A lot of fans I talk to, and more than a few of the media elite, seem to criticize the Broncos hiring an offensive coordinator to replace Mike Shanahan. The argument seems to go something like this: the Broncos don’t need more offense - their defense was the problem last season.

Okay, fair enough; the Broncos defense was awful last season (and the season before), but hiring Josh McDaniels doesn’t mean it won’t get better. Too often we look at who a team hires as a head coach and assume his background will inevitably lead to an offensive- or defensive-oriented team. Not true. It’s his assistants who will make the significant difference on both sides of the ball.

Consider the past seven seasons in Tampa Bay. Jon Gruden was an offensive assistant before he was hired to coach the Oakland Raiders and everyone assumed he knew little about defense. But look at how good the Bucs’ defense was under his watch: it ranked in the top ten in scoring in six of seven seasons. Why? Because Monte Kiffin is a darn good defensive coordinator, and he knew how to coach a successful defense.

Or look at the Philadelphia Eagles. Andy Reid was the Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach before he was hired to head the Eagles. He quickly made Jim Johnson defensive coordinator, and the Eagles have been solid on defense since. His blitz packages are reputable enough to rank him among the best coordinators in the league.

Or if you need more proof the background of a head coach isn’t too important, consider rookie head coach John Harbaugh. He was a special teams coach in Philadelphia for seven seasons before Andy Reid changed his title to defensive backs coach, intending to boost his resume. Has it hurt the Ravens he was a special teams coach? Not at all. Again, he surrounded himself with a bright cast of coordinators: Cam Cameron has done a fine job on offense and Rex Ryan continues to amaze as the defense’s mad genius.

A head coach may call the plays on offense if he wants extra control, but he isn’t the key reason a team has a great offense or great defense. A head coach motivates his team and keeps his players’ mindsets settled. He works with his staff to develop the gameplan, but it isn’t all on his shoulders. One could argue his assistants compose the critical component separating his team from the rest of the NFL.

In Denver, McDaniels has already taken steps to ensure his staff will be ready to turn the Broncos around. He brought in Mike Nolan, the Baltimore Ravens former defensive coordinator, to head the defense and retained Rick Dennison, Denver’s former offensive line coach, as the offensive coordinator. McDaniels, who last coached a guy named Tom Brady, will be working closely with talented quarterback Jay Cutler and has spent the last seven years learning from one of the best to ever coach in the NFL, Bill Belichick.

Don’t worry, Denver fans; McDaniels was a great pick to lead the Broncos. And don’t be surprised if the defense sees immediate improvement as early as 2009. (Just be sure to thank Norv Turner and the other assistants, too.)

I feel bad for Raider-nation. I really do.

After months of rumors that he was attempting to force head coach Lane Kiffin to resign, Al Davis has finally gone through with it and fired him. In the past, Kiffin wisely said no to Davis’s pleads to quit coaching, expecting to receive some sort of payment because the franchise was breaking contract. Unfortunately, Davis and the Raiders franchise believe they have found a way around that, terminating Kiffin without further pay.

This is not the way to run an NFL franchise.

Forget for a second that Kiffin was the eighth Raiders head coach since 1994 at the time of his hiring. Forget for a moment that Al Davis decided not to take the high road, absolutely trying to destroy the credibility of Kiffin during his press conference by flat out calling him a “liar” on several occasions. Forget that Al Davis hasn’t fielded a winning franchise for more than half a decade.

Just consider this: Kiffin was improving the team. They were getting better. Don’t look at the record; that’s deceiving. In 2007, Kiffin made a lot of good moves and started steering the offense - which the season before, under Art Shell, had been one of the worst in NFL history - in the right direction. Oakland was 1-3 this season, but they were playing their best football since 2002. The running game was established, thanks to rookie Darren McFadden and a pair of other virtual unknowns. JaMarcus Russell wasn’t making a lot of mistakes in the pocket and the offense, as a whole, was functioning relatively soundly. This was a team that led in the fourth quarter in two of its three losses, and, for the first time in many seasons, fans could at least take solice in the fact that this team was competitive.

So I guess, considering all that above, the only logical thing to do was fire the head coach. That should solve the, er, “problems” he’d been causing. After all, it was only a matter of time before Kiffin started winning more games and turning the Raiders into a respectable a team on the field. Then what could Davis do? He’d have to fire a winning coach because he didn’t like him. Just imagine the media frenzy; what could people possibly get more upset over? Oh, wait, I know: Davis going out of his way to take personal attacks on Kiffin, releasing letters that he apparently wrote to the coach, and, all-in-all, trying to destroy his character so as to affect the way other owners and football programs look at him.

Kiffin was in the worst possible situation. He showed up to work every day, knowing that Al Davis was interviewing others for his job and spreading rumors that Kiffin’s time was running short. Assistant coaches, those who weren’t even picked by Kiffin, which, in itself is strange, were having meetings behind his back, and the team was drafting players he flat out didn’t want.

No, Al Davis screwed up here. Not because, in his words, he “made a mistake” and “picked the wrong guy” but because he picked the right guy, someone who could have turned the Raiders, a team that was so screwed up and backwards by the time he arrived, into a respectable, competitive team. Davis even admitted during the press conference that he wasn’t necessarily firing Kiffin because of performance, but instead due to “cause,” which apparently means that he believes that Kiffin broke contract.

“There were a lot of people who believed that … he wanted to be fired, but he wanted to be paid,” said Davis. Can you blame him? He wanted to leave because it’s been proven time and again that Davis is the worst owner to work under; he’s an impatient, over-involved, hovering, senile owner who demands perfection even when he doesn’t live anywhere near his own standards. So, sure, maybe Kiffin wanted to be fired and paid. Why would he rather quit without pay, while he was holding up his end of the contract?

Davis now faces the reality that he will have to hire a new coach in the offseason. It won’t be a high-profile coach because no one in his right mind would want to coach under Al Davis. He’s impossible to get along with, and he’s impossible to trust; his press conference said that much

During that press conference, Davis related that a reporter asked him to tell his side of the story. Davis apparently told the newspaper writer, “I don’t want to win in the press, I want to win on the field.” Sadly, he’s losing in both counts.

Quick, flashback to 2007. The San Francisco 49ers have high expectations, but after a promising 2-0 start, the team falls flat and loses the next eight games. Four quarterbacks suit up over the course of the season, and, of those who threw at least 100 passes, Alex Smith’s 57.2 quarterback leads the team. As a unit the quarterbacks throw complete 53.4 percent of their attempts. Frank Gore averages just 73.5 yards per game and carries for five touchdowns. At the end of the season the team ranks dead last in yards per game and points per game.

Okay, present day. The J.T. O’Sullivan-led San Francisco 49ers are 2-1 right now, ranked 10th in the NFL in points per game and 11th in overall yards per game. They’ve scored 30-plus points in each of their past two games and have turned the ball over just once in those two games. O’Sullivan himself has a 104.6 quarterback rating, and Frank Gore is averaging 95.7 rushing yards per game and has plunged his way to three rushing scores.

What’s different? Okay, J.T. O’Sullivan is the quarterback, but, let’s be honest here, he’s J.T. O’Sullivan. He’s not the key here. Maybe he’s a key but he isn’t the key. No, the key to the Niners recent success is offensive guru Mike Martz, whose offensive scheme has the team clicking on all cylinders right now. He’s looking brilliant and it’s because the offense is buying what he’s preaching.

Everyone thinks he doesn’t want to run the ball, and that’s not fair. How many teams in NFL history have ever had a top five passing offense and rushing offense? None, okay. That’s why. Give him a talented back and a decent quarterback, and he’ll run it down opponents’ throats. That’s what’s happening now. Gore is looking great. He has three touchdowns and he’s averaging 4.8 yards per carry; that’s keeping defenses honest, and it’s creating passing lanes for O’Sullivan who’s taking advantage.

When has Martz not coached a winner? The Rams had an overall .624 winning percentage in his six seasons with the team; they even won an NFC Championship game. And fair is fair: how good have the Rams been since he left? Oh, 15 wins and 31 losses? That, if I’m doing the math right, is a .326 winning percentage, which means they won almost twice as frequently with Martz.

Interesting.

And you want to know the ultimate reason the Rams started losing games? Lovie Smith. He left after the 2003 season, after being the Rams defensive coordinator for the three previous seasons. Following his departure, the Rams ranked 25th and 31st in the league in points per game allowed; worse than any year since, yup, 2000, the year before Smith arrived. 

So here’s what can said about Mike Martz: he’s the brightest offensive coordinator in the NFL. He’s taking a team right now, the San Francisco 49ers no less, that hasn’t ranked better than 24th in points per game since 2003 and has usually been ranked in the 30s. He’s taking a sixth round draft pick and plugging him into his offense and it’s working. He’s reminding us of how good Frank Gore can be. He’s winning.

I think it’s time we all take a step back and recognize that.

Poor Matt Leinart; the guy can’t catch a break with new head coach Ken Whisenhunt. In a new development in Arizona, the Cardinals are rumored to have reached a new decision at quarterback: Kurt Warner is going to start this season.

Ouch.

Well, at least the decision came before the season. Last year I cringed whenever I saw that Leinart had been pulled from a game. To pull your young starter from one game when he’s struggling? Not the worst idea, but it’s sometimes a better idea to let him finish the game. Still, it’s a judgment call for the coach and I can respect the decision. But to pull your inexperienced quarterback from consecutive starts? What the heck? Honestly, I had never heard of a coach doing that prior to last season.
I’m not a psychology major, so I’m not certain how it affects a young player when his new head coach pulls him from half the games he starts because he’s struggling, but I’m going to go ahead and venture a guess that it takes a toll on his level of confidence. In fact, who knows how long this would have gone on last season if Leinart’s season hadn’t ended in week five when he suffered a season-ending injury?

Alright, with that off my chest, I’m going to reiterate that I’m happy the decision was reached now. And I can understand it; Leinart struggled mightily week three of this preseason, going 4-for-12 and throwing three interceptions. To be fair, he was statastically pretty good during the first two weeks of preseason, completing 14-of-19 for 153 yards and touchdown. Warner, meanwhile, has completed 62 percent of his passes for 94 yards (no touchdowns-interceptions) in two preseason games and has looked pretty solid in his limited time.

Obviously, this decision goes deeper than preseason, and I must admit that it’s a little surprising to me. I understand it, but I didn’t expect it. Whisenhunt has taken every opportunity to back up Leinart, his work ethic, and his offseason progress this year, only to make this move after three exhibition games, of which only one Leinart played poorly.

Is this the right decision? I believe that Warner gives Arizona the best opportunity to win. How it affects the future of this franchise, I don’t know. After all, Warner - who turned 37 earlier this summer - proved he can play last season, but for how long?

Also, I think quarterback should be on the back burner until this team can find a way to appease its wide receivers. Both Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin have asked to be traded at different points this offseason, and it seems likely that Boldin will be moved very soon. His thoughts on Whisenhunt: he has no relationship with the coach. The absence of Boldin, the team’s possession receiver and one of the toughest wide receivers to bring down, will adversely affect whoever is throwing the football.

From a fantasy football perspective, I think this does improve the stock of Fitzgerald. Warner is a more experienced quarterback than Leinart and someone who can put up bigger numbers. At the same time, I don’t think Warner is capable of putting up last season’s numbers without Boldin and Bryant Johnson.

It’s unknown how the team as a whole views its head coach and how its players will react to him in year two. I wonder how many players feel as disconnected to him as Boldin? In any case, this looks like a team poised to struggle in 2008.