Quietly Good Signing

[section314]

Frank Reich hired Jim Caldwell as a senior assistant . IMHO, a great hire.

[JiFtheOracle]

35 minutes ago, section314 said:

Frank Reich hired Jim Caldwell as a senior assistant . IMHO, a great hire.

It makes zero sense to me how Jim Caldwell is not an NFL Head Coach.  I personally was pushing for him when we hired Saleh.  I really dont understand, almost coached a team to an undefeated season, had a winning record w/ the Lions, and the dude gets snubbed for the hot coordinator, every year. 

Honestly, how is he not the most qualified man for the job that is still looking to be a Head Coach?

To your point, great hire for the Panthers, very under rated.

[Trotter]

3 minutes ago, JiFields said:

It makes zero sense to me how Jim Caldwell is not an NFL Head Coach.  I personally was pushing for him when we hired Saleh.  I really dont understand, almost coached a team to an undefeated season, had a winning record w/ the Lions, and the dude gets snubbed for the hot coordinator, every year. 

Honestly, how is he not the most qualified man for the job that is still looking to be a Head Coach?

To your point, great hire for the Panthers, very under rated.

I think and this is strictly opinion Caldwell is taken for granted and seen as a guy that has been around forever and will basically get you a winning record but not the ultimate of a super bowl.

For me that is farthest from the truth and I agree with you he is one of the most qualified guys out there. The media does not push him because he is not going to give you takes or create stories. What he does do is simply build winning organizations - very smart man and excellent football guy.

If most on this forum were being honest, if the Jets took Caldwell over Saleh, this place would have went nuts - in a bad way. I am as guilty as anyone as while I like and respect Caldwell, I wanted Saleh - bought into the hype. 

Given the choice now of going into 2023 with Caldwell or Saleh, hands down give me Caldwell.

[JiFtheOracle]

16 minutes ago, Trotter said:

I think and this is strictly opinion Caldwell is taken for granted and seen as a guy that has been around forever and will basically get you a winning record but not the ultimate of a super bowl.

For me that is farthest from the truth and I agree with you he is one of the most qualified guys out there. The media does not push him because he is not going to give you takes or create stories. What he does do is simply build winning organizations - very smart man and excellent football guy.

If most on this forum were being honest, if the Jets took Caldwell over Saleh, this place would have went nuts - in a bad way. I am as guilty as anyone as while I like and respect Caldwell, I wanted Saleh - bought into the hype. 

Given the choice now of going into 2023 with Caldwell or Saleh, hands down give me Caldwell.

Fair I guess but Lovie Smith has had 3 tries at it....idk, just weird to me considering how successful Caldwell has been strictly from a W vs L perspective, he's the best candidate on the market.  And Caldwell did get a team to the Super Bowl, kind of silly to me to think you can get there but not good enough to win it.

[Trotter]

7 minutes ago, JiFields said:

Fair I guess but Lovie Smith has had 3 tries at it....idk, just weird to me considering how successful Caldwell has been strictly from a W vs L perspective, he's the best candidate on the market.  And Caldwell did get a team to the Super Bowl, kind of silly to me to think you can get there but not good enough to win it.

Agree.

When I stated it was my opinion I meant opinion of what others feel about him. 

Maybe a better way to state it is perception.

Like I said - if we could swap out Saleh for Caldwell today I would be all for it. 

[JoJoTownsell1]

41 minutes ago, JiFields said:

It makes zero sense to me how Jim Caldwell is not an NFL Head Coach.  I personally was pushing for him when we hired Saleh.  I really dont understand, almost coached a team to an undefeated season, had a winning record w/ the Lions, and the dude gets snubbed for the hot coordinator, every year. 

Honestly, how is he not the most qualified man for the job that is still looking to be a Head Coach?

To your point, great hire for the Panthers, very under rated.

He was fired in 2017 and has only coached in the NFL, in any capacity for 1 year since then. I'm guessing that was his decision since a guy like him can/should always land a gig like he just did.

So once you're out of football that long it's unlikely a team will trust you unless you've had great success in the past.

Why he didn't get a HC  job in the year or so after he was fired? That's a better question. Certainly deserved another shot.

[JiFtheOracle]

40 minutes ago, JoJoTownsell1 said:

He was fired in 2017 and has only coached in the NFL, in any capacity for 1 year since then. I'm guessing that was his decision since a guy like him can/should always land a gig like he just did.

So once you're out of football that long it's unlikely a team will trust you unless you've had great success in the past.

Why he didn't get a HC  job in the year or so after he was fired? That's a better question. Certainly deserved another shot.

Fair, good point.  Didnt realize he only had 1 gig since then...

I dont have the answers just seems like a very qualified option

[JiFtheOracle]

1 hour ago, JiFields said:

It makes zero sense to me how Jim Caldwell is not an NFL Head Coach.  I personally was pushing for him when we hired Saleh.  I really dont understand, almost coached a team to an undefeated season, had a winning record w/ the Lions, and the dude gets snubbed for the hot coordinator, every year. 

Honestly, how is he not the most qualified man for the job that is still looking to be a Head Coach?

To your point, great hire for the Panthers, very under rated.

@jetsons based on your rep, do you have an explanation as to why?  Or do you think that was a bad hire for the Panthers? 

[section314]

1 hour ago, Trotter said:

Agree.

When I stated it was my opinion I meant opinion of what others feel about him. 

Maybe a better way to state it is perception.

Like I said - if we could swap out Saleh for Caldwell today I would be all for it. 

I would have swapped out Saleh for Frank Reich but that’s a topic for another day.

[section314]

1 hour ago, JoJoTownsell1 said:

He was fired in 2017 and has only coached in the NFL, in any capacity for 1 year since then. I'm guessing that was his decision since a guy like him can/should always land a gig like he just did.

So once you're out of football that long it's unlikely a team will trust you unless you've had great success in the past.

Why he didn't get a HC  job in the year or so after he was fired? That's a better question. Certainly deserved another shot.

Jim Fassel also.

[FTL Jet Fan]

Anyone but who the Jets hire will always be the guy we should have hired.

[Kleckineau]

Caldwell was a very good HC. He did interview with the Jets. He later chose to be out of football for health reasons.

When you are out that long the network kinda dries up on you PLUS he is old. Must close to 70 now.

Regarding the Jim Fassell reference he wont get a job he is a known very heavy drinker.

[jetsons]

3 hours ago, JiFields said:

@jetsons based on your rep, do you have an explanation as to why?  Or do you think that was a bad hire for the Panthers? 

caldwell is an okay hire for a senior assistant, but I don't think of him as anything special as a HC... & I would not hire him for that position if I was in the position to do so. 

[kdels62]

I wanted Caldwell during the Gase cycle. He’s a good coach, he’s just old. I remember this class was anti-Caldwell at the time he interviewed for our HC position. A bummer since I think we’d have made the playoffs with him by now.

[Charlie Brown]

1 hour ago, JiFields said:

Fair, good point.  Didnt realize he only had 1 gig since then...

I dont have the answers just seems like a very qualified option

But to your point at a minimum he should have been looked by the Jets as an OC!

But I know, I know the Bates and Gases of the world were a calling....

[Scott Dierking]

3 hours ago, JiFields said:

It makes zero sense to me how Jim Caldwell is not an NFL Head Coach.  I personally was pushing for him when we hired Saleh.  I really dont understand, almost coached a team to an undefeated season, had a winning record w/ the Lions, and the dude gets snubbed for the hot coordinator, every year. 

Honestly, how is he not the most qualified man for the job that is still looking to be a Head Coach?

To your point, great hire for the Panthers, very under rated.

Michael Wilbon emphatically made this exact statement on "Pardon the Interruption" last night. NFL being NFL.

[Trotter]

59 minutes ago, Kleckineau said:

Caldwell was a very good HC. He did interview with the Jets. He later chose to be out of football for health reasons.

When you are out that long the network kinda dries up on you PLUS he is old. Must close to 70 now.

Regarding the Jim Fassell reference he wont get a job he is a known very heavy drinker.

Not being a smart ass in anyway - Fassell passed away a few years ago.

[JoeNamathsFurCoat]

Agreed.

I mentioned Caldwell's name a few times on this board during the OC search

Just a lowkey high quality coach / coordinator.  Also has experience developing QBs.

He was OC during Ravens' SB win.  Flacco had the playoffs of his life during that run under Caldwell's watch.

Dude once went 9-7 IIRC with the Detroit Lions (and still got fired).  Nobody gets those kind of results with the Lions.

(The Lions then stupidly replaced him with Matt Patricia.)

[JiFtheOracle]

1 hour ago, jetsons said:

caldwell is an okay hire for a senior assistant, but I don't think of him as anything special as a HC... & I would not hire for that position if I was in the position to do so. 

I think it's pretty special to be the Head Coach of the Detroit Lions and in 4 years, have one season below .500, nobody does that in Detroit.  I guess Fontes had a little run there in the early 90's but prior to him joining, they had 1 winning season in the last 15.  Pretty solid work if you ask me and while maybe he's not HC material anymore (dont see why not), I commend Reich for hiring someone who's a more accomplished HC than he is to help him turn the Panthers around.

[NIGHT STALKER]

5 hours ago, JiFields said:

It makes zero sense to me how Jim Caldwell is not an NFL Head Coach.  I personally was pushing for him when we hired Saleh.  I really dont understand, almost coached a team to an undefeated season, had a winning record w/ the Lions, and the dude gets snubbed for the hot coordinator, every year. 

Honestly, how is he not the most qualified man for the job that is still looking to be a Head Coach?

To your point, great hire for the Panthers, very under rated.

Sometimes it's just more than X's and O's to get hired as a HC.  Look at Westhoff as an example.  I don't even think he's received an interview for a HC gig...he's just bad when it comes to public speaking as in the media.

[Integrity28]

Reich will be the one that got away, again. His staff positions are filling in great.

[Sperm Edwards]

5 hours ago, JiFields said:

Fair I guess but Lovie Smith has had 3 tries at it....idk, just weird to me considering how successful Caldwell has been strictly from a W vs L perspective, he's the best candidate on the market.  And Caldwell did get a team to the Super Bowl, kind of silly to me to think you can get there but not good enough to win it.

He's 67 now. It's one thing if he's been coaching straight through, like Belichick, Carroll, Coughlin, etc., but 65+ is up there for a new hire.

Crennell coached a game at 73+ a couple seasons ago, but that was as an intermittent hire after the Texans fired O'Brien. Until Belichick and/or Carroll surpass him, he's the oldest. 

[greenwichjetfan]

7 hours ago, JiFields said:

It makes zero sense to me how Jim Caldwell is not an NFL Head Coach. 

I don't know about this. The man has a head coaching record of 38-42 and 0 division titles in games where Peyton wasn't the QB. He was also 0-3 in the playoffs after that first SB run. And yes, he did get to the SB and deserves some credit, but I don't know how much of that is actually him and how much of it was Peyton when you look at both's entire body of work outside of their time together. He inherited talented teams with both the colts and lions and managed to fizzle out both times.

For me, he was always underwhelming as a HC. I vaguely remember some pretty bad losing streaks with the lions even though the final records don't look terrible. I also remember him making some bad or at least controversial decisions in both of his playoff losses in '10 against the Jets and '14 as coach of the Lions against the Cowboys. Also, in hindsight, we saw Stafford win a SB with the Rams.

Team	Year	Regular season					Postseason
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
IND	2009	14	2	0	.875	1st in AFC South	2	1	.667	Lost to New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV
IND	2010	10	6	0	.625	1st in AFC South	0	1	.000	Lost to New York Jets in AFC wild card game
IND	2011	2	14	0	.125	4th in AFC South	–	–	–	–
IND total		26	22	0	.542		2	2	.500
DET	2014	11	5	0	.688	2nd in NFC North	0	1	.000	Lost to Dallas Cowboys in NFC Wild Card Game
DET	2015	7	9	0	.438	3rd in NFC North	–	–	–	–
DET	2016	9	7	0	.563	2nd in NFC North	0	1	.000	Lost to Seattle Seahawks in NFC Wild Card Game
DET	2017	9	7	0	.563	2nd in NFC North	–	–	–	–
DET total		36	28	0	.563		0	2	.000	-
Total		62	50	0	.554		2	4	.333

[IndianaJet]

16 minutes ago, greenwichjetfan said:

I don't know about this. The man has a head coaching record of 38-42 and 0 division titles in games where Peyton wasn't the QB. He was also 0-3 in the playoffs after that first SB run. And yes, he did get to the SB and deserves some credit, but I don't know how much of that is actually him and how much of it was Peyton when you look at both's entire body of work outside of their time together. He inherited talented teams with both the colts and lions and managed to fizzle out both times.

For me, he was always underwhelming as a HC. I vaguely remember some pretty bad losing streaks with the lions even though the final records don't look terrible. I also remember him making some bad or at least controversial decisions in both of his playoff losses in '10 against the Jets and '14 as coach of the Lions against the Cowboys. Also, in hindsight, we saw Stafford win a SB with the Rams.

Team	Year	Regular season					Postseason
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
IND	2009	14	2	0	.875	1st in AFC South	2	1	.667	Lost to New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV
IND	2010	10	6	0	.625	1st in AFC South	0	1	.000	Lost to New York Jets in AFC wild card game
IND	2011	2	14	0	.125	4th in AFC South	–	–	–	–
IND total		26	22	0	.542		2	2	.500
DET	2014	11	5	0	.688	2nd in NFC North	0	1	.000	Lost to Dallas Cowboys in NFC Wild Card Game
DET	2015	7	9	0	.438	3rd in NFC North	–	–	–	–
DET	2016	9	7	0	.563	2nd in NFC North	0	1	.000	Lost to Seattle Seahawks in NFC Wild Card Game
DET	2017	9	7	0	.563	2nd in NFC North	–	–	–	–
DET total		36	28	0	.563		0	2	.000	-
Total		62	50	0	.554		2	4	.333

He probably shouldn't get as much credit for the 2009 season, as that team was built by Dungy and was a fine tuned machine when he took over.

Likewise, Irsay royally screwed him in 2011 leaving him with no viable options at QB when they went straight to the "Suck for Luck" campaign, so you can't really put that 2-14 record on him either.

The timeout he called when the Jets were driving for the winning FG in that 2010 wild card game was mind numbingly dumb...in fact....I distinctly remember seeing the replays of Manning's face in utter disbelief when he called that timeout.

 

 

For those who are too young or just don't recall, Jets were driving with 1 timeout left down 2.  Schotty called a dive play with 36ish seconds left and the Jets appeared to be in no rush whatsoever to run another play when Caldwell called the TO....Jets were likely going to be happy settling for a 40+ yard FG to try to win the game. 

After the TO, Sanchez hit Braylon down the sideline for a big gain to around the 15 yard line and Folk then finished them off. 

Manning would never appear in a game again for the Colts.

 

[greenwichjetfan]

23 minutes ago, IndianaJet said:

He probably shouldn't get as much credit for the 2009 season, as that team was built by Dungy and was a fine tuned machine when he took over.

Likewise, Irsay royally screwed him in 2011 leaving him with no viable options at QB when they went straight to the "Suck for Luck" campaign, so you can't really put that 2-14 record on him either.

The timeout he called when the Jets were driving for the winning FG in that 2010 wild card game was mind numbingly dumb...in fact....I distinctly remember seeing the replays of Manning's face in utter disbelief when he called that timeout.

 

 

For those who are too young or just don't recall, Jets were driving with 1 timeout left down 2.  Schotty called a dive play with 36ish seconds left and the Jets appeared to be in no rush whatsoever to run another play when Caldwell called the TO....Jets were likely going to be happy settling for a 40+ yard FG to try to win the game. 

After the TO, Sanchez hit Braylon down the sideline for a big gain to around the 15 yard line and Folk then finished them off. 

Manning would never appear in a game again for the Colts.

 

Yes, I absolutely remember that play. That was what I was referencing as the really bad mistake he made in the 2010 playoff game against us. He also took away Peyton's chance at a perfect season in 2009 by deciding to bench his starters after going 14-0. 

Agreed that you can't put the 2-14 season on him, and I don't believe I did. That said, it's pretty telling that outside of that one season, the only QBs who took any real snaps for him were both #1st overall picks who both won SBs without him. 

[Kleckineau]

4 hours ago, Trotter said:

Not being a smart ass in anyway - Fassell passed away a few years ago.

Honestly didnt know that. 

[Trotter]

What I figured. 
wasn’t even going to respond because I just did now want to come off as a prick.

I found out about a year after he passed

[TuscanyTile2]

10 hours ago, JiFields said:

It makes zero sense to me how Jim Caldwell is not an NFL Head Coach.  I personally was pushing for him when we hired Saleh.  I really dont understand, almost coached a team to an undefeated season, had a winning record w/ the Lions, and the dude gets snubbed for the hot coordinator, every year. 

Honestly, how is he not the most qualified man for the job that is still looking to be a Head Coach?

To your point, great hire for the Panthers, very under rated.

 

Same same

 

 

[Ron Rico]

Billy Martin (Yankees Manager) was 61 when he died. It's no secret, Billy was a hard drinker. Alot of these professional sports team manager and coaches went through a trial and error sh*t show with guys like that giving them a "go" or "no go" at each station. It is what it is. They all haven't been weeded out of the league and sent off to a Gulag, yet.