New England Patriots offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Josh McDaniels has notified the Atlanta Falcons and Baltimore Ravens that he will not interview for any open head coaching positions for 2008.
Atlanta and Baltimore had asked New England permission this week to talk to McDaniels and because it is for a head coaching position New England has to honor the request but McDaniels is not compelled to interview if he so chooses. He has chosen to stay put and prepare for the playoffs.
“I am very grateful for the chance to interview for NFL head coaching positions, but I have decided not to pursue those opportunities at this time,” McDaniels, 31, said in a statement Thursday. “I plan to focus all my attention on our postseason preparation.”
Clubs hiring new head coaches can interview assistants from teams that have a playoff bye this week, but must do so by Saturday.
McDaniels joined the New England organization as a personnel assistant in the scouting department. He became the quarterbacks coach in 2004 and was named offensive coordinator in January 2006.
Can’t get enough of Richard Seymour? Well the Patriots defensive end will be part of the ESPN Sunday Morning Countdown team this weekend for the Wild Card round of the playoffs. I love Richard if I didn’t have such a man crush on Brady I’d have his jersey. He’s soft spoken but very articulate I look forward to seeing him on the set. Maybe as a bonus he can beat the hell out of Chris Berman, Tom Jackson and Emmitt Smith.
As we all know the Patriots are the holders of the 7th overall pick in the draft courtesy of an earlier trade with the San Francisco 49ers. While it’s great the Niners sucked and we got the pick let’s think about this for minute.
We know for a fact Belichick will not waste a high pick on defensive back or linebacker. He is also not keen on having to pay someone who is unproven as a NFL player somewhere around $20 million.
So here’s what I see happening. The Patriots will trade the pick to another team and get a 1st and a 2nd this year or some combination of high round picks for it. Then they take that money they saved on the unknown and they go and sign Randy Moss to new deal, Asante Samuel to a new deal and pursue players for the slots they need through free agency where they can, and in most cases in the past have gotten, the player or players they really need. They then can pick a player or two who are good athletes who have the skills they want and not be saddled by a large contract for a rookie.
Belichick and Scott Pioli are masters at turning the draft into better deals they’ve done it when the situation suits them and I see them doing it again.
The Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian polled the 50 voters for the AP Coach of the Year and she got 41 responses. She wrote an article and posted their votes and comments it’s good reading. The award was supposed to be announced on January 12th but because the Herald blew the lid off of it with some great reporting the AP announced the award early.
Here are a couple responses one from the no side:
“I did not consider Bill Belichick because of Spy-gate. Last year, I did not vote for Shawne Merriman for Defensive Player of the Year because he violated the league’s steroids policy. Rules are rules and Belichick violated one of the fundamental rules in sports – fair play and sportsmanship.” — Brian Allee-Walsh, Times-Picayune.
One from the yes side:
“I voted for Belichick. I don’t think you can vote for any other coach with a clear conscience. He did everything right. The Patriots are not the most talented team in the NFL, but they are the best team. That is a reflection of composition and coaching. Spygate influenced neither the season nor my vote.” — Dan Pompei, Sporting News.
BoDog has released their odds for the Super Bowl and the Patriots are favored to win at 2:5 followed by the Colts at 4:1, Cowboys at 6:1 and Chargers at 8:1.
The match up odds are Patriots v. Cowboys at 2:3, Patriots v. Packers at 7:2 and the Colts v. Cowboys at 5:1.
They have installed the AFC as an 11-point favorite.
