Colts owner Jim Irsay sent shock waves through the NFL this week when he decided that not any given Saturday deserved to be plucked out of an ESPN studio to coach an NFL team for the first time on …
The NFL head-coaching experiment has been littered with hot-shot coaches who were never coordinators … but this? The first man to coach an NFL game without college or pro coaching experience since Norm Van Brocklin for the 1961 expansion Vikings?
Saturday’s task will be complicated by the understandable perception that he is the owner’s eyes and ears.“He’s gonna have to prove to the players and earn the players’ trust that he is with the players, and he’s not just here as a ride-along with the owner,” Orlovsky said. “I remember our Super Bowl year, when Pittsburgh was making a change,” he said, “and [former Steelers owner and president] Dan Rooney called me because he had interviewed Mike Tomlin. And on his staff at that time, there were about five coaches [including Bruce Arians, Dick LeBeau, Russ Grimm and Ken Whisenhunt] who were very, very experienced, very good. Dan always had a formula of what he was looking for, and he always hired young defensive coaches who were good communicators.
“I would imagine they’re offended. I would imagine they’re frustrated,” Orlovsky said. “I would imagine they’re asking, ‘Why does he get to do it that way when we’ve had to do it a different way and kind of earned the right and climbed the ranks?’ They’re probably justified in their feelings. Probably a lot of question marks.
“Is he gonna be successful in this situation? This is such a long shot, and if he does, it would be unprecedented. … But if I was gonna bet on anybody, I certainly would bet on Jeff.”“Jeff demanded respect by his actions and his accomplishments,” Orlovsky said. “Then he played center for Peyton Manning. You want to talk about a demanding role, that’s as demanding a role that an offensive lineman could have. I think he’s got this really cool way of embracing conflict that is good for the team.
“So I think there were a lot of things that Jim Irsay was looking at, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle here in the next eight weeks.
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