can you name a defensive-minded coach that *hasn't* switched to his bread-and-butter? look at capers - changes to the 3-4 everywhere he goes; wade phillips, same thing. monte kiffin went to the university of tennessee and... is running the cover 2. all speculation at this point, of course - who knows? but, imo, this is like arguing 4 years ago that there was no guanratee kubiak would bring the ZBS to houston. coaches - all of them - are creatures of habit. we're not talking about them hiring bill belicheck. this is bill cowher, a 3-4 proponent. it'd be bad to switch to a scheme that marginalizes your best (and most expensive) DE.
right-o! thanks for further proving my point. teams that had been forever stuck in purgatory can, just like that, snap of the fingers, turn it around. asking kubiak, or any coach, to do so over a 4 year period, then, shouldn't seem like it's asking too much. the point is, you could have a winless team, like the Lions last year, and any new coach coming into the situation should have 4 years to reach some goal. for the most part, i'd say that goal would be to, at a minimum, have a winning season, but more-so make the playoffs, and show signs of likely improvement beyond that. the decision with kubiak is tough, because he's a local guy, who people like, he is media friendly, he isn't annoying or inflammatory in any way, and most importantly, seems to be doing a lot of things right. BUT, 8-8, followed by 8-8, followed by [9]-[7], or fill in the blank with whatever we finish at, assuming out of the playoffs...means you're stuck in neutral, not moving in the right direction.
Wade Phillips also has had immediate success everywhere he went, making the playoffs in the first year with every team he's taken over. He didn't take his team backwards and rebuild the defense for 2-3 years to make his changes. But there wasn't a good running game in Houston, so it didn't matter. If the Texans had the Vikings running game in place, it's doubtful he would have told Adrian Peterson to change the way he runs. You change the things that are weak. We're also talking about Bill Cowher, hall of fame coach. My guess is that he's probably a guy who can figure out how to maximize the talent he has. What about one that maximizes the strength of your team, the two great linebackers? Maybe mixing in different ideas would help get the most out of Mario, who's having a fairly subpar season (for him). Ultimately, I'm going to trust that Bill Cowher would either (1) maximize the talent on the roster - particularly on the defensive side or (2) not take the job if he felt he'd have to turn the roster over to make it work.
Tomlin hasn't won two titles. He won one last year. The previous one in 2005 was Cowher. Not quite end of discussion.
And Tomlin won with a team that was built with Bill Cowher. I wouldn't give him to much credit for it.
So why do you think that a team that took a decade to start winning did it in a "snap of the fingers" as opposed to it taking that decade?
Disclaimer: I am not a football expert, when it comes to schemes and all that. With that being said, why does everyone think Mario would suck in a 3-4? The Steelers still have outside rushing lineman that made a difference in their system. Isn't Mario kinda big and fast? I guess folks think he is too big?
Gee wiz man are you high?? Are you watching this team?? They are not growing incrementally -- they are stuck on mediocre. It is plain to see that Kubiak lacks the intangibles to get a team "over the top". Effective coaches show an incline year end and year out - Kubiak is flat lining. Every week its the same hit and miss crap and we're on year 4 with Kubes. I see the same mistakes and shortcomings so much I feel like Im in "Groundhog Day" I'm sorry, the only thing that matters is the W or the L. No franchise in history has gone this long without a winning record - except the Texans. And if you think the Texans are going 9-7 or better, you probably have a better chance winning a scratch off lottery.
i'm not arguing a new coach/scheme would take 2-3 years to rebuild - that's Hillboy. i'm arguing it's a remarkably safe bet that cowher, wherever he goes, will implement the 3-4 scheme. among the overhauls he'd likely perform with the texans, that would rank second on my list or worries behind having to rebuild the OL. i DO think the defense would take a step back initially - pretty standard. they did it this year adjusting to bush's scheme and it was founded on the previous scheme. and it would concern me mario would be wasted in a 3-4; he can't play OLB. if kubiak had inherited adrain peterson, eric dickerson and gayle sayers, he would have implemented the ZBS. coaches coach what they know; they're creatures of habit. i've scarcely heard of a coach chucking his system/philosophy/scheme. it just doesn't happen.
Agreed, even on the national games part. I can name three right now: home against the Titans, at Indy, and home against Dallas.
Wow, a lot of you guys are overrating a switch from 4-3 to 3-4. Teams have done this many times before. Just look at the Packers with Capers. Their defense actually got better. This can work with the Texans. We can even go Cowboys style and move Mario to a LB.
The 4-3/3-4 thing is really getting overplayed. ESPECIALLY when our front 4 on the whole is giving us subpar results. Bottom half in the league in generating sacks, pathetic stopping the run, not a single one is getting tackles (Mario is #8, trailing every other position on defense). This D-Line has to get overhauled anyway. Basic choice, Find 3 upgrades to put along the line, or go all out after a nose tackle and try to convert Mario to an 3-4 end. I'll take that second choice. And as far as neutralizing Mario, our crap linemen are doing a great job of that as it is. 4 sacks this year. Total. 3.6 tackles a game. If (and it is a big if) the team can make a trade on draft day and land a big to slap in the center, the job is over half done. It's possible - teams like the Bills would love to swap high picks this coming draft for the following (rookie cap exceedingly likely), with sweetners added. Make the big expensive splash on Cowher, and follow that up with big, expensive moves for a nose tackle and safety. Evan
I think its unrealistic to say a HOF caliber head coach is not going to use the personnel given to him in the best way possible. Rookie head coach who only knows one thing? Yes. But a guy who's coached 15 years and won all the time knows how to take different personnel and maximize what you can get out of them. I disagree. Coaches are a lot more flexible than you give them credit for. They know how to stick with what works. They might shift philosophies over time, but they aren't going to take something that works well and implement a change when they don't have the proper personnel to do it because they are smart enough to know it won't work well. If if people on Clutchfans know it won't work, then they certainly do. I look at it this way. Either the change will take the team a step backwards or not. If it won't, then who cares if they make the change. If it does, they aren't going to do it because every coach wants to win now.
Eh Major, I' with Ric on this. I'd say it's 99% that Cowher puts in a 3-4 wherever he goes, either right away, or transitions over a short period of time. You bring him in you know that Mario is not going to be a 4-3 end anymore. My response to that though is that if Cowher believes he can come here and win by moving Mario, why should we be afraid of that? It isn't like we are winning big or dominating on defense with Mario in a 4-3.
I just find it hard to believe a new coach will come in and do something that intentionally and knowingly sidelines your #1 pick that's earning a ton of money and is one of your better defensive players. I think if Cowher didn't think he could make use of the talent on the roster, he wouldn't be really excited about this job because that is not going to go over well with the owner who has to pay Mario all that money. It seems to me that Cowher could figure how to use Mario Williams effectively. That I totally agree with. The two concerns seem to be the front four on defense and the ZBS - but neither are strengths of this team right now, so why is there so much concern there?
