Monday Evening Quarterback

The NFL's Wildcard weekend had other news and tidbits as
well, so I thought some might be worth mentioning.

The Schottenheimer effect: No this isn't me ragging on
the Schottenheimer family again, and talking about the
curse. It is interesting to note that Brain has a shot
at the Jacksonville job, while Marty is in the running
for the Tampa job with the Bucs, and with Jeff Fisher
close to turning down the Dolphins to take the Rams job,
there's a good chance the only way Florida sees a
Super Bowl is if they host it. Just sayin'

Giants at Green Bay Part II: No Brett Favre, but the
Giants come in as dogs again, and just for the record,
I picked the Giants to represent the NFC in the BIG
game a few weeks ago, so this is big.

The Tebow Effect: No one has a thing to say when he throws
for 60 yards, a pick and his team puts three points up on
board in the regular season at home when they need the game
to get into the playoffs, but the Raiders lose, the Broncos
get in, and it was ALL TEBOW, and his pal upstairs of course.
I'm sure he got help from upstairs too, to make sure Ryan
Clark had Sickle Cell, so he wouldn't be able to play as well.

Coaching Carousel Hires 3 years later: If Todd Haley doesn't
get the OC gig with the Jets, he may return to Arizona for
the same job, he left behind in 08' to be HC of the Chiefs.
That would mean that two of the hot, more overblown Head Coach
prospects of 2008 would be back with their old team doing their
old job. Josh McDaniels is the other. Today Arizona fired
their QB coach, who probably got blamed for the ALMIGHTY Kevin
Kolb laying an overpriced egg.

Dirty Dirty Birds: Falcons D coordinator Brian VanGorder left the
Falcons to accept the same position at Auburn. Guess he realized
that the Falcons were over rated and weren't to get anywhere with
Matt Ryan as their QB. Who's next Chuck Pagano?

I could go on all day, but that's all for now.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Does This Schottenheimer Championship Bode Well For Brian And The Jets?

Antonelli/NY Daily News

Since I am probably the first person to bring the
Schottenheimer curse to your attention, I think
it's only fair that I mention that it may have
ended on Friday. If you consider winning a UFL
(United Football League) Championship a legit
Championship that is. Marty is the first member
of the Schottenheimer family to be part of a
Championship of "any" kind. This list includes
brother Kurt, special teams coordinator for the
UFL Champion Virginia Destroyers, and son Brian,
Offensive Coordinator of the NY Jets.

I guess you could say it was a two for one since
they were both on the staff of the Destroyers,
but was this really a Championship? The League
started with 5 teams but only wound up playing
four when the Hartford Colonials had money issues
and had to suspend operations prior to the season
starting. The season had to start late due to
money issues, and end early for the same reason.
The played 4 games out of a 6 game schedule,
that's right a SIX game schedule, and the game
was played at Virginia, not a neutral site.
So I guess a Trophy is a trophy, but if they
have to chip in a few dollars a piece to buy
one, then they may have to put there foot down.
Congrats Marty, you are truly worthy of this
Championship, it's got Schottenheimer clan
written all over it.

Thank You Al Davis ! Tweet

The Curse Has Legs

I wrote a story about a curse that hasn't
really picked up the type of steam that
the "Curse of the Bambino" or the "Curse
of the Billy Goat" has over the years,
but I promise you that soon enough,
Jets fans will be all too familiar with
what I'm saying, only curse words are
what they will be using to describe it
as opposed to describing it as a "Curse".
This follow up is merely to acknowledge
a fellow writer, Ed Hawkins of 212Sports
who wrote of his frustrations with the
Jets Offense in their preseason game vs
the Giants last night, and even more so
with OC Brian Schottenheimer.

Frankly I'm not surprised, and if you're a
Jets fan you shouldn't be either. In the
original piece I eluded to in detail how
the Schottenheimer clan (there's 3 of them)
have never won anything on any level, and
now, not too long after Marty, Brian's
father was named head coach of the Virginia
Destroyers of the UFL comes word that the
league is in danger of folding. Their
season is already starting later than they
expected, and one of their five teams won't
play at all due to financial struggles.
Now the economy is bad, we can all agree,
but is the "Curse" worse?

End Of The Curse? ? ?

Courtesy Life.com

Back in January I wrote a piece that detailed
how it's possible that their is a "curse" on
the Schottenheimer family. The Schottenheimer's
have never won a Championship of ANY KIND.
Kurt, Brian, and most notably Marty have coached
on three levels and nothing, zip, nada, zilch.

Brian and his uncle Kurt have been in both the
pro ranks and the college level, and though Marty
never coached college ball in any capacity, he
did play/coach with the Expansion and now defunct
WFL(World Football League), and again just a
reminder, NOTHING. So the news that Marty has
taken over as GM and Head Coach of the Virginia
Destroyers of the UFL (United Football League)
comes as no surprise, but could prove to be quite
embarrassing if Marty doesn't make it work, and
win a trophy there. The UFL only has 5 teams,
and even Jim Fassel has won their Championship,
not once but twice! Their only two seasons as
a matter of fact. First season when they were a
4 team league and the second when they expanded
to their present 5 team alignment. So what will
that say about the curse if he doesn't get the
job done on that level? Heck, the league is so
desperate for survival and notoriety that they
even gave Jerry Glanville a job as head man of
the Hartford Colonials. I hope hope Marty
understands that if this is the way to get back
into the NFL coaching ranks, he's gonna need to
bring home the bacon, and bring it home BIG TIME!

Curse Of The Schottenheimer ?

The Curse of the Schottenheimer may sound like
something I just made up, and it very well could
be, but if you take a look at the numbers of the
Schottenheimer trio and their history, both on the
College and Pro level, you have to admit, it may
actually exist. Marty the most notable member of
the Schottenheimer's has the most extensive career.
Marty started out coaching in the now defunct WFL
(World Football League), where he was the linebacker
coach for the Portland Storm. During his time there
they compiled a record of 7-12, and though you can't
very well blame that on him, you may eventually see
a pattern. I for one think Marty Schottenheimer is
a very good football coach, I just don't think he
is a coach you can win a Championship with.
I also think that Dan Snyder made a mistake firing
Marty and replacing him with Steve Spurrier, and I
said so at the time. Marty is a great coach to get
your team going in the right direction, but eventually
he plateaus, and that's as far as you're gonna get.

Marty also has a well documented one sided feud with
the owner of the Oakland Raiders. I say one sided
because he won't say anything other than he hates the
Raiders and Al Davis, and Al Davis never makes any
mention of this. Marty says that he will tell us all
in due time when he retires, but those days seem to
be upon us, since he hasn't coached in more than four
years and is quickly approaching the age of 68 when
team owners and GM's stop beating down the door of
a coach who has a losing playoff record and has never
been able to reach the Super Bowl let alone win one.
Marty never coached on the collegiate level that I can
find but his career numbers read as follows:
200 Wins and 126 Losses with one Tie a very respectable
.613 winning percentage but his playoff number are
a different story all together. He has 5 Wins and
13 Losses with NO Super Bowl Appearances, that is
a winning percentage of .384, and if you take
the numbers of the coaching staffs he's been a part
of the numbers get worse, 259-225-1 .538% and
5-15 in the playoffs for a .250 winning percentage.
His so called "feud" with Davis might in no small
part have to do with the fact the Marty was in his
first year as defensive coordinator of the Cleveland
Browns in 1980 when they lost to the Raiders in
Cleveland, but that's just a guess.

There are two other members of the Schottenheimer
clan that take part in this "curse". The lesser
known Kurt Schottenheimer is Marty's brother, and
though he has never been a head coach, the teams
he has been on the staff of, and many times as
defensive coordinator have compiled a record of
202 Wins and 166 Losses, and while again a .549
regular season winning percentage is quite
respectable, the playoff numbers dip to 5-11 or
a .313 winning percentage. Add to that that he
was the defensive coordinator of the Green Bay
Packers the year they lost to the Giants in the
NFC Championship game in the 2007 season.
Just another Conference loss for the Schottenheimer
clan, and believe me those are plentiful.
By the way Kurt did coach on the college level, and
again never as a head coach. His collegiate numbers
are as follows: 39-57-1 a woeful .402 %

Since conference Championships were mentioned with
Kurt it's only fair to point out how fresh Marty's
son Brian is from Conference Championship battle.
Brian has been the offensive coordinator for the
NY Jets the past two years worth of those, and
it should surprise no one that they are 0-2 in that
time. Brian's name has been mentioned many times
for head coaching jobs in the past, but if the family
numbers are to be taken into account, then the question
that begs to be asked is, why? His career numbers are
as vanilla as the family trophy case, 12-12 as an
assistant on the college level with two different schools.
96-96 on the pro level with 5 different organizations,
and 4-4 in the playoffs, and yes NO Championships.
With that the family numbers read as follows.
557-487-1 a .533 win percentage in the regular season.
14-30 a .318 win percentage in the playoffs, 0 for
7 in conference championships, hence the ZERO Super
Bowl appearances, and that is with eleven different
franchises. Yes even as assistants.
Their college numbers are 51-69-1 .421% with 7
different schools and ZERO Championships.
More numbers, if you add all this up it is as
follows: 526-586-2 a very very sad .472%

Rex Ryan said that Brian Schottenheimer would
absolutely be back as offensive coordinator of
the Jets the day after they were ousted in the
AFC Championship for the second consecutive year,
but maybe he should have taken a little time to
think that over. Many Jets fans want Brian's
head on stick, however that's not unusual for fans
these days. It's just that the numbers don't lie
and perhaps they are starting to understand that
having a Schottenheimer in your ranks may not
lead to the type of success you're looking for.