The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

riggofan wrote:

DarthMonk wrote:Looks like an even younger McVay learned from Jay's mistake.

That was a great hire for McVay no doubt about it. I would argue though that the Rams have much more talent on defense for Wade Phillips to work with than we've had the past two years. I don't know what level of interest he really had with the Redskins, but I think he would have been a little crazy to accept that job here.

mastdark81 wrote:

riggofan wrote:

DarthMonk wrote:Looks like an even younger McVay learned from Jay's mistake.

That was a great hire for McVay no doubt about it. I would argue though that the Rams have much more talent on defense for Wade Phillips to work with than we've had the past two years. I don't know what level of interest he really had with the Redskins, but I think he would have been a little crazy to accept that job here.

He wanted to be here and they decided not to hire him.

The Washington Redskins front office was planning to meet with former head coach Wade Phillips about the team’s defensive coordinator job Friday evening, according to a source with knowledge of the search process.

But Phillips, whose defensive acumen was critical to the Denver Broncos’ victory over the Carolina Panthers in last season’s Super Bowl, instead accepted an offer to become defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport.

riggofan wrote:

mastdark81 wrote:He (Phillips) wanted to be here and they decided not to hire him.

Yeah? If that were true, I'd assume he would have showed up for the interview.

.. Phillips met with Redskins’ head coach Jay Gruden at Redskins Park, in what he described in his new book, Son of Bum: Lessons My Dad Taught Me About Football and Life, as one of the most bizarre interviews of his life. “My interview with Jay was strong, to say the least. I’d had unusual interviews before – like the one with Marty Schottenheimer that took forever because he asked a million questions about the 3-4 defense – but I had never gone through something quite like this.

SkinsJock wrote:

riggofan wrote:

mastdark81 wrote:He (Phillips) wanted to be here and they decided not to hire him.

Yeah? If that were true, I'd assume he would have showed up for the interview.

.. Phillips met with Redskins’ head coach Jay Gruden at Redskins Park, in what he described in his new book, Son of Bum: Lessons My Dad Taught Me About Football and Life, as one of the most bizarre interviews of his life. “My interview with Jay was strong, to say the least. I’d had unusual interviews before – like the one with Marty Schottenheimer that took forever because he asked a million questions about the 3-4 defense – but I had never gone through something quite like this.

riggofan wrote:

riggofan wrote:

mastdark81 wrote:He (Phillips) wanted to be here and they decided not to hire him.

Yeah? If that were true, I'd assume he would have showed up for the interview.

.. Phillips met with Redskins’ head coach Jay Gruden at Redskins Park, in what he described in his new book, Son of Bum: Lessons My Dad Taught Me About Football and Life, as one of the most bizarre interviews of his life. “My interview with Jay was strong, to say the least. I’d had unusual interviews before – like the one with Marty Schottenheimer that took forever because he asked a million questions about the 3-4 defense – but I had never gone through something quite like this.

I think that's referring to 2015. Even that interview doesn't say that he preferred the Redskins job over the Broncos.

Phillips came into the interview excited at the possibility of coaching with his son again and doing it in a system where he had thrived in the past. The team had the personnel to take the next step and Phillips clearly felt optimistic.

DarthMonk wrote:

Phillips came into the interview excited at the possibility of coaching with his son again and doing it in a system where he had thrived in the past. The team had the personnel to take the next step and Phillips clearly felt optimistic.

riggofan wrote:

DarthMonk wrote:

Phillips came into the interview excited at the possibility of coaching with his son again and doing it in a system where he had thrived in the past. The team had the personnel to take the next step and Phillips clearly felt optimistic.

lol. I don't doubt that he was excited about possibly working with his son, but does anybody honestly believe the 2015 Redskins "had the personnel to take the next step"? That is beyond ludicrous. The team finished 28th in total defense that year.

riggofan wrote:does anybody honestly believe the 2015 Redskins "had the personnel to take the next step"?

Burgundy&GoldForever wrote:

riggofan wrote:does anybody honestly believe the 2015 Redskins "had the personnel to take the next step"?

No. Nor do I honestly believe Wade Phillips wanted the job. If he wanted the job he would have had the job over Joe Barry. As would several other people.

DarthMonk wrote:

Burgundy&GoldForever wrote:

riggofan wrote:does anybody honestly believe the 2015 Redskins "had the personnel to take the next step"?

No. Nor do I honestly believe Wade Phillips wanted the job. If he wanted the job he would have had the job over Joe Barry. As would several other people.

I think Phillips wanted the job but Jay Gruden didn't have to win to get his money so instead of hiring someone who might be a potential threat to take over as head coach he hired a friend.

Of course that is just conjecture ... but it fits the evidence.

DarthMonk wrote:I think Phillips wanted the job but Jay Gruden didn't have to win to get his money so instead of hiring someone who might be a potential threat to take over as head coach he hired a friend.

Of course that is just conjecture ... but it fits the evidence.

riggofan wrote:

DarthMonk wrote:I think Phillips wanted the job but Jay Gruden didn't have to win to get his money so instead of hiring someone who might be a potential threat to take over as head coach he hired a friend.

Of course that is just conjecture ... but it fits the evidence.

I don't think your idea is crazy or anything, but Phillips took the Denver job in 2015.

The Denver defense was ranked #3 in 2014. 12-4. With Peyton Manning at QB.
The Washington defense was #20 in 2014. 4-12. With Robert Griffin at QB.

I don't know. If you had the opportunity to take one of those jobs, which one would look most appealing to you?

I'm just not buying that Wade Phillips REALLY wanted the Washington job and would have been here if not for the fragile ego of Jay Gruden. Seems like the simplest explanation is the most likely there.

Finally, I got a call to interview with the Washington Redskins. Jay Gruden, their head coach, had fired his defensive coordinator, Jim Haslett, and wanted to talk with me about the job. By this point my son Wes was the Redskins’ tight ends coach, so I was looking forward to the possibility of us working together again. But my interview with Jay was strange, to say the least. I’d had unusual interviews before—like the one with Marty Schottenheimer that took forever because he asked a million questions about the 3–4 defense—but I had never gone through something quite like this.

When Jay was the offensive coordinator in Cincinnati and I was with the Texans, I faced the Bengals twice in the playoffs, after the 2011 and 2012 seasons, and beat them both times—31–10 and 19–13. I felt he knew my credentials and might have been impressed with the things we were able to do in the previous three games in which we had beaten the Bengals, including one game during the regular season.

We watched a lot of tape of the Texans’ games versus his offense. It seemed to me a lot of the plays were of when Cincinnati did well. Most of the interview was about that. I thought we should have talked more about philosophy, technique, concepts, and my record, but he was the one interviewing me.

After the interview I told Wes of my disappointment. I felt Jay didn’t have as much regard for my coaching as I’d hoped he would. He ended up hiring Joe Barry, a friend of his, to be defensive coordinator. Joe had been with the Chargers, whose defensive coordinator was John Pagano. John had been my linebackers coach when I was the defensive coordinator in San Diego, so Joe basically learned my defensive system through John.

Although I didn’t get the job, I was happy for Joe because I think he’s a good, young coach. Of course, the main reason I had even considered going to Washington was for the chance to work with my son again. But I know Wes has enjoyed working with Jay, and they’ve done a good job with the Redskins.

Meanwhile, the Broncos hired Gary Kubiak to replace John Fox as their head coach. They were trying to get Vance Joseph to be their defensive coordinator. He was the secondary coach for the Bengals and he’d had the same job when I was with the Texans. But Mike Brown, the Bengals’ owner, wouldn’t let Vance out of his contract. (After spending the 2016 season as defensive coordinator for the Dolphins, Vance would become the Broncos’ head coach in 2017 as the replacement for Gary, who decided to retire.) After that, the Broncos called me, so I was obviously the second choice.

I was disappointed that they thought somebody else would do a better job, especially because I had been with Kub in Houston, but that was the way it was. It’s just like when somebody takes your place after you’re fired, or you take somebody else’s place and you get the job. You do the best you can and you don’t worry about how you got the job. You just make the most of the opportunity. It didn’t make me more determined to succeed. It didn’t make me want to try harder—if you’re not already doing the best you can, you shouldn’t be in it. If you don’t love it enough to deal with the fact that you’re always in danger of being fired or that you’re going to be passed over for jobs, you shouldn’t be in it.

Burgundy&GoldForever wrote:In this thread we have conflicting stories, one from WaPo which says Phillips was never interviewed and one from Phillips which says he was interviewed.

mastdark81 wrote:and to answer the original question. He is not here because our organization prefer hiring guys they are comfortable with instead of guys that they are not familiar with. That is their choice, unfortunately the guys that they are familiar with do not have strong credentials.

mastdark81 wrote:and to answer the original question. He is not here because our organization prefer hiring guys they are comfortable with instead of guys that they are not familiar with. That is their choice, unfortunately the guys that they are familiar with do not have strong credentials.

mastdark81 wrote:and to answer the original question. He is not here because our organization prefer hiring guys they are comfortable with instead of guys that they are not familiar with. That is their choice, unfortunately the guys that they are familiar with do not have strong credentials.

Burgundy&GoldForever wrote:

mastdark81 wrote:and to answer the original question. He is not here because our organization prefer hiring guys they are comfortable with instead of guys that they are not familiar with. That is their choice, unfortunately the guys that they are familiar with do not have strong credentials.

Oh, really. Then why didn't they hire Gregg Williams?

riggofan wrote:

Burgundy&GoldForever wrote:

mastdark81 wrote:and to answer the original question. He is not here because our organization prefer hiring guys they are comfortable with instead of guys that they are not familiar with. That is their choice, unfortunately the guys that they are familiar with do not have strong credentials.

Oh, really. Then why didn't they hire Gregg Williams?

Creds were too strong.