Sez Me \u2026<\/p>\n
You could hear the heavy hoofbeats of failure coming.<\/p>\n
Greg Roman was a knight in shining armor. In football years, a 15th-century knight in dull armor riding an old swayback nag.<\/p>\n
Roman was long past his days of coming to the rescue. More like a knight error, bringing a blunt sword to the Clark Street Garage on Saint Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure Roman is a good football man, an expert. But football has become a game of keeping up, of innovation, of adjustments, more than blocking and tackling \u2014 attacking, especially when you have the weapons for it, and he has misused his arsenal.<\/p>\n
As we have seen from him the past two years as offensive coordinator of the NFL Team That Used To Be Here \u2014 you know, the Judases\/L.A. Lodgers \u2014 he has not always been able to clear paths through The League\u2019s muddled, ever-changing defenses (such as the very good D in his own garage).<\/p>\n
It came as no surprise that coach Jim Harbaugh, his old bud, fired Greg (and offensive line coach Mike Devlin) following last Sunday night\u2019s putrid 16-3 playoff defeat at New England.<\/p>\n
OK. We\u2019ve been over this. The team was without its two starting offensive tackles \u2014 not just regulars, but of Pro Bowl caliber Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt. And their replacements weren\u2019t good and the middle three linemen weren\u2019t either \u2014 except for occasional moments from guard Zion Johnson.<\/p>\n
Center Bradley Bozeman says he was proud of how he played. Guard Mekhi Beckton says there were a lot of things in Roman\u2019s system he never got used to. You mean like blocking? They both stunk. The O-line ranked last in the NFL.<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t win this way. Except they did \u2014 11 times during the regular season, They made the playoffs, but the playoffs offer up a different video. They couldn\u2019t protect Justin Herbert, even against the Patriots, who did not have a historic pass rush, and Herbert had his worst game as a pro.<\/p>\n
His receivers, not bad, were of no help. I hear they were open quite a bit. I didn\u2019t see it. Neither did the Pats. Neither did the receivers.<\/p>\n
Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane said J\u2019s players came up to him afterward and said they had no idea what defense New England was running. This has to mean Roman didn\u2019t know either, or maybe he would have adjusted.<\/p>\n
The defense didn\u2019t allow a touchdown in the season finale, at Denver, which was trying. The defense allowed one TD at New England, which was trying.<\/p>\n
As daddy always said, \u201cCan\u2019t win if you don\u2019t score.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herbert has had four play-callers in six seasons. The Judases need an offensive coordinator who can find ways to score that Woody Hayes didn\u2019t draw up.<\/p>\n
What Harbaugh, a quarterback whisperer, supposedly,\u00a0 must avoid is turning Herbert into John Hadl, Dan Fouts and Philip Rivers. A tough, gifted man with no ring. \u2026<\/p>\n
Say what you want about Norv Turner \u2014 and much can be said \u2014but if he were coordinating the Judases\u2019 offense. Herbert wouldn\u2019t have the bandage market cornered. No coach has been better with protections. \u2026<\/p>\n
Jesse Minter is an outstanding defensive coordinator. Can he make it as a head coach? We\u2019ll see. Soon. \u2026<\/p>\n
Is it wise to hire a veteran championship coach? Remember, no head coach has won a Super Bowl with two different franchises. Winning one is hard enough. \u2026<\/p>\n
The Raiders are searching for a head coach for the sixth time since 2021. The Steelers? Their fourth since 1969. \u2026<\/p>\n
Al Davis thought head coaches ran out of gas after 10 years. His son Mark? Ten months. Tops. \u2026<\/p>\n
Given the circumstances, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams\u2019 awkward, desperate, remarkable fourth-quarter pass to Rome Odunze vs. the Packers has to be among the best in playoff history. But remember, Caleb is a magician, and at times he\u2019s not fair. \u2026<\/p>\n
Matt LaFleur can coach. Matt LaFleur can\u2019t kick. \u2026<\/p>\n
The Steelers and Ravens have a similar problem. Living in the past. The Judases don\u2019t even have that. Their past stinks. \u2026<\/p>\n
Saw something the other day saying the J\u2019s were better off when papa Alen Spanos was running the franchise instead of son Dean. Bobby Beathard forced out the old man. Not that he\u2019s been Paul Brown or Al Davis, but Dean was in charge when the team went to the Super Bowl. \u2026<\/p>\n
Aaron Rodgers isn\u2019t finished because of his age. He\u2019s done because he\u2019s done. Everybody goes to Tom Brady. There has been only one. \u2026<\/p>\n
Saw a film of Joe Burrow and Ja\u2019Marr Chase playing craps in Vegas. So? Who cares? They were looking good, but probably lost. \u2026<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t even begin to contemplate the number of college football teams that have cheated the system over the years. I won\u2019t start now. If you think Indiana is cheating \u2014 a natural thing when weak programs or athletes suddenly strengthen \u2014 there is no proof. I have a list of choirs you can preach to. \u2026<\/p>\n
Would Indiana be where it is without NIL and the portal? Not a chance in hell. \u2026<\/p>\n
College football players now will be able to appear in nine games \u2014 instead of the current four \u2014 and keep their redshirt year. Great. So you can play nine great games, win the Heisman, and redshirt. \u2026<\/p>\n
Miami reportedly offered Ty Simpson $6.5 million in NIL loot to forego the draft and become a Hurricane. The Simpson Thing. I don\u2019t understand it. \u2026<\/p>\n
Husan Longstreet, a 5-star quarterback recruit, has gone transfer portal to LSU, leaving USC because he doesn\u2019t want to sit behind Jayden Maiava (who turned down the draft and portal) for another season. So now he gets in line behind Sam Leavitt in the Louisiana swamp far from the Hollywood stars. Go figure. \u2026<\/p>\n
Lincoln Riley is a quarterbacks coach. If he thought Longstreet better than Maiava, Jayden would be gone. \u2026<\/p>\n
Aaron Rodgers says the sounds of dolphins (no, not Miami players) making love helps his body heal. So that\u2019s why Aaron has moved into a tent at Sea World. \u2026<\/p>\n
Fifty-six percent of the 10,000-plus college football players entering the transfer portal found new teams. The Portal To Nowheresville closed Friday. \u2026<\/p>\n
If you want to know what a joke the portal is, Google-up Duke QB Darian Mensah, who transferred to Miami for millions and screwed the Dukies at the 11th hour. He earlier had announced he was staying, so another QB wasn\u2019t pursued. \u2026<\/p>\n
Duke won the ACC title and didn\u2019t make the College Football Playoff. Miami, which plays Indiana Monday night for the championship, did, and gets $20 million for itself. Maybe half of that will be used to get Mensah. \u2026<\/p>\n
Bakers\u2019 dozens of college basketball players are being accused of point shaving. Gambling, which is feeding and keeping the golden goose afloat, could be sinking sports. \u2026<\/p>\n
Know why there won\u2019t be baseball in 2027? One word: Dodgers. \u2026<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know if baseball can survive the Dodgers. They have money and they\u2019ve beaten the system. \u2026<\/p>\n
The Bills are selling off urinal troughs from their old stadium. I\u2019m considering getting one. I already have five from Qualcomm, but they\u2019re continuously in use. \u2026<\/p>\n
Just found out Harper Lee willed me her Pulitzer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sez Me \u2026 You could hear the heavy hoofbeats of failure coming. Greg Roman was a knight in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[241,7,929,1014,262,2444,2443,6,9,2833],"class_list":{"0":"post-685140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-chargers","8":"tag-chargers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-losangeleschargers","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-sports-columnists"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115912743880757858","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}