Sal Paolantonio Calls Jeff Fisher Overrated

by Jimmy on May 31, 2008 9:36 PM CDT in News Comment 21 comments

As titanbt3 mentions in this fanpost, Sal Paolantonio doesn't think Jeff Fisher is a good coach. While it is an interesting article and you cannot argue with the record that he lays out there (115-99) and how it compares favorably to Dennis Green (113-94), his "failure in big games" arguments are weak. Let's look at them:

Example 1: Titans finished the 2003 regular season 12-4, go to New England in the divisional playoffs. Lose to the Patriots, 17-14.

So Fisher is not a good coach because he lost to the Patriots in New England? I guess that means there are a lot of bad coaches in the NFL.

Example 2: Titans finished the 2002 regular season 11-5, lose to the Oakland Raiders in the AFC championship game. Bill Callahan's offense stomps all over the defensive genius -- 41-24 Raiders.

Ok, so it is tough to argue with that one.

Example 3: Titans finished the 2000 regular season 13-3, win the old AFC Central for the first time. Don't forget, that year, Tennessee finished second in the league in fewest points allowed and total yards. Trent Dilfer and Ray Lewis & Co. just came into Nashville and stripped Fisher's team of its manhood: Baltimore, 24-10.

Stripped them of their manhood huh? The Ravens scored 24 points. They scored one touchdown on a blocked field goal and one on an interception return. They had 134 yards of total offense and 6 first downs. Everything that could have gone wrong for the Titans did in that game. It was a game of bad breaks, not a game that stripped anyone of their manhood. And by the way Sal, the Ravens did go on to win the Super Bowl that season.

Example 4: Titans finish the 1999 regular season 13-3, advance to Super Bowl XXXIV against the Rams. Kurt Warner plays pitch and catch all day. Fisher's defense has no answer, allowing the winning 73-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Isaac Bruce with 1:54 left. Even with Steve McNair's late-game heroics factored in, Fisher's coaching performance should go down as one of the most overrated in Super Bowl history.

Warner was 24-45 (53%) is hardly pitch and catch. Now in all fairness, he did throw for 414 yards which is a big number. Keep in mind that the Titans were playing without both of their starting safeties in that game. Also keep in mind that the Rams averaged 33 points per game that season. They scored 23 in that game. Allowing the 73-yard TD score doesn't really have anything to do with Fisher's coaching, it was just bad defense by Denard Walker.

Fisher has had some bad breaks in big games, with the exception of the Raiders game where the Titans laid an egg, and he has been the coach of some really bad teams. I just can't wait to watch the run he and Vince Young have together over the next few years. We can add Sal Pal to the list of people who are going to have to eat their words.

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It's not so much the coaching as it is the ownership.

Fisher has, as you mentioned, been forced to coach some pretty lousy teams over the years. I would put Adams right beneath Jerry Jones as the most meddling owner in the NFL. The only problem is that Jones’ meddling more often than not is for the betterment of the team rather than to just put butts in seats.

by ChattanoogaTitan on May 31, 2008 11:41 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Y'know, that 2002 team was actually not a great team.

As I remember, that team went 1-5 to start the season. Even making it to the AFC Championship was a miracle.

DannoE

Go read FRIDAY MAD SCIENCE at www.paperbackreader.com
Go Titans!

by DannoE on Jun 1, 2008 6:20 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That 2000 game was for...

the championship. That game was the Super Bowl that year. We were the two best teams in the league and the winner was going to go on and win the Super Bowl.

I agree with CannoE that it was a miracle to make the AFC Championship game that year considering we went 1-5.

Goes to show, you can pick and choose stats and make them say whatever you want them to say. It means nothing.

by Titanfan on Jun 1, 2008 11:53 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Fisher is...

A master at PR… A coach who knows the formula to produce a competitive team, year in and year out. He’s not a genius, and he’s not a special tactician. Just a solid coach who is a great “company” guy.

Fisher’s career wins are not far over .500 but from an owner’s perspective he is the perfect coach. He can coach a low-talent team to 8 wins just like he can coach a high talent team to 10 wins… His conservative style and “stick-to-it-iveness” make him a reliable, consistent NFL coach. Though i don’t agree with the magnitude of Paolantonio’s criticisms they are valid. I would trade Fisher for Shanahan or Belichek in a heartbeat. I like Fisher for the stability he brings the team; but I think the HOF is out of reach for this guy.

by BeansCarter on Jun 1, 2008 1:29 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

out of reach so far...

He’s still young and could be our coach for a LONG time… What if VY turns the corner and wins a SB? Ditka only won 1 SB with the greatest running back of all-time and he’s a deity for doing about as much as Fisher otherwise.

by August West on Jun 1, 2008 3:13 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

could be...

we’re hoping for the same thing… but his coaching focuses on the basics; his coaching talent his one-dimensional, having fielded few offensively dominant teams in his 14 seasons.

Fisher has a real meat—and-potatoes, trench-warfare coaching style that yields precisely the results he’s gotten… I think if his gameplanning was elite, he’d have some rings by now.

by BeansCarter on Jun 1, 2008 3:38 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That's a fair criticism.

The shame of it really was the 2003 team. That was the year McNair won a share of the League MVP. He and the Heimerdinger offense peaked just as Eddie George really started to look OLD. If you want to really lay some blame on Fisher, this is the year for it because he had really EVERYTHING he needed except a running back, and could have easily HAD a RB if he’d been willing to draft or trade to get a new one. But he was loyal to Eddie, and in truth, though I love Eddie George, that loyalty was misplaced.

DannoE

Go read FRIDAY MAD SCIENCE at www.paperbackreader.com
Go Titans!

by DannoE on Jun 1, 2008 4:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

And that's the sad part

What was great about Eddie George is that he could run the ball nearly 400 times a year. Very durable guy who had a high probability of earning a hard-fought 3 yards every time he touched the ball.

But Eddie George’s career was sadly overrated, having only average over 4 yards a carry twice in 9 seasons. His career YPC of 3.6 does not rank him among the elite. The 4 pro-bowl invites were a testament to his toughness, not his talent, and I’ll take any explosive, dual-back attack over what George brought any day. To put things in perspective, Emmitt smith achieved over 4 YPC 9 times in his 15 seasons. In fact Emmitt’s career YPC was 4.2. But you don’t have to look to such an obvious point of comparison… Fred Taylor’s career YPC is 4.7…he consistently has put up over 4 YPC in most of his pro seasons. You could dig up many more examples, Eddie’s stats simply do not hold up to those who were truly great at the position.

I think you’re probably right about Fisher – his loyalty to his friend Eddie clouded his judgment. And when your entire offensive strategy depends on your “workhorse back’s” ability to pound the ball between the tackles, can you ever be considered a truly great coach? That’s an open ended question. Interested to hear people’s thoughts.

by BeansCarter on Jun 1, 2008 5:00 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Joe Gibbs says yes.

The only real success Gibbs had was with a crew of bruiser RBs.

by August West on Jun 1, 2008 6:25 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

yup...

I just looked it up… It’s kind of astounding the amount of rushing attempts Joe Gibbs’s teams had – they typically ranked top 5 in the league.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/GibbJo0.htm

Fair observation, August. So if worked so well for Gibbs, which part is Fisher getting wrong? Most of Gibbs success came in the 1980s, could it be the game has changed too much? The rule changes now favour the passing game; do you think this marked the decline of this brand of football? The last 5 seasons that Gibbs coached, his W-L numbers were not so great.

I’m just sayin… You look at teams that have won in the last decade, they have mostly done it with a good aerial attack. I’ll never be convinced that Fish is right until he wins the big one.

by BeansCarter on Jun 1, 2008 7:15 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh i agree that it's a different era

but with a great D (which is always the constant with championship teams) and an offense that doesn’t generate too many impossible situations for the D, I think it’s still possible to win ala Baltimore…

by August West on Jun 1, 2008 10:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fisher's teams are always more likely to overachieve than under achieve, IMO

And that’s a sign of a very good coach. I don’t think anyone compared Fish to Bilicheat or Bill Walsh, so calling him overrated is a stupid comment by Paolantonio.

It’s not like ownership has ever given him a flood of HOFs either.

And I agree with DannoE and TitanFan that the 2002 was extremely flawed, and it was remarkable coaching to get them one game from the Super Bowl.

by August West on Jun 1, 2008 3:10 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Sal Paontonio=idiot

by Big Bad Bulluck on Jun 1, 2008 7:44 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

You know what's interesting...

About all of this? Is the deja vu from the 2004 Texas Longhorn offseason (before we won the first Rose Bowl). In fact, it’s continued now that Vince has left. Everyone said that Mack was too conservative, wouldn’t evolve, couldn’t win the big one, etc., etc. And then Vince happened. It remains to be seen if his talents can translate into the elite level of success he had in college, but if it does…

by SuperHorn on Jun 1, 2008 9:06 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm not knocking the conservative coaching style.

Personally, I’ll take “consistently outperforms expectations” and “generally makes it to the playoffs—barring cap problems” any day vs. an aerial one-hit wonder like the Mike Martz Rams. And too, the comparison of Gibbs to Fisher was fair last year: both teams made the playoffs, largely on the back of defense, after improbably difficult offensie struggles. That is actually not a bad thing.

What the Titans haven’t had is a year when it all came together. That year should have been 2000, and it probably would have been but for a host of missed Al DelGreco field goals. But stuff happens. Now we have another shot to try to bring it all together again, but even if it doesn’t happen, with a coach like Jeff Fisher, a few playoff berths are at least likely given the history of performance.

DannoE

Go read FRIDAY MAD SCIENCE at www.paperbackreader.com
Go Titans!

by DannoE on Jun 2, 2008 6:50 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

"... but for a host of missed Al DelGreco field goals"

thanks for ruining my lunch, as my stomach is now churning with the memory of the missed kick(s) against Baltimore.

by August West on Jun 2, 2008 11:17 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Jeff Fisher

would have a host of teams that would hire him the miniute he was on the market.

by Tate on Jun 2, 2008 12:54 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Great point. That's what everybody said a few years ago when Fish's contract came due...

by August West on Jun 2, 2008 1:42 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Paolantonio

He’s a known idiot. Anyone who claims Jeff Fisher is over-rated is someone who clearly does not watch actual football games. Many of you know my opinions on Vince Young, but also know that I think Jeff Fisher is a top 5 coach in this league, easily.

And anyone who suggests he isn’t good is a complete and total moron, and that person’s opinions should be viewed as highly suspect in the feature. Aka, Paolantonio is a total schmuck.

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by BigBlueShoe on Jun 3, 2008 12:12 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

sal and merrill hodge

are both queer in my book. and by queer, i dont mean homosexual, i mean the actual definition = unusual, strange, weird. I know the boy named merrill played pro ball, not sure about sal, but they are both paid loads of $ by ESPN to do what we would all love to do for a living (talk about football). point being, they are so-called experts and fail to realize the following (which I consider strange):

a) the big picture – I dont know about y’all, but I have never seen a coach who is really good have a problem getting fired a lot (not counting off the field, scandalous activity). For crying out loud, he’s the longest tenured coach in the League – and I wouldnt call Bud Adams a patient man. Based on that, you are seriously going to tell me that Fischer isnt at least a good football coach? (I mention Merrill in my post b/c this is very similiar to his attacks on VY imo – he looks at every stat except perhaps the most important one – W/L record).

b) what makes a good football team – tough, hard-nosed, angry, dedicated, players who are coached well and put in the right spots at the right times. Another way to put it – good football teams that win a lot over a long period of time play great D and run the ball well – any level, any team.

Fischer gets that done, imo, both the former and latter points. He hasnt won a title yet, but his consistency over the years tells me that if I were a betting man, and I had to put some money down on picking a coach to win a title in the next 10 years, Fischer would be very near the top of my list.

by titanintx on Jun 3, 2008 4:36 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Seriously?

Example 3: Titans finished the 2000 regular season 13-3, win the old AFC Central for the first time. Don’t forget, that year, Tennessee finished second in the league in fewest points allowed and total yards. Trent Dilfer and Ray Lewis & Co. just came into Nashville and stripped Fisher’s team of its manhood: Baltimore, 24-10.

He does realize that the Ravens finished 1st in the league with fewest points allowed and second to us in yards allowed by a mere 154 yards, right? And they won the superbowl that year, right? Maybe he’s on to something. Fisher has to be a choke artist due to his ability to consistently lose in the postseason to the eventual superbowl champions.

Sal Pal, you are an idiot hunting for a story. Tell Floyd that the guy who kept his job says hi.

by jasonkylebates on Jun 6, 2008 3:29 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs