Decision shouldn’t tarnish Caldwell’s season

By Jason Cole
December 29, 2009


Here’s the really sad part about the Indianapolis Colts’ decision to pull several starters, including quarterback Peyton Manning, in the second half of Sunday’s 29-15 loss to the New York Jets: The event has caused people to talk about coach Jim Caldwell more than at any time during his 14-0 start.

Ultimately, you have to wonder if that’s going to hurt Caldwell’s chances of winning coach-of-the-year honors.

OK, some of you are scoffing, thinking that Caldwell inherited one of the cake jobs of the NFL. With Peyton Manning at quarterback and Bill Polian at general manager, any “coaching” by Caldwell wasn’t exactly difficult. It’s not like he was installing a new offensive system or trying to rebuild the foundation of the team. He was handed the keys to a Mercedes McLaren and essentially told, “Just don’t get into an accident; everything else is cool.”

That said, give Caldwell credit for not trying to overtly put his stamp on the team. The tendency of human ego is to pull the classic Al Haig moment and declare, “I’m in charge.” Caldwell has the kind of quiet self-confidence to resist that temptation. That’s rare.

Furthermore, Caldwell guided the Colts through a much tougher season than it appears based on their record. Seven of their 14 wins came on fourth-quarter comebacks. On defense, Indy lost four defensive starters, including previously irreplaceable safety Bob Sanders, for the season with injuries. The defensive tackle and linebacker positions have been a parade of no-namers. (Gary Brackett is probably the only one the average fan could name, and even he is a stretch.)

Caldwell also changed defensive coordinators, putting in Larry Coyer for Ron Meeks. The result was a much more cohesive group that has been exceptional at times, particularly given the injury situation.

Now, look at the rest of the field for coach of the year. Sean Payton in New Orleans has been close, but two recent losses (the Saints were trying) have dropped him below Caldwell. Minnesota coach Brad Childress was doing fine until the last month, when apparent cracks in his and his team’s psyche have began to show. Philadelphia, Dallas, Green Bay, Arizona, New England, Baltimore, San Diego, Denver are doing roughly what was expected.

The only team doing markedly better than expected is Cincinnati with coach Marvin Lewis, who has the usually moribund Bengals in the playoffs for the second time in his tenure. That means the award basically boils down to Lewis against Caldwell. Until last Sunday, there were no blemishes on Caldwell’s record. No missteps, no controversy, nothing but a smooth transition in a business where that rarely happens.

Basically, Caldwell’s performance was so good, there was nothing to say. He inherited a great job and did a great job.

Now, he and the organization are getting ripped for not making a run at history. It’s a fair point on multiple levels that have been spelled out by plenty of others. My biggest beef with the decision by Caldwell (and Polian, really) is that you have very few chances in life to do something that truly special. Going 16-0 has happened once in NFL history and nobody was going to rip the Colts for trying to match the feat. Yeah, if Manning had gotten hurt, there would have been some sniping, but that would have been dismissed by most reasonable critics.

Fact is, the Colts had a chance to do something that would have never been forgotten by their fans and by the sports world, generally. Sure, the primary goal is to win a Super Bowl, but when an undefeated season is in sight, it’s worth taking a run at it. Sports is about indelible moments, such as Carlton Fisk’s home run in the 1975 World Series, Johnny Unitas’ performance in the ’58 NFL championship game, Magic Johnson’s performance in the ’80 NBA finals as a rookie, Kirk Gibson’s home run in the ’88 World Series and the Stanford-Cal game in ’82 (even if you were on the wrong side of it).

The Colts had a chance for something like that. Caldwell (and Polian) said, “No thanks.” Not a great decision, in my opinion. But in the grand scheme of a great season so far, it’s really the only decision where you can say Caldwell might have been wrong.

All things considered, that’s a great year and worthy of strong consideration for coach of the year. The organization’s decision Sunday shouldn’t overshadow the masterful job he has done all season.

Speaking of sitting starters... I hate to throw a wet blanket on NBC’s promotion of the Sunday night game between Cincinnati and the Jets, but if I was the Bengals’ Lewis, I wouldn’t even try to win this game. Yeah, Cincinnati still has a chance for the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoffs if the New England Patriots lose earlier in the day. That’s not that big a deal. What is a big deal is that if the Bengals lose, they will face the Jets again in the first round of the playoffs. Given a choice of facing a team led by a rookie quarterback (Mark Sanchez) or Baltimore’s Joe Flacco, Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger, Houston’s Matt Schaub or even Denver’s Kyle Orton, I’ll take Sanchez and the Jets. That is Cincinnati’s best chance to get to the second round of the playoffs. Further, there’s no significant difference between facing San Diego or Indianapolis in the second round. The only slight advantage for being the No. 3 is if the No. 1 and 2 both lose in the second round and the No. 3 gets to host the conference title game. However, the NFC’s top three seeds lost year, meaning No. 4 Arizona played host to the NFC title game.

Top five

1. Indianapolis Colts (14-1): A disappointing way to lose perfection.

2. San Diego Chargers (12-3): Win over Tennessee was thorough and dominating

3. New Orleans Saints (13-2): This is not the type of team that can afford to lose its mojo.

4. Philadelphia Eagles (11-4): A little more running in the second half would be nice.

5. Minnesota Vikings (11-4): Man, did Brett Favre sound depressed after Monday night’s game.

Bottom five

28. Washington Redskins (4-11): Wow, it’s really ugly when teams completely give up.

29. Kansas City Chiefs (3-12): Gave the Bengals a run, but that offense is really limited.

30. Detroit Lions (2-13): Fans, be patient: Jim Schwartz is a smart guy.

31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-12): Dalliance with Bill Cowher is pretty stupid for cash-strapped team.

32. St. Louis Rams (1-14): One of the worst offensive teams you will ever see.

This and that

      » Having mentioned that it’s misguided for Tampa Bay to inquire about Bill Cowher, here’s an explanation: Blaming coach Raheem Morris for what has happened to this team is completely unfair. Yes, Morris has made mistakes. Firing both his offensive and defensive coordinators this season borders on incompetence. However, the Bucs had to understand that Morris, who had never even been a coordinator himself, would be doing some learning on the fly when they promoted him to replace Jon Gruden. Further, the point of Morris taking over was to rebuild the team from the floor up. To expect that to happen in one year is unrealistic. To penalize Morris when the Bucs knew this was going to be a rough year is unfair. What the Bucs need to do is stick with their plan, not panic.

      »  Along those lines, the Bucs need Morris to stay so cornerback Ronde Barber will return. Not so much for his playing ability (the Bucs have talked to him about moving to safety next season), but for his leadership in a very young, talented and sometimes immature secondary. With cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Elbert Mack and safeties Tanard Jackson and Sabby Piscitelli, the Bucs have a chance for a really good secondary. However, all of those guys need veteran guidance. Or at least that’s what the Bucs have told Barber in trying to get him to return for his 14th season.

      » Those expecting a busy coaching carousel might be sorely disappointed. Yeah, Washington is expected to fire Jim Zorn, Buffalo will likely dump interim coach Perry Fewell, Cleveland will probably get rid of Eric Mangini and there will be one or two others. However, look for what happened in Carolina (where coach John Fox and GM Marty Hurney have been told they can come back) to play out in other cities, mostly because of economics. Like owner Jerry Richardson in Carolina, ownership in Jacksonville doesn’t really want to pay off coach Jack Del Rio to go and Chicago doesn’t want to pay off coach Lovie Smith. That’s particularly the case with a possible lockout of players in 2011.

      » With the Monday night portion of the season now over, it’s worth noting that the crew of Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden was the best in recent years. Gruden brought great energy to the booth, even if he and Jaws sometimes got a little technical at times. However, my biggest criticism of Gruden is that he uses way too much hyperbole. During one stretch of the Minnesota-Chicago game, Gruden used some variation of the word “great,” if not the word itself, 27 times. That’s during a span of two quarters. It ranged from saying that Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice should be a Pro Bowler to Brett Favre being a “legend” to “unbelievable” to “impressive” to “big time.” Look, the NFL is fun and entertaining and all those wonderful things. There’s no reason to dress it up any more than that.

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As Giants Sift Wreckage, Coughlin Backs Umenyiora

December 29, 2009


EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — Next to the locker of Osi Umenyiora at the Giants’ training center is an empty locker, the wide berth usually a status symbol for a veteran star. Above Umenyiora’s locker, in a curious coincidence, is the word “Coach.” The “Coach” is part of a decorative display that salutes franchise history, in this case referring to Steve Owen, the coach from 1930 to 1953.

But it seemed appropriate Monday to ask the current coach, Tom Coughlin, if Umenyiora’s locker might soon be cleaned out. Coughlin voiced support for his troubled defensive end.

“He’s very much in our plans,” Coughlin said. “He’s a very important asset to our team.”

Umenyiora did not make himself available for interviews Monday after the Giants met to review films and discuss their 41-9 loss to Carolina on Sunday, which left them at 8-7 and out of the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

Immediately after the game, Umenyiora complained that he had played only about five downs — Coughlin said it was more — and said he wondered if the game, the team’s last at Giants Stadium, might be his last in a Giants uniform. As he left the field, a television reporter tried to interview Umenyiora, who quickly ended the conversation by saying: “Not a good time. I’m going to probably say something crazy.”

Coughlin said that he did not speak with Umenyiora on Monday but that Umenyiora was part of a leadership council meeting that Coughlin convened with team elders to try to discover the cause of the Giants’ inconsistent play this season. Although Coughlin would not be specific about what had been said in the group, he said he would meet with him one on one. Coughlin seemed intent on stressing how much he respected Umenyiora, who missed last season after knee surgery.

“He is a very, very good football player,” Coughlin said. “Always has been. Great pride. Certainly he does an exceptional job of getting after the passer.”

Coughlin also said Umenyiora should probably have been used more than he was against Carolina. Without a mention of anyone else by name, this could be understood as an oblique reference to the judgment of Bill Sheridan, the first-year defensive coordinator.

It has been clear since summer that Umenyiora and Sheridan have not been in agreement about everything. Before the first game, Umenyiora left practice after a dispute with Sheridan and then returned to apologize. A month ago, Sheridan demoted Umenyiora from the first string on plays when the opposition is more likely to pass.

Among the many problems the Giants have had this season is the fluctuating performance of Sheridan’s defense, which has often followed good games with lesser efforts. Against the Panthers, the Giants gave up 416 yards, including 247 rushing. In the previous game, a 45-12 victory at Washington six days before, they made five quarterback sacks and intercepted three passes.

Sheridan was not available for interviews Monday. Coughlin’s coordinators generally speak with the news media on Thursdays.

There were other issues to discuss Monday, including sharp criticism from prestigious former players like Harry Carson, a former Giants defender, and Troy Aikman, a former Dallas quarterback.

Carson, on hand for the stadium festivities, said Sunday the Giants played with a lack of pride. Michael Boley, the linebacker who calls the signals for the defense, seemed to reject that opinion.

“It doesn’t mean anything to me; any kind of words coming from outside the team fall on deaf ears,” Boley said, adding that the players would “drive ourselves crazy” if they took such words to heart.

Aikman, part of the announcing team on Fox, questioned Coughlin’s use of quarterback Eli Manning late in the game when the outcome was decided. Coughlin did not care to defend his decision or to discuss the risk/reward calculation of leaving a talented and highly paid leader in a game in which athletes sometimes are injured.

“He must have had very little to talk about,” Coughlin said of Aikman.

Although the Giants have the same record as the Jets, the Giants’ season seems like a failure after a 5-0 start, and the Jets’ season seems successful because they can reach the playoffs by beating Cincinnati on Sunday night in their final regular-season game.

The Giants must play one more, too, at Minnesota against the playoff-bound Vikings.

Manning said missing the playoffs “kind of opens your eyes” as to how difficult it is for 12 of 32 teams to qualify.

To the fans, Manning said: “I apologize. I’m sorry. I wish I had an answer.”

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