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Mike Mularkey is Jeff Fisher 2.0


RuskieTitan

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Having witnessed the #ExoticSmashMouth first-hand, I can safely say that Mike Mularkey is not a good NFL head coach, and indeed is a coach of the caliber of Jeff Fisher.

Many of you who have been around here for a while may remember that I was a Jeff Fisher supporter, even towards the end of his tenure. However, I was blinded by the good ole days of Fisher leading us to the playoffs with Steve McNair, and when we stunk I blamed it on the cap purge due to Floyd Reese. When he was fired I was disappointed, the guy was a winner! 142-120 record, .542 winning percentage, all while having purge seasons in there! He was a guy who could eventually get us to the promised land... but alas. When he was hired by the Rams, I decided to keep following Jeff Fisher's career, and when Amazon Prime did their "All or Nothing" on the Rams, I watched all the episodes. And it dawned on me that Jeff Fisher wasn't an innovator, he wasn't someone who was going to gameplan successfully against his opponents. The best he could hope for is for his coordinators to be able to prepare the team as best as possible, and let the players go out there and play.

Then Fisher was fired, and Sean McVay gets hired. I was intrigued. A young guy, but seemed to have some good success in recent years as the coordinator for the Redskins. I was interested to see how he'd perform with the Rams. And then he turned the Rams from the 32nd NFL offense in 2016, into the 1st NFL offense in 2017. Same quarterback. Largely the same roster. But suddenly Gurley is back to rookie season Gurley and making plays, Goff looks like a legitimate starting quarterback, and they are figuring out ways to beat the teams they are facing. I read articles about how McVay has their offense hurry to the line of scrimmage, so that they can get set and he can talk to Goff up til the 15 sec mark, giving him some extra pointers. In college, Goff ran some hurry up as well, so McVay tweaked his offense to support this. He adjusted his schemes to better fit the players on his roster, and the evidence of this success is plain to see.

After seeing how the Rams are performing this year, vs how they were performing last year, it's clear that the vast majority of the difference and success lies in the coaching staff change. Jeff Fisher had a time in the NFL where he was a good coach IMO. But as times changed, he refused to adapt, to innovate, to change. He was stuck in his ways. He's still a winning head coach. He's got a 173-165 record. But everyone knows his time in the NFL is over, because he can't win in today's NFL.

But that's not all. Go watch All or Nothing's episode 6 where Jeff Fisher gets fired. His staff loves him. His players love him. I remember one player saying "Ya'll ain't never play in front of a head coach like that", and numerous other players and coaches saying that Jeff Fisher loved his players and staff and genuinely cared for everyone on his team. You know who that reminds me of? Mike Mularkey. By all accounts, players love him. The ownership (which is a mess IMO) loves him. He's a great person and gets along with everyone.

But do we want a nice, good guy that the front office 'likes', and that the players 'like', or do we want a freaking capable head coach?

Mike Mularkey is Jeff Fisher 2.0... if the 2.0 version wasn't nearly as successful. 35-51 all time record.

His record with the Buffalo Bills? 14-18 in 2 seasons.

With the Jacksonville Jaguars? 2-14 in 1 season.

Is the third time the charm? So far with the Titans he is 19-19... but this is second full season, and the offense has continually stepped back as the season progressed. And rather than adapt and overcome... he's going to stick with his 'system', and continue to do what he's always done in his NFL career. Sure, he'll probably get us into the playoffs this year, and we'll have a winning record... but does anyone legitimately believe this team could compete for a championship? Or even looking at the next 2-5 years, do you guys really think this team can threaten the AFC powerhouses in the playoffs? If we have to travel to Foxboro, can we really trust our coaching staff to be able to beat Bill Belichick?

In the end, we're going to have fans who only care about 'making the playoffs' or 'winning the division' as the top achievement for this franchise. Frankly, I want to Super Bowl aspirations. But with the current front office (read: ownership), they seem more content about having people they like to work with in this business than to try and find the guy who can maximize the playing level of the players on the roster and truly create a special team.

Marcus Mariota's issues this season are very disappointing and concerning... but it's one of the things that I was very concerned about when the Titans decided to make Mike Mularkey the permanent head coach. While I preferred Winston greatly over Mariota leading up to the draft, his rookie year showed me he's got the talent and potential to be a top 10, top 5 quarterback. Sure, he had mistakes like with the deep ball placement, but he progressed. And now going into his third season and this is what we are seeing? I'm worried that Mike Mularkey and his staff have stunted Mariota's potential growth. Our offense has gotten predictable and NFL teams have figured it out. We got 7 points today. That's pathetic.

I really want to see the Titans genuinely try and find an innovative offensive coordinator to pair up with Marcus Mariota, and really allow him to play to his abilities and strengths. But seeing as how we'll likely make the playoffs this year, I can't see us moving on from Mularkey... and as I mentioned, the front office likes him, so unfortunately for us fans, we get to be stuck with Jeff Fisher v2.0 for the immediate future.

Jeff Fisher... Mike Munchak (surprisingly had a good interview and landed the job, but clearly going from Offensive Line coach to head coach was not a good gamble)... Ken Wisenhunt... Mike Mularkey...

Looks like our organization is enamored with rehashing older washed up coaches who have failed before... but hey, as long as they are nice to the staff, owners, and players, they are #TitanWorthy.

Sorry for the long post, just getting all my thoughts on the head coach out in this post. I know we all hate the work Robiskie has done, but it's stemmed from Mularkey. And as unhappy as I am with the head coach, frankly, I think the root of the problem is our ownership group, especially when they handicapped the general manager search by forcing Mularkey onto any candidate. Jon Robinson has done a good job thus far, but could you all imagine if we had McVay on our team instead of Mularkey? I just hope that we can find a better coach before we completely break our franchise quarterback's confidence and ability.

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One of the biggest things for me that you touched on is do we honestly believe that Mularkey is a coach that can win us a Super Bowl? Can he find a way to beat Belichick in January when everything is on the line? I know some people might see that as going to the extreme, but fair or not, the Patriots and Belichick are the standard that we need to be striving for. If we honestly don't think Mularkey is the coach that's going to get us to the Super Bowl then what the hell are we doing? I honestly think internally within the organization hiring Mularkey was a "Stabalize the Franchise" hire. We had just gone through 2 head coaches in Munchak and Whisenhunt that never really had a vision for our team, and we never had an identity under either guy. Our franchise had been in a lot of turmoil during those years with ownership too and we needed a coach that could be a veteran type of presence that players liked to play for that could just basically settle the waters down a bit internally in the organization and externally in the community.  I compare it somewhat to the Bears when they hired John Fox. Is John Fox a great coach? No, but he's a veteran coach that players love to play for, and he can be that "stabilizing presence" at the head coaching helm during somewhat of a transition period for a franchise. That's how I think our ownership looked at Mularkey. As crazy as it is to think about, I don't know how much "Can this guy get us to the Super Bowl?" actually played a part during our hiring process. At the time, we just wanted somebody steady, and that's a big part of the dilemma we're in now.

There's several coaches in that steady mold throughout the league. Those middle of the road coaches that aren't actually going to out coach anyone, but if the perfect storm happens where they put together a great staff and their GM can find special players they can have some success, but when things are going sideways they can't figure out how to adjust, because they're set in their ways and that's when they get exposed and things go badly. Now, I'll preface this by saying I'm all for continuity on a team, and I've stated several times I believe it's an incredibly important aspect of team building, I would love nothing more than to never have to think about a Titans coach being on the hot seat ever again, but it really comes down to "Can Mike Mularkey win us a Super Bowl?" I honestly don't believe that he can, so whether or not we keep him at the end of this year is simple in my mind. Not even touching on the fact that Marcus has regressed at an alarming rate, and some of that blame definitely has to be put on Mularkey. 

Mularkey was a "safe" hire, because ownership was looking for a good guy that was good in the community and that the players could rally behind.  He was good for stabilizing the franchise to an extent and giving our team an identity, but we are only going to get so far with him at the helm. That's just the reality of the situation we're in here. Can we win games with him? Yes. Can we occasionally win the division with him? Probably. However, I feel like anyone that actually thinks he can win us a Super Bowl is really only fooling themselves. His system and his coaching acumen just doesn't measure up to the upper echelon teams in this league. I've been guilty of trying to put the blinders on throughout this year at times as well because we've been winning, but it's painfully clear that our team is and will continue to be a step below the best teams in the league as long as Mularkey is running the show.

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Yeah, I've been much more supportive of him and his system, most of that was just the hope they can regain the success they had last year and build on that with what should've been an improved and more experienced 3rd year QB, along with some more weapons. But that pretty clearly is not happening. The decision yesterday to go with that fake punt was quite honestly the biggest swing of momentum of the whole game. You had your defense playing some crazy good football against an offense that couldn't get anything going, and you decide to pull that crap in your own half of the field, and what followed was an utterly joke. From what I've read, Adoree said that they never practiced that play before, the one they went to him to convert on 4th down. I don't know how you can excuse this stuff anymore. In the conference, instead of taking full responsibility for that fake punt decision, he complained about the overturn of the spot. Which, frankly, was more than generous to us in the first place.

I'm all for trying out a new coaching staff next year. It's not hard to imagine them going 0-3 for the rest of the year, finish 8-8 and lose the playoffs. At that point, his job would have to be in jeopardy. We have a 1st round pick QB that we still need to figure out exactly who he is. I'd rather take him through the process of adjusting to a new type of offense now, and then take what's left of his rookie contract to see if he can execute it better, and just as importantly, stay healthy.

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1 hour ago, Andrei01 said:

Yeah, I've been much more supportive of him and his system, most of that was just the hope they can regain the success they had last year and build on that with what should've been an improved and more experienced 3rd year QB, along with some more weapons. But that pretty clearly is not happening. The decision yesterday to go with that fake punt was quite honestly the biggest swing of momentum of the whole game. You had your defense playing some crazy good football against an offense that couldn't get anything going, and you decide to pull that crap in your own half of the field, and what followed was an utterly joke. From what I've read, Adoree said that they never practiced that play before, the one they went to him to convert on 4th down. I don't know how you can excuse this stuff anymore. In the conference, instead of taking full responsibility for that fake punt decision, he complained about the overturn of the spot. Which, frankly, was more than generous to us in the first place.

I'm all for trying out a new coaching staff next year. It's not hard to imagine them going 0-3 for the rest of the year, finish 8-8 and lose the playoffs. At that point, his job would have to be in jeopardy. We have a 1st round pick QB that we still need to figure out exactly who he is. I'd rather take him through the process of adjusting to a new type of offense now, and then take what's left of his rookie contract to see if he can execute it better, and just as importantly, stay healthy.

Yeah I think that fake punt was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me with Mularkey. Just an utterly senseless move and we really never recovered from that momentum shift. Just gifted them 3 points. That along with throwing a pass to Adoree with the game on the line are two of the dumbest things I’ve seen us do in quite awhile.

Another thing I was pondering is the thought some have that we just need a new OC to potentially right the ship. If that’s really the case then what is Mularkey really doing positively for this team if our offense is the main problem? Mularkey is an offensive minded head coach, so that should be the side of the ball that he’s involved with the most. So, the offensive struggles are just as big an indictment on him as they are on Robiskie. Plus, it doesn’t matter who we bring in as the new OC. They’d still be running Mularkey’s system. It’s not like all our predictable formations are an exclusive Terry Robiskie philosophy. All those formations are Mularkey staples, and he’s been running that same offense everywhere that he’s been. If Robiskie is on the hot seat, Mularkey has to be right in the side car next to him, because this is his offensive system.

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42 minutes ago, SerenityNow said:

Yeah I think that fake punt was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me with Mularkey. Just an utterly senseless move and we really never recovered from that momentum shift. Just gifted them 3 points. That along with throwing a pass to Adoree with the game on the line are two of the dumbest things I’ve seen us do in quite awhile.

Another thing I was pondering is the thought some have that we just need a new OC to potentially right the ship. If that’s really the case then what is Mularkey really doing positively for this team if our offense is the main problem? Mularkey is an offensive minded head coach, so that should be the side of the ball that he’s involved with the most. So, the offensive struggles are just as big an indictment on him as they are on Robiskie. Plus, it doesn’t matter who we bring in as the new OC. They’d still be running Mularkey’s system. It’s not like all our predictable formations are an exclusive Terry Robiskie philosophy. All those formations are Mularkey staples, and he’s been running that same offense everywhere that he’s been. If Robiskie is on the hot seat, Mularkey has to be right in the side car next to him, because this is his offensive system.

To be fair, I don't have a problem with the philosophy in general. And I think you can effectively pass the ball even from tight formations. I have a bigger problem with the way they went about to execute that philosophy. And sure, not all that is on the coaching/play calling side, we haven't exactly had the same success run blocking, and neither of our RBs have had a great year. That put a bigger emphasis on the passing game, and we've seen miscues from both Mariota and his receivers, which sure didn't help.

However, I have a problem that for the most part of the year, they haven't found any rhythm to the offense. I understood why some people had concerns about the system even last year, but they did a much better job getting the running game going and building off it, and I honestly thought that, though arguably a bit outdated, it was a pretty fun offense to watch. This year, it just hasn't been. With the exceptions of maybe a couple of games, they played down to their opponent every single time and made almost every single goddamn win look ugly as hell, although the defense has played out of their minds at times, and with their weaknesses and bad showings (thinking especially Houston loss) all, they just played their hearts out for most of the time to make sure we were coming up with the W at the end of the game. And then, to try and pull a fake punt out of all the things he could've tried that would've made much more sense, in a game that looked on its way to be yet one more ugly win being carried by the defensive unit, and give all the momentum to an offense that struggled all game up until that point to find their own rhythm. Yeah, that's a very stupid move, IMO. I was more than fine when he tried his little gambles in the past. Yesterday it just felt totally uncalled for, and I still think it's what cost us the game.

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It’s why I hated the fire to begin with. He’s a career loser. He’s not winning a SB as a HC. Anyone who actually believed that was/is delusional. Others can call it being negative, no it’s called reality and wanting more from this organization. He never deserved the job. This team has a good amount of talent. Good enough to be better than where we are now. Better than scoring 7 points against Arizona or 12 against Cleveland. Good enough not to get blown out by Houston and Pittsburgh. Mularkey is a career loser. And then he hires an idiot in Robiskie. Neither one deserved the jobs they currently have. Both have failed miserably in those jobs multiple times in the past. Robinson needs to get his chance to hire his own coach. That will truly define his GM tenure. Maybe he hires one of the NE rejects and we’re back to square one eventually but things need to change in order for this team to succeed.

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12 minutes ago, Andrei01 said:

To be fair, I don't have a problem with the philosophy in general. And I think you can effectively pass the ball even from tight formations. I have a bigger problem with the way they went about to execute that philosophy. And sure, not all that is on the coaching/play calling side, we haven't exactly had the same success run blocking, and neither of our RBs have had a great year. That put a bigger emphasis on the passing game, and we've seen miscues from both Mariota and his receivers, which sure didn't help.

However, I have a problem that for the most part of the year, they haven't found any rhythm to the offense. I understood why some people had concerns about the system even last year, but they did a much better job getting the running game going and building off it, and I honestly thought that, though arguably a bit outdated, it was a pretty fun offense to watch. This year, it just hasn't been. With the exceptions of maybe a couple of games, they played down to their opponent every single time and made almost every single goddamn win look ugly as hell, although the defense has played out of their minds at times, and with their weaknesses and bad showings (thinking especially Houston loss) all, they just played their hearts out for most of the time to make sure we were coming up with the W at the end of the game. And then, to try and pull a fake punt out of all the things he could've tried that would've made much more sense, in a game that looked on its way to be yet one more ugly win being carried by the defensive unit, and give all the momentum to an offense that struggled all game up until that point to find their own rhythm. Yeah, that's a very stupid move, IMO. I was more than fine when he tried his little gambles in the past. Yesterday it just felt totally uncalled for, and I still think it's what cost us the game.

Yeah I think the fact that the offense was rolling so well last year, and has struggled this year with conceivably more talent is a bigger indictment on Mularkey and his system than anything. It shows that there is no versatility to it. When the run game isn't working the way we'd like there is no flexibility to adjust and make things work. It's completely predicated on the run, and when the run doesn't work we're stuck in the mud. Another little side note is the fact that we continue to use DeMarco as the main back when Derrick is clearly running better. It's seriously almost getting to a Fisher level of Vet love for DeMarco. If anything the game flow of yesterday would've been perfect for Derrick to get more opportunities, but the fact that he only got 13 snaps compared to DeMarco's 47 is just absolutely laughable.

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13 hours ago, RuskieTitan said:

In the end, we're going to have fans who only care about 'making the playoffs' or 'winning the division' as the top achievement for this franchise. Frankly, I want to Super Bowl aspirations. But with the current front office (read: ownership), they seem more content about having people they like to work with in this business than to try and find the guy who can maximize the playing level of the players on the roster and truly create a special team.

I feel like this is aimed towards me and the other "Positive" posters( We're not even that positive LOL).. We all said we would stop coming at each other but I've seen three or four little shots like this one and it's annoying.

God forbid we try to find a little joy in winning and being in the playoff race for the 1st time in 10 years. Doesn't mean we don't want to win the super bowl or making the playoffs is all we care about. The fact that you think that is pretty silly and some what insulting. Like we gotta start somewhere. You don't go from worst team in the league to superbowl champs in two years..  

Little off topic but when we lose some of you (Not so much you in this post) love to rub it in our face that we are wrong for not saying we suck which makes the loss so much more enjoyable :) I feel like all I do on here is defend myself  the ownership or Marcus I honestly I feel a little stuck with this label.

Also  Lowkey glad we have another "Our coach sucks" thread. We needed one :) 

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3 minutes ago, VY-FTW said:

Little off topic but when we lose some of you (Not so much you in this post) love to rub it in our face that we are wrong for not saying we suck which makes the loss so much more enjoyable :) I feel like all I do on here is defend myself  the ownership or Marcus I honestly I feel a little stuck with this label.

I mean this goes both ways.... All I’ve heard before this game and all year is because the Titans have a winning record that everything is peachy and nothing is wrong. The record isn’t the issue. The way the offense is playing is the issue. Firing the OC does nothing. Not sure what that solves. Basically just a scapegoat for an idiot HC. This is the NFL and no I don’t expect this team to blowout every team or even every bad team. However, I do expect the offense to put up more than 7 points against Arizona, 12 against the worst team in football, etc. especially when the head coach has an offensive background.

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3 minutes ago, VY-FTW said:

I feel like this is aimed towards me and the other "Positive" posters( We're not even that positive LOL).. We all said we would stop coming at each other but I've seen three or four little shots like this one and it's annoying.

God forbid we try to find a little joy in winning and being in the playoff race for the 1st time in 10 years. Doesn't mean we don't want to win the super bowl or making the playoffs is all we care about. The fact that you think that is pretty silly and some what insulting. Like we gotta start somewhere. You don't go from worst team in the league to superbowl champs in two years..  

Little off topic but when we lose some of you (Not so much you in this post) love to rub it in our face that we are wrong for not saying we suck which makes the loss so much more enjoyable :) I feel like all I do on here is defend myself  the ownership or Marcus I honestly I feel a little stuck with this label.

Also  Lowkey glad we have another "Our coach sucks" thread. We needed one :) 

While yes making the playoffs would be cool for the first time in 10 years, what happens then is Mularkey and Robiskie stick around for atleast another year. We all know if we make the playoffs we're gonna get embarrassed (unless Robiskie miraculously finds a way to change the offensive scheme to better benefit our players....lol nvm), so it's no wonder everyone is negative because getting to the playoffs and losing in the first round does nothing but set the team back at least another year because Mularkey and Robiskie will still be here. We aren't going anywhere with those 2, we're an average team playing a weak schedule who is barely beating bad teams in a weak conference in a weak division in which 2 of the teams don't have their franchise QB...all of that has led to us being in position to make the playoffs, not because we are a genuinely good football team.

A -21 point differential at 8-5 has fraud written all over it. Houston has a -23 point differential and they are 4-9.

Losing out and finishing 8-8 will be more beneficial than making it to the playoffs and losing in the first round *IF* it leads to Mularkey and Robiskie getting canned and allowing JRob to choose his guy.

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1 minute ago, ttitansfan4life said:

I mean this goes both ways.... All I’ve heard before this game and all year is because the Titans have a winning record that everything is peachy and nothing is wrong. The record isn’t the issue. The way the offense is playing is the issue. Firing the OC does nothing. Not sure what that solves. Basically just a scapegoat for an idiot HC. This is the NFL and no I don’t expect this team to blowout every team or even every bad team. However, I do expect the offense to put up more than 7 points against Arizona, 12 against the worst team in football, etc. especially when the head coach has an offensive background.

That's just not true. Just because some of us are happy with winning doesn't mean we thought nothing was wrong. I guess I should stop talking for other people but Ive had a good amount of things to be upset about. But my complaints for example McCain still being on the roster AND getting playing time aren't as extreme as FIRE EVERYONE and gets mixed in with some positive things so its viewed as nothing is wrong...

I can already tell everyone in this thread is going to come at me and I dont wanna defend what I said. SO carry on boys. Just stop taking shots. We all agreed we wouldnt do this anymore.

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