I found this article on SI.com and thought this might be of some intrest to you all. I bet you can not guess who is #1. Hint: He is a Life Long Playoff Loser. Hint: He is to Star in the new movie In & Out in 2 Years. Hint: It is not a Redskins, there coach will win a playoff game before this BUM! Well read on. Oh Sorry Cowboys fans no pictures, so you will have to get your dog to read it to you.
Posted: June 29, 2008
As NFL players enjoy a few weeks of freedom before venturing into the oppressive heat of training camp, more than a few head coaches are already feeling the heat on their backsides. Here are the coaches most likely to get burned:
1. Wade Phillips, Cowboys. Coaches from playoff teams aren't usually on the hot seat. Then again, not many coaches preside over teams that haven't won a playoff game since 1996, are expected to go to the Super Bowl in 2008 and have the next head coach, Jason Garrett, ready to step in at a moment's notice.
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Wade Phillips has the temperament to withstand the pressure. Besides, he's no stranger to being fired. But it doesn't make the pressure any less real.
So if the Cowboys don't make the postseason, or if they don't win a game or two once they get there, Wade won't be back in 2009.
2. Lane Kiffin, Raiders. If the rumors are accurate, Kiffin could be pushed out -- even before training camp. Such a move would be highly unusual, but Oakland owner Al Davis supposedly views the offensive and defensive coordinators as the two keys to the coaching staff, and he believes the head coach is an easily replaced game-day manager.
Even if Kiffin coaches the Raiders in Week 1 against the Broncos -- and he probably will -- he needs to have a big year. Whether that includes a playoff appearance remains to be seen. If the Raiders are on the wrong side of .500 again, it's a safe bet that Kiffin will be the latest in a line of Oakland coaches who didn't survive more than two seasons on the job.
3. Herm Edwards, Chiefs. If Edwards could go back in time and opt to stay with the Jets instead of heading to Kansas City, would he? For now, he'd swear that he made the right decision in muscling his way out of New York.
In January, he might feel differently.
The Chiefs had a solid draft, and the expectations are generally consistent with this team's status as a work in progress. But a certain number of losses could be enough to prompt owner Clark Hunt to clean house.
If Edwards goes, he'd likely end up a collegiate head coach. He has never been an NFL defensive coordinator, and after eight years as a head coach, he probably wouldn't be interested in becoming a position coach again.
4. Marvin Lewis, Bengals. The Bengals have won the stare-down with receiver Chad Johnson for now, but this team needs to turn things around in 2008, or Lewis' job will be in jeopardy.
Johnson's bizarre antics in the offseason were arguably the result of the head coach's incessant coddling of the star wideout. Such coddling has prompted locker-room resentment and whispers of a double standard for much of the past several seasons.
Then there's the defense -- or, more accurately, the eleven-man, orange-and-black sieve. Like former Ravens boss Brian Billick, a supposed offensive guru who presided over woeful offenses as a head coach, Lewis is a defensive specialist whose team can't play defense.
Things could change in 2008 with the arrival of coordinator Mike Zimmer. If they don't, someone will be hiring Lewis as a defensive coordinator in 2009.
5. Mike Nolan, 49ers. Nolan spent a few days after the 2007 season twisting in the wind while the powers-that-be decided whether to fire him. In the end, Nolan essentially had his wings clipped; he kept the head-coaching job but lost final say over the roster.
It was a shot across the bow, and it took out one of the masts. Moving forward, Nolan is on notice. Another disappointing season, and he's likely done.
6. John Fox, Panthers. Sure, Carolina owner Jerry Richardson claims that he wants to emulate the Rooneys, who change key personnel less frequently than Cuba changes leaders. While that mindset might give GM Marty Hurney another shot if the team doesn't deliver in 2008, a poor showing could be the end of the road for Fox.
The knock on the Panthers lately has been that they have talent, but they can't deliver on it. In other words, Hurney has done his job, and Fox hasn't.
If the wheels fall off in 2008, we've got a feeling that Hurney will remind Richardson of this reality.
7. Scott Linehan, Rams. There was some talk in 2007 that Linehan was cracking under the pressure of a season that began with some Super Bowl expectations and ended with the No. 2 overall pick in the draft. But Linehan got a pass, probably because a rash of injuries derailed the Rams' chances.
If the players are healthy in 2008, there's no reason to believe the Rams won't contend for the NFC West title. Though it's not playoffs-or-else for Linehan this season, another train wreck will get him run out of town on a rail.
8. Andy Reid, Eagles. Many Eagles fans blame the team's poor performance in 2007 on Reid's familial distractions. Though an 8-8 or 7-9 mark with no playoffs likely wouldn't be enough to end Reid's decade-long run in Philly, Reid is one 5-11 or worse season away from losing his job.
That said, the Eagles will probably be better this year than most expect. But in a division in which three of four teams made the postseason in 2007 -- and the team that didn't make it was Philly -- Reid surely is feeling at least a little heat as the season approaches.
9. Eric Mangini, Jets. The Jets' coach likely has a warm rear for three reasons. First, the team didn't do very well in Mangini's second season on the job. Second, the Jets pale in comparison to their AFC East rivals in New England and to the team with which they share a stadium. Third, Mangini surely knows that his role in the Spygate scandal will require -- at a minimum -- some serious tap-dancing if and when he's ever looking for a job with another NFL team.
The team's offseason moves smack more of desperation than of a surgical effort to tweak a roster that's already close to the top of the mountain. Plus, with an unsettled quarterback race and an undercurrent of mistrust between the players and the front office, Mangini will have a hard time duplicating the unlikely playoff appearance that capped his first year on the job in 2006. If he can't return to the postseason, he'll have a hard time keeping his job.
10. Norv Turner, Chargers. The window of opportunity for the Chargers to win a Super Bowl will get narrower before it gets wider. As a result, Turner could be dropped if the team doesn't match or exceed its 2007 success.
The chances of Turner being terminated would rise significantly if the Chargers end up jockeying for the division basement with the Chiefs and the Raiders.
That's an unlikely outcome, but the thought has to be in the back of Turner's mind, especially in light of the rampant calls for his head when the team limped out of the gates in 2007.
Mike Florio writes and edits ProFootballTalk.com and is a regular contributor to Sporting News.
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