To me, the video was interesting because it spoke to the idea of Leadership, particularly in things like communication and the delegation of responsibilities and how effective leadership results in a kind of continued identity independent of who may be acting as OC or DC through the years.
It's as though the NFL now views "HC" as a trivial title awarded as much to hire away the latest hot name in Coordinator circles as it does a real position of leadership and identity.
And yet, we continue to see success among the more 'old school' types (e.g. Jon Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin, Nick Siriani, Dan Campbell, etc.) who delegate coordinator responsibilities to specialized assistants while embracing the HC position as something integral to the overall team-building effort...a position somehow above both the front office and the coaching staff.
I would argue that the NFL has seen a gradual decline in "Head Coaching" wherein leadership is taking a backseat to play-calling and other coordinator-level activities and its leading to a lot of failure (turnover) among HCs who often do actually get their side of the ball working reasonably well but whose team success seems entirely dependent on roster issues year-to-year.
What's also very interesting is that these tend to be the more tough teams, both physically and mentally: Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philly, Detroit, etc. Meanwhile the exceptions to the rule often require a ridiculous number of exceptional factors.
One example of a team led by a "play-caller" might be the Chiefs but they're pretty exceptional. They have Pat Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid, Steve Spagnuolo and Chris Jones...all of whom may end up in the HoF when they retire.
Meanwhile, teams with more conventional HCs tend to be pretty consistent even during "down years" in which the roster has obvious flaws, much of that success being due to the continuity of scheme / identity across multiple OC/DCs who may come and go.
When we talk about the HC turnover and the lack of team identity I think this is one facet of it. Whether it's the disease or just another symptom of it, I do think the endless string of OC/DC types parading around as HCs is a problem.
To me, McDaniel does seem to view this as "his team." I don't know whether he's got the goods or not but I at least do think he's willing to own his position as HC.
Still, the lack of a physical identity and the tendency of McDaniel to remain a QB-centric OC-type HC should be worrisome to everyone.
