Your Daily J: 12/3

(Picture from www.cb-product-reviews.com)

Your team is down by 4 and there's just over a minute to go in the game. You have one timeout left and are preparing to take the kickoff as the other team has just scored to take the lead. What sort of things should be happening on the sidelines? How will you put your team in the best position to win? Over the past few weeks, we've seen several coaches put in similar situations, many of which have failed miserably. So this had us wondering, what if coaching staffs included someone tasked only with managing the end of a game? Similar to a special teams coach who only deals with punts and kicks, or a closer in baseball, who is only brought in at the end to finish out the game, what if every football team had one coach whose job was only to run the show at the end of the game?


My first thought here is related to something our good friend (by friend I mean someone we listen to on the radio and whose articles and books we read, but whom does not know we exist) Bill Simmons has brought up many a time on his B.S. Report. He has claimed that every NFL team needs some 14 year old kid that does nothing but plays Madden who can come on to the sidelines at the end of a game to tell them what to do. So who would really be better at these situations, the college coach who's been around for many a year (someone like Joe Pa), or the teenager who's played this exact situation 15-20 times in a video game?


Secondly, is this something that we really need an extra coach for, or is it something that head coaches should just be better at? I mean, most of these guys are paid several million dollars a year to be a head coach, while they have offensive coordinators calling the plays on offense and defensive coordinators calling the plays on defense and special teams coaches directing the kicking game. So shouldn't these guys be capable of directing their teams with the game on the line?

Jonah: This is definitely something I have put far too much thought into for someone that has a full-time job and a lady-friend at home, but here it goes. While I absolutely love the idea and think it would save many games a year (yeah, save, like in baseball), I do think head coaches should start to take some responsibility. If you open up this door, are you sure you want to see everything that's on the other side? If we have special "coaches" that are only involved in closing out the game, then where do you draw the line? You could bring on coaches that only coach during practice and guys that only coach the first half (do we have "middle relievers"?). To me, the head coach is there to run the show. You have coaches that coach individual position groups and coaches that are calling the plays in, but the head coach is there to call the shots and bring everything together. If he can't put it all together and run things at the end of the game, should he really be the head coach? I think maybe the alternative here is getting these coaches to go to some seminars or classes or something in the offseason to do nothing but think about these situations. Anyone that's been involved with football knows that teams do practice things like this and usually do it every week. The problem is that it's so scripted in practice that when the game situation comes, people panic. So maybe the coaches just need to spend some time with their teenage sons and actually play some Madden instead of hiring them on to call the shots. As dumb as it may sound, maybe there is something to be said for having that simulated experience. The winningest coach in college football (Joe Pa) has coached in over 500 games. That's taken him into his 80s. Now, what if a college coach is in his 40s? There's no way to make up for the difference in live game experience, but I think playing plenty of NCAA or Madden in the offseason would be a pretty good use of time. Knowing when to call timeouts and what types of plays to call is critical to winning close games. The more a coach can be in that situation (even in a video game), the more prepared he will be. I don't think anyone will win them all, but at least coaches can know the possibilities, what actions will give his team the best chance to win, and what he needs to be doing on the sidelines as the clock winds down. Jerry?

Jerry: I don't really know how I feel about this. After hearing Bill Simmons talk about it, I thought that it was a brilliant idea (he sells his theories and thoughts very well). So after playing a quick game (against a pubescent teenager that got his butt whooped) I realized it would be an amazing thing for kids. Would it happen? No. There is no way (in my mind) Roger Goodell is letting a 14 year old, pimple faced kid with the online name of "Teabagger69" in the NFL locker room, let alone as a coaching assistant. But it would make a pretty cool movie. The Rookie, and Little Big League are just two examples of two of my favorite childhood movies that give kids the opportunity of a lifetime like this. So picture this, Jon Voight playing Al Davis, and John Goodman as Tom Cable. The Oakland Raiders are on the brink of another losing season with a record of 3-8 (sound familiar?). Tom Cable goes back to his college roots at the University of Idaho. He is walking around campus alone, almost crying, when suddenly he has an epiphany. He needs some inspiration in the locker room, he needs someone to make the mood lighter, he needs someone that his players can believe in. He sees this kid walking around campus with a Raiders jacket on, follows him. The kid is a madden freak (kid played by Frankie Muniz) and is ranked as one of the top 100 Madden players in the world. After a long inspirational speech from Cable (Goodman) the kid decides to come to California. Al Davis (Voight) puts an immediate kibosh on the whole project because he is the reincarnation of the devil. So Cable being the madmen he is, sneaks the kid in behind Darth Vader himself. The kid goes through some trials and tribulations at practice with players who question his motives. Everyone picks on him except for JaMarcus Russell (the only player to take the kid in and gets to know him. This turns into one of those life changing friendships, were JaMarcus learns to love the game again). Getting sick of being made fun of by league scrubs, the kid then challenges the best Madden players on the team to a one on one matchup. He beats Richard Seymour, Robert Gallery, Darrius Heyward-Bey and Darren McFadden. The team suddenly has mad props for the kid, but there is still one guy left who thinks he's a chump (and don't put this past the Raiders, I can totally see this happening, they are all crazy). Non other than Nnamdi Asomugha, the Madden champ among the Raiders. They start to play, and the game is close the whole way. It gets down to a two minute drill and the kid has 1 timeout, and the ball on his 20 yard line, down by 2. Nnamdi is in straight Prevent. The kid gets to Nnamdi's 40 yard line with a huge pass play on 4th down. Everyone is cheering, Tom Cable is taking notes, and Al Davis has even joined the party (but is breathing heavy, searing at Tom Cable for letting this happen). The kid runs a couple quick outs and gets to the 30. He runs another pass play but he fails to get out of bounds (calls a timeout). 10 seconds remaining, enough for one more play to get better field position for a field goal. After another sideline out play that gets him an extra 8 yards, he now has the ball on the 22 yard line with two seconds left. He sends out the kicking team, and boom straight through the up rights. Nnamdi gives him some gangster love (says something like "I guess you really do know your shit mang), Al Davis smiles for the first time in his life, and JaMarcus looks on in amazement, all the while transforming into an actually good quarterback. I mean who wouldn't watch this? It would be a Disney best seller. Add in his hot mom (played by Jennifer Anniston), and two other dorky friends (played by Michael Cera and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (a.k.a. McLovin) and you suddenly have interest in the crappy Raiders again. With that being said, this would unfortunately never happen. But I'll continue to dream (and maybe work on the script).