It has been a turbulent finale to a decade that began with such promise (and a stunning victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI that seemed to breathe new life into the Coughlin regime). At each turn, there seems to be a special kind of animus reserved for Mara, as if he has willed the team to this moment. On Monday especially, he continued to combat the negative effects of his notorious loyalty to the bones of the staff he inherited years ago.
But after taking a quick look around the NFL at the other job openings, it’s hard not to wonder if we’re all not suffering from a lack of perspective. Assuming that Dallas tests the coaching market, joining Washington, Carolina, the Giants and Cleveland, how many situations actually seem better than what the Giants have to offer right now?
How bad—again, in perspective—is Mara’s desire to keep the franchise somewhat tethered to its glory years compared to the pitfalls that accompany the other openings?
Here’s an unofficial ranking of the best jobs of 2019, including Dallas. We’ll update the list should any surprise vacancies surface. The goal is to explore what a coach interviewing for a job might be thinking and how they might compare one landscape to the next…
GM Dave Gettleman will stay in New York even after Pat Shurmur was let go.
1. N.Y. Giants
A coach’s biggest issue with coming to the Giants will be working with a general manager that seems proudly dated in his thinking, who isn’t necessarily fleet of foot on draft day and who allows some aged scouting tropes to impact his decision-making in free agency.
The counter to that? The Giants have typically been a forward-thinking franchise despite the dusty perception. While Tom Coughlin had the reputation as a temperamental old boomer, the Giants were one of the first teams publicly tied with the analytics produced by Pro Fotball Focus in the early 2010s. Coughlin was one of the first coaches to test GPS monitoring at practice. The team revamped their diet, nutrition and exercise programs several times in that span. All of those people did not disappear organizationally and could potentially counterweight Gettleman’s instinctual style.
I also wonder whether a coach could make something of the roster in their first season and, given that Gettleman will soon turn 69, slowly earn a slice of the pie in terms of the roster building process. Mara said on Monday that he was open to various non-traditional power structures depending on the coach (which, again, he may have to promise at the outset anyway). Adam Schefter also reported Monday that if a new head coach was that passionate about front office changes, they don’t seem entirely out of the realm of possibility.
Here are the pros: A stable franchise with a young, ascending player at quarterback. A star at running back. A few cost-controlled assets that can produce at skill positions on offense. And … about $70 million to spend in free agency next year.
2. Carolina
The obvious detractor to taking this job is uncertainty at the quarterback position and a very, very competitive division with three other established head coaches. Will Cam Newton be back and healthy? Otherwise, Carolina returns a decent supporting cast and will have a navigable amount of cap space (while it’s in the bottom third of the league, it’s theoretically enough to chase one or two free agents that could be central to a coach’s scheme).
The benefits? A new owner who wants to empower and legitimize his first hire, which tends to lead to more patience. The Carolina market isn’t daunting for a first-time football coach and an in-house push for a more fundamental understanding and implementation of analytics will only help the kind of coach who is willing to delegate.
3. Dallas
I’m slightly less bullish on this job than others but could be talked into moving them up a spot. Here’s the fear: if Jerry Jones is this smitten with Jason Garrett, will that impact the lens with which he views his next head coach? It could go one of two ways: Either Jones’s compassion for Garrett is a draw, signaling that the Cowboys simply treat all of their coaches this way … or it’s akin to being the dreaded rebound prospect for someone who just got out of a very serious long-term relationship.
From a roster standpoint, the Cowboys were built to win in 2019. A new head coach might find that the Ezekiel Elliott contract becomes more difficult to grapple with by the season. A resurgent Robert Quinn, Amari Cooper, Sean Lee and Byron Jones will all hit the open market and, theoretically, most of the team’s cap space will either be tied up on the franchise tag with Dak Prescott or a long-term deal to secure the quarterback.
With that in mind, there is immediate pressure on a new coach to win for an owner who will grow increasingly impatient with each season that passes.
4. Cleveland
They would be in last place in almost any other circumstance, though the one thing saving the Browns is a less-recent example of ownership meddling in draft decisions.
Cleveland has not had a coach for longer than two-and-a-half seasons since the Haslam family arrived in 2012. They have a top-heavy roster full of in-prime veterans who carry with them the expectation of winning right away (or, they’ll make it known their preference to play elsewhere). The offensive line needs serious repair. The success or failure of the franchise quarterback going into his pivotal third year will have a serious impact on job security.
I’ll be careful here not to label Baker Mayfield, Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry with a broad brush, but this is a nucleolus of extremely talented people who will require someone with cachet and the ability to have immediate success. Someone who can get them the ball. Someone who can wrangle them during difficult times in a way that Tom Coughlin, Adam Gase, Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur and Hue Jackson were not in the past.
There have also been reported instances of opinion clashes between the team’s director of strategy and director of personnel as to the direction of the franchise. The job will be unattractive until someone makes it as much, which could be a draw for a big-name head coach with Super Bowl credentials who believes they can spearhead a legendary turnaround.
5. Washington
While all indications are that Daniel Snyder is doing the right things this time around, there is no track record of sustained harmony that he can point to. He was reportedly involved in the drafting of Dwayne Haskins. He recently told him not to play after an injury. Any candidate is going to need to possess a certain amount of trust that Snyder will ultimately recede into the owner’s box and let he or she run the team as they see fit.
But again, there is really no sustained track record of this.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones didn't announce what the future holds for head coach Jason Garrett, though the two met after Jones and Garrett spoke briefly with players on Monday. Garrett's contract expires Jan. 14.
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The Browns have fired coach Freddie Kitchens after one season, saying they "did not see the success or opportunities for improvement to move forward with him as our head coach."
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Despite an avalanche of injuries and a barely recognizable offense, Carson Wentz and the Eagles muscled past the Giants 34-17 on Sunday to capture the NFC East title.
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27-24 stunner at home to the going-nowhere Dolphins thanks to a late touchdown drive from the freewheeling, lushly bearded quarterback. This momentary blip, combined with Chiefs’ 31-21 win over the Chargers, cost New England a first-round bye and the No. 2 seed. It will be the first time in a decade that the Patriots will be forced to pluck their way through the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs.
Elsewhere, the playoff field took shape close to the way we thought it would. The Eagles gutted out an ugly, rain-soaked victory over the Giants with a handful of practice squad players, due to injuries. Philadelphia enters the playoffs the way they have grown accustomed to: On the heels of a thrilling, underdog narrative that their fans will never fully appreciate as they gear themselves up to rip members of the roster whom they have only learned about a week ago.
The Titans clung to the final spot thanks, in part, to some gutsy throws by Ryan Tannehill and some incredible receiver play by A.J. Brown, an emerging star worth keeping an eye on in the playoffs (going against the Texans’ second stringers helps, too). Derrick Henry—who has had 100-yard games in five of his last six weeks, including a 188-yard game against the Chiefs, a 159-yard game against the Jaguars and a 149-yard game against the Colts—went for more than 200 yards and three touchdowns, securing the 2019 rushing title in the process. In a playoff field lacking a bit in marquee running back names (Alvin Kamara, Dalvin Cook, Aaron Jones and Mark Ingram notwithstanding), he could be one of the biggest singular forces to be reckoned with.
All of a sudden, a Patriots team that failed to defeat one former Bill Belichick disciple at season’s end, now faces another in Mike Vrabel in the wild-card round. The Titans have earned a reputation as aggressively middling over the last few years, but who is signing up to face them right now in the playoffs?
Here’s a look at the playoff slate as it stands right now. We’ll update directly following a consequential 49ers-Seahawks tilt on Sunday Night Football…
"I would like to thank Freddie for his dedication and efforts this past season," general manager John Dorsey said in a statement. "We are disappointed in our results and feel a change is necessary. Freddie is a good man and good football coach. We wish he and his family nothing but success."
On the field this year, the Browns' offense was in the bottom third of the league and second-year QB Baker Mayfield failed to develop the way that many expected.
After the team's Week 16 loss to the Ravens which eliminated Cleveland from playoff contention, Kitchens insisted that the Browns were on their way to becoming consistent winners.
"We’re really close, and sometimes that gets lost in the shuffle," he said. "But we know how close we are. Our players understand how close we are. Our players understand how they could do better. Coaches understand how they could do better, and whenever we get those things flipped, it will change."
But that change will not occur under Kitchens' watch.
After falling 33-23 to the Bengals in Week 17, the Browns will now look to hire their eighth full-time coach since 2008.
Justin, Jrue and Aaron Holiday made NBA history on Saturday night, becoming the first trio of brothers to play in an NBA when each took the court as the Pelicans hosted the Pacers.
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An Ohio native, Burrow grew up dreaming of playing at Nebraska, who passed on him. The QB spent the first three seasons of his college career sitting on the bench at Ohio State before he decided to transfer to LSU as a redshirt junior.
Will Burrow add to his dominant season and join the elite list of players who have won the Heisman Trophy and the national championship in the same season? Fourteen players have accomplished both feats. Check out the full list below:
1. Davey O’Brien, QB, TCU, 1938
2. Bruce Smith, RB, Minnesota, 1940
3. Angelo Bertelli, QB, Notre Dame, 1943
4. Felix 'Doc' Blanchard, FB, Army, 1945
5. John Lujack, QB, Notre Dame, 1947
6. Leon Hart, TE, Notre Dame, 1949
7. Tony Dorsett, RB, Pittsburgh, 1976
8. Charlie Ward, QB, Florida State, 1993
9. Danny Wuerffel, QB, Florida, 1996
10. Charles Woodson, CB, Michigan, 1997
11. Matt Leinart, QB, USC, 2004
12. Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama, 2009
13. Cam Newton, QB, Auburn, 2010
14. Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State, 2013
LSU destroyed Oklahoma, 63–28, in a College Football Playoff semifinal here Saturday, but it might have been because LSU had much better line play, superior talent at the skill positions and one of the best quarterbacks in the sport’s recent history. O.K., maybe it’s not hard.
Joe Burrow and LSU are going to the national championship game. That one will be in New Orleans, which gives Tigers fans a chance to fill the stadium and LSU’s opponent a few days to learn voodoo. Good luck, Clemson, or Ohio State. Against Oklahoma, Burrow completed 21 of 27 passes for 403 yards and seven touchdowns … in the first half. For some programs, that’s October. Burrow then opened the the second half by running for a touchdown. If he had wanted, he probably could have skipped, jumped, moonwalked and juggled for touchdowns.
Burrow is more accurate throwing on the run than most quarterbacks are in the pocket. The Sooners gave him time and open receivers. They might as well have asked him how many touchdown passes he wanted to throw. Early in the game, Burrow placed a pass in Justin Jefferson’s hands, but Jefferson dropped it … so on the next play, Burrow placed another one in his hands for a touchdown.
We now know that the national championship will be won by one of the great teams in college football history: Either LSU, or somebody good enough to beat LSU.
In the meantime: There has been a lot of talk about inviting more teams to the College Football Playoff, but first maybe we should focus on getting Oklahoma to show up. Is that a cheap shot? No cheaper than Oklahoma’s Brendan Radley-Hiles trying to remove the head of LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire, a play made even dumber by the fact that Burrow was running for a first down and Radley-Hiles ignored him to hit Edwards-Helaire. Radley-Hiles was ejected for targeting. Maybe he wanted to leave before he gave up more touchdowns.
The playoff is a 365-day argument interrupted by 10 hours of football, and this is the Sooners’ reality: What we saw Saturday can and will be used against them. People will say Oklahoma has lost three straight semifinals, and after this debacle against LSU, why give OU another shot?
It’s not quite fair. Oklahoma earned its playoff spots. Two years ago, Oklahoma took Georgia to overtime—Riley said this week “it was a coin flip,” and he was right. Last year Oklahoma fell behind Alabama 28-0 but actually made a game of it, sort of. And even in defeat this year, the Sooners showed some offensive creativity, with plays ranging from chucking the ball in the air and hoping CeeDee Lamb would catch it to chucking it in the air and hoping Lamb would draw pass interference.
Oklahoma did not belong on the field with LSU this weekend. But who did? Georgia? In its last game, LSU whipped the Bulldogs. Alabama? The Tigers beat the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, and now Tua Tagavailoa isn’t even playing. Oregon? Come on, do you really think Oregon would have given LSU a game?
The pool of true national championship contenders is only three-deep this year. LSU, Clemson, Ohio State. That’s it. LSU probably would have destroyed anybody other than Clemson and Ohio State. This may explain why Clemson coach Dabo Swinney spent so much time talking about how great his team was. Maybe he knew the value of being the No. 1 seed and facing No. 4.
And maybe Riley knew, too. There were little hints this week that he understood he was trying to climb a mountain in roller skates. He implied that his team would be content playing slow, which is what underdogs often do, to limit the number of possessions. He said more than once that this team suffered more injuries than any other he had—and this was before three players were suspended for the semifinal.
On Oklahoma’s first possession, Riley called for a handoff on third-and-16. He might as well have screamed “S-E-C! S-E-C!” This was the kind of call you make if you don’t think you can make a big play, and you just want to limit turnovers, play a field-position game, and hope the football gods will smile upon you. LSU didn’t need gods. It has Joe Burrow.
The senior from Franklinton, La., had a busy first half, switching from left guard to right early in the first quarter after LSU's Damien Lewis suffered a lower-body injury. Magee was second-team All-SEC this season.
Taiwan has been declared polio free since 2000 and some of the last polio survivors have decided to band together to dance wheelchair ballroom dancing.
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With the Royal Rumble approaching, the road to WrestleMania is about to hit high gear. Here's a look at how the WrestleMania 36 lineup could shake out.
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Wiseman's departure from Memphis came amid a 12-game suspension he was in the middle of serving. He received the ban on Nov. 20 after the NCAA discovered his mother accepted $11,500 from coach Penny Hardaway to help the family relocate from Nashville to Memphis in 2017. Wiseman was still in high school at the time. The NCAA also ordered him to donate $11,500 to a charity of his choice. Memphis appealed Wiseman's suspension, which the NCAA ruled to uphold on Nov. 27. He was eligible to return from his suspension on Jan. 12, 2020, when Memphis faces South Florida.
Hardaway was an assistant coach at East High School in Memphis at the time he made the payment to Wiseman's mother. The NCAA determined he was a University of Memphis booster because he donated $1 million to the school in 2008 to help establish its Penny Hardaway Hall of Fame.
Wiseman was first ruled ineligible by the NCAA on Nov. 8, hours before Memphis' game against Illinois-Chicago. However, a Tennessee judge put the ruling on hold pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the forward against the NCAA. Wiseman later withdrew his lawsuit because it became "an impediment" to Memphis' efforts to reach a resolution with the NCAA on his eligibility status, his lawyers said.
Wiseman played three games for the Tigers, averaging nearly 20 points per game on 77% shooting from the field.
In joining Excel Sports, he joins an agency that represents a number of the league's top players, including Nikola Jokia, Kemba Walker, Kevin Love and Brandon Ingram.
Memphis 7-footer James Wiseman -- a potential No. 1 overall pick -- has signed with Excel Sports for his NBA representation, a league source tells ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
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Edward Aschoff's fiancee, Katy Berteau, thanked those who have expressed sympathy and shared their memories of the reporter, who died Tuesday on his 34th birthday.
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No, the reason John Simpson is so respected and beloved by his teammates is attributable to the subtle steel that kept him from breaking in some difficult times. As much as anybody, he has been the man of the house for Clemson football.
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“Look for us in Arizona,” grandfather John Simpson quipped. “We’ll be in the Suburban with Clemson flags.”
The family members who helped forge the resilience and character within No. 74 for the Tigers have driven damn near the entire expanse of America this week to see Simpson and his Clemson teammates play Ohio State Saturday night in the Fiesta Bowl.
The Suburban was rented Monday by Keyonna Snipe in Charleston. On Christmas Eve, she and a crew of friends and relatives drove 2 1/2 hours north to Rock Hill, S.C., and spent the night with her former father-in-law, John’s grandfather. At 4 a.m. on Christmas morning, they set out from Rock Hill for Arizona.
The plan was for a great uncle to take the leg across Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, to the Texas border. Then the eldest Simpson, a trucker by trade, was going to handle all of Texas. They would figure out New Mexico and Arizona later.
Estimated driving time: 30 hours.
But, hey, it’s nothing the family hasn’t done before. When John was a freshman in 2016 and Clemson was playing Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl in another playoff semifinal, they made the drive. Last year, for the Cotton Bowl semifinal against Notre Dame in Arlington, Texas, they also drove.
Snipe hates to fly. But there is no distance large enough to keep her from seeing her boy play football, so off they went, burning up Interstates 20 and 10 across the southern United States.
“My mom is my rock, man,” Simpson said. “I would do anything for her, and I know she would do anything for me.”
Among the other things Snipe will do for her boys, in addition to cross-country driving: working the third shift assembly line at Cummins Turbo Technologies, making parts for turbocharged engines.
Third shift factory work isn’t the most glamorous of lifestyles, but it does pay the bills. And frankly, Snipe said she’s had worse jobs before. In her current position she and John have most of their phone conversations while Keyonna is driving home from the factory early in the mornings.
“I haven’t been able to afford the best,” she said. "But he was happy with whatever I bought him.”
When John was younger, his rock often turned to the man she described as her rock, John Simpson Sr., for help. Although she was separated from the elder Simpson’s son, John Jr., she has long considered John Sr. to be her father figure.
“My mom passed two years ago,” Snipe said. “I never had my father in my life. He’s just the best. He’s not my father, but he is my father. He has never left our side.”
This was a vow John Simpson Sr. made. He took it upon himself to do everything he could to end—or at least interrupt—the generational problems that had beset the males in his family.
John Sr. got out of prison in South Carolina in 2000. His son, John Jr., was finding trouble with the law as well. John Sr. made a vow to be a positive presence in the lives of his 11 grandchildren—10 girls, and young John.
“I was real messed up,” John Sr. said. “But me being sick and tired of being sick and tired, I had to do something about it. I got down on my knees and prayed.”
What came thereafter was an annual summer pilgrimage—all the grandkids came to John Sr., and worked in his lawn care business. Those old enough cut grass. The younger ones—as young as 4 years old—picked up trash.
“I was trying to teach them about hard work and to earn their way,” Simpson Sr. said. “At the end of the summer, I would take them shopping before they went back to school. We would buy school clothes with the money they earned.”
He also bought them all a pair of shoes for Christmas. The quality depended on the quality of their academic work.
“If their grades were good, they got to pick the shoes,” he said. “If they weren’t good, I picked the shoes.”
During those summers, John Sr. would take his grandson to see John Jr. in prison in North Carolina. The visits were heartbreaking for young John.
“That was real hard,” he said. “I remember leaving (prison), crying my eyes out. I didn’t know the next time I’d see my dad.”
What got him through?
“Football,” he said, then laughed. “Football got me through.”
Back home in North Charleston during the school year, the family was barely getting by in the Dorchester-Waylyn neighborhood, a dangerous area. The Charleston Post & Courier described it thusly in 2018: “In a state that is one of the worst in the nation when it comes to number of gun deaths, North Charleston is one of the most dangerous areas in South Carolina and Dorchester-Waylyn is one of the most dangerous areas in North Charleston.”
Snipe moved her boys out of that neighborhood when young John transferred to Fort Dorchester High School, a decision that provided a springboard for his football career. John Sr. recalls getting a call from his grandson telling him how much he liked the new school and its football program, which provided two pairs of shoes for its players. For once, his grandfather wouldn’t be left trying to special-order (and pay for) size-17 cleats.
But an improved athletic situation wasn’t a familial cure-all. There was lingering bitterness.
“It was difficult for him when he was younger,” Snipe said. “Kids want their fathers. He reached a point where he didn’t want anything to do with him.”
Today, though, with so many obstacles overcome and perspective gained, the bitterness is dissipating.
“My relationship with my dad has gotten better over the years,” Simpson said. “I had to forgive. I’m not going to say it wasn’t his fault, but everyone needs forgiveness.”
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Life was coming at John Simpson fast last week—past, present and future all colliding in an emotional mashup that has the customarily jovial big man suddenly sweating through his gray shirt and waving a hand in front of his watering eyes.
Present: The All-American offensive guard was sitting in the Clemson indoor facility, as the Tigers prepare for the game(s) that will conclude his college career. It was two days before graduation. Future: The possibility of life-altering money—the kind his family has never had—looms in 2020. Past: He is talking, with remarkable candor, about breaking a generational cycle of incarceration for males in his family, blazing a new trail academically, becoming a beloved part of a championship football program.
And about the burden of being the man of the house while still a boy.
