Mike Florio
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio made his weekly appearance on Dennis, Callahan & Minihane on Friday morning to talk about news from around the NFL, including the surprising decline of Andrew Luck and the Colts. To hear the interview, go to the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page.
The Patriots host Washington on Sunday, and it could get ugly — reminiscent of the teams’ matchup eight years ago when the Patriots were rolling to an undefeated season amid the Spygate controversy.
“[A score of] 52-7 in 2007. An apples-to-apples comparison from a couple of middle-finger tours through the NFL,” Florio said. “And I don’t think Washington, even though they are 3-4 and they are in theory in position to win the NFC East, I’d be shocked if they can stay within 25 of the Patriots on Sunday.”
Looking at the situation in Indiapolis, Florio said Luck’s demise is a mystery.
“Nobody really knows, because late in these games the last couple of weeks he’s found the gas pedal and he’s gotten it done. It just hasn’t been enough to win the games,” Florio said. “Early in games he’s not playing well. It just looks like a regression in the fourth year of his career. And a lot of people are pointing out, ‘Well, in Year 4 of Peyton Manning‘s career he regressed, the coach got fired, and then once it went from Jim Mora to Tony Dungy everything was fine again for Peyton Manning. So maybe this is just part of a strangely shaped career arc for Andrew Luck.
“But if he is healthy, there’s something’s wrong. And if he is injured, he’s finding a way to pull it together in the fourth quarter, adrenaline or whatever, and play as well as he should have been playing all game long.”
The team’s struggles are expected to force some changes in Indianapolis, with coach Chuck Pagano and general manager Ryan Grigson on the hot seat.
“I think if they get embarrassed by the Broncos on Sunday — and look, they were closed to being embarrassed each of the last two games, and they turned it around. When it was 27-0 two Sundays ago against New Orleans at home, I thought Pagano could be gone the next day. I think if they get embarrassed Sunday by Peyton Manning and company, Pagano could be gone Monday or Tuesday,” Florio said.
“Grigson, maybe he gets to finish the season. He’s under contract for one more year. It’s unusual to have a GM fired during the season. The Lions now have done it twice since 2008. Usually they hold on to the GM until the end of the season, and the coach is the one who would go during the season.
“So I think Pagano in real jeopardy if they blow it. Because the bye week comes next. It’s the worst possible structure of the schedule for Pagano. You’ve got Peyton Manning coming home, you’ve lost multiple games in a row, you haven’t looked good. you lose that one and it’s the perfect opportunity. And there’s a thought in Indy that [assistant coach] Clyde Christensen, who predated Pagano on that coaching staff, would be the one who took over for the rest of the year.
“And they’re still alive — 3-5 is in first place with the Houston Texans in the AFC South.”
There’s been speculation that there could be a large number of coaching vacancies around the league after the season. Of course, that means there will be rumors surrounding Patriots assistant coaches.
“I can’t help but think that one of these teams is going to try to replicate what the Patriots have done over the years and maybe pull a Scott Pioli-Josh McDaniels reunion somewhere,” Florio said. “Remember back in 2009 people thought those guys when they were both with the Patriots and they were both being courted, people thought they both were going to end up in the same place. And they didn’t. And now that both are in the process of redeeming themselves after failing once they had their opportunities — Pioli in Kansas City, McDaniels in Denver — now maybe somebody says, ‘Hey, I’m just going to get both of these guys. I’m going to try to out-Patriot the Patriots.’ It won’t surprise me if we see these guys together somewhere, whether it’s in Detroit, Indianapolis, somewhere.
“I could see that happen, and I think McDaniels will be on the list. The question is, does he want to? His name’s popped up a couple of times in recent years, but he hasn’t been interested in leaving the Patriots. Will he be ready to leave the Patriots? And part of it is picking your spot. Most jobs that are open are open because you don’t have an answer at quarterback. If you have a quarterback, whether it’s Luck in Indy or Marcus Mariota in Tennessee, maybe all of a sudden that job looks more attractive and it’s time for someone to move on again.”
Following are more highlights from the interview. For more Patriots news, visit the team page at weei.com/patriots.
On if Chip Kelly might leave the Eagles to coach the Titans: “I said when Tennessee drafted Marcus Mariota that Chip Kelly couldn’t get Mariota to Philadelphia, so after the season what we have to think about is whether or not Chip Kelly tries to get himself to Nashville. And the biggest piece of that puzzle has already landed right in the middle, and that’s Ken Whisenhunt out in Tennessee. Is it a coincidence that the Titans fired Ken Whisenhunt out of the blue right after the Eagles had their bye week, when Chip Kelly would have had time, in theory, to have hypothetical conversations off the grid, ‘Hypothetically, if you had the opportunity to have a reunion, hypothetically, with a certain quarterback that you have proclaimed your love for publicly multiple times, hypothetically would you be interested?’
“All the Titans have to do, finish the season, the Eagles finish their season, they call the Eagles and they say, ‘We’d like to hire your coach. Let’s talk about terms of compensation.’ And once they work out terms of compensation, they have a green light to talk to Kelly. And the reality is they’re going to talk to Kelly in conversations that never happened to make sure he’s interested before that occurs. And I would not be surprised at all if the truth was those conversations have already happened.”
On the Bills, who have dipped after a fast start: “There’s a lot of uncertainty now, and a lot of people are nervous. This is a team that was 9-7 last year. They’re 3-4 through seven games. They lost in London to the Jaguars, who typically get blown out in London. The injury excuse has some traction, because they haven’t been healthy at some key positions. But the honeymoon is dangerously close to being over between Rex Ryan and the fan base. And the real question is where there’ll be an internal power struggle between Rex Ryan and GM Doug Whaley as people try to apportion and assign blame after the season if this thing results in No. 1, a record worse than last year, because they were a winning team, and No. 2, no playoff berth.”
On the controversy over the NFL taking money from the United States Department of Defense to honor military personnel: “I can understand why the various branches of the military would be interested in forking over money for this, because it does advance the whole recruiting process, it puts the military in a positive light. But it doesn’t put the NFL in a positive light. And I think they’re in the process of trying to cram the toothpaste back into the tube on that one.”
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