Watching Lafleur choke that game last night was epic. I do not want him as my HC if the Packers move on from him. That was bleeping loser mangling. We saw how Daboll botched the Bears. Lafleur did it twice. I give the Bears credit for making 7 comebacks now. But it takes two to tango. I’m not going to go through all of the Packers insanities last night, but BURNING TWO TIMEOUTS was criminal. And to make matters worse, on one of them they had the incompetence to get a delay of game AFTER CALLING ONE OF THEM! Those 5 yards had major ramifications. I know Bbb likes Lafleur for his inventive approach/schemes. But I refuse to be shackled to a loser who doesn’t close the door. The Bears will get beaten in the playoffs by a better team who chooses to suck ALL of the oxygen out of the game by playing 4 quarters against them. Not 2. Not 3. 4 quarters.
The Rams have the best Offense in the NFL. Road playoff games, it is their decision how far they go. If they play up to their abilities (and yes, 4 QUARTERS), they are the best team in the NFL. To watch them play with their food (Panthers) is crazy. They did that once during the season and showed how stupid this game can be when you don’t shut the door. Where is Bill Walsh (“quality win” >10 points) when you need him? The Rams blew games this year to the Seahawks, Eagles and Panthers. Vs the first 2 they had double digit leads and lost. We saw them almost do that again vs Carolina. 60 minutes.
Someone is going to have to explain to me why the Eagles sat their starters last week vs Washington. To play SF instead of GB? Well, assuming PHL holds serve and wins, now they will get to play in Chicago instead of at home vs Chicago. Call me old school but I’d rather play at home. Don’t misunderstand me- the Giants got a gift of picking 1.05 instead of 1.06 because PHL gave up the game to WAS. I just don’t understand it.
Let’s cut through some noise on the HC search. These are the things I believe/understand:
- Harbaugh is the prize. It’s not close.
- Stefanski is a very solid second choice. But he is not Harbaugh.
- I’ve seen side by side stat comparisons of Harbaugh to McCarthy implying McCarthy is as good as Harbaugh. In your f’g dreams.
- There’s all this talk about where Schoen fits in this Harbaugh talk. He doesn’t. Harbaugh has the fit and pedigree that makes it whatever Harbaugh wants. People who know Harbaugh say that it’s not his style to dictate terms, and that’s fine. My opinion is that you keep Schoen on the last year of that contract and you make him satisfy Harbaugh. Harbaugh is the winner. Not Schoen.
- Someone reported that Harbaugh would/might ask for $20M/yr + $10M/yr for his staff. Even Wonder gasped. When I pointed out to Wonder that the cap is $295M for 2026 and you write whatever check it takes, he immediately did a 180 and agreed. Wonder has been explaining to me (for forever) that there is no sport where coaching is more critical than in football. So now, when you finally have a shot at getting a HC who can restore order to this franchise, you want to blink on price? Are you freaking kidding me?
- McAdoo. Shurmur. Judge. Daboll. Stop this guessing.
- Let’s make it perfectly clear. The reason why Harbaugh would have interest is because he has DART. Yes, he also has a few strong pieces (Thomas, Burns, Lawrence, Nabers, Carter and maybe Skattebo [but I don’t think Harbaugh is stupid enough to lump a 3 yr flash like that in there].) He comes in with a franchise QB. At 63 years of age, Harbaugh is NOT going to take any job without a franchise QB. This is why I do not believe Miami or Atlanta are serious contenders. Tennessee has Ward, but zero else. The Giants dysfunction is at HC whereas the Tennessee dysfunction is also the roster. The real contender would be another franchise like BUF (if they were to lose today and jettison McDermott) or GB who has a better front office + a franchise QB.
- The Baltimore Way. From 2001-2025, the Giants have averaged 7.36 picks in each draft. The Ravens have averaged 8.76 picks. And they are getting these compensatory picks high, at the end of Round 3. You need to have (1) a coaching staff that develops players (2) good drafting AND (3) a front office that doesn’t chase free agents (thus deleting comp picks). Having a Harbaugh/staff develop players is HUGE. I actually believe the drafting has improved over Schoen’s tenure. I think Harbaugh would get much more out of players like JMS and Nubin.
We’ll finish with this from Wonder (repeated from last post): “Harbaugh would love Dart… he’d be all pro within 3 years at most. They would ALL LEARN AND GROW WITH HIM.” It’s a great fit.