While most are loving the new coaches, how much credit does Philbin get for bringing them in? I wonder how many coaches he wanted turned him down when he first got here, with the Harbough mess when he first got here, and how much he wanted to replace the coaches he did.
I'm pretty sure Sherman was Philbin's first choice as OC. That meant our QB coach came in tow. I can't speak about the other position coaches. Getting Coyle was seen as a coup so I'm fairly confident that he was one of Philbin's preferred choices as well. The defensive position coaches all seem well respected also.
It definitely seems as though adding Lazor and Benton were widely praised selections as well and both clearly had other options. All in all, it seems like Philbin has great respect amongst the coaching community and has been very effective recruiting staff.
Looking at his record it has been inconsistent, but his teams have shown the ability to beat almost anyone. We outplayed New England twice last year and if the refs were fair we would have had an extra win and made the playoffs. We had victories over most of the AFC playoff teams.
While we haven't won the division or even secured a playoff spot yet, many of the best and most important indicators point to Philbin being a success long term ... but that means nothing if we underperform and he is fired 9 months from now.
Lazor was my top pick for the list and 3 of my 5 were coaches. I really think that we finally have enough talent to be a good team.
Our weakest spots are OL, TE, LB, and CB, but overall those weaknesses are less weak than last year. Our young QB finally has enough experience to get his feet under him.
Now it's all up to the coaches, IMHO.
Sent from my phone, so please forgive any typos.
