Yesterday we batted down the ’settled science’ that the Dolphins must have tampered with Mike Nolan prior to him leaving Denver.
Today, Ron Borges of the Boston Herald shares a few more details surrounding Nolan’s divorce from Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels.
…[McDaniels] called in defensive coordinator Mike Nolan and told him in no uncertain terms his Broncos would not be blitzing next season like they did this year.
The blitz, especially in some run situations, has long been a staple of Nolan’s approach to defense……
This lends more credence to our suggestion that there could have been trouble in paradise between coach and coordinator.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter, however, says that the blitz factor had nothing to do with the breakup. Per Schefter, each side simply had another option in mind and mutually decided to move on.
Whether or not blitzing was or wasn’t the catalyst for the split is probably irrelevant, though it does speak to philosophical differences. What does appear relevant is that the relationship was probably doomed from the start because McDaniels simply rushed into it.
There will not be a second season of that union because after that meeting Nolan and McDaniels decided what had always been the NFL equivalent of a shotgun marriage – McDaniels hired Nolan at the suggestion of the agent they both share, Bob LaMonte, despite the fact they barely knew each other – had to end.
Tsk, tsk. And we wonder why divorce rates are so high in this country!
Borges also claims that Buffalo also formally requested an interview and Chicago sent out feelers. Again, it would be quite a coincidence for three teams to target with the same, spoken-for coach without contact being initiated by said coach’s camp first.
And with that in mind, the “lone gunman in Miami” theory will have to wait another day at Pro Football Talk.
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