If you haven’t noticed lately, we’ve had a wave of young, fresh, new coaches in the NFL. Older, recognizable coaches such as Herm Edwards, Mike Holgrem, and “chucky” John Gruden have either stepped aside or tossed aside for younger, “sleeker”, versions. Personally, I have to blame Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who swooped in and snatched up the Steelers job out of nowhere and led them to the SuperBowl in his second season.
With such a lofty achievement, the rest of the league seems to be following suit. So, this week, lets take a look at three coaches who will be feeling the heat to succeed this season.
Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals- Lets look at the plus side of Marvin Lewis. He is the coach that led the Bengals to their first winning record and division title in 15 years in 2005. Um… and that’s it. Lewis has a 46-49-1 career record and has seen his team get worse each season since 2005 to a career worse 4-11-1 last season. But the one thing that might get him the ax this season is that he has lost control of his team and the blame is all on him. He indulged egos of “superstars” and let the actions of certain players take any sense of ‘team’ out of this organization. Another losing season like the last two and it’s adios to Marv!
Wade Phillips, Dallas Cowboys-A person almost has to feel sorry for Wade Wilson. Over the past two seasons, those he’s coached the Cowboys, he’s has had to deal with a team cancer in Terrell Owens, the constant glare of a hyped-up Dallas media, and an over-intrusive owner in Jerry Jones, who expects nothing less than perfection each season. Now give Wade some credit, he is 22-10 in his tenure as Cowboys head coach but his downfall lies in his inability to win a playoff game, which he is a career 0-4. If Phillips fails to get Dallas to at least the NFC Championship game, he better start packing.
‘Insert Name Here’, Oakland Raiders-Ok, we all know that the current Oakland coach is Tom Cable, the former offensive line coach that stepped up last season and replaced Lane Kiffin after he was fired. Tom Cable that led the Raiders to a 5-11 record under him. Now granted, Oakland was competitive in most of their games but how much job security can you have when your owner is the antiquitated Al Davis? The answer is very little. We’ll see how little this season.
