It seems rather odd that all four teams which hired coaches this off-season took a flyer on first-timers. It’s odd because the NFL trend in recent years has been that coaches with experience have a higher success rate than first-timers.

Take last year, for example. Five of the seven hires were first-time head coaches. Only one of the five, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, made the playoffs. Two of them, Cam Cameron and Bobby Petrino, already are gone, and a third, Lane Kiffin, is hanging by a thread.

The two “recycled” coaches hired a year ago, however, Wade Phillips and Norv Turner, both took their teams to division titles.

And the recent Super Bowl matched a pair of recycled coaches; in fact, it was just the second Super Bowl that paired coaches who had been fired from a previous job.

Clearly, there is something to be said for experience.
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GLENDALE, Ariz. – Well, so much for all that talk about the New England Patriots as the best team in NFL history.

In the Super Bowl, New England couldn’t even beat the second-best team in the NFC East, causing wild celebrations among the book publishing set in New York City and the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who remain alone among NFL teams to complete a perfect season.

The Giants beat the Patriots, 17-14, putting an improbable end to a year that began with a coach’s job in jeopardy and a season that began with two crushing defeats. A defense that gave up a league-worst 80 points in those two games dominated the biggest game of all and shut down an offense that led the league in scoring by a wide margin.

“Every team is beatable. You never know,” said Giants coach Tom Coughlin. “The right moment, the right time, every team is beatable.”

It looks like Coughlin will get that contract extension now.

Looks also like maybe Ernie Accorsi wasn’t snooked, after all, when he gave up so much in trade to get Eli Manning on draft day in 2004.

Don’t be surprised if defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo gets a real close look from Washington, the only NFL team still looking for a coach.

And, because so many publishers are headquartered in New York, look for a glut of books on the Giants’ victory, one of the three biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, along with Jets over Colts after the 1968 season and Patriots over Rams after the 2001 season.

Some of the publicity even will be deserved.

The Giants are the third straight team to survive the wild-card round of the playoffs and win the Super Bowl, and the fifth in 11 years. But they are the first team from the NFC, for years the weaker conference, to do it.

“I think we shocked the world,” said Giants’ defensive end Michael Strahan. “Hell, we maybe shocked ourselves.”

This game reminded me of the Super Bowl after the 1988 season, between the 49ers and Bengals. Like that one, not much happened for the first three quarters and the game was decided in a wild fourth quarter.
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A subtle change has been taking place through the years in the NFL, and it is one reason the Patriots and Giants are in the Super Bowl – and the 49ers and Raiders are at the bottom of the league.

It’s all about organizations now.

Football always was the ultimate team game, but, in the old days, before computer study and before coaches called all the plays, it was a game much more dependent on star power.

Oh, sure, the great quarterback could lift a team and still can. But now, it’s the structure within an organization that creates a team that makes the difference.

The late Bill Walsh recognized this and built a strong organizational foundation to go along with Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and the others. Walsh surrounded himself with strong football men. The Raiders never have recognized this. The current 49ers’ owners have not recognized this.

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Strangest thing about the Super Bowl so far is all the so-called victory guarantees by the Giants, from Plaxico Burress to Michael Strahan and others.

Frankly, the media makes too much of this, but then we have a lot of space to fill all week. It would deserve headlines, certainly, if the Giants’ players said they expected to lose. I would hope professional athletes are confident enough to think they can win.

And the Patriots are mature enough to know this all means nothing.

“Just words, right?” said Rodney Harrison. “You have to do it on the field. It doesn’t matter what you say, or what he says, or what they say, it doesn’t matter. It is how you execute and who makes the most plays on Sunday.”

I think the Patriots will execute best, make the most plays, and win, and it could be one-sided.
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In November, I wrote an item about how Raiders coach Lane Kiffin wanted out, about his difficulties with Al Davis.

I was bombarded with e-mails from Raiders’ loyalists essentially telling me I was nuts and questioning my sources.

I expect I’ll be flooded with apologies this week now that the Kiffin/Davis feud had boiled into the open. But the fact is the problems between the two date almost back to the day when Kiffin was hired a year ago, and they stem largely from young Kiffin’s eagerness to take the job that he took Davis’ word on certain promises about his responsibilities. Read the rest of this entry »

Brady is fine, don’t worry

It’s a story that won’t die because this is the Super Bowl, but Tom Brady will play, and he will be fine.

But when Brady was seen in a walking boot one day last week, alarms went off.

When he was asked about his supposedly injured ankle after arriving in Phoenix with the team, Brady said, “What did coach say? It is feeling good. I will be ready to go.”

Normally, that should end it, but it won’t.
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In November, I wrote an item about how Raiders coach Lane Kiffin wanted out, about his difficulties with Al Davis. I was bombarded with e-mails from Raiders’ loyalists essentially telling me I was nuts and questioning my sources.

I expect I’ll be flooded with apologies this week now that the Kiffin/Davis feud had boiled into the open.

But the fact is the problems between the two date almost back to the day when Kiffin was hired a year ago, and they stem largely from young Kiffin’s eagerness to take the job that he took Davis’ word on certain promises about his responsibilities.
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Interesting round of coaching changes in the NFL this year. Atlanta’s hiring of Mike Smith, the Jacksonville defensive coordinator, made it 3-of-3 in hirings of first-time coaches, with Washington yet to come.

Recent years have seen a trend toward hiring coaches who have done it before, and it is understandable. Insiders say the changes in the last decade, with free agency and the salary cap now the rule, have called for experienced coaches.

Here is how it has changed.In the first 31 years of the Super Bowl, only two men, Weeb Ewbank and Don Shula, won the championship with their second franchise.

But in the last decade, 8 of the 10 Super Bowls were won by coaches on their second team: Bill Belichick (three times), Mike Shanahan (twice), Tony Dungy, Dick Vermeil and Jon Gruden. Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Holmgren’s decision to coach the Seattle Seahawks for another year, as a lame duck in the final season of his contract, is curious.

Generally, coaches don’t like being a lame duck. It has to do with players knowing the coach won’t be around much longer and sometimes, that can make it tough to command them.

But Holmgren still has the fire to coach, so he didn’t want to leave, not when he has a team that figures to contend for the Super Bowl in the NFC. At the same time, he’s willing to do it without committing to the future with the Seahawks, and that’s where the 49ers come in.

Or could come in.
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Give the depleted San Diego Chargers a lot of credit for staying with New England, but the lesson here is pretty basic: You don’t beat touchdowns with field goals (although the Giants did it in the 1990 NFC championship game when they beat the 49ers, 15-14).

Playing without LaDainian Tomlinson and with Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates both hobbling, the Chargers needed some breaks on offense but, instead, their poor performance in the red zone did them in.

San Diego’s defense played enough to win the game. The big difference between the teams was a 24-yard touchdown drive following a New England interception.

The Chargers seemed to play too conservatively on offense. Perhaps the strategy was due to the injuries. But San Diego was not going to beat New England this way.
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