Coaching/talent

I happen to believe that players win and lose games far more frequently than coaches win and lose games. I realize that others here disagree but try to explain these things to me.

We had a defensive coordinator here named Mike Nolan. The Skins' defense was decidedly mediocre and he was ushered out of town with a big sigh of relief because people thought he was less than fully competent. MIke Nolan is now the defensive coordinator in Baltimore. He has better players there than he had here and maybe he has some more players there who do what he asks them to do instead of "freelancing". And now he is a "hot commodity" as a coordinator and is considered a candidate for a head coaching job. (Frankly, I would not hire him as a head coach, but his name is out there.)


Meanwhile, in Baltimore in 2000, Marvin Lewis coached that Ravens' defense and it was so good that it won the Ravens a Super Bowl with Trent "Bleeping" Dilfer playing QB. Marvin came here and took over a less talented - and a certainly less cooperative - defensive unit and it didn't work nearly as well.

I don't believe Nolan got a whole lot smarter and more competent by moving 50 miles north while Lewis got a whole lot dumber and less competent by moving 50 miles south. I don't think that coaching ability is dependent on the latitude of the home stadium.

So, I think this situation revolves around the fact that the Skins defensive players have been less talented and less "coachable" than the Ravens players much more than it revolves around the capabilities of the two defensive coordinators. I think both men are/were competent and above the threshold of competence needed to succeed. But they both seem to be doing/have done better in Baltimore...

Hey S.C., whats your take on Greg Williams this year. I agree that ussually players win/lose more than coaches, but I think our defense could be an exception to that. I really think Greg Williams scheme has a ton to do with the defensive success we have had this season; while others couldnt do that with the same (or with these injuries) or somtimes more talent here. Do you agree with me there?

I agree that coachability is a big issue. We loaded the defense with big-name "talent" for Mike Nolan, and ushered him out because he couldn't make winners out of Deion Sanders, Mark Carrier, and Bruce Smith. We now realize that those players were either over the hill, or so "set in their ways" that they wouldn't listen to Nolan or anyone else. Any success Lewis had here was despite Bruce Smith, not because of him.

Now look at the players making an impact this year. To a large extent, they are young guys who believe in their coach and his system. The free agents this year weren't rent-a-studs, they were guys with something to prove.

By the way, Curmudgeon, I agree with your assessment of Nolan. An interesting side note to Mike's resurgence in Baltimore. Nolan always coached the 4-3, until he arrived there. The talent they had the year he arrived made them switch to the 3-4. He isn't a "3-4 guru" (like Wade Phillips), so they hired position coaches to teach their coordinator the system. For this he gets put on the media's "hot list" for head coaching jobs.

Gregg Williams is def. a very gifted d-cordinator. ANd Nolan is def. very average. Its not hard to be good on D when you got Ray lewis and Ed Reed.

Look at the players Mike Nolan is working with now, and the players Williams is working with now. Not only has Nolan had his system in place for years, he has arguably the most talented defense in football. However we're ranked #2 and they're just good in the redzone.

Just checked and the Ravens moved into 4th YPG defense. They';re on the way up.

Nolan maybe a good D. Coordinator, but it isnt that hard to coach a team that is already established, for example look at what Barry Switzer(SP) did when he took over after Jimmy Johnson, I mean when the players are in place and already know what to do, coaching really isnt that hard. Johnson put that team together, and all Switzer did was walk on the sidelines.

Marvin Lewis took the 22nd ranked defense and turned it into the 5th best defense in the league in ONE SEASON.

Gregg Williams took a pretty bad defense and our defense is currently #2 in the league. He did this despite:

-losing the projected starting MLB to IR (Pierce was an UFA)
-losing LaVar Arrington for about 10 weeks (Marshall was an UFA)
-losing the starting RDE (to Warner, another UFA)
-starting DT Joe Salave'a (though he had started just 1 game in 03')
-losing the starting SS (Lott had never started a single game)
-losing the backup SS (Clark had 5 starts under his belt)

Do you see us with the #2 ranked defense with our old defensive coordinator and these injuries?

Moreover, the offense has been so pathetic that I can't believe that anyone on defense is playing with intensity. Our offense wasn't great last year, but it was far better than it is this year.

Great players can make coaches look a lot better than they are and sometimes it goes the opposite way.

All I know is Gregg Williams has done an unbelievable job with a defense that most predicted was going to be mediocre at best.

More than any other sport, the NFL is a coaches league.

also, coach's assistants can make coaches look better...