NFL - NEWS & NOTES

Jets hire ex Browns Interim Head Coach/DC, Gregg Williams, as their new DC.

 

Getty Images
Linebacker Lorenzo Alexander made it clear at the end of the 2018 season that he had no interest in leaving the Bills for another team in free agency and he won’t have to think about that possibility any longer.

The Bills announced on Wednesday that Alexander has signed a one-year deal for the 2019 season. No financial terms were announced.

Alexander had been a reserve and special teams player for most of his first 10 seasons in the NFL, but he got a chance at playing a bigger defensive role since getting to Buffalo in 2016. He’s made the most of it with 223 tackles, 22 sacks, eight forced fumbles and three interceptions over the last three years.

While discussing his desire to remain with the Bills, Alexander hinted that the 2019 season will be his final one as a pro and Wednesday’s news confirms that he’ll be spending it in the place where he’s had his finest moments. (PFT)

 

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...deflategate-ties-and-patriots-fans-are-irate/

why is he reffing this game? no other refs to call on ?

 

He reffed in the last AFC Championship game, the Patriots won that one and pretty sure got a few favorable calls. Tell them to quit their b!tching about getting caught 5 years ago and worry about this Sunday.

 

Championship games are where you make the big bucks and according to the grading system he has earned it. Hell, he ref'd last seasons Championship game and the Patriots won.

Clear case of cBS fishing for a story.

 

Report: Rich Scangarello expected to be Broncos OC...

The Broncos had to wait a day or two for the 49ers to grant them permission to interview their quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello for their offensive coordinator vacancy, but it appears the wait was worthwhile.

Scangarello was in Denver on Tuesday to interview with head coach Vic Fangio and others from the team and he is back for more talks on Wednesday. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that those talks are expected to result in Scangarello getting the job.

It would be Scangarello’s first coordinator job in the NFL and he has held that title at Wagner and Northern Arizona in the collegiate ranks. He’d have an experienced offensive line coach in Mike Munchak to help him as he navigates the waters for the first time on the professional level.

Whether Scangarello leaves or not, 49ers wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator Mike LaFleur and run game coordinator Mike McDaniel are expected back as top offensive assistants to Kyle Shanahan in 2019. (PFT)

 

Alabama defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi is headed to Cleveland to join the Browns, Bruce Feldman of FOX Sports reports. Lupoi will join Freddie Kitchens’ staff as the defensive line coach.

Lupoi was the primary recruiter for Tua Tagovailoa, Jonah Wililams, Najee Harris and Raekwon Davis, among others, and known as one of the nation’s top recruiters.


It is a good get for Kitchens, a former Alabama quarterback.

Lupoi spent five seasons with Nick Saban at Alabama, earning a promotion to defensive coordinator a year after after Jeremy Pruitt left to become the head coach at the University of Tennessee. Lupoi served as the outside linebackers coach for the three seasons before that after arriving as an analyst in 2014.

He coached the defensive linemen for four seasons at Cal and for two seasons at the University of Washington before leaving for Alabama. (PFT)

 

Alabama and Clemson have won 11 of the 12 CFP games over the last four years, with each winning two national championships.

Yet Clemson has had virtually no coaching turnover at all while Alabama has heavy turnover on a regular basis.

 

Something about Clemson makes people want to dismiss them I giess it carries over to their coaches too.

 

Kansas City forecast improves yet again...

So much for the single-digit deep freeze that was predicted for the AFC championship game.

From a original low of one to a revised low of 15, the projected low temperature in Kansas City for Sunday has bumped to a balmy 22.

According to Weather.com, the high for Sunday currently is expected to be 27, and the low is expected to be 22.

There’s a 10-percent chance of precipitation, and the wind will be in the range of seven miles per hour.

So weather is becoming less and less of an issue for Sunday. Which becomes more and more of a benefit for the team led by the quarterback who lacks experience in such extreme conditions. (PFT)

 

Dabo has convinced Clemson to pay his assistants very well. Venables is the highest paid assistant coach in college -- 2.5 mill per year. More than plenty of college HC's are going to make at their first stop. They have prioritized trying to keep that caching staff very stable.

 

That wouldn’t stop someone from taking a HCing job. But the school trying to get them might have to up their anti.

 

Clemson regularly redoes Venables contract. They signed him to a new 5 year deal 2 years into his last deal that only paid him 1.7 million a year. I mean maybe he just likes not being the top guy and all he has to worry about is the Defense and getting a larger paycheck every year. I have to think someone must have tried to hire him away with the way that Clemson pass rush is always performing...

 

Maybe he just really likes where he is and doesn't want to leave.

 

I think Axe might have had something to do with this, lol...



Cowboys move on from Scott Linehan, calling it a “mutual decision”...

They wish him the best they can, in light of the fact that they won’t be employing him any longer.

The Dallas offense has received plenty of criticism for being too simple and unimaginative. Their meat-and-potatoes attack, grounded in pounding the opposing defense with a strong offensive line, a high-end running game, and a passing game fueled by play-action, either works or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, there’s no Plan B.

The mutual decision is making a mini-comeback.

Only four days after Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said that he plans to retain his coaching staff, Garrett and the Cowboys have moved on from offensive coordinator Scott Linehan.

“This was not an easy decision because of how highly we regard Scott Linehan as a football coach and as a person,” Garrett said in a statement. “He and I had some really positive, substantive and open discussions which took place in the latter part of this week, and we ultimately agreed that it would be in the best interest of all of the parties involved if we were to make a change at this position. This was very much a mutual decision, and there was a great deal of common ground and shared understanding between both of us during our meetings. Scott has had an incredibly positive impact on our football team. He has been instrumental in the development and success of a significant number of our veteran and younger players. He is an outstanding football coach, a great friend and we wish him and his family nothing but the absolute best moving forward.”

The organization will now move on to Plan B, with Linehan out and the Cowboys obviously looking to diversify its efforts to gain yards and score points. (PFT)

 

The first step is a good one; now let's see if step 2 - bringing in CREATIVE blood - is also good.

 

I remember when Dallas was the most creative on offense and really had a lot of motion plays, they were scrambling all over the place and changing things up.

 

Other than the 2015 season - when Romo missed 12 games and Dez 7, and backups Matt Cassel, Brandon Weeden and Kellen Moore went 1-11 - this year's offense scored the fewest point since 2005, with Bill Parcells, Drew Bledsoe, and Terry Glenn.

 

that's hard to believe axe. with dak and zeke alone i thought they would be in the middle of the pact of scoring. then cooper game and i thought top 10 for sure. wow.

 

Saints designing plays for Michael Thomas may give Rams trouble, again...



When the Saints met the Rams in the regular season, New Orleans receiver Michael Thomas had 211 receiving yards, helping his team put up 45 points in a win. The Rams need to stop that from happening again.

But it won’t be easy. Saints coach Sean Payton has a knack for using his play design to get Thomas in one-on-one coverage. As noted by Matt Bowen of ESPN on NFL Matchup, in last week’s game against the Eagles, the Saints’ play design used Ted Ginn as a deep threat and Drew Brees looking first to a shallow cross, to give Thomas a favorable matchup in the middle of the field.

“Ted Ginn, he can fly down the field, so if you’re a safety, you have to clear out, you have to gain depth to create space in the middle of the field,” Bowen said. “Look at Drew Brees, how he manipulates the coverage here. Where do his eyes go? Underneath to the shallow cross, look what happens. Underneath defender, he vacates his zone. When you vacate the zone in the middle of the field, that’s what Drew Brees wants. Now Michael Thomas can run the deep-in cut, high percentage throw.”

Thomas caught an incredible 85 percent of the passes thrown his way during the regular season, and he kept it going last week against the Eagles: Brees was 12-for-16 for 171 yards when throwing to Thomas, compared to just 16-for-22 for 130 yards when throwing to all his other receivers. Thomas is the receiver the Rams will need to stop, but the Saints’ play design doesn’t make that easy. (PFT)