Sperm Edwards Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 http://www.signonsan...loyment-least-/ Looking more like Smith will join Turner out the door As the winds blowing through San Diego seem intent on whisking Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith out of town along with head coach Norv Turner, league sources made it clear this week that Smith will at least be a candidate for other GM jobs expected to open around the league. Chargers President Dean Spanos, according to those around the team and around the league, feels he has “no choice” but to go in another direction at head coach and that Turner will be fired at season’s end. Sources close to Spanos say the boss is still grappling with whether to fire Smith. But league sources familiar with Spanos’ thinking contend the GM will almost certainly be fired due to the owner’s concern over the maelstrom that has taken hold of the fan base, essentially demanding the owner lop off the top of his football operation management. “The decisions are not made,” said one team source, “but everything is lined up.” Optimism is almost nonexistent that the Chargers will salvage the season, but it is believed a miracle run to the playoffs would save the jobs of Turner and Smith. One source, who like the rest was speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said “The needle on (Smith’s possible firing) has moved from 50/50 to 75/25.” Smith, who would come at a bargain basement price due to the fact the Chargers will owe him $6 million over the next three years, might not land far from San Diego. Those fans who believe Smith has sunk the Chargers might get a chance to watch him work with another team near and dear to their hearts. The early developing denouement of the Chargers’ season has given the rest of the league ample time to evaluate the situation, watching from afar and gathering intelligence. While at this point it can be difficult to cull reality from mere chatter, several people connected to the Chargers and other organizations have indicated Turner and Smith will be fired and will be considered for jobs elsewhere. And Smith, according to league sources, will be on the list of candidates to become the Oakland Raiders general manager in 2012. Too many questions about the Raiders GM position remain to accurately estimate Smith’s chances, but one source assured “he will be on the consideration list for sure.” It is possible that Raiders head coach Hue Jackson could retain the personnel role he assumed as late owner Al Davis’ health deteriorated. Former Raiders coach and iconic broadcaster John Madden will be one of the advisors to Mark Davis, Al Davis’ son, and could join Raiders CEO Amy Trask in favoring bringing in a general manager with decision-making power regarding personnel versus entrusting it all to Jackson. While Smith had an excellent professional relationship with Al Davis and has long-term ties to multiple people in the Raiders organization, it is not known how Mark Davis or Trask would feel about Smith as GM. And the current coaching staff, which includes Smith cronies, is expected to endorse Jackson remaining in both roles. Smith has not been seen watching practice this week and has declined to speak about the team’s performance or about his job status. However, it is known he wasn’t even certain about retiring when his contract runs out in San Diego following the 2014 season. So he will certainly want to continue working in the league, and word is that he will be considered by at least two teams who are likely to be among those in the market for a personnel chief. Sources said that St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke has all but made up his mind to part ways with his coach and general manager at season’s end and that Smith will be on the list of potential replacements if Kroenke is looking for a new GM. The irony in that is that current Rams GM Billy Devaney could be a candidate in San Diego. Devaney was the Chargers director of player personnel from 1990-2000, and his amicability with the media and public would certainly fit the revamped front office image Spanos is said to be exploring. Devaney coming back to town is nothing more than speculation at this point, but it time to start thinking about what direction Spanos will go as he inches toward the decision to part ways with Smith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAjetFan Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason423 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Not a huge surprise. Chargers never made the big game and everyone in the world knows that the biggest problem with the team for years was Norv. Smith has to take the fall because, whether true or not, the perception is that Smith kept Norv around for so long because he would not get in his way of personnel decisions. Now that the personnel decisions have been somewhat poor it makes it even harder to escape the firing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#27TheDominator Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Not a huge surprise. Chargers never made the big game and everyone in the world knows that the biggest problem with the team for years was Norv. Smith has to take the fall because, whether true or not, the perception is that Smith kept Norv around for so long because he would not get in his way of personnel decisions. Now that the personnel decisions have been somewhat poor it makes it even harder to escape the firing. Before Norv everyone knew the reason the Chargers never made the big game was Marty Schottenheimer. They've bben a good team with nothing to show for it for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SenorGato Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Love me some AJ Smith, even if he did build arguably the most disappointing teams of the 2000's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason423 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Before Norv everyone knew the reason the Chargers never made the big game was Marty Schottenheimer. They've bben a good team with nothing to show for it for years. Thats what makes the Norv hire even worse. Marty never found a big game he could win so instead of going out and finding a winner they found a guy who never found a game he could win in Turner. It was a total ego stroke hire. This was a team that screamed for a Bill Parcells or Jon Gruden mercenary for hire but Smith couldnt put his ego aside and deal with 2 or 3 years of being in a stormy front office partnership so he hired an incompetent coach who wasted years of talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SenorGato Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Thats what makes the Norv hire even worse. Marty never found a big game he could win so instead of going out and finding a winner they found a guy who never found a game he could win in Turner. It was a total ego stroke hire. This was a team that screamed for a Bill Parcells or Jon Gruden mercenary for hire but Smith couldnt put his ego aside and deal with 2 or 3 years of being in a stormy front office partnership so he hired an incompetent coach who wasted years of talent. While true, it was pretty gd funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 I'll tale Norv Turner as a OC. No question about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BroadwayJ667 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Replace Schotty with Norv. Make it happen!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurnleyJet Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Its looking like Norv for the Jets in 2012... Unless we go all out Payton Manning, in which case Tom Moore is already here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sperm Edwards Posted December 4, 2011 Author Share Posted December 4, 2011 Thats what makes the Norv hire even worse. Marty never found a big game he could win so instead of going out and finding a winner they found a guy who never found a game he could win in Turner. It was a total ego stroke hire. This was a team that screamed for a Bill Parcells or Jon Gruden mercenary for hire but Smith couldnt put his ego aside and deal with 2 or 3 years of being in a stormy front office partnership so he hired an incompetent coach who wasted years of talent. AJ Smith wanted to win a championship with AJ Smith being revered as the brains behind it all. His massive ego would never allow himself to hire a media-darling HC to hog up the credit. Truth is we don't know how this might have played out in SD if not for Schottenheimer playing Brees in a totally meaningless game in week 17 that year, and Brees getting his shoulder messed up pretty badly in the process. Bolts lowballed Brees after that (understandably at that point), and he goes on to have a HOF career with the Saints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T0mShane Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 And AJ Smith is a million times better GM than Tannenbaum is. Also, yes to the inevitable Norv questions. Bringing him in at OC keeps Rex from having to pretend to care about the offense and he can remain a half-a-coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason423 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 And AJ Smith is a million times better GM than Tannenbaum is. Also, yes to the inevitable Norv questions. Bringing him in at OC keeps Rex from having to pretend to care about the offense and he can remain a half-a-coach. Id be all for that. Guy is a great OC, just like how guys like Wade, Capers, etc... are great DCs. They just cant run a football team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T0mShane Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Id be all for that. Guy is a great OC, just like how guys like Wade, Capers, etc... are great DCs. They just cant run a football team. Definitely. Uses the run game to prop up otherwise mistake-prone QBs, too. He'd be the perfect remedy here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetscode1 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 And AJ Smith is a million times better GM than Tannenbaum is. Also, yes to the inevitable Norv questions. Bringing him in at OC keeps Rex from having to pretend to care about the offense and he can remain a half-a-coach. I'd take Norv over Schotty...wouldn't care if Rex never learned the offense. Kind of a reverse Kubiak... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackout Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 that team had plenty of SB talent from 2004 to 2010 such a shame they never lived up to it but that's bc they ran into the JEts in the playoffs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sperm Edwards Posted December 4, 2011 Author Share Posted December 4, 2011 And AJ Smith is a million times better GM than Tannenbaum is. Also, yes to the inevitable Norv questions. Bringing him in at OC keeps Rex from having to pretend to care about the offense and he can remain a half-a-coach. The problem with what Tannenbaum did in the Rex Ryan era is he's paid so much money in so many veteran contracts and then put a rookie - one who bypassed his senior season at that - at QB with no credible competition. With a HC so off-hands with the offense, and with that HC's goal of being a mistake-free ball-control team, the Rex Ryan Jets screamed for a veteran QB not an inaccurate, immature simpleton getting his lumps in and sulking on the sideline. I can give him a pass on trading up to draft Sanchez. Jets were looking for a long-term franchise QB and were within striking distance of the player they coveted. Sometimes you hit sometimes you miss. What I fault him for is providing no alternative to a rookie QB who badly needed clipboard time no matter how many QBs and fans said he "has to take his lumps" and he "won't learn anything holding a clipboard" and other such catch-phrases that have no true basis in proof. Some of the most productive QB's over the past 5+ years held a clipboard for a year or more: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Kurt Warner, Matt Schaub, Philip Rivers, Tony Romo, Matt Hasselbeck, and going back a little further so did our own recent has-been's Mark Brunell, Brett Favre, and Chad Pennington. By pushing Sanchez into action so early as the Jets did, they were de facto saying he is so unbelievably talented physically, and has such superior on-the-fly instincts, that he didn't need the building blocks these others benefited from. Cam Newton is the only QB I can think of offhand who started immediately in the NFL after only 1 year starting in college and bypassing his senior year, and who looks to have a bright future ahead. Except Sanchez doesn't nearly have Newton's unique physical talents. Further, Newton was taking over the worst team in football, not a talented one that had just choked away a sure playoff spot the prior year. It was both shortsighted and arrogant to not have a veteran QB compete with someone as raw as Sanchez. Being forced into gameplans to make the team better instead of a whole season just making himself better - learning the position better, improving mechanics, and getting drilled on other nuances he doesn't have down pat (like how to hold a football) - seems to have understandably made those things a lesser priority week-to-week. When that happens he repeats the same mistakes by habit instead of changing bad habits before they've taken root. They become far more difficult to change later (if they can be reversed at all). The game clearly moves too fast for him which is probably why he locks in on 1 receiver and is totally blind to zone coverage. He was never ready in the first place and the team carrying him by bailing him out with circus catches, stout defenses, and superior special teams - along with the occasional truly very good game - had just been masking it. I've been mostly a fan of Tannenbaum but this was a horrible blunder of such major investments and opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJ Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Pick up the phone now and get Norv warm with the idea - can't blow this chance. Even if we make the play-offs, again, it will be despite Brian Schottenheimer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sperm Edwards Posted December 4, 2011 Author Share Posted December 4, 2011 Pick up the phone now and get Norv warm with the idea - can't blow this chance. Even if we make the play-offs, again, it will be despite Brian Schottenheimer. Pretty sure that's tampering. And also pretty sure Turner is way overrated by planet earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity28 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Turner, when owning JUST the offense is great. He is lierally the Wade Phillps of offense. Wade has made an IMMEDIATE impact with the Texans. Norv's track record speaks for itself. I'm sure we will watch him go elsewhere though... because we are the Jets, and we suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJ Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Pretty sure that's tampering. And also pretty sure Turner is way overrated by planet earth. Right, and it never happens except in every similar situation. Norv Turner's dunce cap should be 2x the size of Herm's as a head coach - I think he could do a much better job as the Jets OC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity28 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Love me some AJ Smith, even if he did build arguably the most disappointing teams of the 2000's. I love that you imply AJ Smith is an upgrade over Tanny, despite Tanny actually producing in his role with the Jets. But you'll likely insist that Turner, who has a FAR SUPERIOR resumé producing as an OC, is not an upgrade over Schotty - even thought Schotty continually fails to improve the offense. Amiright? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larz Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 noooooooooooooooooooooooooo norv blew the game last week by calling 3 runs at the 30 and setting up a long FG instead of trying to get closer he's a classic choker no thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klecko73isGod Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Love me some AJ Smith, even if he did build arguably the most disappointing teams of the 2000's. AJ Smith built what should have been a dynasty except for his horrible taste in coaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klecko73isGod Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 noooooooooooooooooooooooooo norv blew the game last week by calling 3 runs at the 30 and setting up a long FG instead of trying to get closer he's a classic choker no thanks Exactly, Norv was playing to not lose instead of trying to win. Why he thought his kicker, who had never made a 50-yarder, was going to make two 53-yarders in one game is beyond me. You've got an all-world QB Norv, let him do his thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green DNA Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Having seen more of the Chargers offense than usual this year, there is no way I would want Turner as the OC. Some of his playcalling is baffling. He is better than Schotty, but everything is relative, we would be calling for his head halfway through the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxman Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Having seen more of the Chargers offense than usual this year, there is no way I would want Turner as the OC. Some of his playcalling is baffling. He is better than Schotty, but everything is relative, we would be calling for his head halfway through the season. I wouldn't make that move either. He has a good track record as an O\C but he has that stench of failure engrained in his DNA. We need less failure DNA.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ylekram Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 I wouldn't make that move either. He has a good track record as an O\C but he has that stench of failure engrained in his DNA. We need less failure DNA.... perfect fit for the jets as the jets seem to have that same stench of failure engrained in their dna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#27TheDominator Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Thats what makes the Norv hire even worse. Marty never found a big game he could win so instead of going out and finding a winner they found a guy who never found a game he could win in Turner. It was a total ego stroke hire. This was a team that screamed for a Bill Parcells or Jon Gruden mercenary for hire but Smith couldnt put his ego aside and deal with 2 or 3 years of being in a stormy front office partnership so he hired an incompetent coach who wasted years of talent. No disagreement here. I was just pointing out that it wasn't just Norv. In his defense, Marty was kind of a Parcells/Gruden type hire. He may have felt that the power at HC was part of the problem. While true, it was pretty gd funny. Not when Norv knocks you out of the suicide pool two years in a row. Then it's not very funny at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SenorGato Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Definitely. Uses the run game to prop up otherwise mistake-prone QBs, too. He'd be the perfect remedy here. Yeah that run to prop up the QB thing would really revolutionize how we do offense with Sanchez here. Not that I'd turn down Turner at OC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason423 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Having seen more of the Chargers offense than usual this year, there is no way I would want Turner as the OC. Some of his playcalling is baffling. He is better than Schotty, but everything is relative, we would be calling for his head halfway through the season. I actually dont think we would. For the most part I think an established coach doing poorly initially turns the fans on the players and GM. When you have an unproven commodity like Schottenheimer the players and GM get the benefit of the doubt and the coach gets the heat. Big reason why the fans couldnt stand Mangini and wanted him gone but at the same time proclaimed Tannenbaum the greatest GM in the NFL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SenorGato Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 I love that you imply AJ Smith is an upgrade over Tanny, despite Tanny actually producing in his role with the Jets. But you'll likely insist that Turner, who has a FAR SUPERIOR resumé producing as an OC, is not an upgrade over Schotty - even thought Schotty continually fails to improve the offense. Amiright? Ugh...there was no implication...I'm just a Smith fan...have been for a long time. All around garbage post from a guy who I forgot i used to think was a garbage poster. Not one single thing you just said reflects a single word or belief of mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNJet Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 I'll tale Norv Turner as a OC. No question about it. I actually agree. Norv is a horrid head coach, but no one can question his offenses. Hire him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity28 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Ugh...there was no implication...I'm just a Smith fan...have been for a long time. All around garbage post from a guy who I forgot i used to think was a garbage poster. Not one single thing you just said reflects a single word or belief of mine. Yeah. I post garbage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newyorkgiants10 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 i have a feeling norv will be o coordinator for the giants next season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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