Questionable NFL Coaching Movement

Am I unaware of an intense amount of blackmail, the back-stabbing that happens behind closed doors or just the sheer lack of judgement in NFL front offices?  After this week, I would have to say "all of the above".

Does Norv have pictures of Dean Spanos wife?
For starters, the San Diego Chargers handed Norv Turner a 3 year contract extension.  Go ahead, read that sentence again, I had to.  Norv inhereted what most of us thought was the most talented team in the NFL and has a 32-16 record while going 3-3 in the playoffs.  That's quite good on the surface, but as most of us know, Norv continually finds ways to blow close games.  He may not tighten up like Marty Schottenheimer did, but he's far from a guy I'd be handing an extra 3 years. 

His teams seem to self destruct in big moments and he frequently mishandles the clock and key decisions at the end of games.

The timing of the extension was also curious to me.  How do you hand your coach another 3 years of confidence less than 24 hours after a playoff loss in which his team was heavily favored?

Is McDaniels the "Lumberg" of the NFL?
The second big piece of coaching news this week is the saga surrounding Mike Nolan.  For those that haven't heard, Josh McDaniels and Mike Nolan had some sort of disagreement, and have decided to part ways.  I have no idea what to make of this one.  Do people just hate being around McDaniels at this point?

For starters, Nolan took the Broncos defense from 31st in DVOA last season to 7th in the league during the 2009 campaign.  The defense was the real strong point of the Denver season and helped them lock in big wins like the one early in the season against New England.  I'm not sure what happened, but Nolan has quickly latched on as the defensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins.

So now McDaniels has traded a franchise quarterback (and I use that term loosely) after alienating him, lost his star defensive coordinator and is still pushing out two productive members of the offense in Brandon Marshall and Tony Scheffler. 

I roasted McDaniels for the Cutler situation, and frankly I think he was smarter than I after seeing how Cutler played in Chicago.  And let's be honest, Brandon Marshall is a whiny b*tch a lot of the time.  So where does Mike Nolan fit in?  I look forward to hearing any juicy news that leaks about this one.

Who was next on the list, Lane Kiffin?
So...apparently no big-name candidates are interested in the Buffalo Bills job.  And also, no small-name candidates are interested either.  Does this resume sound like something that should excite the Bills fan base?

1984-2001 Various NFL positions, 2 as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys
2002-2007 Head Coach of Georgia Tech, amassing a 37-27 record.  Fired in 2007
2008-2009 Offensive Coordinator of the KC Chiefs and demoted after 3 pre-season games in 2009
2010 - THE NEW BUFFALO BILLS HEAD COACH!

In the last 8 years, Chan Gailey has guided GT to a mediocre 5-year record and has been demoted from the offensive coordinator role on a terrible NFL team.  This isn't exactly a great first hire for new GM Buddy Nix.  I would like to apologize to all Bills fans in advance for the pain you're about to go through in 2010.  It's not going to be pretty.

Let us know what you think of a few of the moves and if there are any of missed.

UPDATE JAN 20 - It appears that McDaniels may have forced Nolan out of Denver by telling him that he wouldn't be allowed to blitz as much next season.  Nolan didn't like McDaniels dictating the defensive philosophy to him and left.  There's also quite a few conspiracy theories floating around that McDaniels didn't like a former NFL head coach (Nolan) on his staff in case Pat Bowlen decided to part ways with him mid-season.

Also, our good friend Sarah over at RWWF had a great take on the Chan Gailey hire.  Check it out here.