I'm glad Mac didn't think like that when he took a job that had him going against McVay and Shanahan twice a year.
You alos have to factor in, the Seahawks job was 100x's better, and we had a loaded roster already. None of those other teams have. And at the time everyone knew the only team the hawks really had to worry about in the division was the rams. Whiners in my opinion has been on a downward spiral.
Yeah, Mac walked into a pretty decent situation overall. He at least knew that the team doesn't normally switch coaches on an annual basis.
If he gets a good DC, the Raiders job is actually pretty good. High profile city, new stadium, Mendoza, Jeanty and Bowers already there. Far cry from the Cardinals job.
Let's not sell Mac short by acting like he waltzed into some easy, ultra-desirable situation. I'm sure I'll be hit with some serious revisionist history for saying this, but the team was stuck in 9-8 purgatory when he took the job, which can be the worst place to be. We had an uncertain QB situation, ownership in flux, and a GM already feeling the heat and taking over the position solo for the first time. Not to mention the pressure of having to replace a franchise legend.
Lets be real Carroll and JS dined off that super bowl win for almost a decade once the LOB imploded and they were largely mediocre.
I'm not a big Arthur Smith fan. He seems like a decent enough guy, but as an offensive coordinator, his biggest success was with the Titans when they had Derrick Henry in his prime. Smith also took over Matt LaFleur's offense when LaFleur left to become the Packers' HC. It wasn't Smith's scheme. Since then, Smith hasn't really done much offensively, in Atlanta or with the Steelers. I didn't see a lot of creativity or innovation there.
And that job was also the "other" team of a three-team power division.
Me last week: "Ugh, I hope a pro team ends up throwing bigger money at him".
That means retaining benton somehow is going to be far more important.
I dunno, Zabel was pretty damn impactful, and Sundell and Bradford are still undermining us consistently. The championship game showed a lot of that.
No one is selling MM short of anything. Im just stating the obvious. The hawks were arguably the best job at the time along with roster. And John Schneider had already gotten an extension, I believe so he wasn't really on the hot seat.
Yeah Zabel has been amazing in comparison to who we had last year. Sundell and Bradford have been fine. They aren't all pros but they've been competent ad I think Sundell will keep improving. Sure I read that Bradford is statistically okay, its just when he does get beat its usually pretty ugly or costly. I can handle one sort of weakpoint vs 4 or 5 on that line.
The Chargers job was probably the best in that cycle. We were probably the best after that, although I'll bet the Commanders job had some considerable appeal with Snyder being gone and them holding the #2 pick in a great QB draft. We were in a tougher spot in that any coach would likely have to accept Geno, since finding an upgrade from our position would be difficult, but overall, there was more in place than the Commanders had.
