The time when it’s reasonable to fire a head coach during the season seems to keep moving up. We had one fired after five games this season, and it seems like others could happen before Thanksgiving. Maybe Halloween.
The NFL is getting more impatient, whether it’s with draft pick development, quarterbacks or coaches. Robert Saleh was fired by the New York Jets after a 2-3 start. Maybe that emboldens other teams to make a move in the first half of the season.
Here are the coaches on the hottest seat as we move toward Week 7:
The hottest seat
Doug Pederson, Jacksonville Jaguars
One has to wonder if Pederson would have gotten fired if the Jaguars weren’t in London for a second straight game this week.
Jacksonville is 1-5. The Jaguars have one unimpressive last-minute win over the Indianapolis Colts, and followed that up by being blown out 35-16 by the Chicago Bears in London. The Jaguars lost five of their last six last season, with the only win coming over the 2-15 Carolina Panthers, which makes them 2-10 since the start of last December.
Pederson fired his defensive coordinator after last season, has been defiant over the idea he take play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Press Taylor and his young quarterback Trevor Lawrence is showing no signs of progress. Basically Pederson checks every box possible for a coach in trouble.
If the Jaguars lose to a bad New England Patriots team in London on Sunday morning, it’s hard to imagine Pederson would survive that.
Very, very hot
Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys
The only reason McCarthy might not really be on this list is Jerry Jones doesn’t fire head coaches that easily. Many, for some reason, still hold him to that reputation, but Jones pushing Jimmy Johnson out happened three decades ago. If anything, he has been too patient with his coaches.
That has to reach a tipping point. The Cowboys are 3-3 with an 0-3 home record, and they’ve been embarrassed in all three losses. They were trailing by at least 20 points in all of them. The offense is stuck, the defense has fallen apart and if the Cowboys don’t get more competitive then maybe Jones would be persuaded to consider a change. Everyone else is waiting for it.
Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles
Sirianni is probably going to reside on this list after what happened last season. He oversaw a massive collapse, barely kept his job but ownership decided to keep him with diminished power. That made everyone question how long he has left.
The Eagles haven’t been bad this season, but they haven’t been great either. Sirianni got criticism for chirping at fans late in Sunday’s unimpressive win over the Cleveland Browns, though he apologized for it and maybe there was an innocuous reason for the antics. Either way, it wasn’t a great look.
The Eagles have an easy upcoming schedule (at Giants, at Bengals, vs. Jaguars) which should be good news, but it also could get Sirianni’s seat a lot hotter if the Eagles lose some of those games.
Dennis Allen, New Orleans Saints
The Saints starting 2-0 and being everyone’s surprise team seems like eons ago. The Saints have lost all four games since, and Sunday was a new low. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat them 51-27. The Buccaneers had 594 yards. That’s a terrible look for Allen, who has a defensive background.
This is a bad week for Allen to face Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos, and do so with rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler starting another game on Thursday night. If Payton, a Saints legend, comes into New Orleans and beats Allen for the Saints’ fifth straight loss, nobody in New Orleans will be happy. A loss to Payton at home could be enough for ownership to think about a move.
Brian Daboll, New York Giants
Daboll is 17-22-1 as Giants head coach but he’s trending in the wrong direction. The Giants had a fortunate playoff appearance in Daboll’s first season and not much has gone right since. They’re 2-4 this season, and whether Daboll survives the year if the team continues losing probably has to do with how ownership feels about the roster. It’s also reasonable the team could hold Daboll accountable for quarterback Daniel Jones still being stuck in the middle of the road.
Daboll seemed like a decent pick as the first coach fired this season. The Giants haven’t been terrible though. We’ll see how fed up Giants ownership is if the team goes on a losing streak.
More NFL
Who knows what might happen
Antonio Pierce, Las Vegas Raiders
Pierce was a hire that was right in the moment but came with skepticism. The Raiders weren’t wrong to see if the momentum they had last season could carry over. It was also worth asking if Pierce was cut out to be a full-time coach yet.
This season hasn’t been great. They followed up a shocking win over the Baltimore Ravens with an inexcusable home loss to a terrible Carolina Panthers team. There hasn’t been much accountability from Pierce, for not having his team prepared, poor in-game decisions or anything else. The Davante Adams situation devolved quickly, leading to a trade, and that doesn’t reflect great on Pierce either. It seems unlikely Pierce will be fired during the season, but things could change if the Raiders’ season spirals out of control.
Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns
Stefanski is a two-time NFL Coach of the Year and the Browns won’t be better without him. But the Deshaun Watson situation is weird.
Even though Watson might be the worst starting quarterback in the NFL, not counting injury replacements, Stefanski has refused to even consider benching him. If that’s from ownership, at some point would Stefanski push back and make him a target? If sticking with Watson is on Stefanski, then it’s a weird look. And it’s not like team owner Jimmy Haslam is known for his patient, rational decisions.
Stefanski probably isn’t going anywhere, especially if continuing to start Watson is an ownership decision and he continues to play the good soldier, but there are weird vibes with the Browns.
Dave Canales, Carolina Panthers
There’s one reason Canales is here, and it’s David Tepper, who appears to love firing coaches, and his new NFL head coach is 1-5. Had Canales’ Panthers not beat the Raiders for his lone win, maybe the coach would be higher up the list. We know Tepper is impatient.
Bryce Young getting benched isn’t Canales’ fault, but it doesn’t reflect great on him either. The Panthers look like they’ll be one of the worst teams in the NFL again. If the Panthers are, say, 1-10 going into December, is Tepper going to stick it out with his new coach? He should, but that doesn’t mean he will. Anything is possible with Tepper involved.
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