NFL Week 15 thread

Tirico just teased a "significant announcement" coming up at halftime.

Maybe Gruden is taking over the Bears beginning with tonight's second half.

 

And it's that Gruden is staying at ESPN for like five more years. Big whoop.

Meanwhile if Cutler isn't getting pulled tonight, it just confirms that his contract has the Bears' nuts in a vise grip and there is no hope at all until at least 2016.

 

One thing that is in the advantage of today's rookie QB is that defensive players cannot be as physical with them as they used to be.

A disadvantage would be all the data they have on a player that they didn't have 10 or 15 years ago. If a QB consistently throws to the right higher and slower than he does to his left, the NFL teams will know.

 

I don't know that I should be happy the Saints are winning tonight. I just see a higher draft pick going away. But agreed with another poster, two bad teams here.
Next week is a different story. Gotta beat the dirty birds no matter what.

 

Other than the 49ers giving away a win earlier this year, every time the Bears have been on national TV, it's been an absolute embarrassment. At least that won't be a problem next year.

 

They put the Bears on national teevee so much just for the hate-tweeting.

 

Does Gruden get an extension every year? With the Niners and Raiders jobs both likely to be open, I'm surprised ESPN didn't extend him through 2096.

 

A seven-year extension is pretty unheard of in the TV business. Most of us (and I say "us" as a guy who probably makes 5% of what Gruden makes) work off two- or three-year deals that usually include the option for the station or network to get rid of you each year without cause. Horribly one-sided unless you have leverage.

I've wondered why Gruden and Billick haven't gone back to coaching. Perhaps both have abrasive personalities that turns owners off but I also think both are happy to be out of the daily pressure of NFL coaching. You can make $3 million coaching a team, working 95 hours a week, or make $1 million (my guess on Billick) or $1.8 to $2 million (my Gruden guess), with relatively little pressure.

One confession. I now LOVE watching Cutler and Kaepernick because of the train wreck element. I don't care how awful their games are. The dumpster fire they both bring is quite entertaining.

 

Jay Cutler's contract breakdown, with notes about guaranteed money.

http://overthecap.com/player/jay-cutler/130

Jay gets paid the 2015 salary, no matter what. If the Bears don't want to pay it, they have to trade him, and then the team who trades for him must pay the salary.

The problem with that is, if the Bears trade him, then that team gets locked into $10 million in salary in 2016, unless the team gets Cutler to renegotiate that amount.

That's why the Bears are likely stuck with Cutler for the foreseeable future.

 

Gruden ran off a GM in Tampa. I'm guessing that doesn't sit well with most guys making the hires since there aren't too many situations where the coach has final say over the roster.

I don't think it would matter to the Raiders, but I'd still be stunned to see him actually take that job. Has Gruden even interviewed for a NFL head coaching job since the Bucs fired him? It seems like his name came up more for college openings.

 

Gruden's name has come up before regarding the Cowboys, largely because many of his former staff are there now and Jason Garrett's future looked shaky. But now Garrett has saved his job and will be extended, and Gruden sees the writing on the wall.

 

Seems like Gruden and Cowher are happy to have their names come up for job openings every year, let every coo about what great coaches they are, and then stick to their cushy TV gigs. Honestly, I can't see any reason why either would rather go back to coaching unless they were making gobs more money than they do on TV.

And, frankly, I think any team that threw gobs of money at them would be better off setting fire to that cash and hiring a young coordinator. I don't think Gruden or Cowher would enjoy the same success they once had if they return.