Quote:Just wondering why you think an offensive minded coach might have a higher upside than Smith?


McDaniels and Todd Haley's HC candidacy is based on presuming that they will have learned from their first stint as a HC. I think that Smith also has every capability to learn from his mistakes as a HC.

 

Part of why I would prefer an offensive coach is due to the simple fact that this offense and several of it's players need to be fixed. I think an easier path to fixing it is by hiring an offensive minded head coach than hiring a defensive head coach and hoping they bring along a good coordinator. As for why I believe some of the hot offensive coordinators present higher upside is due to how they failed as head coaches the first time around.

 

I actually prefer Haley's style of offense to McDaniels, but I do think McDaniels is the more likely of the two to succeed the second time around. That's because I think McDaniels single biggest problem in Denver was his ego. He thought he could completely dismantle the team by not only drafting his style of players, but also jettisoning some very talented players in Marshall and Cutler. He's mentioned how the failure in Denver humbled him and how he was too gung-ho to shape that team in his image from day one rather than do so over time. It could be that I just haven't heard Haley discuss his failure in Kansas City publicly, but I haven't heard it.

 

In comparison to Mike Smith; Smith's problem wasn't based around ego or managing players, but rather X's and O's. I personally think it's easier for someone to change the style in which they coach than what they coach. Mike Smith was a fine leader of men in that his players didn't hate him in Atlanta like McDaniels' did in Denver, but as I mentioned before he struggled to adjust his game plan and he rivaled Andy Reid for the worst clock management in professional football. Is it possible to learn from those mistakes? Absolutely, but I think McDaniels is more likely to swallow his pride than Mike Smith is to correct his in game management.

 

Again, I am not against having Mike Smith as the head coach here, but there are several other candidates I would prefer over him.

---