Bleacher Report - Mike Holmgren

Mike Holmgren is One Step Closer to the Cleveland Browns

Daniel Wolf — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:27:54 -0500

Former Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren is one step closer to coming to the Cleveland Browns.

After the Buffalo Bills spent seven hours courting and persuading former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan to become their next head coach and possible head of football operations, they made another call.

The Bills also called Holmgren to come in and interview, but according to Sirius NFL Radio he declined and said he wasn't interested.

Is Holmgren becoming enamoured with thought of rebuilding the Browns?

Or is he just keeping his options open?

Or does he just not want anything to do with Bills owner Ralph Wilson?

It may be a combination of everything above, but one thing is more certain now and that is there is one less team out there who Holmgren won't be working for.

Browns fans can now get a little more excited, because the odds of landing a football czar like Holmgren have just increased.

This maybe a little too optimistic of a look at this situation, but Cleveland fans will tell you that optimism is like a religion to them over the last decade.

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Buffalo Bills Need to Lay Off the Turkeys This Year

JW Nix — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:08:21 -0500

Yo! I jus wanna says for furst off dat I wishes yous alls a deelishous dead bird day, capeesh?

Let me intoduece myself too dose of yous dat dont know me.

I iz 7thStoneFromDaSun. I am 3rdStoneFromTheSun's cuzin, whos yous all know as JW now.

I usually post my procrastinashuns on anothur sight, but since my cuzin iz on a train right now and kant pick, I iz takin ova wit his blessin.

I iz postin our pix for your football games twoday, but givin my insites as too why, sence we agree on the choices.

Green Bay Packers @ Detroit Lions

Yo, da Lions got dat eeloosive win las weak. Hope dey enjoy it, cause it mite be a minute befour they get one again. They will be starting Culpepper and Johnson mite not play. Not good, capeesh? Expect Ryan Grant to runfor over 100 yards. Dis mite be da game to eat wile its goin on.

Packers 34 Lions 16

Oakland Raiders @ Dallas Cowboys

Da Raiders are da most crazy teem in da game. Dey can kill da Eagles and beet da Bengals, but kant beat nobody else. Dallas has ben horruble on offense da past too weaks, so they iz prime for defeet. What Raiders teem shows up is da issue too gamble on.

Cowboys 20 Raiders 13

New York Giants @ Denver Broncos

Denver has been sinkin faster dan da Titantic da past few weaks. It ain't az much a souprize as da winnin streak was, capeesh? Da G-Men looked like dey righted the ship last weak after a month of losin. Dis iz a game both teems need to stay alive, so it could be da best game of da day. Problem iz dat half on da cuntry might be asleep in a turkey coma by halftime.

Giants 27 Broncos 26

OK, I gots to go delivur dis bird to my Auntie Rossetta Madonna Scappelleeto. She iz a Saint, capeesh? Den I iz lookin for a fine lady too let me eat wif at her house. If ya got a extra seat at yer tables ladeez, I will help yous wash da dishes. I iz not only a good lookin good fella, I iz a gentilman.

I leave you wif sum babble 3rd sent me on a text message :

News comes out of Buffalo that Mike Shanahan recently spent several hours talking to owner Ralph Wilson. I personally cannot see him working in Buffalo.

He was said to be lined up for the Dallas Cowboys job in 2010 after the Cowboys fall short again and cost Wade Phillips his job as head coach. I can see that over Buffalo for a few reasons.

Dallas has a lot of talent, but lack imaginative coaching on offense to win the big one. Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett has been mostly terrible, and owner Jerry Jones needs his head examined if he still consider Garrett the head coach of the future for the Cowboys.

Firing Garrett after this season is the right move. He might need to go to the UFL or college to learn his craft some more, because he is not NFL talent. Shanahan would represent a huge upgrade, since he is a head coach who likes to play the role of offensive coordinator.

Phillips could even stay on as defensive coordinator, a role he assumed in Denver while Shanahan coached quarterbacks from 1989 to 1991, and where most observers feel is his best place on the gridiron.

Buffalo might be appealing to him because he could be both the general manager and head coach, something he most likely could not do in Dallas under the megalomaniacal Jones.

There is talent in Buffalo, but it appears the team is years away from putting a roster ready to compete in their division.

Though the 57-year-old Shanahan has experience coaching in cold weather cities, the ready made roster of the Cowboys may too hard to pass up. Then there is the notoriety of coaching the Cowboys as opposed to the Bills from a marketing standpoint.

Give Buffalo a lot of credit for getting a early jump on their search for a head coach. It speaks well to their fans, and shows that the 91 year old Wilson still has a thirst for victory.

There may be quite a few jobs open in the NFL for 2010. Some teams that might have openings are the Washington Redskins, Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns, and Carolina Panthers.

Cleveland and Tampa Bay may just get a new general manager, however, considering their head coaches are in the midst of their first season on the job.

The line of experienced coaches with the credentials of Shanahan willing to coach is short, and may only include Mike Holmgren. Holmgren might prefer to be a general manager at this stage of his career, so that makes the list even more sparse.

Whatever Buffalo does with their emanate opening, it has to be a wise selection. Fans saw promise when Hall Of Fame Bills legend Marv Levy returned for a few years as general manager.

When Levy left in 2007, the team has failed to progress. Shanahan would be a big get for Buffalo, so talking him into it now is the right thing to do. It remains to be seen if Shanahan feels that they are right for him too.

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Is The Seahawks Success During This Decade a Mirage?

Paul Taylor — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:51:31 -0500

Not surprisingly Seattle fans are frustrated with the Seahawks woes this season, particularly on the road, where they are currently 0-5.

Everyone has analyzed why the team has been so bad; injuries, no running game, letting Mike Holmgren leave, adapting to a new head coach, Steve Hutchinson’s "poison pill," Tim Ruskell’s decisions, and so on.

People are trying to find the magic formula to get the franchise back to the period when they made the playoffs five straight years, including four division titles, and appeared in their first Super Bowl.

The thing is, there is no magic ingredient. It’s staring them right in the face: the NFC West.

Let me explain.

It’s no fluke that Seattle’s change in fortunes coincided with the realignment of the NFL to an eight-division league for the start of the 2002 season. Of course, moving to Qwest Field also benefited, as the team has won 67 percent of their games there, but it takes more than a new stadium and a loud crowd to help a team win.

A strong defense helps, but this doesn’t apply to Seattle. The best effort they’ve had since 2002 was in their Super Bowl season, conceding an average of 316.8 yards per game, good for only 16th in the NFL. The points conceded was better—16.9 per game, for seventh in the league.

In total, the Seahawks have allowed 341.6 yards and 21.1 points per game during the last seven seasons. (For the record, Seattle has averaged 39 sacks and 16 interceptions per year during this same period.) Overall a distinctly ordinary return, that still doesn't explain the team’s accomplishments in recent times.

What about the west coast offense, which Holmgren employed during his reign in Seattle? Not exactly. Just like the defense, their best year was in 2005, when Seattle led the league in points and finished second in yardage on the way to Detroit.

Again though, during 2002-'08 the offense averaged 338.7 yards and 23.2 points a game. The yardage is actually lower than what the defense gave up, while the team only outscored opponents by an average of two points at a time, leaving little margin for error.

So, how did the team achieve what they did? Despite the recent success of the Arizona Cardinals, the NFC West is often referred to as one of the worst in the NFL; worse than the NFC North with the Detroit Lions or the AFC West with the Oakland Raiders? Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

If you go back to when the NFL was realigned in 2002, the NFC West ‘boasts’ the worst record in the entire league, going 192-256. The NFC North, despite having the Lions 0-16 record from 2008, still finished better, with a 204-244 record over the last seven years.

Even looking at 2009 to date, the results are just as grim, with the NFC West sporting the leagues worst record, going 15-25 through ten games.

Any limited success Seattle has had on the road is also in part because of the NFC West. From 2002 to the present, their overall road record is 24-37. This includes only two victories against teams who would finish that season with a winning record. (And only one of those teams went on to make the playoffs.)

Of the 24 victories, exactly half of them have come on the road to NFC West foes, (going 12-9) with a 12-28 record against the rest of the league.

While not wanting to diminish what Seattle has achieved, it’s important to make people aware of all the factors that contributed to their success during this decade.

There is still no taking away from the fact that Seattle has had some excellent teams (and players) during the last seven years (as I, and many others, have previously mentioned, they would have won Super Bowl XL if it weren’t for the absolutely terrible officiating), but they remind me of the Chicago Bears in the 1980s; a good team playing in a poor division.

As it is, it's up to Seattle to take advantage of the division they play in. While both have made strides recently, the St Louis Rams and San Francisco 49ers are nothing special. As for the Arizona Cardinals, Seattle showed a couple of weeks ago they can play with them.

The Seahawks should get two relatively high first round draft picks next May and surely can’t suffer a barrage of injuries for a third straight year. As such, I predict right here and now that the Seahawks will return to the playoffs in 2010.

How’s that for optimism?

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Mike Holmgren Would Look Good in Silver and Black

Dan Brickl — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:50:15 -0500

Mike “the Walrus” Holmgren’s recent comments blasting Washington Redskins owner Dan Schneider for replacing Jim Zorn as the offensive play-caller left speculation that he was interested in coaching for the Redskins and ready to conquer the East Coast after finding success in the Midwest, and the West Coast.

As a former history teacher and grandson to West Point Colonel and military strategist genius Jens Bugge, Holmgren is well aware of the strategies needed to conquer continents, but one shouldn’t look too deep into this.

Holmgren loves the NFL and has been the biggest advocate for competition by serving on the NFL’s Competition Committee. He is also a good friend of Jim Zorn, who was his offensive puppet in Seattle, and Holmgren wanted to come to his defense against Schneider.

The latest rumors, based on the East Coast conquering theory, point to Mike Holmgren taking over the Cleveland Browns as coach and general manager once the NFL season is over.

Don’t get your hopes up Cleveland fans.

First of all, Cleveland is in the Midwest, industrious, and cold. Holmgren loved coaching the Green Bay Packers with its amazing history and fans, but his dislike for cold weather and industrial cities was always prevalent. Cleveland is a just a bigger Green Bay.

Holmgren likes culture and mild temperatures. He wants to “hang” with like minded people. He visits museums and eats in Chinatown. Plus, there is a significant walrus population in the bay area. As a Packer coach, he made it clear that he would only take a coaching position on the West Coast, preferably in the Bay area where he grew up.

We all have dream jobs and dream locations. For “the Walrus,” his dream job is coaching and managing an NFL football team in his dream location, San Francisco. But Mike Singletary currently owns that dream. Fortunately for Holmgren, the Oakland Raiders are a “rock skip” away and are in need of a good coach.

Can’t you just see pictures of “the Walrus” next to a picture of John Madden, both barking at the officials?

Oakland provides the opportunity Holmgren has been waiting for. He wants to settle and get involved in his community, the community he grew up in. He wants to live in a place where his daughters and grandchildren call home.

Of course, there is a major problem with Oakland—Al Davis.

Holmgren is a field general and is looking for “hands-off” management despite the fact that Ron Wolfe provided Holmgren with great players and tremendous success in Green Bay. We all know about Al Davis—horrible first-round draft choices, lawsuits, and questionable trades. Many say he is off his rocker, but let’s take a look at his success.

Five Super Bowl Appearances

Three Super Bowl Titles

One AFL Championship Title

15 Divisional Titles

13 NFL Hall of Famers

The Oakland Raiders are only seven years removed from their last Super Bowl appearance. Al Davis had to be doing something right, and usually it came down to drafting good players and acquiring veteran free agents.

The Raiders recently won games against two solid NFL teams, the Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles, and they played the Chargers tough twice. Granted they have been blown out by the Jets, Giants, and Texans, but I can think of five NFL teams that are in a worse situation. What does this mean? The talent is there, but the coaching needs improvement.

Like any great general, “the Walrus” understands that the ego can’t get in the way of a good honest self-assessment. Holmgren is not a good GM—evident by his poor performance in that capacity with the Seahawks. What he can do well is teach and assess players. If they are coachable, he will make them better. If not, he won’t waste his time.

JaMarcus Russell has the skills to play quarterback in the NFL and Holmgren may just be the one who could foster that talent. If not, Bruce Gradkowski also has potential, and there are some excellent quarterbacks in the draft this year. Oakland has a good core of running backs and wide receivers, and an exceptional tight end. Oakland’s secondary is one of the best in the league led by Nnamdi Asomugha.

Despite delirious first-round draft choice mistakes, Davis has done a descent job of drafting players in the middle rounds. Now he needs someone to coach that talent so it can reach its potential. Nobody does that better than Holmgren.

Holmgren has always hired and worked with assistant coaches who were also good teachers. Texas A&M and former Packers coach Mike Sherman would make an excellent offensive coordinator. Nolan Cromwell, Texas A&M assistant coach and former Holmgren offensive coordinator and special team’s guru, could also be recruited to coach special teams.

Cromwell is the mastermind behind the Green Bay Packers exceptional special teams play during their 1996 Super Bowl championship season. He resurrected Desmond Howard’s career and could do the same for Darius Heyward-Bey. Cromwell could serve Oakland well under Holmgren.

Holmgren’s game management and offensive knowledge would instantly make the Raiders better. His firm and fair coaching style would make them disciplined.

As for the Al Davis question?

If Jerry Jones and Bill Parcells can work it out, Davis and Holmgren can. Both Holmgren and Parcells are highly respected in NFL circles and both carry too much clout to be dominated by an “iron-fisted” owner. The pure presence of Holmgren would keep Davis in check.

Sure, Davis would never hire Parcells because Parcells dictates all personnel decisions. Davis would be reluctant to hire Holmgren because he traditionally hires vulnerable coaches he can dominate. But Davis has to recognize that both he and Holmgren can compensate for each other’s weaknesses and strengths. Holmgren won’t give in to the bullying, but he will be strategic with Davis.

Al Davis drafts potential. Parcells demands performance and has no tolerance for potential, but Holmgren, by nature, is a teacher and has the patience and skills to cultivate potential. It would take some pride swallowing by both Holmgren and Davis, but the end result could be a return to Raider greatness.

As for “the Walrus” nickname? Holmgren has always looked like a Walrus. Some mention “Golden Bear,” but Walrus seems to fit better. Holmgren has paid his dues and is worthy of a nickname.

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