JACKSONVILLE
White Chris Hogan Jerseys , Fla. (AP)Jack Del Rio and Chuck Pagano are already out. Todd Bowles, Adam Gase and Dirk Koetter are coming back. Ben McAdoo is long
gone. The fate of several other NFL coaches could be determined in the next few
days, maybe even the next few hours. It’s shaping up to be another ”Black
Monday” for the league. There have been at least six coaching changes every year
since 2011, a streak that is expected to continue in 2018. Here’s a look at the
teams considering moves, including those that already have made them: ARIZONA:
Bruce Arians declined to announce a decision on his future following a 26-22
victory at Seattle. There has been mounting speculation for weeks that Arians
will leave the Cardinals (8-8) at end the end of the season. He was emotional
and spoke with pride about his team’s performance in the finale, which included
winning a third straight game in Seattle. ”I’m not going to drag it out because
it’s not fair to people if I do decide,” Arians said. CHICAGO: John Fox refused
to address his future following a lackluster loss at Minnesota. He left the
podium after a brief and terse postgame news conference. Fox is 14-34 in three
seasons with the Bears (5-11). In his latest – and maybe last – loss, Chicago
didn’t cross midfield until the fourth quarter and totaled only 30 yards
rushing. The Bears were penalized 10 times for 116 yards and were 1 of 14 on
third and fourth downs. CINCINNATI: Is Marvin Lewis really walking away after 15
seasons and 125 wins? ”I don’t know that,” Lewis said after his Bengals stunned
Baltimore 31-27. ”We’ll see. There are decisions to be made. First, it would be
ownership.” Lewis is scheduled to meet with owner Mike Brown to discuss his
future. ”Yes, I want to coach this team,” Lewis said. Asked if he would return
if Brown asks him back, Lewis replied: ”It’s more complicated than that.”
DENVER: Vance Joseph’s team lost eight times by double digits and endured an
eight-game losing streak – the franchise’s longest in 50 years – in a 5-11
season. Joseph will meet with general manager John Elway to discuss his future
Monday. ”I want to be here,” Joseph said following a 27-24 loss to Kansas City.
”It’s a football team that’s close. We have to make some adjustments in some
places, but our football team all year has not stopped working. That was fun to
see, even tonight. It’s been a hard year, but everyone kept fighting. I want to
be here to fix it.” DETROIT: Jim Caldwell gave the Lions (9-7) consecutive
winning seasons for the first time since 1995. It might not be enough to save
his job. Caldwell is 36-28 in four years and has two playoff postseason
appearances. ”I’m not done yet
Chris Hogan Jerseys 2019 ,” Caldwell said after a 35-11 win against Green Bay. HOUSTON: Bill O’Brien’s first losing record (4-12) in four years hardly seems
like a fire-able offense, especially considering season-ending injuries to
dynamic quarterback Deshaun Watson and star pass rushers J.J. Watt and Whitney
Mercilus. But O’Brien is 31-33 with the Texans and reportedly doesn’t get along
with general manager Rick Smith, who announced after the finale that he’s taking
a leave of absence to help his wife, who is battling breast cancer. O’Brien has
one year remaining on his contract and likely will get a chance to see what he
can do in a full season with Watson. INDIANAPOLIS: Pagano was fired Sunday , two
hours after the Colts beat Houston in the finale. Indianapolis missed the
playoffs each of the last three years, the first time that’s happened since a
seven-year drought from 1988 to 1994. The next coach surely will want to know
more about the health and future of quarterback Andrew Luck. OAKLAND: Del Rio
was fired Sunday following a 30-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers that capped
a 6-10 season. Del Rio signed a four-year contract extension last February after
Oakland ended a 13-year playoff drought with a 12-win season. The Raiders
followed that successful campaign with a disappointing one. ESPN reported that
the Raiders want to bring back former coach Jon Gruden. NEW YORK GIANTS: McAdoo
was the first coach fired in 2017 , let go Dec. 4 after a 2-10 start. His 28
games were the fewest for a Giants coach since 1930. New general manager Dave
Gettleman, who replaced Jerry Reese, already has started cleaning house.
Gettleman and the next coach will have to decide what to do with Eli Manning .
”This is where I want to play,” Manning said. ”This is like my family, the New
York Giants has been. Hopefully they feel the same way and we can make that work
out.” — Thursday night football is here to stay, even if it’s gone for the rest
of 2018.In past years, some — make that many — would have said “good riddance.”
That would be misguided this year.First off, Fox’s presentation generally was
strong and on target. Indeed, Troy Aikman, who has been Fox’s lead analyst for
17 years, might have had his best season.Seemingly energized by having a true
national game
White Eric Rowe Jerseys , in prime time with no competition, Aikman not only was spot-on with his analyses, he was more than willing to criticize play calling,
performance and officiating.Presenting your convictions and then sticking to
them is a must for a top analyst, and Aikman came through for viewers the way he
did as a three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback for Dallas.“I think after 17
years of doing it somewhat the same way, this was an opportunity to kind of
change up my schedule,” says Aikman, who at first had some reservations about
balancing his family and business responsibilities.“I think that is fair to say
‘energized.’ It felt more like an event, being the only game, and in prime time.
On Sunday afternoon, especially for the late game, it sure seems like that’s
when most people prefer to view football. But the prime time has a little bigger
of a feel to it.“We did not feel as restricted to the action on the field; we
never feel completely restricted. It certainly freed me up and allowed me to
have even more fun within the broadcast.”Fox also wound up with some very solid
matchups with intriguing storylines. Yes, NBC had the season opener, a Thursday
nighter hosted by the champion Eagles in a rematch of a January playoff game
with the Falcons. That wound up 18-12, eerily similar to Philadelphia’s previous
win over Atlanta. It also, of course, didn’t have two teams coming off short
weeks.Then
Eric Rowe Jerseys 2019 , Fox prospered with three of the better games of the entire season, games that wouldn’t have had the same cachet later in the
schedule.Cincinnati’s 34-23 victory over Baltimore — look at where those two
teams reside now! — was entertaining, with Andy Dalton torching the Ravens with
four touchdown passes. It also had the added spice of the Bengals having knocked
the Ravens out of playoff contention in the 2017 finale.A week later — and this
was Aikman at his best, even if Jets fans swear play-by-play voice Joe Buck was
outwardly rooting for the hosts — the Browns finally got a win, with Baker
Mayfield stamping himself as an emerging force in just the third game of his
rookie year.“There were so much expectations with Baker Mayfield in that city.
The team had not won a lot of games, and the fans were expecting the team would
start to win games, so there was this optimism around the city,” Aikman
recalls.“Having been there for the preseason and then we go back in the regular
season, you could just feel this energy building and it was a fan base that just
wanted to celebrate. And then Baker comes off the bench to lead them to that
victory. It was huge and fun to be a part of.”Jets-Cleveland was followed by the
Rams‘ 38-31 shootout victory against the Vikings, when Jared Goff and Kirk
Cousins combined for eight TD throws and 887 yards through the air.For those
enamored of the video-game fireworks, well, that was nirvana.There was plenty of
offense all year, even with only three full days between games. Oddly, the only
Thursday nighter with teams coming off a previous Thursday contest, Saints at
Cowboys the week after Thanksgiving, had the fewest points, 13-10 for the
Cowboys.That also was a mesmerizing drama in which Dallas’ defense stamped
itself as capable of carrying a contender
White LaAdrian Waddle Jerseys , shutting down Drew Brees and the ultra-prolific Saints. It also might have featured Aikman and Buck’s best
work.“I have become comfortable with where I am at within my job, so to speak,”
Aikman says. “I always have been comfortable with my opinions and how I feel
about the play on the field, and how it should be done and how teams should go
about playing the game.“There have been a lot of league issues and things
happening as it relates to our game. I am not trying to grandstand or get on a
soap box; that’s not my nature. I think I have to be honest in how I feel, and I
feel strongly enough in my beliefs to feel I am speaking for the majority of the
people viewing.”There was a string of nine Thursday nighters, including New
Orleans’ 31-17 victory over Atlanta on Thanksgiving night on NBC, in which it
took at least 27 points to win. The Steelers went for 52 against Carolina,
Denver scored 45 vs. Arizona, and Houston got 42 on Miami.So complaints about
not enough rest between games mostly would come from defensive players — the
same folks who have protested, often with validity, about how the rules are
stacked against them.Two teams never made it to the Thursday night spotlight,
Tampa Bay and Buffalo. Nobody missed them.Three others had Thursday outings, but
on Thanksgiving afternoon, when Chicago visited Detroit and Washington was at
Dallas.The Eagles, Cowboys, Saints and Falcons all had two Thursday appearances.
Aikman and Buck had 14 such games, including Redskins-Cowboys in the
late-afternoon Thanksgiving spot. They doubled up Thursday/Sunday assignments
seven times.The longtime partnership Aikman and Buck share made the extra duties
much easier to handle.“Joe is unbelievable
LaAdrian Waddle Jerseys 2019 , such a ridiculous talent,” Aikman says. “Joe is as gifted at his craft as anyone I played with. It’s a real marvel how smooth
he is and what he sees.“It’s like being married, when you’ve been around someone
for so long you know their habits and patterns, and I know where Joe wants to go
right from the start, how he wants to set the tone.”Overall, ratings for the
13-game Thursday night package on Fox, with its simulcast on NFL Network, were
up 2 percent over the 2017 season split between CBS and NBC. The average was
14,304,000 viewers, with Chargers-Chiefs in the last of the midweek games
shattering the competition at 17.4 million on Fox/NFLN. That also was a 29-28
outcome in which LA scored a TD and 2-point conversion to win at the very
end.NFL games on Thursday nights are a money maker, so much so that the World
Series in October hasn’t had a scheduled game that night since 2013. Of course,
Fox now has the rights to both, and has no plans to create such a conflict.Wait,
how about the World Series leading into Thursday night football?
