Behind The Scoreboard - Claude Vinson


Thursday, August 10, 2006
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Behind The Scoreboard
By Claude Vinson

New coach of Saints has tough job

We haven’t heard many resounding booms from the coaching carousel in the NFL after the most recent season.

There were some ripples made with changes which were expected and some were completed without fanfare. The Dallas camp was very quiet after going 9-7 following a 7-3 start. The fast beginning had local fans elated because they figured that the Cowboys were on their way back to the Super Bowl.

Not so, but Bill Parcells kept his job; however, he lost one of his assistants to the Saints.

Admittedly, this writer doesn’t know a lot about Sean Payton, but he has a tough job trying to help the Saints out of a 3-13 dungeon. Jim Haslett was shown the door after six years.

The job will be more difficult because New Orleans is still a nomadic team.

It is no secret that Herman Edwards ended up in Kansas after being terminated by the New York Jets. The Jets were 4-12 last season because they suffered some devastating injuries in their third week, from which they never recovered. Edwards is not really behind the gun, yet, at the Chiefs, thanks to the legacy left by Dick Vermeil. The Chiefs have to build on the 10-6 season and make the playoffs.

Perhaps the real shocker came when big Al Davis reached out after 12 years and rehired the coach whom he had fired that dozen years ago.

Art Shell and Davis are both distinctive in their careers. Davis started out as a player for the Raiders and wound up owning the team. He and Shell both are in the Hall of Fame. Big Al had apologized for firing Shell over a decade ago and stated that “it was the biggest mistake of his career.” Well, that we will see and also await a future statement.

And it was a coach’s and owner’s decision to pick up Terrell Owens.

However, it might be pared down to the old Eagles’ saw – How will Mr. Owens get on with the Cowboys’ signal caller, Drew Bledsoe?

Maybe this is the fit which Owens was seeking.

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