Jean-Jacques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News is not happy with Jerry Jones.  First, for not canning Wade Phillips.

Sometimes, if I’m not careful, I could allow myself to feel sorry for Jerry Jones.

He wants to win so badly. Really, he does.

He just doesn’t have a clue how to make it happen.

If he did, we all know Wade Phillips wouldn’t still be the Cowboys’ coach. But Jerry doesn’t know how to fix his underachieving team, especially since promoting Jason Garrett these days would cause a mutiny.

So Jerry has somehow convinced himself the status quo will get the job done to his satisfaction. Jerry thinks the mild-mannered Phillips will be demanding enough to maximize the roster’s talent.

You don’t believe that any more than I do. It’s not too late for Jerry to change his mind and fire the coach.

Remember, Jerry once said any one of 500 coaches could coach the Cowboys. Phillips is the fifth coach Jones has hired since uttering those words, but that still leaves 495.

And secondly, for not making the coach a figure with more authority.

If Jerry the GM wants to control personnel, that’s fine. It’s his right. And we all thought he did a wonderful job assembling talent before the season, which is why nearly every prognosticator picked Dallas to play in the Super Bowl.

When he listens to players griping about anything from playing time to schemes, he makes a weak head coach even weaker.

That’s sad.

But it’s Jerry’s fault, and that’s why I can’t feel sorry for him.  (Source and a really good piece)

On a related note, Jerry Jones is reportedly thinking about bringing in Mike Shanahan to coach in 2010.  What happened to Jason Garrett?

It seems to me that it is the growing sentiment as reflected by Bob Kravitz of the Indy Star.

It’s time for coach Tony Dungy to follow his heart, return home to Tampa and his family and the next chapter in his life, and it’s time for the Indianapolis Colts to hear a new voice.

Dungy knows that, and my sense is he has known that every time he has made an in-season trip to Tampa to see his family. Every time he stepped back on the plane to return to Indianapolis, he left a little piece of his heart behind.

Now it’s time to go.

It’s the best thing for Dungy, who has considered retirement at the end of each of the past five seasons, only to be talked back onto the sideline.

And yes, it’s the best thing for the Colts, who have gone about as far as they can with Dungy and his staff.

…

It’s not just his record here. He had the same reputation in Tampa, where he built what had been a laughingstock of a franchise into a perpetual contender. He had to leave before the Bucs got over the top and won a Super Bowl under Jon Gruden.

…

Listen, nobody is kicking Dungy’s backside out the door. Nobody is packing his bags for him. But sometimes, well, you just know it’s time. And the Colts have reached a point where they need to know that their coach is in it for the long run and is not an eternal year-by-year proposition.

You can read the rest of the article gently pushing him out the door, here.

Very predictably, going into a big game, Stoops denied it….poorly.  From the Tacoma News Tribune…

“What situation? That’s a rumor that I have not heard and no one has contacted me about that so I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “We’re preparing for a national championship, that’s all my focus, all my concentration is on that, so obviously I’m not a candidate. I’m sure someone might have told me … if I was.”

The Broncos fired Mike Shanahan after 14 seasons on Tuesday.

“There’s no story,” Stoops said. “I’m not a candidate. This is the first I’ve heard about it.” (Source)

What a lousy denial.  He had never heard this?  Come on.

“Mangini went into the season ready for a whole different approach, whether it was going to be Chad Pennington Chad Pennington or Kellen Clemens Kellen Clemens (at quarterback), whoever won that battle,” Atlas told The Post. “It was going to be a secure, protect the ball, intelligent approach. It was something he was comfortable with, something he believed in. The whole plan, the whole blueprint got thrown out the window when Favre came. He’s the antithesis of that. He throws the ball all over the place.”

Mangini brought Atlas in to work with the Jets, giving them boxing training in the offseason and providing motivational talks during the season. Atlas appeared on 1050 ESPN Radio yesterday, and talked with The Post about the Jets’ firing of Mangini. Atlas is listed in the Jets’ media guide as “special assistant - boxing.”

Atlas said Jets owner Woody Johnson forced the trade upon Mangini.

“He had no choice in the matter,” Atlas said. “How you going to argue with a Hall of Fame guy coming in and the business part of it? (Mangini) did the best he could to adjust to it.”

…..

“I think Brett Favre basically is a selfish guy,” Atlas said. “Brett Favre goes out there with his gray hair, his Wranglers and gets up when he gets hit. I understand why people like that. But there’s another side. He’s a selfish guy.” (Source)

And from the is he or is he not coming back department.  This from MSNBC…

The annual National Football League winter question — will Brett Favre retire? — is in prime focus now that the New York Jets’ season is over. And it seems he is leaning that way.

It’s a dangerous business, forecasting Favre’s future. It has seemed he’s been leaning toward retirement when the season ends for each of the past three years, only to surprise teammates and family with the decision to come back and play.

As I reported Saturday afternoon on NBC Sports, Favre told me Friday night that he informed Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum that “it may be time to look in a different direction” at the quarterback position when they spoke Monday, in the wake of the Jets’ total collapse down the stretch. (Source)

Expect this report to change…more than once.

Rams owner Chip Rosenbloom said that general manager Billy Devaney is not under any financial restrictions in the search for a new head coach.

“There have been no constraints put on Billy in terms of spending on coaches,” Rosenbloom told the Post-Dispatch. “We may be one of the few teams in the league that has not said money is a factor in the decision. Although I do think that some salaries are out of whack, if Billy thinks the best guy will cost $6 million a year, that would be who we hire.”

That in spite of this…

Rosenbloom said the Rams are in the bottom fourth of the league in terms of revenue. The team receives very little in parking revenue; its luxury suite prices are much lower than what teams such as Dallas and New England command; and the Rams’ income from local radio and television is miniscule compared to high-revenue teams. (Source)

I think it is more a case of saying what the fans want to hear.

According to Bill Williamson of ESPN.com, Bob Stoops is said to be the top target of Denver ….

He is believed to be Denver owner Pat Bowlen’s top choice. But it’s unknown if he would leave the school, which is playing for the national championship next Thursday. It will be interesting to see how Stoops handles the situation in the days leading up to the game. If he is not interested, expect him to make it clear fairly soon to avoid a distraction. If Stoops wants this job, it could be his. (Source)

CBS Sportsline chimed in with a similar report.

High atop the wish list is believed to be Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, who is preparing his second-ranked Sooners to face No. 1 Florida in the BCS championship game in Miami on Thursday. It will be his fourth shot at the national title in a decade at the school. (Source)

I have a hard time seeing him leaving the Sooners, don’t you?  Stoops was not listed in the initial report from the Rocky Mountain News.

Based on his list of candidates and his background, general manager Martin Mayhew, a former NFL cornerback, is leaning toward a defensive coach who can turn around the Lions’ defense. The Lions ranked last in total defense the past two seasons, and this season the Lions’ secondary recorded only one interception. (Source)

That would seem to indicate Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier or Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, to me.

The Jets made a play for Shanahan, who was unexpectedly fired on Tuesday by the Broncos, but he rebuffed their overtures…..

….

A potential Jets-Shanahan marriage never seemed likely. The Jets performed their “due diligence,” according to a person familiar with the search, but it never advanced to the serious stage. Shanahan probably will seek a job where he can have final say on personnel, a power he held in Denver, and that doesn’t fit in with Johnson’s organizational philosophy. That, too, may have been an issue for Cowher.  (Source)

From Mike Freeman of CBS Sportsline.com…

Eric Mangini will never get another head coaching job in the NFL.

At least that’s what a variety of NFL team officials recently stated, citing the belief that Mangini is viewed by a significant number of people within the sport as traitorous for outing Bill Belichick in the Spygate fiasco, and would be too radioactive for an owner to touch.

He might even — might — have a hard time getting an assistant coaching job, though that seems far more implausible.

“He’s seen as a rat,” said one assistant coach, “and to me he’ll always be a rat. I’m not the only one who feels that way.”

Said one general manager: “I wouldn’t trust him and I’m pretty certain my coaches wouldn’t trust him either.”

This is the obstacle Mangini will have to overcome if he wants to be a head coach again: the belief that he stabbed his mentor, Belichick, in the back….

The article goes on to point out that no one ever proved it was Mangini that did the outing, but that may not matter.  (Source)

Bowlen was Shanahan’s enabler. He was blinded by two Super Bowl victories in the late 1990s and his close personal relationship with Shanahan. He gave Shanahan unfettered power and lucrative contract extensions despite repeated signs both were a mistake.

Until tightening the purse strings last off-season, Bowlen allowed Shanahan to spend irresponsibly in free agency without any repercussions. Often oblivious to locker room chemistry, Shanahan gambled far too often on talented players with character issues. Overpaid misfits like Travis Henry, Dale Carter and Javon Walker embarrassed the franchise on Bowlen’s dime. The drafts were becoming an annual disaster. Plus, quality coordinators like Greg Robinson, Larry Coyer and Jim Bates were made scapegoats for Denver’s defensive failings even though the talent Shanahan signed on that side of the football — especially along the defensive line — usually wasn’t up to snuff.

Shanahan, though, never had to worry about losing his juice. Well aware that Shanahan would balk at surrendering his general manager responsibilities, Bowlen allowed his front-office structure to remain intact. He didn’t want to lose a friend, a confidant and a coach who was so good with Xs and Os that Denver was always in the postseason hunt.

One former Broncos employee said Shanahan had grown so cocky that he “acted like he owned the team.” In some ways, he had until Bowlen grabbed it back. (Source)