i trust spags. if he thinks his assistants are bad, he’ll replace them. if he thinks his assistants are good, he’ll keep them.

But to his defense it’s his first time being a head coach in the NFL. Hopefully as any well seasoned head coach realizes what works and what doesn’t i don’t think the staff should be fired right after this season. Shurmur is in his first year as being a offensive coordinator he’s learning what works as well. Same with flajole no one can agree they are doing great but along with jason smith they’re making rookie mistakes I think if we bring in a little more talent and give them a reasonable ammount of time to state why they should be here they will work out (hopefully).

Steven Jackson: 165 Carries, 784 Yards, 24 Catches, 186 yards, 1 TD
Adrian Peterson: 163 Carries, 784 Yards, 19 Catches, 189 yards, 9 TDs

2 Fumbles lost by each.

Besides the discrepancy in TDs, I find it scary that our boy is pretty much toe for toe with ESPN’s darling with the offensive talent that he has around him. Actually, not scary. Amazing.

He’s also getting better every week. How high can SJax go? He’s currently on pace for 1,940 total yards, and that’s not considering the increases he’s had the last two weeks (assuming he continues to improve). What were our preseason predictions again? Because anything over 1800 was already amazing in my eyes, and at the rate he’s improving, he may very well go over 2,000. Simply outstanding.

maybe that’s not who the sources in question are citing, but I’d think rookie coordinators like Shurmur and Flajole get a little cushion too. I know, none of us have been 100% with Shurmur’s playcalling so far, but I don’t know that it’s time to get his resignation.

Spagnuolo made his mark as a D coordinator, a system guy. The coach responsible for teaching players how to play is not the DC, it’s the position coach. This makes Chris Long’s struggles completly understandable. I had just come to think he’s not getting the training he needs this week, watching against the Lions. This makes perfect sense to me

You would be surprised to learn how many people get in a little over their heads, even in pro sports.

I knew a guy who played in the NFL (who shall remain nameless, but he’ll know who he is by this story) who coached pop warner level football with me. Because he played in the NFL, including for the “local” team, he was very respected. He was a D lineman and found himself coaching what was mostly high school freshman for a couple years while he explored job opportunities at the pro level.

Said coach was a good enough guy, and he had a lot of tricks. But he also didn’t know much beyond what was immediately in front of him. Read: D tackle play.

One day, after a long run play, he pulled aside a player I had been watching closely and talked to him about what went wrong. The problem? Player was not a D Tackle. He was a DB.

Anyway, coach goes on to tell him how in the open field you must read the running back’s eyes so you can see where he’s looking to go. “He won’t look one way and go another…look him right in the eyes, son.”

Player was a good soldier, shook his head, ok coach. Coach feels good about helping a young player and walks back to the D line.

Me and another coach immediately went over to player and told him to disregard that, you know better than that, you do not look at a running back’s eyes or you will get shifted all over the field. You look at his stomach because that’s the one place he can’t fake. You want to see where his body is going next? Look at his stomach, aim for him there.

Nobody wanted to confront the other coach, no body wanted to get into a “Who know’s what” contest with an NFL’er. But the point was discreetly made to the DB’s that they will follow the teachings of the DB coach.

Now, where this guy is now is not the point, the point is being in the NFL doesn’t automatically mean you know how to teach a position. Even high school freshmen. I know for a fact there are some coaches there that are great teachers, and there are some that are in over their head.

Really well written and interesting. But to comment on the position coaches i really think they’re doing something that isn’t right. Granted we do not have the most talented bunch but thier are things you can help. I watched Chris Long try to out run the lineman thinking he was going to beat him with his speed around the corner but at this level its very hard to do that. I could be wrong but little problems such as this have to be dealt with individually sometimes. Because a team is only as strong as its weakest player, So what do you do help that player out and make your team less weak.