মঙ্গলবার, ১০ জানুয়ারী, ২০১২

Woody Paige: NFL should put kibosh on Josh McDaniels' return to New England Patriots

Broncos QB Tim Tebow is patted on the helmet by his then-head coach, Josh McDaniels, after a TD run last season. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

Hoodie and The Blowfish are back together again.

Josh McDaniels is reuniting with Bill Belichick for "I Spy: The Second Sequel."

The Broncos certainly should not hold a walkthrough practice at the razor stadium on the eve of Saturday night's playoff game. They don't know who'll be watching, taping and stealing signals, schemes and plays.

Will Belichick and McDaniels be rehiring Steve Scarnecchia too? The former Patriots and Broncos videographer is the son of Patriots longtime assistant Dante Scarnecchia, and was McDaniels' roommate on the road when they originally joined the Patriots. He was a willing, admitted participant in both Spygate and McSpygate.

For Saturday's game, Belichick and McDaniels can wear matching gray, hooded sweat shirts and toenail polish.

What a crock of a coincidence this is.

Belichick brought in Kid McCoach as an "offensive assistant" just in time to interrogate him before the Patriots' rematch with the Broncos and 32 of McDaniels' players and nine assistant coaches from last season's team. The Broncos fired McDaniels on Dec. 6, 2010, because of failure as a coach (17 losses in McD's last 22 games), his poor player-people-press skills and, ultimately, the videotaping scandal that undid the franchise.

Belichick said Monday that McDaniels will be a "good asset to our team for the remainder of the season."

Sure. He can provide inside information and tendencies of players and coaches, especially the offensive coordinator he worked closely with, Mike McCoy. Some aspects of his old playbook passing offense were retained.

The Patriots would claim that they know all about the Broncos after defeating them Dec. 18 in Denver. Yes, but they knew all about the Jets and other NFL teams when they chose to tape defensive coaches' signals illegally during games over a span of several seasons.

Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien has been named Penn State's new head coach, but will continue with the Patriots until season's end. Although Belichick won't acknowledge it publicly, McDaniels will return to his former role as coordinator next season.

No league rules are being violated by the Patriots in the hiring of an assistant in the postseason, but NFL commissioner Roger Goodell should order McDaniels, who was fined $50,000 last year by the commissioner, to wait to join the Patriots until O'Brien leaves.

What's to keep the Broncos this week from temporarily using fired Dolphins coach Tony Sparano, who faced the Patriots twice this season, as a consultant? Or McDaniels' recent boss in St. Louis, Steve Spagnuolo, who has been dumped? Spagnuolo coached the Giants' defense in the XLII Super Bowl victory over the Patriots. Why can't he work for the Broncos on Saturday?

Because that's not right.

The Broncos did rehire Mike Shanahan as quarterbacks coach in 1989 a few weeks after he was fired as Raiders head coach, and weeks before the Broncos played the Raiders a second time. The personnel decision made by owner Pat Bowlen, not coach Dan Reeves, in midseason also was wrong. But it was not as blatantly shameless as the manipulative maneuver by Belichick.

Broncos coach John Fox seems indifferent to the McDaniels hire.

"I just stay in my own lane. Other people make the rules. It doesn't matter, is what I think," he said Monday afternoon during his news conference.

Nevertheless, the Broncos will be out for revenge against the Patriots. They are 2-0 in the postseason against New England. Tim Tebow definitely will want to prove that McDaniels shouldn't have stopped working with him before last season, and the Broncos wouldn't mind showing up their ex-coach.

McDaniels' knowledge about the Broncos probably won't help the Patriots. He's not a read-option, run- oriented coach.

Everything he has touched in the past two years has turned to compost. The Broncos were 3-10 before McDaniels slithered away, and the Rams, under his guidance as offensive coordinator this season, finished 31st in offense, last in the league in points averaged per game (12.1), and had a 2-14 record. In his last season as coordinator with the Patriots, 2008, they didn't make the playoffs.

Perhaps the Hoodie-Hoodie Jr. reunion will be more advantageous to the Broncos. But it smells.

Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/dp-sports/~3/BL0qIhY9LRg/ci_19709278

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