Ryan Alfieri.com

In a somewhat surprising move, former Rutgers head coach of Greg Schiano was given the head coaching job of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, left vacant by Raheem Morris.

The Bucs took a lot of time in making their decision, interviewing everyone from Marty Schottenheimer to Chip Kelly before finally agreeing to terms with Schiano. When you look at some of the guys they brought in for an interview, it was clear that the Bucs had a clear vision for what they wanted in their new head coach: someone with experience as a leader of men.

By the end of Raheem Morris’ tenure, Tampa Bay’s team was far to undisciplined to produce a winning product on the field. The team was exceptionally young at key positions, players were getting into off-field problems, and their coach, who turned 35 in September, could not demand enough respect from players that were often not much younger than he was.

Morris was hired after the 2008 season, which he started as the defensive backs coach before being promoted to defensive coordinator in the same year, and was eventually given the head coaching job after Jon Gruden was fired after the season.

That same off-season, the Buccaneers began their purge of veteran leadership to start afresh, showing legends guys like Derrick Brooks the door. They hired a young Morris in hopes that he would grow with his young team and be there for the long haul.

However, it did not play out as smoothly as they hoped. Tampa learned, the hard way, that combining young players with an inexperienced coach is not a recipie for success.

Which is where Greg Schiano comes in.

Schiano took over a Rutgers program that was among the worst in college football. He had a slow start, but finally, the team started to go in the right direction in the 2005 season, finishing 7-5 and making a bowl game for the first time since 1978. In 2006, Rutgers was ranked in the top 25 for the first time since 1976, and finished 10-2. Quite a remarkable turnaround for a program that has been dormant for so long.

A man with a defensive background, Schiano favors a “power football” mentality while still generating big plays from his offense. In the 2009 and 2010 drafts, Rutgers has had three players go in the first round: Devin McCourty, Anthony Davis, and Kenny Britt – a defender, offensive lineman, and a big-play wide receiver. He also produced great players like Ray Rice and Gary Brackett.

For a Bucs team that lacks mental toughness and disipline, the move seems like a natural fit.  Jim Harbaugh’s success in his first season as coach of the 49ers and erasing some of the stigma that comes with college coaches making the transition to the NFL, there is more reason to believe that Greg Schiano can have immediate impact.

What does this mean for the Bucs this off-season? You can expect them to get another running back, as Schiano has always used a back-by-committee at Rutgers. Expect them to get bigger on defense and start to get more diverse and multiple on defense and emply more man-coverage schemes.

Still, this is a bit of a gamble by the Bucs, as going from college to the professional ranks is hardly a fluid task. But if there is to be a “second coming” of Jim Harbaugh, Schiano is the man for the job.

According to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com, the Jets are not yet sold on the idea that Sanchez can be their long term answer at quarterback.

A league source tells PFT that the Jets are beginning to realize that Sanchez may not be the answer at the position.  That said, the Jets will not publicly acknowledge even the possibility that Sanchez is falling out of favor.

That is some scary news for a team that has had such big expectations coming into this season. But after watching Sunday’s offensive debacle against the Giants that will likely cost them a playoff berth, even the Jets’ decision makers can no longer ignore the lack of progress Sanchez has made.

Yes, his stats have improved in terms of turnovers and touchdowns, but the bottom line is, Sanchez is not the kind of guy that can elevate the play of everyone around him. When the Jets had success in 2009 and 2010, making it to the AFC title game, Mark was in a role that was more complimentary as opposed to being a focal point of the offense. With a major decline in offensive line play, especially at right tackle, asking Sanchez to take on more of a burden this year was a colossal mistake.

There is plenty of blame to go around. Blame Wayne Hunter for being a terrible replacement for Damien Woody at right tackle. Blame Santonio Holmes for not being the same reciever he was a year or two ago. Blame D’Brickashaw Ferguson for not playing up to his standards, or offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer for his suspect play calling and route concepts. Blame Rex Ryan for loosening the knob on Sanchez’s responsiblities and GM Mike Tannenbuam for the personnel mistakes.

There are a lot of angles to take on this situation, but the Jets need to decide if Sanchez is their guy sooner rather than later. They have enough talent as any team in the league; its the lapses in judgement that have rendered this season lost for New York. Ryan and Tannenbuam need to stop overrating their roster and make a fair evaluation on the most important position.

Bottom line is, Sanchez is not the kind of player that can carry a team like a Brady or Brees. He needs to be in a great situation to be effective. AFter all, he has proven that he can win under the right circumstances.

Its now up to the Jets to decide whether they think it is possible to win a Super Bowl with Sanchez always in his complimentary role, or if the Jets should go and get another guy that can win on his own.

This Sunday, against the Jacksonville Jaguars and their almost completely inept offense, the Colts had their best chance of getting a win since last December of 2010. The Jaguars defense is more difficult to handle than most realize, but at home, this was the Colt’s best chance, and they blew it.

Now, the once-proud Colts organization is facing the very real possibility of making the wrong kind of history. With their easiest games coming against the Panthers and a re-match with the Jaguars, the Colts are set to get Andrew Luck, but at a price of a season that will taint the career of every player, coach, and executive that was involved with the 2011 Colts.

It would be easy to blame Caldwell, but this goes further up the ladder. No one but Bill and Chris Polian are to blame for this debacle.

As outlined in an excellent article by Bob Kravitz of the Indy Star, the Polians have done just about everything possible to deflect blame from themselves while pushing Chris Polian up the executive ladder for no other reason than because he is Bill’s son. Here is an excerpt from Kravitz’s article that outlines the extreme internal issues in Indy:

I’ve spoken to several former Colts people in recent weeks, and while none of them will go on the record — many have non-disclosure agreements and fear public comment will hurt their NFL job prospects — virtually all of them told me Chris Polian has been a toxic force who has brought this franchise to its knees for reasons other than Peyton Manning’s injury.

Kravitz then lists about a dozen coaches and scouts that have helped bring this franchise to prominence that have been let go as scapegoats for poor drafting. Many of these scouts were the only men who would tell Bill Polian things that he needed to hear, not when he wanted to hear. Every organization needs people like that, not just football teams.

Longtime offensive coordinator Tom Moore, now a consultant with the Jets, was forced out without decoration for his invaluable contributions. After the 2009 Super Bowl loss, Bill blamed the offensive line, which resulted in legendary line coach Howard Mudd retiring.

You want to blame Jim Caldwell for this season’s ineptitude? That is certainly fair, but keep in mind that Caldwell is just a “Yes-man” that fills a required position on a football team, and plays that role perfectly to give the Polians as much control over the team as possible.. Even though hes has not won a single game this season and his team has looked like a high school team at times, Bill Polian has gone on record saying that Caldwell is doing even better as a coach this season than during the Super Bowl run in 2009.

Meanwhile, as the Colts draft worse every year, Chris Polian’s role increases every season. How badly have the Colts drafted? Since 2007, the best players the Colts have drafted are Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon. They have also gotten themselves two solid linebackers, Pat Angerer and Clint Session. Session is now a Jaguar. Other than those players, everyone else is either a backup, a punter, or no longer on the NFL’s worst team.

Not only are the Colts deflecting blame for their failures that Peyton Manning has hid for so long, but Bill is going out of his way to show how great of a job his son is supposedly doing. From Kravitz’s article:

As Chris’ star rose in recent years, others in the organization bristled at what they viewed as clear nepotism. Bill would stroke his son in staff meetings, remind everybody what a huge impact he made. Meanwhile, scouts and others saw Chris getting raises and promotions without doing what they perceived to be the necessary legwork.

If you’re a Colts fan, this is frightening. Dissension at the top of the totem pole is a recipe for disaster. “Luckily” for the Colts, help might be just around the corner, and maybe the young phenom can hide the Polian’s shortcomings for another ten years.

Perhaps no franchise in the history of professional football had quite the turbulant day that Jacksonville had this Tuesday. The head coach was fired, the team was sold, and the general manager signed a three-year extension, after turning one down earlier because he did not think he earned one.

For Del Rio, this firing was a long time coming. Granted, he was put in a tough position of having to make the playoffs to save his job (which his former owner openly stated) after losing his starting quarterback, but the move was necessary. Apparently, Del Rio became a running joke in the organization for arriving to work late and leaving early. The team had lost direction and had shown little to no improvement from year to year. He would constantly deflect blame from himself to his assistants, from calling them out in press conferences to simply firing them.

Even Jaguar legend Fred Taylor was not a big fan of Del Rio. He told Yahoo! sports:

Asked if he felt Del Rio played favorites, Taylor doesn’t hesitate. ”[Expletive] yeah. Hell yeah,” he says. “Why do you think I’m not there? At the end of the day, [Del Rio]‘s not a head coach,” Taylor says. “He’s a great defensive coach. But he’s not a head coach.”

“There wasn’t any falloff in my production. I expressed my willingness to take a paycut. I just wanted to be there and be a part of the community. I wanted to finish my career there. Just because we had this new running back. All we had to do was switch roles. ‘Fred, Maurice [Jones-Drew] is going to be the starter.’ Fine, no problem. I wasn’t a virus in the locker room. I worked my ass off — everything.”

Ouch. if that is not an incitement on Del Rio, I don’t know what is.

Defensive coordinator Mel Tucker will get a shot to audition for the job, but I feel that getting a new face to come in and give this franchise a jolt would be the best move. Perhaps a guy like Rob Ryan would be the perfect guy to get an otherwise-boring franchise some buzz for once. But Tucker is not going to just ride out the rest of the season in the status-quo. Yesterday, wide reciever coach Johhny Cox was fired by Tucker.

Now, Jacksonville has been the butt of L.A.-relocation jokes for years now. Now that the team has been sold to Shahid Kahn, who previously tried to buy the Rams two years ago, the speculation of a move to a more prosperous city is only going to increase. Not only are the Jags rumored to go to L.A., but the idea of a second team in Chicago has been floating around (Kahn is from Illonis), as well as a move to St. Louis, while the Rams go back to L.A.

Kahn is going to try to make it work in Jacksonville before resorting to a relocation, but you don’t buy the Jaguars and not at least think about relocating. If things don’t turn around quickly in terms of fan attendance and public support, the move to a new city will be sooner rather than later.

To me, the most interesting part of Tuesday’s spectacle was how G.M. Gene Smith was given an extension. The issue with me is not the Jaguars record and the alarming ineffectiveness of Blaine Gabbert so far; when you look at his body of work, Smith has been a very effective drafter and has made a lot of solid moves in free agency. It just that these moves have not resulted in a lot of wins, which Wayne Weaver has determined is a reflection on the coaching staff.

The interesting part to me is the timing of the extension. Before the extension he signed on Tuesday, his contract was dude to expire at the end of the year. Then-owner Wayne Weaver offered Smith an extension, but he turned it down, according to ProFootballTalk.com

“A contract was extended to me and I declined it,” Smith told Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union. “I did not think I deserved an extension based on the conditions. Our scouts and other employees weren’t being extended. I didn’t think I deserved it. However, I do appreciate that Wayne [Weaver] offered me one.”

I can only assume took him until the day the team was sold to realize that this was his last shot at “guaranteed” employment next year. I cannot say for sure what changed his mind, but was he waiting for Del Rio to get fired  before he stayed in Jacksonville? Maybe he just wanted to start fresh with a new owner and a new coach of his choice.

Either way, what Gene Smith does over the next few years will determine whether the Jaguars stay in Jacksonville.

It’s about that time of yer to start voting for the pro bowl, which means, in most cases, the guys with the gaudy stats on winning teams will get all of the fan votes. However, there are a lot of good football players that are stuck on bad teams and never get the national publicity that most guys of their caliber get, and thus, never get the recognition they deserve.

So, I have decided to take a unique approach to the Pro Bowl this year. My all-star squad will consist of players exclusively of players on last-place teams as of Week 15 (in their divisions).

Without further adieu, here is you 2011 All-Last Place team:

Quarterback: Matt Moore, Dolphins; Cam Newton, Panthers

Not a whole lot of other options here. The Panthers may not finish last in the division, but these guys are two of the best quarterbacks of the group. Moore may have played himself into a starting role next season, and Newton is dripping with potential.

Running Back: Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Roy Helu, Jr. Redskins

AP is obvious; he is still the best back in football. I went with Helu because of how impressive he has been just on tape. His stats are not overly impressive because it took Mike Shanahan way too long to name him the starter, but he has a lot of ability.

Tight End: Kellen Winslow, Buccaneers; Fred Davis, Redskins

Fred Davis is the real star of this group, even though he was just pegged with a suspension. Winslow isn’t anything spectacular, but he’s a reliable target and the second-best player from this group.

Offensive Tackles: Trent Williams, Redskins; Joe Thomas, Browns

I kept Jake Long off this list because he’s had a sub-par year, and gave it to two other more worthy candidates. But outside of those three, the pickings are slim.

Guards: Vernon Carey, Dolphins; Davin Joseph, Buccaneers

Not a whole lot to pick from, but these guys are both part of strong running games at right guard, which is actually a more difficult position than left guard because they see more one-on-ones.

Center: Alex Mack, Browns

This was pretty easy. The former first round pick is living up to his billing, and is one of the few solidified position on that Browns offense.

Wide Recievers: Brandon Marshall, Dolphins;  Percy Harvin, Vikings

Marshall is up and down, but there is no denying his talent and physicality. Harvin is one of the most explosive players in the league, and we have seen what he can do when he has a top-level quarterback throwing to him.

Defensive Ends: Jared Allen, Vikings; Chris Long, Rams

Allen is having a spectacular season, and was, at one point, set to break the sack record. Long has been a part of a bad defense, but he is playing at a high level. He basically single-handedly stopped the Saints offense a few weeks ago.

Defensive Tackles: Kevin Williams, Vikings; Barry Cofield, Redskins

Cofield has been one of the biggest reasons for the improvement in the Redskins defense this season so far. The other spot was a bit of a toss-up, but I went with the guy who has been doing it well for so long in Kevin Williams.

Middle Linebackers: Derrick Johnson, Chiefs; London Fletcher, Redskins

Johnson is having a career year, and is the second-best player on that defense (behind Tamba Hali). London Fletcher continues to amaze with his production, despite his age.

Outside Linebackers: Tamba Hali, Chiefs; Brian Orakpo, Redskins

Hali is one of the best pass rushers in football with his power moves. Orakpo is flourishing as an outside linebacker over the past two years.

Cornerbacks: Vontae Davis, Dolphins; Joe Hayden, Browns

Suprinsingly enough, there were a lot of good options here. Hayden is knocking on the door of being one of the best in football, as he is starting to draw comparisons to Darrelle Revis. After a slow start, Davis has really turned it around in Miami.

Safeties: O.J. Otogwe, Redskins; T.J. Ward, Browns

Otogwe has been a nice additions to the Redskins back end, especially with LaRaon Laundry missing a lot of time due to injury. Ward hasn’t had quite the same season he had his rookie year, but he is still the next best player out of the group.

The Jets-Giants “rivalry” has always been difficult to quantify. For decades, they have shared the same stadium and market. One would think that this would inevitably lead to an intense rivalry, but the reality is, these teams just don’t play each other enough in meaningful games for any kind of rivalry to materialize.

Even through years of forgetful matchups and forced business partnerships, these two franchises do not have much affection for one another.

The Giants boast three championships to the Jets one, which came over 40 years ago. Compounded by a history of lackluster and disappointing play on the field, the Jets have long suffered from a sever case of “little brother” syndrome. They even played in “Giants Stadium” for the better part of 30 years.

The “B” team. The team you used to go see if you couldn’t get Giants tickets. The “Same Old Jets.”

Not anymore.

The Jets, since hiring Rex Ryan, have quickly become one of the most progressive franchises in American sports. Since the regime change, the Jets have enjoyed two straight AFC Championship appearances, while the Giants have been left with disappointing, playoff-less seasons.

Rex has changed the culture of the Jets with his bravado and willingness to speak his mind. He has made no secret of wanting to be the top dog in the world’s biggest city.

The Giants, meanwhile, tend stick to Tom Coughlin’s message of discipline and humility. At least until Jets week. The Giants have not made it a secret that they have no intention of giving up the top spot in the public’s eyes. According to ESPN New York ,

When asked if Revis is the best cornerback in the league, Hakeem Nicks paused before saying, “He’s a decent corner. He’s decent.”

Decent? Look, I think Hakeem Nicks is a top-5 receiver in this league, but so are Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, and Rhoddy White – and Revis has managed to shut all of those players down. Certainly a bold strategy on Nick’s part, getting on Revis’ bad side.

The Jets take a lot of heat for their boastful speech, and rightfully so. But that is all it is – boastful. They may talk a lot about Super Bowls and how good they are, but they are never disrespectful about the opponent. In this case, the Giants are talking out of character. If the Jets were 2-12, would they be downplaying Revis’ greatness? No. They know that should the Jets win this game, they will, at least for the short term, be anointed the top team on New York, especially since a loss would probably end the Giants’ season.

Either way, for once, the Jets and Giants can finally face-off in a meaningful game, in a stadium that is named on a neutral basis. Can the Jets rid themselves of the inferiority complex they have suffered for so long? Or will the Giants hold their ground? We just have to wait for Saturday to find out.