Friday, January 20, 2006

Although "McCarthy had promised to hire a defensive coordinator first before hiring position coaches" he went ahead and hired Winston Moss to coach the linebackers in 2006. McCarthy said "[Moss] was highly sought after as an assistant by several teams." He must be a great guy, because he hasn't coached too many good linebackers in his five seasons in New Orleans. In the last five drafts, New Orleans had drafted a linebacker in the 2nd or 3rd round in each season. In 2005, New Orleans was led in tackles by LB Colby Bockwoldt, a 2004 7th round pick, and veteran free agent LB Robert McKinnon. I don't follow New Orleans, but no matter if it was because of injuries or ineffectiveness, none of the five first day draft choices selected have emerged into the team's top linebacker under Moss's coaching. Maybe Moss has developed Bockwoldt into a linebacker beyond his 7th round status, but somehow I doubt it. Despite McKinnon's status as second leading tackler, his 2005 stats were far below his best seasons in Arizona. None of the players coached by Moss in 2005 excelled and overall New Orleans had a pretty crummy defense, so of course McCarthy had to have Moss for 2006.

The Jsonline.com article also mentioned former Houston defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was interviewed for the Packers defensive coordinator job. The article said Packers defensive line coach Bob Sanders is the front runner, but the Packers have to hire Fangio. Fangio led the worst defense in the NFL in 2005. The Packers current philosophy is to hire the worst available candidate and hope for the best; so Fangio, the coordinator of the worst defense in 2005, has to be the "best" candidate. Accept no competent substitute!

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