First Year Growing Pains In The NFL
The coaching carousel happens in the NFL every season. The 2021 season introduced seven new coaches who are looking to turn struggling franchises around to contenders. With those new coaches taking over there can be some growing pains.
The seven coaches record combined entering week 3 is 3-12. The New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions, and Atlanta Falcons are still searching for their first win of the season. Six of the seven head coaches have had some ties in the league or have been coordinators while Jaguars head coach Urban Myer, is testing the NFL waters for the first time.
Brandon Staley, Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers have always been a sleeper team who can potentially make it into the playoffs. However, every year the team gets hit with the injury bug and always falls on the losing side of those one-possession games. Staley was the Los Angeles Rams Defensive Coordinator last season and led the Rams to being the No. 1 ranked defense in the league. Week 1 the Chargers came out on top in a close game to Washington, but last week fell in a close one to Dallas—which gave bad flashbacks to Charger fans everywhere.
Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles looked like a promising young team week 1 against Atlanta, but struggled mightily against the 49ers last week. Inconsistency can’t happen for this young team, but that is what you get with a young team. Philly is still trying to see what they have in second-year quarterback Jalen Hurts. If he can do well and surprise everyone the Eagles can contend in the NFC East, if not it can be another long year in Philly.
Robert Saleh, New York Jets
The Jets have a lot of holes on their roster especially on the defensive side of the ball. Saleh has his work cut out for him as New York tries to rebuild and it starts with first-round draft pick Zach Wilson doesn’t get caught “seeing ghost” and gets the Jets back on track. A four-interception performance against the Patriots doesn’t help the case, but in due time Saleh can get this team turned around. For now, this may be another long season for the Jets.
Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions
Detroit is in full rebuild mode under Campbell right now. The question is how long will it take for Campbell to get the Lions on the right track? They’ve shown some fight in their first two weeks, but they’ve lost their starting cornerback Jeff Okudah to a ruptured Achilles.
Urban Meyer, Jacksonville Jaguars
Meyer is arguably one of top-5 college coaches of all-time. Now he’s seeing how other coaches felt when he was at Ohio State. It was very enticing to come to Jacksonville as they had the number one overall pick to draft Trevor Lawrence, but Jacksonville has already lost rookie Running Back Travis Etienne, and now we’ve seen Broncos head coach Vic Fangio mention Meyer’s comment on the NFL is like facing Alabama every week. Meyer isn’t thinking about going to USC, is he?
Arthur Smith, Atlanta Falcons
When the Falcons made the hire for former Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith to show that there is no rebuild in Atlanta. However, it’s not looking like Atlanta is going to contend for anything this season. The offense looks good on paper, but looked nothing like it could be in their opener against Philadelphia. The defense is still bad, very bad.
David Culley, Houston Texans
Houston’s situation is very tough for any coach, but for a first-year coach it’s multiplied by 10. Quarterback Deshaun Watson wants out, but faces numerous lawsuits and allegations off the field. The Texans shocked everyone in week 1 taking care of Jacksonville, but the Jaguars won their first game in week 1 last season, and what ended up being their record? Losing Tyrod Taylor now doesn’t help much either, what seems to be a long season for Houston.
