Shutdown Corner's Overrated and Underrated: NFL coach

[-X-]

Jeff Fisher, Rams

For a coach who ranks second among active NFL coaches in longevity (sandwiched between the five Super Bowl titles of Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin), there have been a lot of mediocre seasons for Fisher. In fact, you can argue that Fisher has the worst results among any coach with his level of longevity.

Fisher has coached 18 full seasons in Tennessee or St. Louis, and has just six seasons better than .500. Not many coaches survive having one winning season of every three, much less do it for almost two decades. What helps Fisher is that his lows haven’t been that low. He has just three 10-loss seasons, and one of them was his last with the Titans. He has basically just been mediocre.

Fisher hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2003 season, when Andrew Luck was still in middle school. He has three division championships in 18 seasons. In NFL history, only 14 coaches have had more service time than Fisher’s 18-plus years (he was an interim coach for part of one season in Houston). Of those 14, only Weeb Ewbank had a lower career winning percentage than Fisher, and Ewbank won three NFL championships. Only two had fewer than Fisher’s six playoff appearances: Ewbank and Curly Lambeau, who had six championships and mostly coached in a pre-playoffs era. Only three of those 14 coaches with more longevity than Fisher have fewer than two NFL championships. Dan Reeves, Chuck Knox and Marty Schottenheimer all match Fisher with zero NFL championships, but all three of those coaches won at least six division titles.

It’s a results business, and the results are not too impressive considering how long Fisher has been employed.

The Rams are building a very impressive roster, and seem to be on the verge of taking the step towards being a contender soon. Fisher has the opportunity to win big, something he hasn’t done in a pretty long time.


The Rest:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...ated-and-underrated--nfl-coach-190856521.html

 

[Rams and Gators]

Strange article, paragraph summary:

Fisher sucks

Fisher sucks

Fisher sucks

Fisher sucks

Rams look good

Underrated

 

[Ramrasta]

Seems like this article bashes Fisher more than it informs me.

 

[TheDYVKX]

Strange article, paragraph summary:

Fisher sucks

Fisher sucks

Fisher sucks

Fisher sucks

Rams look good

Underrated

The article says Fisher is overrated. The underrated is just the next heading for Mike Smith and Lovie Smith, who apparently are underrated.

 

[Rams and Gators]

The article says Fisher is overrated. The underrated is just the next heading for Mike Smith and Lovie Smith.

Oh that makes more sense then.

 

[-X-]

The article says Fisher is overrated. The underrated is just the next heading for Mike Smith and Lovie Smith, who apparently are underrated.

My bad. I read it wrong.

At any rate, this was my initial concern when they hired Fisher. His teams play hard, but they rarely have anything to show for it. Some of that has to do with playing in the same division as Manning, but there was a lot of underachieving going on over the years. The one thing I really liked about him, however, was how he kept his teams together and competitive through some pretty lean times. He always gets the most out of his players too.

Maybe, like Vermeil, his second stint will give him his reward.

 

[Rmfnlt]

Jeff Fisher is a very charasmatic person. His pressers are smooth and he emits a aura of uber-confidence.

And, he's a player's coach.

Interesting article. Mostly numbers and they appear accurate.

Hope he has a breakout year!

 

[Rams and Gators]

It's results time for me, he's had more to work with in 3 years than most coaches could dream of, 5 first round picks and 14 top 100 picks in 3 years is insane, we need some return on our investment. I think we'll get it.

 

[Rmfnlt]

It's results time for me, he's had more to work with in 3 years than most coaches could dream of, 5 first round picks and 14 top 100 picks in 3 years is insane, we need some return on our investment. I think we'll get it.

He's been given about as much autonomy as any Heach Coach I can remember.

If I recall, it was a requirement of his in order to take the job (I think he even hired Snead, no?)

So, can't say he hasn't built this team in his own image. And, fair or not, three years seems to be the point lately where fans start demanding significant results.

Gone are the days of Chuck Noll (God rest his soul).

 

[Mojo Ram]

Yes but how much control over personnel and drafting did he have in Tenn?
Fisher seems to have been given quite a bit of control here in St Louis....even in the GM department.
Also, the Peyton Manning factoid is legit.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

My bad. I read it wrong.

At any rate, this was my initial concern when they hired Fisher. His teams play hard, but they rarely have anything to show for it. Some of that has to do with playing in the same division as Manning, but there was a lot of underachieving going on over the years. The one thing I really liked about him, however, was how he kept his teams together and competitive through some pretty lean times. He always gets the most out of his players too.

Maybe, like Vermeil, his second stint will give him his reward.

It was my concern too. However I believe that certain types of coaches are right for certain types of teams. Fisher seems to fit the current Rams team. He should because he built it. I also recall that there really weren't a lot of other good options that year. I wanted Philbin so they could develop Bradford more. Philbin is regarded as a QB guru. Looking back I think Stan made the right choice.

 

[LesBaker]

My bad. I read it wrong.

At any rate, this was my initial concern when they hired Fisher. His teams play hard, but they rarely have anything to show for it. Some of that has to do with playing in the same division as Manning, but there was a lot of underachieving going on over the years. The one thing I really liked about him, however, was how he kept his teams together and competitive through some pretty lean times. He always gets the most out of his players too.

Maybe, like Vermeil, his second stint will give him his reward.

I wasn't concerned about that because of what a meddling tool he worked for in TN. Adams is not ADavis or Jerruh, but he is pretty darn close. Lasting and sometimes thriving in that type of environment requires mettle.

 

[cracengl]

I feel like every situation is new and we need to judge him on what he does with the Rams. After this year and likely next, if he can't at least get them to the playoffs, them can him. If he goes on to coach this team to the next 5 Super Bowls, will his Tennessee tenure stl be relevant? I'm guessing not.

 

[jrry32]

It's results time for me, he's had more to work with in 3 years than most coaches could dream of, 5 first round picks and 14 top 100 picks in 3 years is insane, we need some return on our investment. I think we'll get it.

Than most coaches could dream of? He inherited a 2-14 team that lacked talent. Draft picks are nice but when you don't have much established talent they only mean so much because it takes time to develop players. So I disagree. Most coaches would be having a nightmare if they had to take on the 2011 Rams roster. Even with the picks.

He's going into his third year and has done a nice job thus far IMO. Lets give those draft picks some time to develop before we reach a verdict on the coach.

 

[Rams and Gators]

Yeah I suppose the word "had" is confusing, I thought the context made it clear but apparently not.

A 2-14 team + half of some other team.

 

[Thordaddy]

Overated : The "shutdown corners", Bernie Miklasz

Underated: Peter King, Tom Clancy

 

[TheDYVKX]

My opinion is that Fisher has worked miracles on our team. Not many coaches can take the piece of crap 2-14 garbage team we had and turn it into a playoff contender and competitive team we have now, especially in the battlefield of a division we have. We might have only had 7 wins, but these 7 win teams are immensely better than any team we've had since ~2004 and immensely better than most 7 win teams, given the Kellen Clemens starting 9 games situation and the tough division. So in my book, he's underrated. Definitely not perfect, but he drastically changed the culture in St. Louis and deserves to be commended.

 

[Mojo Ram]

Yep.
A 2-14 team with 2-14 talent...unlike this years Falcons or Texans.