NFL News

[Topweasel]

Could you imagine having Rod marinelli as your father in law?

Yeah, he seems like the TV father that calls you into the Den for a drink you are supposed to decline and then before you leave shows you his prize shotgun over the fireplace.

[jaadam4]

Why would you have to decline the drink?

[Futureshock]

Report: Commanders request interview with Darrell Bevell

Posted by Charean Williams on January 16, 2023, 10:22 PM EST

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The Commanders have requested permission to interview Dolphins quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Darrell Bevell for their offensive coordinator vacancy, Josina Anderson of CBS reports.

The Commanders fired offensive coordinator Scott Turner after Washington ranked 24th in points scored and 20th in yards.

The Jets also have requested an interview with Bevell.

Bevell, 53, just completed his first season with the Dolphins, who lost to the Bills on Sunday.

Bevell was the Jaguars’ offensive coordinator last season, finishing the final four games as the team’s interim head coach after Urban Meyer’s firing. He also was interim head coach of the Lions for five games in 2020.

Bevell had great success from 2011-17 with the Seahawks, who won Super Bowl XLVIII during his time as their offensive coordinator.

[Futureshock]

Texans complete interview with Sean Payton

Posted by Charean Williams on January 16, 2023, 8:49 PM EST

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The Texans completed an interview with Sean Payton on Monday, the team announced. It is unknown where the interview took place as the team provided no details.

The Texans are one of four teams with permission from the Saints to talk to Payton.

The Broncos will interview Payton in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning.

The Panthers and Cardinals also have permission to interview Payton.

Payton remains under contract to the Saints, who have given inquiring teams an idea of their asking price to secure his rights. Payton said Monday that the Saints expect a mid-to-late first-round choice.

Payton, 59, went 152-89 in the regular season and 9-8 in the postseason with a Super Bowl title in 15 seasons in New Orleans. He stepped away from coaching this season and worked for Fox but looks ready to return to coaching.

The Texans are seeking to hire their third coach in three years after hiring David Culley to replace Bill O’Brien and then Lovie Smith to replace Culley after one season. The Texans fired Smith after one season.

[Futureshock]

Brian Flores emerges as potential favorite for Cardinals coach

Posted by Mike Florio on January 16, 2023, 8:38 PM EST

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With the Cardinals hiring a G.M. well schooled in the Patriot Way, the next move could be to hire a coach with a similar pedigree.

The current rumor making the rounds in league circles is that Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill favors pairing with Monti Ossenfort former Dolphins coach (and current Steelers assistant) Brian Flores, as the successor to Kliff Kingbury.

From a football standpoint, Flores would fit the “exact opposite” formula that teams often employ when hiring a new head coach. Flores would bring discipline and accountability. He also would give quarterback Kyler Murray a wake-up call as to the work ethic and commitment that the quarterback position demands at the professional level. (Spoiler: It takes a lot more than four hours of study per week.)

For a non-football standpoint, hiring Flores would help both the Cardinals and the league within the context of the racial discrimination lawsuit filed last year by Flores against the NFL, the Dolphins, the Broncos, the Giants, and eventually the Texans. Former Cardinals coach Steve Wilks later joined the effort, claiming that he was basically hired to preside over a crappy 2018 season, and then to be fired.

Bidwill, a lawyer and former prosecutor, surely realizes the potential consequences of snubbing Flores — and the potential benefits of giving him the job. Throw in the fact that Flores has proven to be a damn good coach (better than Kingsbury, frankly), and it’s a win-win-win for the Cardinals and Flores and the NFL.

Of course, the NFL’s ultimate exposure in the Flores suit hinges in large part on whether the litigation plays out in open court — or whether it will be resolved by the league’s in-house, secret, rigged, kangaroo court. If it’s the former, the NFL and the teams named as defendants should be concerned. If it’s the latter, the legal issues necessarily take on less importance.

The NFL’s effort to force the case to arbitration is still pending, nearly a year after the lawsuit was first filed. Proving yet again that the wheels of justice often creep like a dollop of molasses on a frozen flagpole.

If there’s any chance the case will remain in court, hiring Flores won’t hurt the Cardinals from a legal standpoint. It may help them tremendously from a football standpoint.

[Topweasel]

Why would you have to decline the drink?

It's a trick to see if you will drink and drive. Like hey why not try my Johnny walker blue. He accepts and then the father is like "seriously your going to drink and then drive my daughter around."

[Cody_Russell]

Adding onto the Cardinals situation… Kyler Murray + “the Patriot way” sounds like a disaster. Though Flores is a rare decent former Belichick assistant coach. (Assuming Flores is the Cardinals choice).

[jaadam4]

Mr. I don’t watch film and the BB way of thinking sounds like a train wreck

[edindetroit]

Adding onto the Cardinals situation… Kyler Murray + “the Patriot way” sounds like a disaster. Though Flores is a rare decent former Belichick assistant coach. (Assuming Flores is the Cardinals choice).

Matt Patricia might be available.

[whatever_gong82]

Matt Patricia might be available.

If you really want to have a train wreck, let any NFL team hire him to be your Head Coach.

[Futureshock]

If you really want to have a train wreck, let any NFL team hire him to be your Head Coach.

There was an article that the Pats are going to name Judge as their OC. He can't hold on to a OC job. With his Dad

[Nick Pappageorgio]

I read piece from a Boston writer that said Patricia is mad at Mac Jones, because Mac was calling out the O and making him look bad at the end of the year.

Like Patricia needs help looking bad

[Futureshock]

Every true Lions fan knows this opinion is trash...

Dolphins GM Chris Grier claims Tua Tagovailoa is no more prone to concussions than anyone else

Posted by Michael David Smith on January 18, 2023, 4:53 AM EST

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Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was knocked out on the field with one of the most disturbing concussions ever seen in an NFL game this season. Another concussion later in the year ended his season, and has led to major questions about Tagovailoa’s NFL future.

But Dolphins General Manager Chris Grier insists there’s no reason to be any more concerned about Tagovailoa than anyone else.

Asked about the concerns that players who have had concussions are susceptible to more of them, Grier says that concern is unfounded.

“From what our doctors and the consultants we’ve talked to through the NFLPA, that is not a true statement,” Grier said. “So for us, I don’t think he’s any more prone than anyone else. For us, we’re jut letting the doctors, the medical staff and the people in that field that know more. From everything we’ve been told that is not a concern.”

The Dolphins’ words have suggested they’re not overly concerned about concussions looming over Tagovailoa’s career. Their actions will speak louder, and the action from Grier that will speak most loudly this offseason will be whether the Dolphins pick up the fifth-year option on Tagovailoa’s contract. Grier said no decision has been made on that.

[froot loops]

If you are trying to get the best out of Kyler Murray, the best bet is Jim Caldwell.

[Futureshock]

Doug Pederson: No one expects us to do anything, so go play and see what happens

Posted by Josh Alper on January 18, 2023, 6:33 AM EST

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The Chiefs, Bills, and Bengals came into the season as the biggest favorites in the AFC, so it is no surprise to see them among the final four teams alive in the conference playoffs.

The Jaguars are a bigger surprise. They earned the first overall pick in the draft the last two years and had a new head coach in Doug Pederson after 2021’s Urban Meyer debacle, so expectations were low and they remained that way when the Jags opened the year with a 2-6 record.

Jacksonville’s fortunes changed dramatically in the second half of the season, however, and they carry a six-game winning streak into Kansas City this Saturday. They’re heavy underdogs to the Chiefs and heading into a tough place to play, but head coach Doug Pederson’s message to to the team is that there’s no reason not to go out and play free because they’ve already gone further than anybody thought they would.

“It’s a great atmosphere,” Pederson said, via the team’s website. “We have to embrace it. No one expects us to do anything, so go play, have fun, enjoy the moment and let’s see what happens. We’ve put ourselves in this position to be one of the four remaining AFC teams and you have a lot to play for. Whether we win, whether we lose, our season was a huge success from that standpoint: first year together, overcome a lot of adversity from last year to this year and pushing these guys through.”

The Jaguars showed a lot of resiliency in the regular season again last Saturday with their comeback from 27-0 down to beat the Chargers, so there’s no reason to think that they’ll roll over for the Chiefs this weekend. And, if they do lose, it will still feel like the team is just at the beginning of what could be an extended run of success.