Titans fire Whisenhunt

thehitcat

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Yeah on Simmons podcast with Sal he noted that Wisenhunt was 6 and 44 over his last 50.  Amazed he lasted as long as he did.  Taking that Cardinals team to the Superbowl really gave him some cushion. 
 

Toe Nash

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Wouldn't it have been better to do this in the offseason so your franchise QB has more time with your coach and you're not wasting a year of his development? Unless Mularkey is their guy going forward.
 
They've also lost three games by a combined 6 points...
 

Three10toLeft

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Toe Nash said:
Wouldn't it have been better to do this in the offseason so your franchise QB has more time with your coach and you're not wasting a year of his development? Unless Mularkey is their guy going forward.
 
They've also lost three games by a combined 6 points...
Was about to say the exact same thing. Wisenhunt is a terrible coach. But did you really need 7 games this year to be assured of that? This is only going to set this franchise back even further now with the terrible timing.
 

ShaneTrot

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Toe Nash said:
Wouldn't it have been better to do this in the offseason so your franchise QB has more time with your coach and you're not wasting a year of his development? Unless Mularkey is their guy going forward.
 
They've also lost three games by a combined 6 points...
I think one of the concerns is Whisenhunt's protection and schemes get his QBs killed. Better to get rid of him now.
 

SeoulSoxFan

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Lateral move?
 
@joshkatzowitz Mike Mularkey went 2-14 in 2012 w/the Jags before he was canned. Whisenhunt was 3-20 in the last 1.5 years. So, perhaps not a huge upgrade.
 

coremiller

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thehitcat said:
Yeah on Simmons podcast with Sal he noted that Wisenhunt was 6 and 44 over his last 50.  Amazed he lasted as long as he did.  Taking that Cardinals team to the Superbowl really gave him some cushion. 
 
And that Cardinals team was not very good and super fluky.  They were 9-7 with an easy schedule, and even then they were lucky to be 9-7; they finished 21st in DVOA, had a +1 point differential, and were -1.9 in SRS.  They just got blazing hot, especially on offense, at the right time.  Had they won the super bowl, they probably would have been the weakest champion of all time.
 

soxhop411

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Josina Anderson ‏@JosinaAnderson  1h1 hour ago
Just talked to a #Titans player who didn't even know his head coach was relieved of his duties. "Oh sh**. Give me a second."
 

luckiestman

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I said in a thread somewhere else this year that Whisenhunt owes Kurt Warner a lot of money. Warner taking a Whisenhunt coached team to within minutes of a SB victory is one of the more impressive things a QB has ever done in this league.
 

tims4wins

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luckiestman said:
I said in a thread somewhere else this year that Whisenhunt owes Kurt Warner a lot of money. Warner taking a Whisenhunt coached team to within minutes of a SB victory is one of the more impressive things a QB has ever done in this league.
 
They almost won that game - had a late lead, and also had the disastrous turnover/TD on the last play of the first half. Imagine living in a world where Ken Whisenhunt is a SB winning coach
 

soxfan121

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For all the talk about Indy as a desirable NFL job...Tennessee is a better one, IMO. They're gonna let Mettenberger take the pounding for the rest of the season while Malarkey rides out the string in search of the #1 overall pick. They give Mariota a functional redshirt year while getting reps for other young players. They are an OL upgrade and some defensive scheme changes from a playoff team. 

I have no idea why [insert rumored name here] would take the Indy job over the Titans job. A potential franchise QB and a top 3 pick, with some otherwise decent pieces to build around. 
 

BuellMiller

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luckiestman said:
I said in a thread somewhere else this year that Whisenhunt owes Kurt Warner a lot of money. Warner taking a Whisenhunt coached team to within minutes of a SB victory is one of the more impressive things a QB has ever done in this league.
 
To think, Super Bowls 43-45 were won or nearly won by teams coached by Ken Whisenhunt, Jim Caldwell, and Mike McCarthy.  I guess when your qbs are Warner, Manning, and Rodgers...
 

richgedman'sghost

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One of those coaches is not like the others. Maccarthy is a pretty good coach with a sustained run of success. He has at least won a Super Bowl and been to another. I think that separates him from the others. Am I wrong? Feel free to correct me or argue otherwise.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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richgedman'sghost said:
One of those coaches is not like the others. Maccarthy is a pretty good coach with a sustained run of success. He has at least won a Super Bowl and been to another. I think that separates him from the others. Am I wrong? Feel free to correct me or argue otherwise.
 
I believe he's pretty regularly recognized (at least around here) as a pretty bad in-game manager but it isn't talked about or noticed as much because he has an all-world quarterback.
 

coremiller

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Jed Zeppelin said:
 
I believe he's pretty regularly recognized (at least around here) as a pretty bad in-game manager but it isn't talked about or noticed as much because he has an all-world quarterback.
 
He's not a good clock manager/in-game tactician, but he's good at most of the other stuff Monday to Saturday, which is generally much more important but which fans underrate because it's less obvious.  Kind of like Andy Reid in that way.
 

Stitch01

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Not sure that he is good at the Monday to Saturday stuff (see Sunday nights game plan) and, while it is more important what coaches do Monday to Saturday, he easily destroys enough equity on game day that he's a terrible coach anyways..  He legitimately burnt like 10% of a Superbowl in equity in the title game last season. 
 

Erik Hanson's Hook

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richgedman'sghost said:
One of those coaches is not like the others. Maccarthy is a pretty good coach with a sustained run of success. He has at least won a Super Bowl and been to another. I think that separates him from the others. Am I wrong? Feel free to correct me or argue otherwise.
 
You sure about that?
 

mauf

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One of the guests on the ITP podcast had kind words earlier this season for the way the Titans' coaching staff had developed schemes that played to Mariota's strengths (what he had done in college) and had minimized plays where he was expected to make a 7-step drop and make a precise read and throw.

Also, Phil Rivers posted an MVP-caliber season with Whisenhunt as his OC.

With the Jaguars showing signs of competence and the Lions only one season removed from an 11-5 campaign, I don't see any team that's more of a basket case than Tennessee. They will struggle to attract a quality replacement -- and they deserve it.
 

GeorgeCostanza

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maufman said:
With the Jaguars showing signs of competence and the Lions only one season removed from an 11-5 campaign, I don't see any team that's more of a basket case than Tennessee. They will struggle to attract a quality replacement -- and they deserve it.
I don't know enough about them to understand why you say this. Is their ownership/front office a train wreck?
 

mauf

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GeorgeCostanza said:
I don't know enough about them to understand why you say this. Is their ownership/front office a train wreck?
An impatient FO/ownership and a dearth of talent is a terrible combination, and I think Mariota has been built up too much thanks to Whisenhunt's unheralded efforts to play tongue strengths. I don't see any HC candidates who are weighing multiple offers choosing the Titans.
 

soxfan121

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maufman said:
An impatient FO/ownership and a dearth of talent is a terrible combination, and I think Mariota has been built up too much thanks to Whisenhunt's unheralded efforts to play tongue strengths. I don't see any HC candidates who are weighing multiple offers choosing the Titans.
 
I don't think we know much of anything (yet) about whether ownership is impatient. Whisenhunt was hired shortly after Bud Adams death and this is really the first move made by Amy Adams Strunk as the controlling owner. The guy who made the announcement, Walrus Mustache, is also an interim CEO while she has a professional search going on. 

It is entirely possible that by January the Titans have a new CEO, a potential franchise quarterback and a top 3 pick. They will have no shortage of candidates for coach/GM. 

I think it is highly likely that Jason Michaels - the OC before and after this move - should get most of the credit for designing the offense to Mariota's strengths, as Waldman discussed. 

I think Tennessee is a much better opening than Indianapolis, where the owner is a known dipshit.
 

Manzivino

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maufman said:
One of the guests on the ITP podcast had kind words earlier this season for the way the Titans' coaching staff had developed schemes that played to Mariota's strengths (what he had done in college) and had minimized plays where he was expected to make a 7-step drop and make a precise read and throw.

Also, Phil Rivers posted an MVP-caliber season with Whisenhunt as his OC.

With the Jaguars showing signs of competence and the Lions only one season removed from an 11-5 campaign, I don't see any team that's more of a basket case than Tennessee. They will struggle to attract a quality replacement -- and they deserve it.
 
The 49ers are much more dysfunctional than the Titans. The ownership is bad, the GM is a stooge, the head coach has no business running an NFL team, and they've gone from giving their franchise QB a 9 figure contract to benching him for Blaine Gabbert and likely trading/cutting him in the offseason. They're looking at a total rebuild with an incompetent FO in a brutally difficult division. At least the Titans have some pieces in place and a reasonable shot at stealing a division title with a 9-7 or 10-6 season in the near future.
 

Hoya81

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GeorgeCostanza said:
I don't know enough about them to understand why you say this. Is their ownership/front office a train wreck?
There have been some rumors that the team may come up for sale after the Rams/Chargers/Raiders relocation is completed, which will drive up overall team values.
 

GeorgeCostanza

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Hoya81 said:
There have been some rumors that the team may come up for sale after the Rams/Chargers/Raiders relocation is completed, which will drive up overall team values.
Great...more "evidence" for the owners that Goodell is doing a wonderful job running the league.

Edit: at what point does the NFL turn into the housing market of the late aughts, when an owner is underwater shortly after buying a team. $2B? $2.5B?
 

edmunddantes

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GeorgeCostanza said:
Great...more "evidence" for the owners that Goodell is doing a wonderful job running the league.

Edit: at what point does the NFL turn into the housing market of the late aughts, when an owner is underwater shortly after buying a team. $2B? $2.5B?
when the TV/sponsorship* rights start declining or stall out in value and it's fully baked into the NFL team valuations.
 
just saw Bud Light gave up 1.4 billion over six years
 

mwonow

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maufman said:
An impatient FO/ownership and a dearth of talent is a terrible combination, and I think Mariota has been built up too much thanks to Whisenhunt's unheralded efforts to play tongue strengths. I don't see any HC candidates who are weighing multiple offers choosing the Titans.
 
No love here for the glories of auto-correct?
 

Al Zarilla

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Manzivino said:
 
The 49ers are much more dysfunctional than the Titans. The ownership is bad, the GM is a stooge, the head coach has no business running an NFL team, and they've gone from giving their franchise QB a 9 figure contract to benching him for Blaine Gabbert and likely trading/cutting him in the offseason. They're looking at a total rebuild with an incompetent FO in a brutally difficult division. At least the Titans have some pieces in place and a reasonable shot at stealing a division title with a 9-7 or 10-6 season in the near future.
While reading your post, I noticed that you could interchange your adjectives for the three 49er "leaders" any way and they all still fit. More a comment for the 49er thread, but it was right here. 49ers might indeed have the biggest problem hiring a competent head coach down the road, except SF should be a better place to be for a coach over time. Sorry, Santa Clara. 
 

mwonow

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GeorgeCostanza said:
No because it gave me flashbacks from Sunday night of Wade Phillips constantly licking his lips some lizard/frog hybrid.
 
Eewwww! 
 

Van Everyman

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So here's a crazy idea:

Is there any chance Chip Kelly would take this job?

I know it's unlikely and that if Kelly foes anywhere it's back to the NCAA. But so much was made in the runup to the draft about Kelly wanting to work with Mariota – and while anything could happen in that mess of a division, things haven't really panned out for Chip in the City of Brotherly Love the way people thought they would. At least with Mariota, he would be freed from the fiery hell that would be pinning your offensive hopes on this guy:

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2585718-sam-bradford-reportedly-turned-down-18-million-per-year-contract-from-eagles
 

DanoooME

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Chip has a contract so I don't see how he's going to be allowed to make a lateral move without compensation.
 
And Tennessee is in no position to be giving up any picks for a coach, no matter how good his reputation may be.
 

dcmissle

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Especially by someone with the patience of Lurie. I don't see him leaving unless he wants to -- to college, almost certainly -- and there is mutual agreement that it's a bad fit. The chances are probably much better than you'll see Kap in Philly.
 

DJnVa

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Florio said this morning on radio that he would not be surprised if the Titans had already talked to Philly and that there were meetings to see if there was interest and to feel around the compensation.