I have been ignoring Jason La Confora’s rumor mongering about Steve Mariucci being the next Skins coach, but I can’t ignore it anymore. I was watching the NFL Network’s coverage of media day today and Rich Eisen and Primetime and everybody were joking with Mooch that he has coached everywhere. Then, and here’s the big part, the following sentence was spoken by Sanders: “You’ve been everywhere. And you’re going somewhere else, too. As soon as we wrap on Sunday.”
The cameras were already off the guys and the music was playing. I don’t even think they thought their microphones were on. Mooch’s response was cut off by the mikes being turned off.
At the next commercial break, as they were fading away, and clearly they thought their mikes were off, Maruicci said, “Where am I going?” and Sanders responded, “Washington!” This was done while the cameras were showing a technician fooling around with some cable on the field. It was clearly not meant to be on the air.
Yes, Sanders could have been joking and trying to start something. But I’m a believer, folks. Steve Mariucci will be your next Redskins head coach.
I’m not even sure how I feel about that.
[update: Two commercials later, the network broke from all of its Super Bowl coverage just so Mooch could deny it obviously to cover for the mistake. And then Primetime joked he was coming with Mooch. And they made fun of him for his Belichick-like answer. This was totally a non-denial denial. He's coming folks.]
[update 2: With a hat tip to Hail Redskins, here is the video of Mooch's non-denial denial.]
-DW
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I can’t say I’m happy about this, but at this point, someone has to get picked so they can move on to the real football matters. Mooch is as good as any out there, which isn’t all that great. I’m still surprised at no Russ Grimm.
I kind of like Mooch, especially compared to Fassel. But Mooch was able to lead San Francisco to several playoff games despite an incompetent front office that was fractured, disorganized, and pulling all sorts of political bullshit. Sound familiar? I’ll give him a pass in Detroit; nobody can overcome Matt Millen, offensive genius.
I like Mooch, too, but I have to ask myself this question: does my liking him matter more than his coaching ability. Take a look at this:
Coach A- all-time record 58-53-1, 3 ten win seasons, 3 playoff seasons and 2-3 in the playoffs, twice coach of the year and one Super Bowl appearence.
Coach B- all-time record 72-67, 4 ten win seasons, 4 playoff appearences and 3-4 in the playoffs, no Super Bowls.
Caoch A is Fassel. Is there really a major difference between the two? Admittedly, if you are willing to give Mooch the pass for Detroit, he comes out a little better because his San Fran record is 57-39 which is pretty darn good. But other than the fact that Mariucci is more eloquent, a little less stone-faced, and doesn’t have the stink of the Giants and the Ravens on him, I’m not sure it matters.
Either way, I’m starting to warm up to Meeks or the ten year old genius in New England, but I’m less upset by either Fassel or Mooch than I’d have been a week or two ago.
-DW
You also need to remember that Mooch started with a San Francisco team that was at the bottom of the NFL. They were TERRIBLE and they had huge salary cap problems. He guided them out of that and kept winning playoff games even through what amounted to a coup in the front office as Eddie DeBartelo went down in flames after that River Boat fiasco. Now, he also had trouble dealing with problem players (TO anyone?) and I think that’s on him, but I don’t think we have any primadonna players on our team so it should be a non-factor. Also, as you pointed out, he doesn’t have the stench of the Giants on him.
I’ll also point out that if you look purely at numbers, Joe Gibbs in his second term did worse than either Coach A or Coach B. So looking only at numbers doesn’t capture the whole story. If you look at the numbers, last year we were 9-7 and barely getting into the playoffs at all (which we were one and done). That’s all true as far as it goes, but I don’t think that’s how I’ll remember last season. There’s more to the story.
Comment removed due to profanity.
OK, Gayskin. I was really patient. I can take a joke as well as the next guy, and I enjoyed it for awhile. But we try to keep it clean and family oriented here. I probably let you go too far as it was. In any case, all clean comments, even ones made entirely in jest like yours, are welcome. But keep it clean. Thanks.
-DW
I’m not nearly as patient as Dave. Gayskin’s "jokes" got old around the time I turned twelve. If you want to make fun of us, that’s fine. Want to make jokes at our expense? Fine. Just make sure the jokes are, you know, FUNNY. Grow up.