Rex would be perfect for the Falcons. Absolutely perfect. He can hire a good OC, who will have Matty Ice, Julio Jones, Mathews, etc.. to build a solid offense out of, and Rex can create the defense that he wants there. Rex would take that team to the NFC Championship game by his second season there.
He took a galactically shitty offense and went 8-8, in a year where people were- I shit you not- waiting for David Nelson to come back off of the injury list. 2013 wasn't a great year, but I don't think a lot of coaches could've taken a roster with a rookie QB & Clyde Gates at WR, and made it to 8-8. This year was a shit show, no doubt. I think we can see that Rex's time had come. But let's not do revisionist history, either. He was pretty successful for 2 years, and then up & down for four years after that. Fair enough.
I'll be surprised if he gets the Atlanta job, but even more surprised if he has short term success. I think the only reason he had so much success in NY was that he followed Mangini, who was hated by the players for being too anal, and too much of a disciplinarian. Players coaches almost always do well for a year or two following a strict disciplinarian HC, then things start unraveling in the third year. Rex also had a lot of solid veterans with high character and who were leaders his first two seasons and great team chemistry, then Rex and Tanny in tandem got rid of them. One of the criticisms I read of Mike Smith was that he was too loose and not strict enough. If true, Rex won't even enjoy the bounce he would have gotten from following a strict disciplinarian. If there aren't high character veteran leaders in that lockerroom and on the field (and I'm not so sure that there are), the Falcons won't fare so well under Rex imo.
I didn't mean to be curt. I meant to include a laughing emoticon. I truly don't think that Rex is a good HC. If he lands another job and succeeds, I will not only be surprised but totally shocked. That doesn't mean he would have been able to turn things around here, however. He had 6 years and a losing record. That's long enough.
Agreed, though it's a lot easier to succeed as an OC when you have Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Roddy White, etc. Even Schotty or Sparano would create an above average offense from those weapons.
Considering the pathetic state of our "Available HC Candidates" list, I started looking at former HCs who aren't yet fossils, but who aren't showing up in the conversation. I'm not suggesting any of these guys, (some I'd certainly recommend against), but I figured they they are at least as worthy of consideration as Tom Cable--I hope I don't need to explain further just how low that bar is. Mike Martz Dom Capers Mike Tice Dennis Green Mike Sherman Wade Phillips Mike Holmgren Bill Callahan Mike Singletary Todd Haley Dick Jauron Butch Davis Bobby Petrino
