbaugh has done this season as opposed to what Tomlin has done.

In fact, here are contrarian views on seven NFL head coaches:

John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens
Notwithstanding all the talk that he may be terminated at the end of the season, Harbaugh has done a fine job thus far. He’s presided over an offense that has had to transition to a rookie quarterback with a completely different style of play than the veteran QB who began the season as starter. And he’s done this while keeping the locker room intact. Not easy.

 

Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers
Sunday’s victory over the Patriots was big, but we are not convinced that Tomlin’s quality as an in-game decision maker and strategist is on the same level as the talent available to him in the front office and on the roster. We feel the product is too inconsistent from week to week, and that is a direct consequence of Tomlin’s decision-making and game-planning.

 

Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers
Shanahan doesn’t have a good won-loss record in his first two seasons (10-20), but every coach in the league will tell you that his squad is a tough out. Shanahan has had to deal with an injury epidemic, and we look forward to seeing what he can do when he has better luck.

 

Adam Gase, Miami Dolphins
Even though Gase sits at 7-7 with a chance to make the playoffs, we feel he has underachieved relative to what was expected of him. We don’t disagree that his X’s and O’s mind is as good as any other coach in the game, but something certainly is causing the Dolphins’ lack of consistency week to week. We don’t question the effort, we simply question the energy and results. In Week 15, the Dolphins were being dominated by Minnesota until Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins threw an ill-advised pass for a pick six. Then the Dolphins’ energy picked up. Why wasn’t the same energy there at the beginning of the game?

 

Jay Gruden, Washington Redskins
Even though the Redskins lost their hold on first place in the NFC East, Gruden earns a thumbs-up from us. Similar to Shanahan, he’s had to deal with an injury epidemic during his entire tenure in Washington. We feel he is one of the best game planners in the league, and if he has better luck, the Redskins are not far away from a division title.

 

Doug Pederson, Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles got a big win on the road Sunday night against the Rams, but we still question much of Pederson’s in-game decision-making. Last season, every decision came up roses for Pederson on the way to a Super Bowl title, but that has not been the case this season. He seems to want to be all in on the analytics craze — but at the same time, he has expressed that much of his gut also goes into his decision-making. We don’t think he has a reliable formula yet, and he is taking a hit-and-miss approach to it. While the Eagles got an impressive win against the Rams, they also nearly blew a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter. We feel Peterson has benefited greatly from the experience and acumen of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. Should Schwartz get a head coaching job this offseason, it will be interesting to see how the Eagles handle such a loss.

 

Sean McDermott, Buffalo Bills
McDermott flies under the radar, and the Bills are battling just to avoid the AFC East cellar, but his team is a tough out most of the time. This is a very young squad, but one full of remarkable athletes. We see a fast, athletic and tough-minded team for 2019, particularly if rookie quarterback Josh Allen can stay healthy.

 

ABOUT HCR

Headcoachranking.com assigns a grade to the in-game performance of NFL head coaches each week.  Our knowledgeable graders analyze each head coach’s performance in 5 key areas of decision making. After determining their “HCR” (Head Coach Ranking), we rank them from best to worst. HCR rankings are posted every Tuesday of the NFL season, and fans will be able to track each coach’s performance throughout the season.

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