Students Of Success

Steve Mariucci was fired last week week as coach of the Detroit Lions. While this was clearly a panic move by a cluesless Matt Millen, Mooch was just the first of several Head Coaches that will not survive the aftermath of the 2005 season. That in mind, lets take a look at some current NFL HC’s that should be updating their resumes and how it relates to handicapping the final four games of the season.

Mike Mularkey: Buffalo Bills

Zooms to number one with a bullet after Buffalo’s unbelievable fourth-quarter meltdown at Miami. Mularkey had been given a vote of confidence by Bill ownership during the week but that probably went south with each of the Dolphin’s three scores in th final 11:35 at Pro Player Stadium.

Mularkey certainly deserves some latitude as he was forced to play JP Losman at quarterback when the second year man from Tulane was clearly not ready. The Bills defense has been hit hard by injuries and seemingly has been unable to make a stop since Takeo Spikes wnt down.

Buffalo has been a horrendous road team of late which until this year was attributed to drew Bledsoe’s lack of production away from Ralph Wilson Stadium. Prior to Sunday, the Bills were 0-5 on the road, losing by an average of 18.4 pp. The Dolphin loss is clearly on Mularkey as the Bills final eleven Buffalo possessions resulted in ten punts and a pick. A division loss of this magnitude at this time of the year is unforgiveable.

Job Status: History

Norv Turner: Oakland Raiders

The Raider’s overall pathetic effort in front of a National TV audience pretty much sealed the deal for this offensive “Guru”. Even a win over the hated Broncos and Mike Shanahan (no shot) would give this lifetime offensive coordinator a reprieve.

Turner should never have been a head coach to begin with never mind getting a second go around in Oakland. Turner was never Davis’ choice to begin and was hired solely to save face after their first three choices, most notably Cowboy QB coach and Parcell disciple Sean Payton, turned down the job.

It’s been two years of the old same ‘ole, same ‘ole in Oakland. The Raider offense has been addressed over the past two years with little effect. Robert Gallery, the franchise 15 year left tackle from Iowa taken second overall, has been hurt from the outset. Lamont Jordan has produced when given the opportunity but Oakland has been slow to incorperate him in the offense at all never mind giving hime the ball 30 times a game. The games biggest offseason acquisition Randy Moss has also been hurt and veteran QB Kerry Collins is having his worst year as a professional under Turner.

Like the swallows in Capistrano, the vultures of Finley , and the lemmings of wherever - the Raiders are once again in the top three in the NFL in penalties.

Job Status: Toast

Dom Capers: Houston Texans

Last week Houston gave up ten points in the final 26 seconds before finally losing to the Rams on overtime. Capers called it the worse loss in all his years in football. Sunday, the Texans were actually decent for 58 minutes annd 52 seconds. Then they let Kyle Boller drive 67 yards in 1:02 to set up a Matt Sover winning FG with six seconds left.

As part of the management team that put the franchise together, Capers clearly desrves the axe. Tony Boselli was damaged goods from the git and not only cost the Texans not only the first pick in the expansion draft but also more than 20 million in bonus and cap money. Only one player from the initial expansion draft was still on the roster in the Texans third year.

David Carr has not progressed to the next level. Well yeah, he gets stapled to stadium turf six to eight times a week every Sunday and has probably lost 20 years of his life expectancy from the punishment. Unless deficiencies in the offensive line are addressed, Matt Lineart and Reggie Bush together won’t make any difference in the Texan’s future.

Several difficult decision’s need to be made in the off-season. One of them won’t be whether or not to keep Dom Capers

Job Status: Footnote in next year’s opening day program

On Wednesday and Friday I will post Coaches on the Hotseat Parts II and III featuring Dick Juaron, Mike Martz, Mike Sherman, Brian Billick, Mike Tice, Joe Gibbs, and Jim Haslett. Don’t miss them.

Jeff Allen is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com/Jeff_Allen.htm