M. Lewis May Become Candidate For Lions' Job

[Thinking Skins]

M. Lewis May Become Candidate For Lions' Job

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46693-2002Dec28.html

By Mark Maske and Leonard Shapiro

Washington Post Staff Writers

Saturday, December 28, 2002; Page D05

The next suitor for Washington Redskins defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis could be the Detroit Lions.

Lewis probably would be among the Lions' head-coaching candidates if Detroit fires Marty Mornhinweg, NFL sources said yesterday, but it was not clear where Lewis would rank among the club's prospective candidates.

Two prominent former NFL coaches, Bill Parcells and Dennis Green, could be head-coaching candidates in Detroit if Lions owner William Clay Ford does not retain Mornhinweg, according to sources. But both would be likely to seek almost total control over the club's football operations, and Lewis's candidacy could be boosted if the Lions retain team president Matt Millen.

Ford apparently plans to decide next week whether to keep Millen and Mornhinweg, but sources said yesterday it seems increasingly likely that Millen will stay. Millen fired Bill Tobin as the team's executive director of player personnel yesterday, apparently with Ford's approval. Millen reportedly has lobbied Ford to keep Mornhinweg, who has a record of 5-26 with one game to go in his second season as the Lions' coach.

Lewis could be a strong candidate for the Lions if Millen stays because Lewis would be a first-time head coach and probably would not seek control over the team's personnel moves. Lewis recently passed up a chance to become the head coach at Michigan State University, saying he wanted to continue to pursue a head-coaching job in the NFL. His Redskins' defense ranks sixth in the NFL.

It is not certain that Ford will fire Mornhinweg despite the team's struggles, however. Ford has a reputation as one of the league's most patient owners. If they fire Mornhinweg, the Lions apparently also could be interested in Steve Mariucci if he does not remain with the San Francisco 49ers.

Some executives around the league believe that Lewis also could be a candidate for the Cincinnati Bengals' head-coaching job. The Redskins probably would give their defensive coordinator job to linebackers coach George Edwards or defensive line coach Ricky Hunley if Lewis leaves.

[bulldog]

let's face it. Lewis is a BIG distraction for this team and will be one until he finally moves on, which I think he will at some point in the offseason.

if Lewis had been with the Skins for 5 years and enjoyed much success, you could look forward to him getting a job and celebrate with him.

but Marvin has been in town for such a short time and wants to move on so badly, that I find myself just wanting him gone

The Redskins are at a point of evolution where they need a guy who is willing to make an investment of 2-3 years in building up the team in tandem with Spurrier.

People keep saying, 'well, just look at guys like Herman Edwards and John Fox, they moved on, etc'...........................change is normal, yada....yada.............

and that's all well and good, but they were with their previous teams making contributions over several YEARS.

Fox helped the Giants get to the Super Bowl in 2000.

They weren't in a spot for a single season and then off to the races.

[Zen-like Todd]

I suppose its more likely that we promote from within, but if Marvin Lewis gets the Lions job.... what happens to Kurt Schottenheimer?

[Brave]

Originally posted by TheChosenOne

... what happens to Kurt Schottenheimer?

Hey, maybe he comes back here. He had them playing pretty well after the first month, you know.

Our poor defensive squad would feel like they were a tennis ball. Back and forth. Back and forth. :laugh:

[@DCGoldPants]

"see ya"

[bulldog]

trust me, KS ain't coming back here

with the way his brother was cashiered he won't be coming within sniffing distance of the Redskins.

what he did last year, and I think what was misinterpreted by fans, was be civil to the Redskins on the way out by not categorically turning down the opportunity to come back under Spurrier.

but when you jump at an offer to coach on the 1-15 Lions, who have little available talent on the defensive side of the ball, that shows what your real intentions were all along, ie to get the hell out of town :laugh:

Lewis hasn't been here long enough for anyone to miss him. I definitely won't be going to FEDEX in 2003 missing his sparkling personality and love for the Redskins as I enter the gates, folks

[fansince62]

it's the players...stupid!....to paraphrase mr carville.......not the coaches......

what is the defense ranked now? where would it be had it not been for the slow start?......window dress it any way you want...same as last year, the facts are where you finish....and this defense is finishing strong...despite glaring weaknesses on the d-line and safety. this just argues more in ML's favor, not against.

it is amusing to the nth degree how personality seems to be the edge this coin turns on!!! frankly, I don't give a *amn how one comes across on the idiot box. year in and year out - who has produced top ranked defenses? I see. and how much crappy defense have we had to endure here in DC over the last 10 years? I see.

me thinks many have set impossibly high standards for ML that is the root cause of much frustrattion. too many expected a shutdown defense...notwithstanding that a new system was being installed, half the d-line played elsewhere last year, one end is approaching 40 years old, 2 new starting LBs.........geeeez.............patience anyone?

[fansince62]

it's the players...stupid!....to paraphrase mr carville.......not the coaches......

what is the defense ranked now? where would it be had it not been for the slow start?......window dress it any way you want...same as last year, the facts are where you finish....and this defense is finishing strong...despite glaring weaknesses on the d-line and safety. this just argues more in ML's favor, not against.

it is amusing to the nth degree how personality seems to be the edge this coin turns on!!! frankly, I don't give a *amn how one comes across on the idiot box. year in and year out - who has produced top ranked defenses? I see. and how much crappy defense have we had to endure here in DC over the last 10 years? I see.

me thinks many have set impossibly high standards for ML: that is the root cause of much frustrattion. too many expected a shutdown defense...notwithstanding that a new system was being installed, half the d-line played elsewhere last year, one end is approaching 40 years old, 2 new starting LBs.........geeeez.............patience anyone?

and if he takes off for a better job...so what! he has improved his position in life. and, far as I can tell, the defense did not suffer for it in the process.

truth be told, even after a full season, what is most remarkable is that most of us know next to nothing about the entire coaching staff. *ell even SOS is enigmatic at times: everything is masked in these "aw shucks" homerisms that really don't reveal what he is thinking or where he is headed. in fatc, I can't think of a season where we have heard or seen less of (or about) the assistant coaches than this season. what does that tell you?

[Zen-like Todd]

Repeat after me. Yardage doesn't mean d*ck. Points are where its at, and proper use of personnel is where its at. Bailey getting to iso on the opposition's best WR has only happened for the last month or so, and I'm convinced it was Spurrier's doing. There was a blurb in a Fatterelli column that intimated SOS was getting involved with the defense, and that's right around when it happened. Backing that up is Spurrier's interest in being more involved with the defense as shown by the promotion of Jackson to O.C. Funny how that works, isn't it?

[MikeP.]

I wonder if Lewis interviewed for the Lions job while he was in Michigan interviewing for the MSU HC pos.?

j/k of course.....

[bulldog]

actually, Marvin Lewis has a lot more talent to coach than Kurt did last year.

he got Daryl Gardener at DT instead of undersized Kenard Lang.

he got 290 pound Renaldo Wynn instead of 267 pound, 32 year old Marco Coleman at LDE.

he got pro bowl middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter to replace a player in Kevin Mitchell that was a backup and special teams player the year before signing with the Skins (in New Orleans).

and he got Fred Smoot after Smoot broke into the league as a rookie in 2001 and had a chance to get his wings under his feet out at corner.

there are defenses out there among the 32 teams that have a lot less physical talent than this one does.

the fact it ranks in the top 10 for the third straight year means merely that ML was able to replicate what KSchottenheimer and Ray Rhodes were able to do in consecutive one year stints as DC.

that is solid work in limited time, granted.

but it is not irreplaceable. it is not an unforgettable performance against unbearable odds folks

the Skins need stability on D, they also need a coach that represents and backs up the Head Coach and the program.

Marvin Lewis was never going to be THAT guy. He was a guy that backed up and was the face of the Newsome/Billick regime in Baltimore for 4 or 5 years.

Here, he is a short-timer.

Well, that time is coming to an end and WE need to move on.

That is something that is forgotten in the rush to think about where Lewis may end up to help ANOTHER team go out and beat the Redskins

But, WE should not forget that.................

[Art]

Al,

This year's defense and last year's unit had dramatically different feels to it. This year's defense is ranked sixth where last year's defense was ranked 10th, and yet in every conceivable way, last year's defense felt much more dominant than this year's version. We didn't really have a very slow start this year and we did last year, so that's probably the reason.

This year's defense has just been roughly the same all year.

It's not gotten a lot better of late. The Houston game was a splendid one, but, if the offense has to play that way for the defense to have a good game, then, we're in trouble. Over the last five weeks though, the defense has given up an average of 299 yards a game. That includes last week's nice performance. In the previous four games prior to the Houston benefit concert the defense was surrendering 332 yards per game.

It was the diminished performance and increasingly shoddy look and feel to the defensive unit that led to Arrington's comment about regressing. The expectations on Lewis are not unrealistic for a defense that was as strong as this one was over the last 11 games last year. You'll always have a bad game against you here and there, but, I think the problem most people have with Lewis is the team hasn't really shown much actual improvement. The offense has. This is frustrating despite the injury to Wilkinson.

I think most of us felt that by the end of the year this defensive unit would be demonstrating some understanding and progress that would allow it to be a shut down, dominating type unit. I doubt anyone has seen consistent signs of this and much of it appears to be enduring confusion on the part of the players, and to coin Carville, that's the coaches problem, not the players. The coach has to get through to his charges or he has to bench them. One or the other.

Spurrier wasn't getting through to his guys and kept a rotating bench until the offense started to flash signs of coming together and while the process was ongoing, he blamed himself for not getting the players to execute. Lewis has gone along blaming the players for not getting it done. I don't know that I've heard him say, "Hey, I'm the coach. They aren't doing what I'm coaching. That means I'm doing something wrong."

I think more than anything what we'd like from Lewis is a little accountability if he's not going to produce the type of defense his predessor did.