Now that Bill O’Brien has taken over, what’s going on?
Answer: he fired everybody just as hard as he could go. He fired Wade Philips and he fired Rick Dennison, and he fired some people that he didn’t even know.
Seriously: Wade Philips is gone as defensive coordinator. Rick Dennison is gone as offensive coordinator. Quarterback coach Karl Dorrell is gone. Defensive backs coach Vance Johnson is gone.
Reports from elsewhere say everyone is going to be fired before the day is out.
Musical hattip:
More “we’re just not feeling the clever this week”. Might as well just open the box. After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
This is your official Monday after the end of the season coach firings post. I’ll try to update this during the day as coaches are let go.
Starting at the beginning: the Browns didn’t even wait for Monday. Rob Chudzinski was fired last night after one season.
Yeah, they finished 4-12, but I kind of feel like Chud was being used as the scapegoat for years of bad decision making by the previous management of the Browns. Really, one season? A season in which you traded away a previous first round draft choice (who turned out to be a bust)? I smell a scapegoat cooking.
Edited to add 1: Looks like Mike Shanahan’s firing as head coach of the Redskins is now official, as opposed to merely speculative.
Edited to add 2: Leslie Frazier out in Minnesota. 21-33-1, and the Vikings were actually a playoff team last year. It does seem like most of their games this year were competitive until near the end, and I don’t think Frazier was the problem with this team. You know, the Texans could probably do a lot worse than Frazier…
Edited to add 3: Stepped away for a little while to run some errands. While I was out:
Greg Schiano out as head coach at Tampa Bay, along with general manager Mark Dominik. Schiano was 11-21 over two seasons. Perhaps now he can return to what he really loves; beating up middle school children for their lunch money.
Jim Schwartz out in Detroit. Also out: offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and recievers coach Tim Lappano. Schwartz was 29-51 over five seasons, and actually took Detroit to the playoffs once. Once.
Also, it looks like the Redskins are engaged in a major housecleaning: eight of Shanahan’s assistants are gone as well, including offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
The heck with it. After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
This is how Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary on Project Gutenberg defines the word “infamous”:
INFAMOUS
In”fa*mous, a. Etym: [Pref. in- not + famous: cf. L. infamis. See
Infamy.]1. Of very bad report; having a reputation of the worst kind; held in abhorrence; guilty of something that exposes to infamy; base; notoriously vile; detestable; as, an infamous traitor; an infamous perjurer. False errant knight, infamous, and forsworn. Spenser.
2. Causing or producing infamy; deserving detestation; scandalous to the last degree; as, an infamous act; infamous vices; infamous corruption. Macaulay.
3. (Law)
Defn: Branded with infamy by conviction of a crime; as, at common law, an infamous person can not be a witness.
4. Having a bad name as being the place where an odious crime was committed, or as being associated with something detestable; hence, unlucky; perilous; dangerous. “Infamous woods.” P. Fletcher. Infamous hills, and sandy perilous wilds. Milton. The piny shade More infamous by cursed Lycaon made. Dryden.
Syn. — Detestable; odious; scandalous; disgraceful; base; vile; shameful; ignominious.
I quote this here because it is in the public domain. More modern sources, such as the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, agree with the definition, especially the “having a reputation of the worst kind”.
So what?
That’s part of the front page of today’s HouChron. The 1993 Houston Oilers had “a reputation of the worst kind”? They were “held in abhorrence”? They were “base; notoriously vile; detestable”? That’s really not how I remember things.
After a 28-3 halftime lead against the Buffalo Bills, the Oilers eventually lost 41-38 in one of the most infamous comebacks in NFL history.
Same thing here. Guys, “inflammable” and “flammable” mean the same thing, yes. But “infamous” and “famous” do not.
They may have been “dysfunctional”. But they went 12-4. I’d be more inclined to refer to the 2013 Houston Texans as “infamous” instead of the 1993 Oilers.
That is, if I was going to use the word to refer to a football team. Which I’m not, because I feel like I have a grasp of what the word means, unlike the HouChron headline writers. (Brian T. Smith, the author of the linked article, avoids using “infamous”. Kudos to him; I’d like to read the piece that’s coming on Sunday, but it looks like it will be behind the paywall.)
You know that comment we made yesterday, about “Start writing or stop talking about it” being pretty good writing advice?
As noted last week, this is TMQ’s bye week.
Meanwhile, we have obtained a copy of The King of Sports: Football’s Impact on America
It probably will not happen today, but we do plan to have a review of King of Sports up between now and the next TMQ.
Earlier today, I was thinking to myself:
Well, I was wrong wrong wrongity wrong!
Wade Philips will be the interim coach. And Case Keenum will be the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season.
Analysis of Kubiak’s years here must include yin and yang, as his run with the Texans will be remembered for successes and failures. Triumphs and defeats. Ups and downs.
Mathematically, in fact, there is almost an equal number of each.
Unfortunately for him, mediocrity was the standard.
Kubiak’s overall record with the Texans was 61-64.
Edited to add: The team also fired Joe Marciano, special teams coordinator “who had been with the organization since its inception in 2002”.
Instead of a musical interlude, or random snark, we’ve decided this week to bring you something we hope you’ll really like: an interview with Gregg Easterbrook about The King of Sports: Football’s Impact on America
After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
Over the past few years, we have come to the conclusion that the word “professional” is becoming the most abused word in the English language. “Professional grade” pickup trucks; as a dedicated amateur, can I save a few bucks by purchasing a non-professional grade one? “That’s not professional” has become a commonly used phrase in business; what that really means, as we see it, is “I don’t like it, but if I invoke the word ‘professional’, you can’t argue with me.”
What does this have to do with TMQ? Well, in this week’s edition, after the jump…
There are no undefeated teams left in the NFL this season. The Kansas City Chiefs lost on Sunday.
We all know what that means, right?
Or do we?
When we were growing up in Houston in the 1970s and early 1980s, these were the rules:
Of course, that was a long time ago, in another country, and besides Tom Landry is dead. Jerry Jones runs the Cowboys. And, in this week’s TMQ, after the jump…
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
None.
I can almost, but not quite, understand Miami losing to Tampa Bay. Surely the Incognito situation was a distraction. But still, Tampa Bay stinks.
As far as Jacksonville beating Tennessee, that’s just baffling.
Anyway, thus ends the loser update for the 2013 season. See you again in 2014, assuming we’re all still here.
Happy Guy Fawkes Day, everyone. Let’s just get into it, shall we?
This week’s TMQ, after the jump…
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Jacksonville (bye week)
Tampa Bay
(What the heck, Seattle?)