The news that Washburn is in negotiations with the Eagles is shocking to me on a lot of different levels. Wash has been with Fisher for 12 years and has pretty much always been the top-flight coach out of the defensive positional staff. He's had more success than any 4-3 D-line coach in the league, with only Rod Marginally even coming close. What’s more is that the Eagles' conservative, read-based defensive line philosophy has always been pretty much the exact opposite of Washburn's berserker pass rush style. You have to believe that the differences in production we've seen from Kerase and Babin as they've passed back and forth between the two teams is about all Philly needs to see of Wash's resume. Of course, Dinger is the only member of the coaching staff who has a contract through next year, so as the carousel starts spinning those guys have every right to seek a more stable employment situation, and given the Eagles' track record for winning, who could blame Wash for heading for greener turf?
So now, what does this mean for Fisher and the coaching staff is the lynchpin positional coach ends up flying the coop? One scenario that I'd love and hate at the same time is if this gives Fisher the final nudge needed to blow-up the defensive coaching staff and rebuild it from scratch. I think he'd probably end up better that way in almost any other offseason. The defense could use another stage of evolution just like the one it took as we drifted away from the 46 D of the Super Bowl era to the cover 2 shells we've run for over half a decade now. I'd love to see a D that attacks, but more effectively hides where they'll attack from. They also need a personnel commitment to finding bigger bodies along the line. Basically, we need the good parts of Gregg Williams.
Problem is though, nobody is going to want sign on with a coach who's hanging by a thread to the last year of his contract. If Fisher did manage to make hires that succeeded it would be by far his greatest miracle as a head coach. I mean between that and the Music City Miracle, Jeff Fisher would have a greater chance of making sainthood than the recently beatified John Paul II. The most likely resolution is that we're going to keep a staff that under-performed by Titans standards last year and pray a whole bunch of other breaks fall our way. At least, that's what Fisher going to be left doing.
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New Titans QB name of the day: Billy Volek. I'd love it. Volek has a lot of skills, and Dinger basically built the kid from scratch before Volek sent Fisher through the roof over some lies and missed commitments. I know there's no way Fisher gives him a chance at redemption, but Volek, who's been stuck behind Philip Rivers in San Diego for 5 years (but learning from one of he NFL's best offensive minds in Norv Turner), could be a godsend to the offense.
Yesterday was "Let Us Play Day", which I didn't mention here because it was a complete waste of time. If there's a lock-out, you're both going to lose. There's no way in hell the average NFL is going to pick one side over the other, they're going to be pissed off at both of them.
Jason Babin did another random interview, but this time it wasn't conducted by a complete friggin' snob.
Breaking News: Kevin Mawae still says he was black balled... which he almost certainly was. At least this time he acknowledges that he knew running for election again in March of '10 would probably end his playing career when he did it.