Monday, January 12, 2009

Goodbye Josh McDaniels!


It has been confirmed that Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will head for the snowier pastures of Denver to take over for Mike Shanahan as the Broncos head coach. McDaniels will have some big shoes to fill to replace Shanahan, who spent 14 years in Denver and brought home back to back championships in 1997-1998.

One of the biggest questions surrounding McDaniels is his experience. He spent two years as the Patriots offensive coordinator picking up after Charlie Weis left for Notre Dame. The results posted by the Patriots offense in his first year as coordinator were staggering and quite respectable this year given that the reigning NFL MVP went out for the season in the first quarter of the first game. These results are pretty impressive, but how much is due to McDaniels and how much is due to Wes Welker and Randy Moss coming to town? It's really impossible to say definitively, but I'm leaning more towards the latter.

In recent weeks we've seen how a number of Bill Belicheck's former coordinators have performed in the head coaching positions with Eric Mangini and Romeo Crennel losing their jobs as head coaches. In all likelihood, the only reason Charlie Weis still has a job at Notre Dame is due to the large contract they extended to him. This year the Fighting Irish went 6-6, the minimum required to be eligible for a bowl game. The Browns haven't soured on the Belicheck coaching tree as they've opted to hire Eric Mangini as their new head coach.

I'll be curious to see how McDaniels does in the big chair after only two years at the coordinator position.

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