Raiders fans have heard for weeks that the hiring of Lane Kiffin was a bad idea. The common refrain here at the FanHouse (and at THN) was that at least Lane Kiffin wasn't another tired old retread. So what did the Chargers do when they needed a new coach? They hired a tired, old retread. In fact, they hired a tired old retread that flamed out miserably for the Raiders. The Chargers hired a guy that flamed out so badly in Washington, he was replaced by Marty Schottenheimer. Think about that for a moment. The Turner ship was so out of control, with coaches fighting players and such, that the team needed Schottenheimer to come in and clean up Turner's mess.
Now this guy is going to run the Chargers?
Hiring a veteran coach seemed like the right call for the Chargers. They were 14-2, after all. But Turner seems to be the wrong choice. The Turner press conference had a recurring theme of continuity, but if you really wanted continuity, why didn't they keep Schotteheimer?
Out-dumbing the Raiders is really a hard thing to do, but the Chargers have manged to do it with this move.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-19-2007 @ 8:07PM
J.P. said...
Norv Freakin Turner!And Chris Berman use to call Wayne
Fontes the Rasputin of NFL coaches.Congrat's Chargers,
you just won the title!The title for stupidest front
office and owner in the league.Houston,your off the
snide!
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2-19-2007 @ 8:27PM
Joe said...
Well, at least no AFC team will have to worry about squaring off against the Chargers in the playoffs next season...or the next......or the next...or however long they plan on keeping Turner around. They could have had Jim Fassel.....now they are stuck with Norv Fossil.
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2-20-2007 @ 11:41AM
Todd said...
Simply put, there were a lot of Charger fans much more upset yesterday than today. The media honks played to that emotion and decided to take the easy shots (I would note ESPN, and our local media resisted temptation and dug before reacting). The result is a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth, but little substance to their argument.
Phillip Rivers has the best QB tutor in the league at his disposal. LT has a guy who helped his idol, Emmitt Smith, flourish. The guy who constructed Wade Phillips' 3-4 is now employing it here. And most of all the guy many people wanted aqs HC in knee jerk fashion, Rivera, is now a coach here as well, and for millions less than if we'd have hired him as HC.
It is impossible to imagine this going more smoothly for the Bolts. We were nervous and that nervousness led to initial emotional responses, but the man with no emotion, AJ, did what he always does, makes the best decision in the abstract and then executes it in ruthless fashion. We got 2 of the 6 guys we interviewed, name another team that has pulled off a coup like that.
Well done AJ, well done. We are truly the best team in the league and will prove it by systematically dismanteling those in our way to a Championship. I truly believe this was not just genius but serendipity in how all of the pieces fell into place.
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