Argument for a HC/OC

[39thebeast]

It is looking more than likely that Sam Bradford will be in his 3rd new offense in his third year. As we look at potential coaches there will be alot of things to consider. After our bad stretch with coordinators I don't blame guys for wanting a more experienced coach like Fsher, Cowher, or Gruden. However, all the great start somewhere and if you look at the top coaches in the league right now none of them had prior NFL headcoaching experience, with the obvious exception being Bellechick. In addition to it being unlikely for us to get one of the top former headcoaches I still think we can benefit from going the coordinator route.

I would prefer an offensive coach for multiple reasons. We have a much better foundation on defense with Long, Quinn, Stewart, Mikkel, Chamberlin? and our CBs coming back healthy. Secondly and more importantly we have the worst offense in the league. Finally we have a QB with an awesome skillset, but a terrible supporting cast and environment.

Getting a Head coach/ offensive coordinator gives us some stability. Sam is guaranteed to be in the same offense for at least 2-3 years even if the coach gives up play calling duty at some point he will be in a similar system. Finally its an offensive league the top coaches in the NFC cal their own plays. Is there a mike McCarthy or Sean Peyton out there? I don't know. Its tough to managing both of these aspects just ask Patt Shurmur and Jason Garrett, but it is not impossible and there may be some smart coordinators out there who could pull it off.

The Candidates
1. Jay Gruden, OC, Bengals- Coaching is in the family his brother was superbowl winning coach. Jay coached his team to two AFL championships he has prior head coaching experience even if its not on the same level. Andy Dalton has been a huge success and probably would be the rookie of the year if Cam Newton wasn't so darn amazing. He runs a west coast offense Sam is familiar with and played well under in the past. It has alot of similarities to Shurmurs offense, but more explosive plays (probably because they have AJ Green). I also like the fact that he played QB and was an AFL GM. He probably tops my list right now

2. Rob Chudzinski, OC, Panthers- Newton has been absolutely outstanding this year, probably the greatest rookie QB campaign ever. Chud got his feet wet as TE coach and well know Kendricks could use some coaching. He has also elevated the play of QBs no one thought would do well. Derek Anderson went to the pro bowl when he was the Browns coordinator and Cam Newton is the rookie of the year. As TE coach he has coached Antonio Gates, Kellen Winslow, and Bubba Franks. It seems like he gets the most out of the specific talent and players he coaches.

[rob6465]

I 150% agree and had to quote you on FB. I like these 2,just hope Bradford is not shell shocked like David Carr was.

[Rambunctious]

There is no arguing that Gruden and Chud have had a great year but my concern is that they each only have been in their current position for this year. Not a long track record to go by.

Spags for instance came in to an already strong program in New York and looked awesome for two years as a DC... But as we have learned that didn't mean he was anywhere close to being ready to take control an entire team.

That is why I'm a fan of Atlanta's Mike Mularkey. He is 77-48-1 as an OC. Chud is 19-27. Gruden 8-6.

Mularkey's other advantage (or disadvantage depending on how you look at it) is he has two years experience as a Head Coach. A 15-18 record is not good but his first year was a winning season with Bledsoe... his second season was a losing one with JP Losman. Pretty hard to maintain a program with that significant of a drop off in talent. : )

[39thebeast]

Mike Mularkey is another good name he would also be high up on my list

[Tampa_Ram]

I checked out a few Falcons forums and for some reason they absolutly hate Mularkey. They are all hoping the Jags hire him since there has been a rumor hes a candidate. Not sure why they hate him and want him gone so badly.

[bradwill]

I checked out a few Falcons forums and for some reason they absolutly hate Mularkey. They are all hoping the Jags hire him since there has been a rumor hes a candidate. Not sure why they hate him and want him gone so badly.

I live in Atlanta and there has been a vocal contingent of fans the past 2 years that absolutely does not like Mularkey for whatever reason. They tend to think he's way too conservative no matter what the situation. I watch most Falcons games and I have no idea what the hell they are thinking most of the time.

These fans are so used to seeing lousy Falcons teams that I don't think they know how to act now that they have a very good organization from top to bottom and a winning franchise.

[sosa39rams]

I've got this 1 crazy idea, I think im going to let it loose:

Lets just get a coach who was a HC and had winning experience...

[BarronWade]

Out of those 3 (im incl. mularkey) i would chose Mike Mularkey with chud as #2 and Gruden #3...as conservative as mularkey is can you blame him Matt ryan has a 92-46 TD-INT ratio...nowadays the turnover Diff is HUGE.

Mularkey also has something the other 2 dont and that is more coaching experience...Spags has coached this defense well and honestly we dont have that much talent except for 4 guys (quinn,long,Laur,Stewart) so we are going to need a good staff around our head coach and unless Jay can talk John Gruden into being the O coordinator i don think either Chud or Jay can build the type of staff that Mularkey can because Mularkey has been on some good teams

[laram0]

If the candidates haven't had an H in front of the C I'm not interested.

[Tampa_Ram]

I live in Atlanta and there has been a vocal contingent of fans the past 2 years that absolutely does not like Mularkey for whatever reason. They tend to think he's way too conservative no matter what the situation. I watch most Falcons games and I have no idea what the hell they are thinking most of the time.

These fans are so used to seeing lousy Falcons teams that I don't think they know how to act now that they have a very good organization from top to bottom and a winning franchise.

thats sad, they cant be happy with playoffs, 14-2 records, lots of td's. here in ram land he looks like a king. they have no idea what a lousy team is. thanks for the insight.

[MACD]

Don't mean to threadjack (well, maybe I do but I think a serious look ought to be given to Mark Mangino for OC. Sam didn't play under him at OU, but I believe he could maximize Sam's assets. Mangino did an incredible job at KU, as Turner Gill learned later. He made lesser tier players become a conference force.

Oh, and he's available.