In NFL hires of LaFleur, Kingsbury, youth is being overly served
LaFleur, Kingsbury not ready to be NFL head coaches
“I think they’re jumping the gun with some of these hires. Matt LaFleur has potential to be a head coach, but the No. 1 weakness with the Titans was their pass offense. I would argue that Marcus Mariota regressed this year. I don’t understand that hire, and I don’t understand Kliff Kingsbury. I think this is two or three jobs too early for both of them.”
Chris Simms, NBCS Pro Football Talk
McDaniels did not connect with Packers
“He still might be a little radioactive after having backed out of that Indianapolis Colts job after last season, even though it worked out terrific in Indianapolis. He went in that day with the intention of cleaning out his office, and it was only then that he was shown that the Patriots really wanted to keep him around. The presumption is he’s heir apparent to Bill Belichick, even though I’m told he’s not been promised anything. He’s taken 14 interviews for head-coaching jobs since 2009, and he gets cold feet.”
Tom Curran, NBC Sports Boston, on why Josh McDaniels was not hired as head coach by the Green Bay Packers.
Payton’s offense too much for Eagles
“I was there (New Orleans) for a cup of tea. The Eagles don’t have a chance. Coach (Sean) Payton and his staff are up till 2 in the morning game-planning. They’re gonna see 50-60 different personnel groupings. It’s gonna be tough on the Philadelphia secondary.”
Brandon Marshall, Showtime’s Inside the NFL
Flacco should have started second half
“I think Lamar Jackson looked like the youngest quarterback ever to start a playoff game. He had trouble from the beginning of the game all the way through to the fourth quarter, when things finally started rolling for him. He had three fumbles on the day, and one of them he lost. He had an interception and could have had more. He was sacked seven times. If you go into halftime and you have two completions for 17 yards, I was really surprised the Baltimore Ravens didn’t come out in that second half and go to Joe Flacco, a guy who’s won them a Super Bowl.”
Trent Green, CBS Sports’ Monday QB
Flacco’s future may be in Jacksonville
“The Ravens are going to try to trade Flacco. I would keep an eye on the Jacksonvile Jaguars. I’m told Tom Coughlin may have an affinity toward him. He’s designated for a June first cut, so they will save cash and cap money. As for John Harbaugh, the Ravens put out a press release a few weeks back saying they want him back for 2019, but as of this airing there have been no conversations about a contract extension. There are other teams laying in the weeds to possibly trade for him.”
Jason LaCanfora on Monday QB
Martindale is head coach in waiting
“I think Wink Martindale is the next good head coach. You need to get him in for an interview. This guy will turn your program around.”
Tony Romo, CBS Sports
Antonio Brown undeserving of All-Pro
“If a guy takes six percent of the season and purposefully flushes it down the toilet, I can’t vote for him for anything. He wouldn’t be among my top 20 receivers for the season.”
Peter King, NBC Sports
Tomlin lasts because of no-fire tradition
“By virtue of the fact that the Steelers have had three coaches in 50 years, I feel like they will never consider changing coaches out of respect for this ridiculous streak. Meanwhile we keep learning more and more about all the dysfunction. Every time Ryan Clark is on ESPN there’s some new story about something we didn’t know about that happened in Pittsburgh that was a warning sign for Mike Tomlin as relates to Antonio Brown or others, and Tomlin hasn’t fixed it. When you believe the organization doesn’t fire coaches, then maybe you don’t have to fix these problems.”
Mike Florio, NBCS Pro Football Talk
Warriors miss their bigs
“I don’t think the Warriors have the personnel they need to be dominant as we’ve seen in years past. We’ve seen them have Andrew Bogut; we’ve seen them have JaVale McGee. Those two 7-footers have speed on the court in terms of running a direct line to the rim. That made Steph Curry’s game more valuable. It also made Klay Thompson’s game very valuable. You’ve got two great shooters, and you’ve got two defenders that are going to close out to them, and they got a 7-footer running to the rim. Now they don’t have that piece. Klay Thompson driving to the rim — that’s not happening any more. They’re not getting the easy baskets.”
Scottie Pippen, Hall of Fame basketball player, on ESPN’s The Jump
Lonzo doesn’t want the ball
“I know we’re running everything through Brandon Ingram. He works really hard, but he has not perfected how to run the wing point. And Lonzo (Ball), for some reason he seems like he doesn’t want to be the point guard.”
James Worthy, Hall of Fame player and local broadcaster of LA Lakers games
