More Head Coaching Moves!

Ok folks,
two big stories today.
First the one that no doubt concerns y'all the most. Andy Reid has announced he's going to step aside for a month to deal with the family crisis that has beset his children (basically, both of his sons, 23 and 21, are in so pretty deep doo-doo with the law.

Anyway, he is go to take a break from his daily duties (i.e. he's going to stay home, but I imagine he'll talk with the rest of staff at least every other day) until mid-March and see if can get things settled on the home front. But cheer not ye Cowboys, Giants and 4Skins trolls, Andy will be back and ready for the 2007 season.

Look this is not a good thing...you're not going to find that spin here. But in the year-long merry-go-round that is the NFL "season" this is about as good a time as any and its the right thing to do. Perhaps the only better time would have been say the day after the NFL draft, because you could hold off the first mini-camp until late May (maybe, first mini-camp workout to bring in the draft picks usually starts pretty soon after the draft)...but even then you have the coach not involved in that planning instead.

ESPN's Len Pasquarelli got it right in this article: "between Monday and the time he returns in mid-March, the Eagles will have to deal with matters such as the scouting combine later this month and the start of free agency in about three weeks. Reid's encompassing role notwithstanding, the franchise will survive."

The Second was the Chargers firing of Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer today. I shook my head at this one and I am by no means a Schottenheimer fan, but c'mon, you couldn't have figured this out last month?

Owner Alex Spanos' cop out: "When I decided to move ahead with Marty Schottenheimer in mid-January, I did so with the expectation that the core of his fine coaching staff would remain intact." What a load of shit. So your team posts the best record in the league and the NFL wire is abuzz with how both your coordinators are coaching candidates through-out the league (especially Cam Cameron - who went to Miami)....SO WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LET THEM WALK??? I'm sure it wasn't Marty's decision to let them go. It was YOURS....

Now the Chargers are royally screwed. They have NO coaching staff whatsoever, and it just two weeks before Free Agency. Whoever comes IN to coach has lost the chance to go to the Senior Bowl and do preliminary scouting and if they aren't in place quickly, they'll miss the Combine. I expect the Chargers will muddle through a crucial off-season instead of capitalizing and will probably wind up stumbling next year with a completely brand new staff and waste yet another year of LT's prime.