Ross: too much speculation, this was the right time. Plenty of time to interview and find coach to get us to super bowl. Will look at everyone
Bowles will be interviewed for permanent position. Jeff Ireland will remain GM and they will work together to find next head coach Petersen not being hired. Ireland remains VP of football Ops
He quite literally was relieved. Relieved is a synonym for “fired”. But in this instance, yes, it’s entirely believable that a guy who’s been under pressure for almost two straight years was glad to have it gone. Maybe now he can go spend some of the millions he stole from us. No need.
Is it possible that Ross received word from Peterson about the coaches on KC's priority list, and it forced Ross's hand?
They must know their hire, why else would Irish be right next to his side, and why else would you jeopardize the big three's wishes of their own GM??
Ross is fine. But looking at the way Jeff Ireland is tossing Sparano under the bus on live TV… it’s almost sociopathic.
Not a comment, but does anyone else think that Jeff Ireland looked pretty uncomfortable answering that first question? Sheesh.
I really don't think we will win another game this year. Say what you like about draft position but I was enjoying the ride (not yesterday) and hoped for 2-3 more wins. Now I can't see it especially with the injuries.
I came away thinking that Ireland is not very happy about this, actually. He said everyone is to blame for this, including himself, and he even shoved blame explicitly onto his owner and boss, Steve Ross. That sounded bitter, to me. I don't recall a single moment when Jeff made any attempt to explain why it was necessary to fire Tony Sparano. When he was asked what he's going to look for in a new Head Coach the first words out of his mouth were basically describing Tony Sparano to a T, and he even said so explicitly. I don't think Jeff Ireland was on board with this and I think he's a little resentful of Steve Ross for it, truth be told. I think there's still some resentment for how Steve dragged him to California to interview Jim Harbaugh, which is something that absolutely strained Ireland's relationship with Tony. If the relationship with Ireland and Tony were not so strained, maybe Jeff might have felt more comfortable arguing strongly against Tony on things like the Colombo signing, to where maybe Tony might have taken Jeff's advice. Just putting out a theory. The way Steve Ross answered the QB question though has me a little bothered. He said finding a quarterback is essential, and he pointed out that this is not the roster that Tony and Jeff and Bill took over in 2008 that was so full of holes all over the place. Implied in that is, he understands they chose to pass on a franchise QB in 2008 (Matt Ryan), but they did so because the roster was in such massive disrepair...an argument I'm not so sure Ross himself fully buys into. But certainly he doesn't buy that argument now and he thinks it's time to find a quarterback. Thing is, the whole "cherry on top" approach to the quarterback position (an approach I usually do not agree with) is a natural path toward acquiring a veteran, not a rookie. The "cherry on top" argument is cousin to the "window is closing" and "win now" arguments. Asked about Carl Peterson he explained that Carl works with him on FanVision and said that he hasn't spoken to him about taking on an official role. That's what we call a non-denial.
If Ireland did sound bitter then he's an absolute knucklehead. The man should be performing fellatio on ross for allowing him to keep this job, against all logic and reason. If we are looking for somebody who has been in the trenches, but can work with the GM, who is there except Fisher?
With Ireland running the coaching search, I'm sure every name on his list will be former Cowboy assistants. What's Dave Campo up to?
Crazy how people can take such different sides from it, haha. I thought the opposite. I thought Jeff Ireland believed that he had no fault at all and only claimed to say that to save face, much like the non-denial of Ross in reference to Peterson. Ireland went so far to say (after the question was asked and had a clear tone of waiting to hear Jeff accept blame), as you have it, almost, he was at fault, Ross at fault, the players at fault, but Ultimately the fault of Sparano. That was the key word there for me along with the body language. If Ireland is upset, it's because he knows of the looming affect Carl Peterson could have on his decision making and ultimately his legacy. First Parcells and now potentially Peterson.
Brian Billick is a coach with experience who is DESPERATE to get back in the NFL. So desperate, he'd even agree to work under Ireland!!!
My take away's from this PC: Jeff Ireland is a smug SOB. And I want to like him. I really do. In terms of player acquisition, I think he's been good. But, you see him speak, you hear the stories and it just puts such a sour taste in my mind that it's almost sub-consciously telling me I hate him. And in the first sign of poor management everything will be overblown by me, haha. But, I like the work he's done. Steve Ross still hasn't gotten his stuff together in his PC's, haha, which for fans is great because we are so used to having little information given and a million different fake things leaked out. I think it's pretty clear that Todd Bowles can go 3-0 with a margin of 93939339 points and still have no shot at the job. Carl Peterson will be hired, or at the least involved in all the major decisions--HC, new Dir. Football Operations, draft, etc. He will be highly involved in making sure they hire an experienced, big name HC and drafting a 1st round QB.
It's possible that Ross is looking at more candidates than just Carl Peterson to take the job that has been described. There are rumors about Dan Marino getting involved, and it's possible that he could look to put someone in that capacity that could be used to lure the next Head Coach.
So what I'm to draw from this is that Ireland somehow both threw Sparano under the bus while seeming like he didn't like the decision, while looking both smug and uncomfortable?