Giants fans finally have hope with new head coach hire
Fans of the New York Giants are ecstatic. They haven’t been this excited since backup wide receiver David Tyree caught a ball off his helmet. What has caused this excitement around the Big Apple’s football team? The hiring of John Harbaugh as head coach.
After being among the worst teams in the league for about a decade and a half and living through the Pat Shurmur-Joe Judge-Brian Daboll regimes there is reason for optimism among the Giants faithful.
Steelers Fans Feel Betrayed with new head coach hire
Fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers are distraught. They haven’t felt this bad since Neil O’Donnell threw two fourth-quarter interceptions against the Dallas Cowboys.
Why the anger and rage around the Steel City’s football team? The hiring of Mike McCarthy as head coach. Despite not winning a playoff game since 2016, there is rage among the terrible towel waving fans that McCarthy, who replaced Mike Tomlin is not the right man for the job.
Same Coaches, Different Reactions
Talk about a tale of two cities. Talk about one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.
Harbaugh and McCarthy are basically the same coach as their records indicate. Don’t believe it? Here are the facts.
Harbaugh is 63 years old; McCarthy is 62.
Harbaugh has been a head coach for 18 years; McCarthy has been a head coach for 18 years.
Harbaugh’s regular-season record is 180-113, a winning percentage of .614; McCarthy’s regular-season record is 174-112-2 for a winning percentage of .608.
Harbaugh’s teams in Baltimore made the playoffs 12 of his 18 years. McCarthy’s teams in Green Bay and Dallas made the playoffs 12 times in 18 years.
Harbaugh’s playoff record is 13-11; McCarthy’s playoff record is 11-11.
Harbaugh won his only Super Bowl appearance in 2012. McCarthy won his only Super Bowl appearance in 2010.
The McCarthy Narrative
The rap on McCarthy is that he was handed two Hall of Fame quarterbacks — Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers — and “only’’ won one Super Bowl.
Here’s the facts.
McCarthy was handed Favre, coming off the worst season of his career where he threw 29 interceptions to 20 touchdowns and the Packers went 4-12. He resurrected him to the point that he was in the NFC Championship Game two years later.
As far as Rodgers, he was handed a young QB with talent, but poor mechanics whose future certainly didn’t yell Hall of Fame. The Packers were so concerned they selected a QB, Brian Brohm, early in the second round of the 2008 draft.
McCarthy, although rarely given credit, helped develop Rodgers into a future Hall of Famer. And in Dallas he took Dak Prescott from a good NFL quarterback into one of the best in the NFC.
A Different Steelers Blueprint
No, the long-time coach does not fit the Steelers previous M.O. of hiring a young, defensive-minded coach and keeping him for close to 20 years.
McCarthy isn’t young, he’s offensive-minded and he’s probably only going to coach through his initial contract. The Pittsburgh native may just turn out to be the right man for the Steelers job.
Championship Redux
AFC
Blame Game
You could blame the weather or a backup quarterback who hadn’t thrown a pass in two years for Denver’s 10-7 loss to New England. The real culprit was Broncos coach Sean Payton.
Ahead 7-0 early and dominating the game Denver had a chance to go up two scores. Instead Payton, as most coaches do these days, went for it on 4th-and-1. And ran a horrible play. Instead of a sneak or a simple run, he put the ball in the hands of his backup QB. Of course the play failed and the Broncos never scored again.
NFC
Sam I Am
There is no more doubting Seattle QB Sam Darnold. Except maybe from Vikings fans who can’t believe their team let him get away to keep J.J. McCarthy.
Darnold, in the biggest game of his career, came up as big as possible in the Seahawks 31-27 win over the Rams. Now the 3rd pick of the 2018 NFL draft is off to the Super Bowl. That’s something three of his draft mates — Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield — have yet to accomplish.
Mike and Mike
For only the third time in Super Bowl history head coaches with the same first name will meet in the game as Seattle’s Mike McDonald opposes New England’s Mike Vrabel.
The first two times were also a pair of Mikes. Holmgren vs. Shanahan in Super Bowl XXXII and McCarthy vs. Tomlin in Super Bowl XLV.
Early Super Bowl Tip
Coach McDonald,
If you have the ball at the 1-yard line late in the game down by 4 points, run the ball.
