Judging Mike Singletary
I know it’s only one game, way too early to form an opinion of Mike Singletary’s head coaching abilities. Remember what all of us Redskin’s fans thought about Zorn after the Giants game? But, I saw a few things today that really soured me on Mike. I blogged just a few days ago about how I thought Singletary would make a great coach, and would light a fire under the 49er’s. After watching his antics today, I think he might be taking this “light a fire” stuff too far. Here are the things that I saw while watching the game today that bothered me.
Down 13-3 with :31 seconds left in the first half, the 49ers had the ball on the Seattle 29 yard line, facing a 4th and 4. The 49er’s called timeout. During this timeout the cameras focused on Singletary, his Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz, and his QB JT O’Sullivan. Singletary asked Martz, “what do you want to do?”. Martz said “go for it”. Without hesitation, Singletary went with Martz’s recommendation. Mind you, a FG brings you within a touchdown to start the third quarter. On the ensuing play, O’Sullivan threw an interception that was returned 75 yds for a TD. On the interception TD return, Vernon Davis almost tackled the defender after sprinting his ass off for 80 yards! Keep this in mind for part 2.
After a silly penalty in the 4th quarter by Davis, Singletary pulls him out of the game. OK, good move. Singletary then follows this up by escorting Davis to the bench and directs him to sit down like he is a 5 year old in time out. This was not enough however, as a few minutes later Singletary directed Davis to the locker room. This was still not enough. Singletary decided to call out his TE in the post game press conference. And for the record, I am no fan of Davis.
Look, I’m all for making your mark on the team. I’m all for dressing down a player (who probably is a distraction). I’m all for making an example of somebody. But do not do it in the media, or in front of 50,000 people in the stands, or on national TV.
Mike, your a hard ass, we know this. It’s why you were voted to the Pro Bowl 10 times. It’s what made you a Hall of Famer. But don’t make your mark this way. I’m pretty sure that the 10 years that you spent being a motivational speaker never involved a speech about degrading a man in public.
I hope Singletary turns around the 49er’s, and I hope he leaves his door open when his players want to speak to him.
Cheers and Hail
Posted by fatpickle Date: Sunday, October 26, 2008
Categories: Fatpickled, NFL
Tags: head coaches, singletary, zorn
Talk Soup is Cancelled
Mike Nolan was fired Monday as head coach of the San Fransisco 49ers. Nolan served as Defensive coordinator of the Washington Redskins from 1997-1999. It was during this time that Porkboy and Fatpickle tagged Nolan with the nickname Talk Soup. We thought he bore a tremendous resemblance to the original host of Talk Soup, Greg Kinear. I still enjoy playing the “he looks like someone famous game”, its always fun. But lets focus on another NFL firing. Until the past couple of weeks I have never liked the idea of firing a NFL coach in the middle of the season. Although the NFL season is long in the sense of time, there is only 16 regular season games. It seems crazy to fire a coach a quarter of the way thru the season. Especially when a head coach has put his system in place, gone thru OTA’s, training camp, and preseason. It seems as though things have to be dire straights, or severe rock bottom to make such a move. But, the Rams are 2-0 with wins on the road against the Skins and Cowboys, since firing Scott Linehan. Even the Raiders came up with a spirited win this weekend against the Jets, making the cable guy 1-1.
Which brings me to the hiring of Mike Singletary. I love this move! I know Singletary has never been a coordinator, but he is a leader. If intensity and motivation are what the 49er’s are looking for, he will bring it. Singletary has interviewed several times for coaching vacancies, and was always passed over. I hope indeed that he was a serious candidate for these positions, that he was not just brought in as a product of the Rooney rule.
Singletary now has 9 games to show the 49er’s that he should be the head coach, and I think he succeeds. He’s playing in a weak division, and he has good coaches in place. All he needs to do is light a fire, and I think he can do that with his stare alone. The 49er’s have a bye and 3 divisional games in the next month. Seattle and St. Louis at home, and Arizona on the road. If they do well over the next 4 weeks, they are right back in the division hunt.
We still have 2 more firings that could happen before season’s end. Rod Marinelli in Detroit, and Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati. Marinelli is most likely to go, his team is pitiful and the new GM will probably want to choose another head coach. Lewis should be fired with the Bengals bye week coming up. However, Mike Brown is a notorious tight wad, and probably can’t handle paying Lewis to sit at home for the rest of the season.
One things for sure, with all the openings that are going to be available for head coaching positions in the NFL this year, it’s time to get Russ Grimm a job. He too has been passed over many times, and has the knock of never being a coordinator. But he is a Super Bowl Champion and a Hall of Fame caliber player. He will be a successful head coach if given the chance.
Cheers and Hail!
Posted by fatpickle Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Categories: Fatpickled, NFL
Tags: firings, head coaches, hogs, NFL, singletary
