The Colts almost beat the Eagles on Sunday. They were one last-minute drive away from handing Jeff Saturday his second straight victory to begin the most bizarre interim coaching season we can remember.
MMQB Podcast cohost Gary Gramling and I discussed the situation this week and came away with several thoughts, which may seem like they are not related but can almost certainly exist in the same universe together.
• We may have collectively overreacted a little bit. Everyone in the industry we were hearing from was disgusted by the maneuver, which certainly colored our opinions. But, like many events or decisions, we are always more demonstrative when life is happening in the moment. Time adds a gentler perspective, and it could also make this move seem far more ridiculous in hindsight. But … the idea that a Jeff Saturday regime would look like some freewheeling bootleg operation, with coaches, pantless and bumbling, communicating via strung pipe cleaner and tin can, did not happen.
• Saturday’s success—and, again, we’re not quite sure what to call it yet—could lead to some wild developments in the NFL coaching world. In many ways, we should have seen this coming. Major League Baseball and the NBA pivoted to this model (hiring coaches with a background as a player but no direct coaching experience) years ago, to varying degrees of success. The difference, of course, is that an NFL head coach touches so many more corners of the operation, and the operation is so much larger. There is such a massive cottage industry of analysts and talkers with an ability to grab the ear of an owner, and there are also owners who listen to people who have absolutely no business advising on matters of professional football. I would guess the hope among coaches was that Saturday would bottom out so vigorously that the door would be shut on this conversation forever. That has not (yet) happened.
