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First OC Interview is Today

I must say that it appears we are looking at quality candidates for both the GM and OC spots (and presumably the OL coach when we get an OC). But, the question remains ... can we land these guys? GM maybe because we have an owner who, while clueless, is devoted to giving his all financially to winning, a destination (weather, taxes) spot for free agents, a relatively weak division (Bills, Jets) with 2 big market teams for exposure (NY, Boston), and a situation where if the coach wins, great, you get kudos for not being Jeff Ireland, and if the coach loses, you get to wipe the slate clean and bring in your own guys. Dawn Aponte can be seen as a positive or negative. On the plus side she seems to do a good job with salary cap and contract negotiations, which frees the GM up to be a personnel guy--which I think is exactly what we want. On the minus side, she clearly undermined the last GM and helped secure his firing despite Ireland being the owners chief confidant and advisor on all things football ... so Aponte is a very real threat to any GM who considers Miami.

The OC position seems a bit trickier to me. We have a team with clear assets including a good young QB with lots of upside (hard worker, intelligent, arm talent, mobility, good attitude), good #2 WR (Hartline with over 1,000 yards for second consecutive season) and a potentially excellent #1 WR (Wallace narrowly missed 1,000 yards despite a very rocky first season here). In Lamar Miller, we also have a very explosive RB who could really benefit from offensive improvement. If we give him open holes at the line he will get his fair share of very long runs because of his speed. On the flip side, with the exception of Pouncey, the entire offensive line needs to be rebuilt and those take a while to develop chemistry. Without an OL, running the ball is not effective. Just ask Reggie Bush and Lamar Miller. Also, our QB is tough, but he's taken a LOT of hits this past season. Also, the TE position has nobody who can do all of these things: 1) run block, 2) pass block, 3) be a size mismatch in the red zone, 4) reliable target and catcher on 3rd down, 5) seam threat. At best our TE's can only do 2 of the 5. Our receiving corps drops a lot of passes. Add Charles clay to that as well.

So, while there is talent, there is also a lot of elements lacking from our offense that take time to refine. This OC is likely gone in 1 season if Philbin gets the axe ... and that's a short amount of time to fix the OL and TE issues as well as get the other items addressed. Even if great improvement happens quickly, it may not show up as clearly on the scoreboard and victory column. The risk here is very high, and that will definitely scare some candidates away. New GM typically means new coach, so Philbin will surely need to make the playoffs next year or everyone among the staff will be gone.

If Lazor would take the job, I'd offer it to him on the spot, no questions asked and make it happen. He was a quality coach at UVa and seems to be doing a great job under Chip Kelly in Philly as well. He has accomplished quite a lot at a young age and has a bright future. Plus, I wouldn't mind a little of the Chip Kelly thinking in our offense.
 
if he comes here hope like hell he's not a product of that chip kelly system...about all i can say...that system makes people look pretty good...so far...i stress so far cause now the leagues got a years worth of tape to get ready for it...kinda like the read op destroyed people in 2012

That's a good point hoops, but IMHO, this is a bit different. Remember, most of the NFL has consulted either directly or indirectly with Chip Kelly for several years now when he was at Oregon. Elements of his system are all over college and NFL football these days. The New England offense uses a good amount of his stuff for example. Remember, his offense exploits space, matchups, situational substitutions, speed of thought, memory, and surprise. It's much more than a spread offense. He is the king of the 'play fast' school. That alone has proven successful in the NFL over many years, dating back to Boomer Esiason's Cincinnati and Jim Kelly's K-Gun in Buffalo as the hurry up. Marv Levy tried to get Cincinnati's version ruled illegal the first season, the second season he adopted, implemented and really elevated it with his team, lol. Denver's Peyton Manning uses it as well, just to prevent situational substitutions. So, that definitely works. His myriad formations and looks requires smart players with good memories, but our offensive personnel (assuming we rebuild the OL and TE positions) should be able to do that. We have a very fast WR and RB to exploit space if we can create it. This system is much harder to defeat by scheme tweaks than the read option or wildcat that are predicated on requiring an extra tackler, decision or key.

Sure, Chip Kelly's offense will not be as successful next season as it was this season, we agree on that. And, Foles will probably never have a season with as good of a TD/INT ratio either. But, there are a lot of fundamentally sound principles in Chip Kelly's offense. The secret sauce of it is more how it is orchestrated, implemented and executed. Kelly is a master of setting teams up, surprising them, and then having his teams execute. When they have a week to get ready for sooooo many formations and plays, forcing them to play fast in base personnel forces a lot of mistakes. Then, it's simply a matter of recognizing those mistakes and taking advantage of them. Many of Philly's big plays are a result of defensive mistakes, and while less will be made as the league learns and prepares for it, the vastness of options to learn to play him and the short time defenses are given to recognize and diagnose means there will still be a lot to exploit for the offense.

The thing about Chip Kelly, is that IMHO he is this age's Bill Walsh. He really is a master engineer when it comes to design. His system is a bunch of solid concepts meshed together well. Like legos, he can rearrange them and make it look different. He really isn't using the read-option that he used in college. It's a major variation from that offense. The guy is sharp. He is always gameplanning for when he gets found out.
 
Lazor is my first choice for OC. We need someone fresh, he has WCO experience mixed in with Chip Kelly's system. This sounds like a perfect combo to me he had great success as Chip's right hand man on offense.
 
Gamble is also my first choice for GM, hard to argue against him with all the talent SF has put on the field while he was there. bring in the duo, Gamble will already Know what kind of Players Lazer will need on offense!
 
I'm pissed that we haven't picked a GM first. The senior bowl is in 2 weeks

this may very well be because they already have the GM in the building, BRIAN GAINES.

you are right, the senior bowl is VERY important and teams need to be present with staff intact, especially the GM. and the longer we dont see a gm prospect in the building, the more i will start to believe in the gaines as new gm rumor. and the APONTE factor will be cemented. BAD NEWS all the way around.

everyone seems to be missing the point on the GM!! above all and first, he should be a PROVEN evaluator of talent. we have bean counters and office brown nosers. i want my GM to know personel, how to draft and FULL POWER over the coach. he should answer to ROSS only!!

BRIAN GAINS, A BIG TIME TALENT EVALUATOR? where? when? how? [NRA doing his best vinnie babarino impression] he is an OFFICE GUY! leave the office stuff to the docker doofs and let our new gm be a talent hawk and draft wizard. PERIOD!!!
 
Andrew Abramson ‏@AbramsonPBP 1m
There's offensive coordinators younger than me in the NFL now. Youth movement. It's why I think Dolphins won't tap a Polian/Peterson.
 
Gamble is also my first choice for GM, hard to argue against him with all the talent SF has put on the field while he was there. bring in the duo, Gamble will already Know what kind of Players Lazer will need on offense!

SPOT ON BLITZHAPPY!!

one thing though. if GAMBLE comes in and wants the job but says "i just dont see joe philbin and i meshing", philbin will be gone.

i think ross really likes philbin and wants to continue with him, but, you just dont get a tom gamble in your lap everyday. and gamble is the only guy i can think of who would put philbin out the door.
 
Philbin is picking his OC, Ross is picking the GM. Doesn't matter who the GM if Philbin has final say on his OC.

And ideally, we'll have both the OC and GM in place by the senior bowl.

And that's the way it should be done. If the coach is going to be held accountable for his results on the field he should pick his own team of coaches. The biggest question though is what authority the GM will have. Will Ross give him the authority to fire the coach if they don't make the playoffs this year? The GM should have that authority, and I'm sure Philbin will be safe THIS year, but all bets should be off after next year. The GM should also have player personnel authority with input from the coach and the coordinators. No GM worth his salt will come in here without having some guarantees in those areas. After this is done Ross should step back into the real estate business and let the football people do their jobs.
 


SPOT ON BLITZHAPPY!!

one thing though. if GAMBLE comes in and wants the job but says "i just dont see joe philbin and i meshing", philbin will be gone.

i think ross really likes philbin and wants to continue with him, but, you just dont get a tom gamble in your lap everyday. and gamble is the only guy i can think of who would put philbin out the door.
I'm hoping Philbin has some respect from Gm's around the league for them to give him a shot. They
could always fire him after a year or two.
 
From what I have read the new GM will have zero authority to fire Philbin .... at least the first year. If Philbin stinks up the joint next year that can change. Our CEO stated talent evaluation as the primary qualification for the new GM. This is why Gamble and Highsmith are so high on our list.
 
From what I have read the new GM will have zero authority to fire Philbin .... at least the first year. If Philbin stinks up the joint next year that can change. Our CEO stated talent evaluation as the primary qualification for the new GM. This is why Gamble and Highsmith are so high on our list.

Which isn't unusual. Most GMs don't have the right to fire the Head Coach. Owners generally deserve that right for themselves and for good reason.
 
I'm I the only one who thinks we need a so called Czar(Parcell's position) who is over both the head coach and the GM and reports only to Ross ?

This split power thing is no good. I know Ireland supposidly was over Philbin but the lines were not clear and this may have caused all the in fighting we are now hearing about.

Hire a good player evaluator as GM but get a driven football guy to run the whole thing.
 
Finally youth movement at OC, no more old senile people with old playbooks

 
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