_Sez Me …_
Borrowing (weakly) from Churchill, this is a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, shoved into a Riddell.
But Jim Harbaugh hasn’t forgotten how to coach.
I don’t believe good coaches do, and Harbaugh has never been anything other than a good coach.
Until now, anyway, when he can’t seem to find his rear end with either hand.
Is this the Jim he suddenly has become, a quarterback whisperer gone deafening?
He’s won everywhere he’s been, at USD, at Stanford, with the 49ers (where he got to a Super Bowl), at Michigan (where he won a national championship), and with the NFL Team That Used To Be Here — you know, the Judases/L.A. Lodgers.
That is correct. Remember, he won 11 games in each of his first two years in L.A.
But now he’s in charge of an NFL team with an offensive light brigade that can retreat but not charge. The J’s have scored nine touchdowns this season and gone nine quarters (and 27-straight “drives”) without finding the end zone. Hence the record of 0-7 as they prepare to play host to Houston today.
Stupid bad.
But it is Harbaugh who runs the football side of this team, not GM Joe Horitz, not owner’s son John Spanos. Nothing happens without his approval, which is why he takes $17 million per year out of boss Fredo Spanos’ moth-eaten wallet. Jim’s biggest error seems to be his off-season hire of ballyhooed offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, who has mixed with quarterback Justin Herbert like bad clams and bad mussels.
Herbert was one of the best less than a year ago. Now, under McDaniel, he often looks as though he couldn’t start in high school.
The job of an offensive coordinator is to adapt his game to accommodate a talented QB. Instead, Mike has tried to change him to fit into what appears to be Three Stooges outtakes.
With as many as four rookies starting on the once-again maimed O line, the run game hasn’t been a factor. Herbert is getting pounded like bad meat. The receivers have trouble separating. If you’re writing home about tight end play, the letter is going out without a stamp.
But the defense, now, under new, young coordinator Chris O’Leary, is another tale. It has been plenty good enough. It has allowed 30 points once, and no more than 26 to anyone, despite the woeful offense. The Rams scored 24 last week, 10 off Herbert picks. And a lot of this has been without Pro Bowl safety Derwin James, who’s now on IR with that hammy.
Harbaugh has to lug the blame, but his seat should not be hot. He certainly deserves another year, and it’s doubtful Fredo will let him go and eat all those millions, anyway. Spanos hired a coach who has never known failure — as he certainly has — but for now even Jim can’t avoid Chargering.
It’s a surprise McDaniel wasn’t canned during the bye week. Now he plans to leave the sideline and call plays from upstairs.
Herbert probably hopes that’s just because it’s closer to the exit. …
The Bucs win without completing one pass. There is hope for Herbert yet. …
ESPN never will change its mind, but the Dallas Cowboys no longer matter. They haven’t won a damn thing in 30 years. It is the champion of America’s imbecility. …
Jim Nantz and J.J. Watt sat there amazed that Denver came back at home to beat the Chiefs in the fourth quarter. It’s not amazing. Say it, guys. You know. It’s a Mile High. Visiting defenses get gassed. …
Denver is unfair. Don’t believe me? Go there and walk up some stairs, then get back to me when you catch your breath. …
I can’t stand either team, but the Broncos scored too soon, giving Patrick Mahomes a chance (I think the Chiefs just let them score near the end to get the ball back with time). And Patrick led them right down the field only to be stuffed at the end. …
It’s been this way for years. It’s hard to find a down when a Chiefs right tackle hasn’t been in some kind of illegal motion. …
K.C. has lost four straight at Denver. …
The Seahawks need a running game — and they let it go to Kansas City. …
The first College Football Playoff Top 12 poll is, as expected, stupid. Indiana at No. 4 and Alabama at No. 5 would shock a roomful of morons. But before you consider doing harm to yourselves, remember, this is not the final poll. It’s not going to look close to this. …
There will be a three-loss team in the CFB. Next year, with 24 teams, there might be one with a .500 record. …
But football isn’t just played in the SEC. Committee, watch some other conference. …
If the records are the same, head-to-head must matter. In 1978, USC went to Alabama and ripped the Crimson Tide. Bear Bryant said: “I’d take their culls.” When the two teams tied for the “mythical” national title, Bear said his team deserved it. …
I can’t say Ohio State would have lost to USC with Julian Sayin at quarterback. The arm injury to the expert Carlsbad High School alum may cost ace receiver Jeremiah Smith the Heisman. …
Mike Norvell will make $26,000 a day for the next six years because he got fired for poorly coaching football at Florida State. A $50-million buyout? The college game has become politics. Totally screwed up. …
Colleges — and the NFL, for that matter — keep giving these huge contracts to coaches who have never won a thing. What businesses give this kind of money — and guarantees — to people whose greatest quality is shearing sheep and pulling wool over eyes? …
BYU-Utah? The “Holy War?” Utah is not holy. It is secular. Also unbeaten. …
I hear “seventh-year senior” and whatever I have in my stomach wants to leave by the same place it came in. …
Too many players are “former” (name the school). …
Kirk Herbstreit: “I don’t want to compare him to Aaron Donald.” Then don’t. …
RIP, colleague Jon Saraceno. A good guy and fine talent. …
Do you remember when the world heavyweight champion was the most famous man on earth? Can you name the current champ? There are several. Never heard of one. …
There isn’t one thing in sports that can match the atmosphere of a big fight. The most electrifying events of my career have been big fights. The juice has been turned off. …
And don’t get me started on kickboxing, or whatever it is. It’s a blood sport. Boxing is — or was — a science. …
One exception. When Eamonn Coghlan John-Wayned the world indoor mile record here, the Sports Arena crowd, so track-and-field knowledgeable then, blew 10 million watts.
“What was going through your mind … ?” It’s the favorite question among sideline reporters, asked innumerable times. It never gets a good answer. Because it’s stupid. …
Seven states still ban the sale of alcohol on election days. California used to. So you buy some the day before. …
“LIV, dammit, LIV.” — George Costanza