2014 NFL Season

[Senator Clay Davis]

Jon Gruden is hardly a defensive coach. That's why Tampa traded for him after Dungy, so he could get their offense to the level needed to win the Super Bowl. In fact Gruden has only ever coached offense in the NFL. The ESPN deal is leverage of course to get the biggest deal/most control possible. Doesn't mean he wants to leave ESPN, just that it's a really nice chip to have in negotiations.

[GirlySports]

ah i stand corrected, always thought he was a DC.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by chummer

It was the right call, he's a dirty player with a history.

I think so too, but does it even get reviewed if he stomped on any other player?

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Orton has retired....again.

What a strange guy. Probably played well enough this year to get a shot with a team looking for a QB next summer.

He was great in Denver when the Broncos weren't behind. The moment they got in a hole he folded like a cheap tent.

[browna]

A lot of these permissions are prelim work for teams looking for a coach to take a look at staff of teams with byes next week. Dan Quinn the DC of Seattle has a few lined up as well. Or, those teams want to simply refine their interview process, not really being serious about the particular guy, before having to talk to a bunch of guys when everyone's available.

If teams don't get to talk to them this week, it can't be until after they are eliminated, which in some team's cases could be over a month away still.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Jon Gruden is hardly a defensive coach. That's why Tampa traded for him after Dungy, so he could get their offense to the level needed to win the Super Bowl. In fact Gruden has only ever coached offense in the NFL. The ESPN deal is leverage of course to get the biggest deal/most control possible. Doesn't mean he wants to leave ESPN, just that it's a really nice chip to have in negotiations.

Apparently he's viewed as a god in Oakland....would this make them hate him? I don't much about the 49ers/Raiders rivalry (if any).

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Apparently he's viewed as a god in Oakland....would this make them hate him? I don't much about the 49ers/Raiders rivalry (if any).

The answer is...maybe.

Only because the Raiders are looking for a head coach of their own and the fan base may turn on Gruden if it looks like he picked the 49ers over the Raiders.

And Gruden started with the 49ers - he was an assistant to QB Coach Mike Holmgren in 1990. Not a bad job being a QB coach to Montana and Young.

The press and fans are ripping Jed York a new one today. It is going to be VERY uncomfortable at 49ers head office for a while. Unless a new coach comes in and immediately has success, it could get ugly.

JY: Winning isn’t the only thing matters. Winning with class is what matters.

Were you not winning with class?

JY: I mean, are you not going to blast us for off-the-field stuff for the past three or four years?

Was that Jim Harbaugh’s fault?

JY: Collectively, it was all of our fault.

So why weren’t there more heads rolling other than Jim Harbaugh’s. Shouldn’t Trent Baalke have been held accountable and a mutual parting of ways with him?

JY: I think Trent and I are philosophically aligned on what we want to do with this team.

So winning with class is a huge thing. You mentioned it yesterday, you mentioned it again today. So we’re getting, maybe, closer to the smoking gun. This is a problem you had with the Harbaugh era?

JY: No, this isn’t on Jim. This is on the collective group of us. It’s equally on me, Jim and Trent.

So why was Jim the one to pay the price?

JY: He wasn’t the one to pay the price for that. This is something that we need to concentrate on and focus on as we move forward.

Man, I’m having trouble coming to grips … A listener sent me a quote from a Bill Walsh book … (Bill Walsh said): The bottom line in professional sports is winning. Everything has to focus on that product: Winning football games. Other offshoots mean little compared to being successful on the playing field. That’s exactly what Bill Walsh wrote, the guy you cited in yesterday’s press conference. You guys were winning at a historic clip and you’ve chosen to go the other way. How can you justify that?

JY: I mean you’ve asked me that, like, 17 times already. This was a mutual decision between Jim and I. I don’t know what else to tell you. If you refuse to believe that I can’t help you. I don’t know what else to say. This wasn’t an easy decision for me. This wasn’t an easy decision for Jim.

http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2014/12...-what-matters/

Someone give Jed York another stadium to build because he sure doesn't seem like he doesn't know how to run a football team.

I'm resigned to another 5-8 years of futility.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

The answer is...maybe.

Only because the Raiders are looking for a head coach of their own and the fan base may turn on Gruden if it looks like he picked the 49ers over the Raiders.

And Gruden started with the 49ers - he was an assistant to QB Coach Mike Holmgren in 1990. Not a bad job being a QB coach to Montana and Young.

The press and fans are ripping Jed York a new one today. It is going to be VERY uncomfortable at 49ers head office for a while. Unless a new coach comes in and immediately has success, it could get ugly.


http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2014/12...-what-matters/

Someone give Jed York another stadium to build because he sure doesn't seem like he doesn't know how to run a football team.

I'm resigned to another 5-8 years of futility.

"Win with class" immediately makes you wonder about the Aldon Smith and Ray McDonald stuff...one side wanted them likely to play, the other side wanted them not to play, given their pending legal troubles.

Not to do with "class" but you wonder who really made the Smith/Kaepernick decision back when, and if that was the root of the issue. And now of course, Kaepernick most likely going forward is a project for whatever new coach.

Bottom line I think is that Harbaugh wanted more roster control, and now that it's clear that the GM was aligned with the owner, didn't want him to have that. Toss in the fact Harbaugh had other options, and that his intense style didn't seem to rub off on players 4 years later, and, that style and ego from the success probably didn't please his bosses, and the mutual partnership had to end.

As much as the media wants to pry and dig and get a quote from York to sensationalize it, the stubborn GM/owner vs the stubborn and intense and demanding coach, had to have one winner.

Probably happens a lot, the odd part here, of course, that the team had success obviously so there's more questions to be asked as is happening...beating Seattle one more time last year would've had them in the SB again (NFC championship or if they beat Seattle at home in the reg season, I think SF wins the NFC championship at home), and beating them this year on US thanksgiving would've had them play different from that point on and possibly push to a wildcard at least.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The Harbaugh situation was a power struggle and for whatever reason Baalke and York believe they are more important than Harbaugh. I mean there is only one coach in the league who has gone better than 44-19-1 since 2011, and that's Belichick (Denver has too but obviously I can't put Peyton Manning as coach....can I?). It's just an utterly puzzling move, even more puzzling when you look at some of their potential interview candidates.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

The Harbaugh situation was a power struggle and for whatever reason Baalke and York believe they are more important than Harbaugh. I mean there is only one coach in the league who has gone better than 44-19-1 since 2011, and that's Belichick (Denver has too but obviously I can't put Peyton Manning as coach....can I?). It's just an utterly puzzling move, even more puzzling when you look at some of their potential interview candidates.

Well what coaches are going to live up to those expectations that Harbaugh delivered on (3 NFCC games), but York clumsily said yesterday weren't quite good enough? It was a power struggle and the owner in always going to win over a coach, and if they have fundamental disgreements over rosters or ethics, no way the coach wins. Harbaugh could've easily been gone last year if the trade rumor was accurate.

Raiders job is more attractive in the Bay Area (if you call Santa Clara the bay area, and, notwithstanding the horrible stadium in Oakland), nowhere to go but up.


On another note, Suh's appeal was successful; he'll get fined but will play this weekend vs Dallas.

Also, Rodgers said he thought he tore his achilles, which is why he was down for so long.

[transplant99]

Rodgers unsure how he will feel come the playoff game....thank god they have the bye this week or its almost assured they would have been one and done and still may be.

"I'm going to want to get some on-the-field reps starting next week when we get into our preparation when we figure out who our opponent is," Rodgers said on his show. "So I'm going to need to be on the field doing that, but it's a significant injury so you can't really say either way what percentage it's going to be in the game. I just don't know. But I hope it's going to be feeling better than it was this weekend."

[transplant99]

Also....Im a massive Rodgers fan, but what JJ Watt ended up doing this year has me believing he may deserve MVP.

J.J. Watt in 2014: 20.5 sacks, nine batted passes, four forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, an interception, a safety, two defensive touchdowns and three offensive touchdowns.

[DropIt]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Promote Fangio and hire Trestman as OC would make sense.

Unless he changed his mind, Trestman wasnt interested in anything except a head coaching job in the NFL

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Also....Im a massive Rodgers fan, but what JJ Watt ended up doing this year has me believing he may deserve MVP.

Watt was awesome for sure. I agree that he was the most outstanding player in the NFL. But a quarterback has to win the MVP award. Trade Luck to Houston for Watt and the Texans win that Division.

[DropIt]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Promote Fangio and hire Trestman as OC would make sense.

Unless he changed his mind, Trestman wasnt interested in anything except a head coaching job in the NFL

[habernac]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2014...were-numb-cold

my feet were numb. They bought this? Come on...

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Watt was awesome for sure. I agree that he was the most outstanding player in the NFL. But a quarterback has to win the MVP award. Trade Luck to Houston for Watt and the Texans win that Division.

Then they need to rename the award if only a QB can win the award.

I understand what you are saying; Peter King discussed the dilemma in MMQB on Monday. There are a handful of QBs who had monster years. 11 QBs had over 4000+ yards passing. Romo missed a game and still threw more TDs than Brady, and Romo and Brady both only had 4 ints.

Stats don't tell you everything, but they do say that there were a bunch of really good starting QBs.

I just think Watt was FAR better than anyone else playing defense. The difference between Rodgers and the rest wasn't near as great.

Maybe the CFL has it right - it shouldn't be the Most VALUABLE Player. That limits it ti the most valuable position. The Most Outstanding Player better allows more positions and players to be considered.

[Bar-Down]

Originally Posted by DropIt

Unless he changed his mind, Trestman wasnt interested in anything except a head coaching job in the NFL

I guess he will be without a job then.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

What Watt did this year hasn't really been seen in the history of the NFL, or at least since the days of leather helmets. Rodgers had a good year, but so did a handful of other QBs. If Watt doesn't win MVP this year a defensive player will never win the award again.

[Senator Clay Davis]

JJ Watt was very good to be sure, but Aaron Rodgers wins because Aaron Rodgers on the Texans without JJ Watt is 12-4 at least. JJ Watt on the Packers without Aaron Rodgers is probably 6-10 at best. Aaron Rodgers is like LeBron at this point, writers are gonna look for reasons to not give him MVP because they pretty much can every single year.