The Giants did not beat the Patriots twice that year - that would mean the Patriots did not go 16-0 in the regular season. They played them tough, but lost. So you're going to pick the 16-0 record breaking offense season, loss in the SB as the non-stellar part of Bill's track record? I hate that Pats and the Giants, but give credit where credit is due - the Giants had a pretty damn good defense to bother Brady and David Tyree made a god-assisted catch to help them win that game.
I don't entirely get the question. Is he talking about hiring one of the head coaches currently in the playoffs assuming they were available or their credentials when they were hired by their current team? Assuming the latter, and the qualifications of NFL and Head Coaching experience, AFC: Fox - check Belichick - check Lewis - no HC experience Pagano - no HC experience Reid - check McCoy - no HC experience NFC: Carroll - check Rivera - no HC experience Kelly - no NFL experience McCarthy - no HC experience Harbaugh - check Peyton - no HC experience So out of the group that didn't fit McNair's criteria, the only ones I'd have any heartburn about missing would be Kelly/McCarthy/Peyton. If they were ever fired, they'd meet McNair's criteria and would probably get an interview, wouldn't you think?
It didn't hurt that Brady had a bum ankle and was significantly less mobile than even his usual level. I'm a Pats hater by the way.
The question wasn't a criticism, more of wanting to get a real explanation. I know it's crazy, but in most cities the media actually probes for information.
He was asking why didn't McNair broaden his search to include coordinators with no HC experience or college coaches with no NFL experience in light of the fact that most of the coaches in the playoffs fit into one of those categories (at the time they were hired) but not McNair's criteria of needing to have both.
So per my quick list, 7 of the 12 playoff coaches wouldn't meet the criteria (at the time they were hired). Of those 7, only 3 are ones I'd be upset about passing over for an interview. Do you agree? I think it is Matt being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian (something he does often on the radio). I fail to see a reason to get upset with the stated criteria using the samples of this year's playoff coaches.
Bits and pieces: Rick Smith: You have to adjust, be innovative, have flexibility, that happens from game to game and over the course of a season. You gotta be able to do that. Accountability and toughness. You gotta have toughness to finish football games. Finally, a teacher. Gotta have coaches that are teachers because you have to rely on young players making significant contributions to your team. You gotta have charisma and personality. Everyone I talked to talked about his character - how honest and hard working he is. He is a man we will all appreciate and proud to call our football coach. Bill O'Brien: System you plan to run and keeping any coaches here? Coaching staff - we'll evaluate the whole process and talk to the coaches that were here in 2013. We'll start tomorrow. I'll meet with everyone. System, offensively, I would describe it as a game-plan system. You have to have a different game-plan every week. It'll be adaptable and flexible and the players will enjoy playing in. Defensively, right now about 70% of the games are played in nickel and dime. We'll evaluate the personnel on the team and adapt the system to the players we bring in. ... ... Attributes in your QB and do you have a preference of veteran or a rookie? We've started some of these discussions but very preliminary. At every position, we want a good team guy, a guy that is a hard worker, physically and mentally tough, smart guy, no matter the position. To me, it's a guy that understands the team concept. It's not about individual stats or performances. ... ... Your power say? Rick: The balance of power is very similar to...we'll work together hand in hand. We'll make decisions in the best interest of our football team. I'm confident I'll work well with this guy. Bill: I'm a coach. My passion is coaching football and coaching the team. I'm going to be a part of helping put the team together. I feel I'm a pretty good teammate. I'm looking forward to working with Rick and putting together a competitive football team. I can't wait to get started. ... ... Brady incident on the sidelines? Come on now. It's a competitive sport. Tom Brady is a great friend, great teammate, fantastic player, just a really good guy to coach. These things happen. There was a camera on it. What people don't understand about that, 30 seconds after it was over, we were sitting together looking at the pictures getting ready for the potential OT. It had a chance to go into OT. That quickly passed. ... What are you looking for in the guys that will form your staff? I'll sit down with every member of the Texans staff tomorrow. It'll be a long day. That'll be good, for me and for them. We'll go from there. We'll put together a staff of great teachers, demanding coaches, coaches that hold their players accountable for good play, coaches that have a passion for football, good family men that understand sometimes it's important to go home, I think that's important. We'll have a good staff. Put any feelers out (to anyone outside the organization)? First task is to meet with everyone on this staff. That's where we're headed. Is this a quick turnaround? I think this is a football team, having just gotten here, but listening to Rick and Mr. McNair and Cal, there are a lot of pieces in place here. It's all about hard work. Quick turnaround, rebuilding, I'm not into labels. You have to get to work. You have to have a group of guys that participate in the off-season program as a team, come back for mini-camp and training camp in great shape and get ready for a long season and take it one game and one day at a time. In this league, the goal is to make the playoffs, and that'll be our goal every year and then once you get in, you got a shot. About the process and your criteria, 9 of the 12 coaches in the playoffs, based on your criteria, you wouldn't have interviewed. Didn't have NFL or head coach experience at the time. Why that, as opposed to leaving it more open ended and allowing some coaches in the playoffs to interview? I think Jim Harbaugh had experience, hadn't he? Not NFL coaching experience. The criteria was established based on the fact that NFL is different from the collegiate scene. That's why we wanted NFL experience. In terms of being a head coach vs. coordinator, if you look at the record, coordinators have failed much more than they have succeeded. Like 40% or so have made it as opposed to those who have been head coaches. The stats back up what we were doing but there was a reason for doing it and that is, if you move from being a coordinator to head coach, it's a different position. It's not just being a coach. You're the CEO and you have to make tough decisions about who's gonna be on your staff, on the team, a lot of these decisions are difficult. Some coaches who have been players and then become coaches are still thinking as a player or as a coach rather than a leader of the organization and they have trouble making difficult decisions. We wanted someone who shown they can make difficult decisions and in the case of Bill, he had done that. That was the reasoning behind that and he met all of our criteria. Rick: We did not limit ourselves. We interviewed guys who would have done a great job. We feel like this man beside me is the guy to lead us into the future. We felt great about him when we sat down, we felt great when we researched him. We were exhaustive in our process and happy we got this guy as our head football coach. ... ... ...
Pretty much. Peyton and McCarthy are the no brainers on that list. Kelly and Rivera are too soon to tell. FWIW, Matt brought up Jim Harbaugh and McNair challenged him on that. Jim did spend one year as a QB coach in Oakland so I guess that counts as NFL coaching experience. It was a notable question because it was the only one that seemed to be throwing some kind of challenge at McNair, Smith, or O'Brien. But like somebody mentioned earlier, McNair seemed to be caught off guard and a little annoyed early but then seemed to enjoy explaining his reasoning as he went further into the answer. It was basically that while there may be some college HCs and coordinators in the playoffs now, on the the whole, coordinators don't pan out as much as coaches who have had previous HC experience. McNair's figure, that he wasn't too sure of, was that only around 40% of coordinators that become first time HC's end up succeeding. He went on to explain that it's different being a HC. You're going from coaching offense or defense to being a CEO of an entire team. Not everyone knows how to handle the new role and the added responsibility.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Bill O'Brien speaks after being named Head Coach of the <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonTexans">@HoustonTexans</a>. WATCH: <a href="http://t.co/uVm07KtnNJ">http://t.co/uVm07KtnNJ</a></p>— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) <a href="https://twitter.com/nflnetwork/statuses/419184231156166656">January 3, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I stand corrected! He was QB coach, I believe in '07. Still, as OC in 2011 the Pats offense averaged 32 pts per game in the regular season. They did fail to score in the 4th quarter of the SB against the Giants, but the Giants again played clutch that game. I'll take that as a downside to his record.
John and Lance (not that John!) break down the press conference: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QMOSyxaw0BA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
from that minute 30 clip of describing who we need at any position, i really do think he's hinting at bridgewater
