Being HC in Detroit is a death sentence that noone recovers from as far as making it back to HC again. The most notable name that got another shot as a coordinator was Joe Barry, who was the DC of the 0-16 Lions and one of the worst defenses in the history of the league. He got another DC gig with the Redskins, and was able to get them up to 28th in yards allowed instead of 32nd like he had us. Phil Snow was the LB coach for that 0-16 team, and he’s now the DC for the Carolina Panthers.
Teryl Austin got a failed rebirth as DC in Cincy. Mike Martz got 2 failed jobs as OC of the 49ers and then Bears. Scott Linehan took a year off football and then became a successful OC for the Cowboys. Dick Jauron actually got a HC gig after he left us, which is unusual for the Lions. Greg Olson has had alot of time as OC since leaving his OC post with us.
Those are the only ones I can find in recent memory. Obviously there were more guys who never got back up than guys who did. Some guys were even out of football after coaching with us.
I’m confused on the Herbert/Anthony Lynn/Joe Lombardi situation
By my understanding Herbert was having a good rookie season, under Lynn. Was there an issue between them? I was very excited to see Lynn come aboard, but I am scratching my head as to why they fired Lynn.
I can’t wrap my head around why they would fire Lynn and then hire Lombardi.
My only hope is that Herbert performs so poorly under Lombardi that they foolishly blame the second year QB for regressing…then Doug Homes and company can swoop in and make a trade for him (OK I know that’s unrealistic, but these idiots just hired Joe Lombardi)
There was a soundbite from Lynn earlier in the year where he said Taylor was the starting quarterback because he hadn’t seen enough from Herbert to justify putting him on the field.
Then he got on the field due to Taylor’s injury, and that pretty much put the nail in the coffin. Lynn became perceived as the guy holding the team back, instead of the guy making Herbert look good.
Some others have brought up the angle of Lynn not wanting Herbert on the field. But also he went 5-11 last year and was 3-9 this year before a late season win streak.
It’s super easy to shit on a guy, which most posters seem to be doing. But, don’t be surprised if Lombardi does well the 2nd time as OC. I’m sure he’s learned a lot since 2014/15. He just spent another 5 years learning under Sean Payton, along side Dan Campbell as well. And the Lions were 11-5 in 2014 when he was our OC, something to think about.
Our defense was 11-5 that year. We had a top 3 defense in 2014, and it was a thing of beauty to watch. Unfortunately if we had even an anemic offense that year we might have made a serious run in the playoffs.
He HAD to have learned something, or else he’s an idiot. And I know Payton wouldn’t have hired him back and kept him that long if he is an idiot. He came in with a plan, and by the time he figured out the flaw in the plan everything quickly spiraled out of control and he never had a chance to learn and correct the flaw. We should have fired him, I have no doubt about that. But we also have to admit we have no idea what Lombardi looks like when he has had time and a second chance to self correct.
Personally I am a “same formation” kind of a guy. I grew up with it when I was on the field, and I swear by it. I like to run the same basic formations for all plays, and I highly prefer symmetrical formations that don’t give away any strength or tendency. Peyton Manning believed in it too, and what he loved about it was it forced teams to stay in the same predictable defense or show their hand. I say all of that to say I bought into what was being sold that first offseason. Tons of formations and tons of personnel groupings. Maximum pressure on the defense to learn all of the different formations, sets and plays to face us. What I didn’t appreciate at the time and what I learned was that Lombardi was running an offense that had a decades worth of film on it. Defenses didn’t need to learn all of the plays, formations and personnel groups. They just needed to dial in and commit to a few of them to jump all over. And because we ran so many personnel groups and formations…it meant the possibilities of what a particular play is was narrowed down to only a few.
As I said earlier in the thread. I would hire a defensive guy as the offensive quality control coach and lock him at the hip with Lombardi to constantly scout tendencies. One of the worst things that can happen is when a defense knows exactly what you are running. But as I was taught, if you know your own tendency and what the defense thinks you are going to do, it can create some of the easiest yards and scores you can get when you exploit them jumping the play.