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[rensoul]

I think we all know the drill. These guys in coaching most often times know each other from other jobs, sometimes they are even from the same high school or something.

Staley played quarterback for Mercyhurst College while Lombardi was the offensive coordinator there back in 2005.

Now Lombardi worked with Drew Brews and Sean Peyton for many years and won a superbowl. He had something like 25 years experience. Who would doubt he was qualified?

So Staley got rid of guys he did now know, and hired the guys he knew if he could.

I still do not think that the Chargers failings are the result of the OC. I still say it goes back to the HC.

I bet if Lombardi becomes OC with Sean Peyton he would do great because Peyton unless something has changed should be a great HC.

If the new guy does any better I think it will only be if we have less injuries in the OL and with the receivers. But yet he will get all the credit and so will Staley if that happens.


Any of these guys with decent experience can be good with a good QB/OL and some receivers.

There was definitely reason to question the Lombardi hire. His only previous stint as an NFL OC he was fired mid season in less than 2 years with Detroit fans having many similar complaints that Chargers fans had of him.

He was a QB coach for several years in New Orleans but Payton never game him play-calling duties. Even if he does get hired in Denver, I bet it would be similar to the Renaldo Hill situation where Payton handles play-calling.

Who knows? Lombardi might be good at some things behind the scenes but there was plenty of reason to dislike the hire as the OC.

[Lefty2SLO]

Their fault for not saying, "relationships" enough times.
okay, I'll stop now.
Promise.

Don't forget 'culture'

[QuiteFrankly]

There was definitely reason to question the Lombardi hire. His only previous stint as an NFL OC he was fired mid season in less than 2 years with Detroit fans having many similar complaints that Chargers fans had of him.

He was a QB coach for several years in New Orleans but Payton never game him play-calling duties. Even if he does get hired in Denver, I bet it would be similar to the Renaldo Hill situation where Payton handles play-calling.

Who knows? Lombardi might be good at some things behind the scenes but there was plenty of reason to dislike the hire as the OC.

Lombardi was the QB coach...I think that's pretty good experience to know how to call plays. Every great OC got his first chance at some point. QB coach would be a good place to start from I would think.

[Fouts2herbert]

Steichen was the interim OC in the 2nd half of 2019, but promoted to the full job in 2020. I still think that at the end of the 2020 season in Jan 21, when Lynn was fired and Staley hired, he would've preferred to be retained as Herbert's OC in the new Staley regime.

Oops, I got 2019 mixed up with 2020 but that kind of makes my point, steichen had more experience than staley at that time already, you can make the argument that he was more qualified to be the HC of the chargers and plus the added benefit of keeping continuity with your QB, the FO dropped the ball on that one…We’ll probably find out for sure at some point or maybe never, but I agree with you, I think steichen would’ve stayed if staley would’ve wanted him…instead staley chose what he thought was best for himself, not his QB

[rensoul]

Lombardi was the QB coach...I think that's pretty good experience to know how to call plays. Every great OC got his first chance at some point. QB coach would be a good place to start from I would think.

It wasn't his first shot as an OC play-caller. He was hired as an OC for a Detroit Lions team that had Calvin Johnson/Golden Tate and a prime Matt Stafford and he was so bad at it that he was fired mid-season his 2nd year on the job.

Put it this way, he was so bad you can still find Detroit Lions fans bitching about the time he was the play-caller there online years later.
Here's a sample if you don't believe me
https://www.reddit.com/r/detroitlion..._2nd_half_joe/


"The worst part is, you knew what each of the play calls was going to be before they ran it. It's incredible how bad that man is at NFL offenses."

"Exactly. Lombardi's braindead offense looked identical to what Stafford had to work with too. He cannot be allowed near a good QB ever again."

"How this man continues to get OC jobs is beyond me, it’s so predictable and inefficient."

"Honestly it baffles me that anyone employs this guy after how bad he has shown to be."


There was clear evidence that play-calling is not his strong suit before he was hired by Staley.

[Boltjolt]

Fair enough. I have the same questions. I guess I assumed Steichen at the time would've preferred to stay, he just had an amazing season with best rookie QB in league history.

It's customary for a new coach to choose his own staff. But it's not unusual for coordinators to survive a chance at head coach. Ken Whisenhunt was retained as Chargers' OC when Lynn was hired.

I know there have been cases when ownership/management stipulate that certain coaches already on staff must remain when they hire a new HC? Was that the case for Whisenhunt? Did Telesco/Spanoses dictate to Lynn that he retain Whisenhunt, who was hired by McCoy? If so, why would they not do the same re Steichen when they hired Staley?

The benefit to keeping Steichen is not only the success he had with Herbert as a rookie, but to avoid Herbert having to learn a new system between his 1st and 2nd seasons. He had to deal with changing systems yearly at Oregon. Again, I'm assuming Steichen would've wanted to stay with Herbert/Chargers in 2021 had he been given the opportunity.

Now Herbert has to learn this third offensive system in four seasons. I think one thing contributing to Joe Burrow's success in CINN is he's had the same OC (and HC) and offensive season his entire 3-year career. Contrast that with what Herbert's had to contend with.

Again, as you note, we don't have all the information and there lots of questions. But I'm going under the assumption that Steichen would've liked to have been retained as Herbert's OC when Staley was hired, but Staley let him go because he wanted Joe Lombardi, who was Staley's OC when Staley was a QB in college. And if this is the way it went down, it does not reflect well on Staley's judgment as a HC.

When Marty was hired, Norv was our OC and they asked him to stay and he said No.


I assume Whiz was forced on Lynn since he fired him the next season at the halfway point while still hanging on to his buddy Stewart.

Lynn BTW is interviewing at Washington for their OC vacancy.

[powderblueboy]

Put it this way, he was so bad you can still find Detroit Lions fans bitching about the time he was the play-caller there online years later.
Here's a sample if you don't believe me
https://www.reddit.com/r/detroitlion..._2nd_half_joe/


"The worst part is, you knew what each of the play calls was going to be before they ran it. It's incredible how bad that man is at NFL offenses."

"Exactly. Lombardi's braindead offense looked identical to what Stafford had to work with too. He cannot be allowed near a good QB ever again."

"How this man continues to get OC jobs is beyond me, it’s so predictable and inefficient."

"Honestly it baffles me that anyone employs this guy after how bad he has shown to be."

Yeah, it got ugly!



Gbchris1220 days ago50s logo

A Joe Lombardi special. I’ll always blame him for the Dallas loss.


Badrush20 days ago
Try him for crimes against football!

[Topcat]

When Marty was hired, Norv was our OC and they asked him to stay and he said No.

I assume Whiz was forced on Lynn since he fired him the next season at the halfway point while still hanging on to his buddy Stewart.

Lynn BTW is interviewing at Washington for their OC vacancy.

Some teams just never learn. Next thing u know, they'll be interviewing Lombo...

[wu-dai clan]

Hahahaha.
Eagles Oline coach is named "Stoutland."
Perfect.

[dmac_bolt]

the amount of factless uniformed gossip posted in these pages is simply astounding. The amount of time some guys devote to making shit up out of their warped imaginations … is dedication, I’ll give them that

[QuiteFrankly]

It wasn't his first shot as an OC play-caller. He was hired as an OC for a Detroit Lions team that had Calvin Johnson/Golden Tate and a prime Matt Stafford and he was so bad at it that he was fired mid-season his 2nd year on the job.

Put it this way, he was so bad you can still find Detroit Lions fans bitching about the time he was the play-caller there online years later.
Here's a sample if you don't believe me
https://www.reddit.com/r/detroitlion..._2nd_half_joe/


"The worst part is, you knew what each of the play calls was going to be before they ran it. It's incredible how bad that man is at NFL offenses."

"Exactly. Lombardi's braindead offense looked identical to what Stafford had to work with too. He cannot be allowed near a good QB ever again."

"How this man continues to get OC jobs is beyond me, it’s so predictable and inefficient."

"Honestly it baffles me that anyone employs this guy after how bad he has shown to be."


There was clear evidence that play-calling is not his strong suit before he was hired by Staley.

Was he "bad" or was the organization and team just bad? I had mentioned somewhere before, when you have the players just about any play can work. You can call a greatly designed play where lets say a guy will break wide open, but if the QB has 2 seconds and is running for his life...people this as...what is with that play?..and when there is no running game where you are one dimensional and the defense can make your other dimension that much harder...

Are some OC's better than others if there was some way to measure..I am sure. But it all depends on the players on the field. Some of the greatest teams of all time had very simple offenses. Which is why I insist...the HC is the starting point. If you have a team that is suspect in some manner(losing a 27-0 lead)...I would start with the HC as the issue.

Back in the day when the NFL was just starting, I suppose certain coaches like Sid Gillman could get some type of advantage with new innovations, some new type of scheme or approach that would catch other teams off-guard.

We see that some with the mobile QB(Philly has it)...but that model collapses when the QB gets hurt. So other than that,

Based on nothing what so ever...I guess I expect the Chargers offense to improve...if the OL can stay healthy.

As far as a good OC making halftime adjustments....I saw some segment on Peyton/Eli show talking about that.. They said its a myth. There is not enough time. Just time to grab and orange and use the head.

When Lombardi first came I actually liked his play calling honestly. The way he used the tight ends. Sometimes the running game looked good. I just think injuries caught up with the team.

[Velo]

the amount of factless uniformed gossip posted in these pages is simply astounding. The amount of time some guys devote to making shit up out of their warped imaginations … is dedication, I’ll give them that

“Those who love to find faults in others rarely find faults in themselves.”
― Frank Sonnenberg, The Path to a Meaningful Life