Chicago’s hiring of St. Louis defensive coordinator Lovie Smith rescued the NFL from criticism that its minority hiring policy was all talk and no teeth.
The only one of the five vacancies that had been filled by a black coach was in Arizona, where Dennis Green brought his .610 winning percentage from his decade in Minnesota. Since Green was close to the top of any team’s list of available coaches, black or white, that wasn’t exactly progress, but Smith follows Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis as the second black coordinator to be chosen to run a team in as many offseasons.
Washington (Joe Gibbs) and the New York Giants (Tom Coughlin) joined the Cardinals in choosing proven winners. Meanwhile, Buffalo and Atlanta interviewed black candidates but picked Steelers offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey and San Francisco defensive coordinator Jim Mora, Jr., respectively, even though neither of the 42-year-olds has ever been a head coach. Smith and the other top minority candidate, New England defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, have no head coaching experience but they have built more impressive resumes.
“If you don’t want to be a head coach, what’s the reason for [coaching]?” Smith asked. “In any field you go in, to me, if you’re really committed, you’re committed to the top. What’s the top thing I can do? To be a head coach.”
Amazingly, former Giants coach Jim Fassel, the hot guy two weeks ago when he was interviewed by Buffalo, Washington and Arizona, likely will remain unemployed. Oakland, the only team without a coach, has interviewed offensive coordinators Greg Knapp of the 49ers and Maurice Carthon of the Cowboys along with Dallas quarterbacks coach Sean Payton, whom Fassel demoted and dismissed after last season.
Millen had hunch about Gibbs — Detroit general manager Matt Millen, who finished his playing career under Gibbs in Washington in 1991, isn’t surprised his old coach has returned to the Redskins after an 11-year retirement.
“When I talked to Joe last year, he wanted to talk about X’s and O’s and schemes,” Millen said. “The part that surprised me was how he got it by his wife. It’s a great hire. I think the world of Joe Gibbs. He’s the best coach I’ve been around. I’m a huge Joe Gibbs fan. As long as he comes up to Detroit [next season] and falls on his face, I’ll be happy.”
Unjustly ignored — Baltimore’s Jamal Lewis is the Offensive Player of the Year. Kansas City’s Priest Holmes made the All-Pro team. But San Diego’s LaDainian Tomlinson, whose 2,370 yards from scrimmage were second in NFL history, isn’t even going to the Pro Bowl.
Seems Tomlinson is being punished because the Chargers were 4-12 while the Ravens and Chiefs won division titles. Tomlinson also was the first player to run for 1,000 yards and catch 100 passes in the same season and the eighth to compile consecutive years with 2,000 total yards. Only three other players led their teams in rushing and receiving.
Tomlinson, who needs 409 rushing yards to become the Chargers’ all-time leader, is one of five players to run for at least 10 touchdowns in each of their first three seasons and only 13 had rushed for at least 1,000 yards in each of their first three seasons. His four career 200-yard games already are tied for the second in NFL history.
Drawing eyeballs — Sunday’s Green Bay-Philadelphia game was the most-watched television program since the Oakland-Tampa Bay Super Bowl 11 months earlier. The last week of the regular season was the first time NFL games were the most-watched television programs in all 30 league markets (New York and the Bay Area each have two teams). NFL games were No.1 in local markets a record 73 percent of the time this season and the NFL was responsible for the eight most-watched cable telecasts and three of the top five programs on the networks.
Worst collapse ever — It has been widely reported that Minnesota joined the 1978 Redskins as the only teams to start 6-0 and miss the playoffs, but the Vikings outdid those Redskins in another ugly aspect. While Washington finished four games behind NFC champion Dallas 25 years ago, the Vikings led the NFC North from their Week1 win against Green Bay until the final play of the closing loss at Arizona.
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