Head Coach Ranking

Catching Up With Some Curious Coaching Moves Around the NFL

By HCR Staff | Jan. 29, 2019

While the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams prepare for Super Bowl LIII, there’s been plenty of activity around the NFL as the other 30 teams evaluate and make adjustments to their coaching staffs. Amid all the Super Bowl hoopla, here’s a rundown of some recent activity you may have missed:

ATLANTA FALCONS:
While head coach Dan Quinn survived a disappointing season, the Falcons did fire all three of their coordinators – offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel and special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong. It would appear that this coming season will be critical for Quinn. Dirk Koetter is the new OC. Quinn takes over as DC. The new special teams coordinator is Ben Kotwica, formerly with the Washington Redskins.

BUFFALO BILLS:
The Bills fired offensive line coach Juan Castillo, which was surprising because he and head coach Sean McDermott have a long history together; they worked on Andy Reid’s staff in Philadelphia from 2001-10. Castillo took over at defensive coordinator for McDermott when McDermott was fired by Reid after the 2010 season. The Bills o-line wasn’t expected to be good and they weren’t. They had to overcome losing a pair of veterans in center Eric Wood and Pro Bowl guard Richie Incognito.

DENVER BRONCOS:
When the Broncos hired Vic Fangio as head coach, it was widely reported that Gary Kubiak — former Broncos head coach and long-time friend of team president John Elway – would become Fangio’s offensive coordinator. Then a few days after Fangio was hired, there was a change of plan. Kubiak surprisingly left Denver to take the OC job with the Minnesota Vikings. Bizarre.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS:
Speaking of bizarre, this was one of the more unexpected moves of the offseason. The Colts offensive line was arguably the most improved offensive line in football and a big reason why the team made the postseason. Yet soon after they lost to the Chiefs in the divisional playoffs, o-line coach Dave DeGuglielmo was fired. This was a surprise.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS:
Running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley, who was fired earlier this month, had been hired by Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone in 2017. Wheatley previously worked on Marrone’s staffs at Syracuse and with the Buffalo Bills. He might have been the fall guy for running back malcontent Leonard Fournette.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS:
The Vikings chose not to renew the contract of special teams coordinator Mike Priefer, who had been with the team since 2011. He is now the special teams coordinator with the Cleveland Browns.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS:
No coach spends more time with the players than the strength staff, and head strength and conditioning coach Chris Carlisle had been a staple of the team since 2010. He was hired by Pete Carroll at USC in 2009 and followed him to Seattle a year later. This is the second offseason in a row where the Seahawks have made significant changes to core members of the staff that came over from USC. Last year, they fired Kris Richard, who had been the defensive coordinator. This year, Carlisle was let go.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS:
New Bucs head coach Bruce Arians hired Todd McNair to be his running backs coach. McNair, a former NFL player who last coached in 2009 for USC, had been out of coaching since then – perhaps due to his alleged involvement in the Reggie Bush-related scandal at USC. This was a good opportunity for McNair to get back into the game – Arians was McNair’s coach back when he played at Temple.

Houston Texans 20, Jacksonville Jaguars 3 – Dec. 30, 2018

At Houston
1:00 p.m. ET
Dome

TEAM PLAY
CALLING		 PERSONNEL GAME
PLANNING		 IN-GAME
ADJ		 CLOCK
MGMT		 HCR
JAC 6 6 6 6 6 6.0
HOU 7 8 8 8 7 7.6

Key Observations:

• Jacksonville only had 119 yards of total offense and only six first downs. Blake Bortles completed 15 passes for only 89 yards in what could be his final appearance in a Jacksonville uniform.

• Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette didn’t play due to injury and was called out after the game by Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin for his lack of professionalism. Rumors are swirling that the Jaguars will move on from the player picked fourth overall in the 2017 draft.

• The Houston running game was efficient as they ended up with 134 yards on the ground and accounted for two touchdowns. Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was the main target through the air as he finished with 12 catches for 147 yards.

• The Texans clinched the AFC South and will open up the playoffs next week against division rival Indianapolis.

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.

Washington Redskins 16, Jacksonville Jaguars 13 – Dec. 16, 2018

At Jacksonville
1:00 p.m. ET
62 degrees and clear

TEAM PLAY
CALLING		 PERSONNEL GAME
PLANNING		 IN-GAME
ADJ		 CLOCK
MGMT		 HCR
WAS 8 8 8 7 6 7.4
JAC 6 6 7 7 9 7.0

Key Coaching Decision #1: (WAS ball, tied 3-3 / second-and-19, WAS 9 / 0:31 Q2)
Key Coaching Decision #2: (WAS ball, tied 3-3 / third-and-19, WAS 9 / 0:28 Q2)
• Washington was a disaster at the end of the first half. They had Jacksonville pinned back and forced the Jaguars to punt with 0:52 seconds left from their own 10-yard line. Washington wide receiver Maurice Harris muffed the punt but managed to recover on the Redskins 18-yard line. The Jaguars have all three of their timeouts, and use two of them at the start of Washington’s possession. They don’t have to use a third because Maurice Harris runs out of bounds on a completed pass from Josh Johnson. The Redskins now are forced to punt. Jaguars’ returner Dede Westbrook returns the punt 74 yards for a touchdown. Somehow the Redskins survived the disastrous end and loss of momentum to win the game.

Key Observations:
• Washington ended a four-game losing streak and is still alive in the NFC playoff race.

• Redskins QB Josh Johnson started for the first time in seven years. He was 16-of-25 for 151 yards and a touchdown pass as well as gaining 49 yards rushing. He was excellent on third down, especially down the stretch (including two big third-and-long conversions late on the game winning drive in the fourth quarter) with his legs and with his arm.

• Jacksonville has lost nine of its last 10 games.

• The Jaguars gained only 192 yards on offense. Jaguars QB Cody Kessler was sacked six times and was held to only 57 yards passing. He was, however, the team’s leading rusher with 68 yards.

Jacksonville Jaguars 6, Indianapolis Colts 0 – Dec. 2, 2018

At Jacksonville
1:00 p.m. ET

TEAM PLAY
CALLING		 PERSONNEL GAME
PLANNING		 IN-GAME
ADJ		 CLOCK
MGMT		 HCR
IND 6 6 6 5 6 5.8
JAC 6 7 7 8 7 7.0

Key Coaching Decision #1: (IND ball, no score / fourth-and-goal, JAC 1 / 12:32 Q2)
• Instead of simply kicking the field goal and taking a 3-0 lead, Indianapolis head coach Frank Reich decided to go for the touchdown. The attempt failed, and Jacksonville was able to gain some emotional momentum. We did not like this decision at all. The Colts are fighting for their playoff lives, and engaging a very good defense in a divisional road game. Any lead in a game of this type gives a team something to build on.

Key Observations:
• In the first quarter, Indianapolis faced a fourth-and-1 on its own 49-yard Line. It was a scoreless game at this point and we felt that Indianapolis head coach Frank Reich might attempt to go for it. Instead, he decided to punt, but not before lining up as if the Colts were going to run a play and then burning a timeout. We felt this was the appropriate call under the circumstances, but did not see the need to burn a timeout. The Colts could have taken a 5-yard delay of game penalty and still be in good position to pin Jacksonville deep with a punt.

• With 2:38 left in the game and the Colts trailing 6-0, the Colts faced a fourth-and-1 at Jacksonville’s 19-yard line. Reich had a couple of different options at this point. One choice was to kick the field goal, cut the deficit to 6-3 and play defense with three timeouts in his possession. His defense had been playing very well up to this point, and if he would have chosen that course of action, it was defensible. His other choice was to go for the first down, particularly since it was only one yard. This is what Reich chose to do. However, the Colts let the play clock run down and were forced to take the first of their three timeouts. We felt that since they burned a critical timeout at this juncture in the game, they would reload with their very best play option. Instead, the ensuing play resulted in a sack and Jacksonville took possession on downs. This was not a flattering scenario for Reich.

• We did not like the Colts’ offensive game plan at all. The Colts, during their winning streak, had effectively used their running game to help their pass protection. In this game, the Colts decided not to run the ball. As a result, the Colts arguably had their worst game protecting quarterback Andrew Luck.

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