NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

There’s been plenty of rumors over the last 24 hours about what route the Steelers and coach Mike Tomlin will take with the coordinators as they head into the offseason. There’s two names that continue to pop up when it comes to guys that may not be around in 2010 – special teams coach Bob Ligashesky and offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.

The call to get rid of Arians has picked up a lot more steam since the end of the year, as 1250 ESPN is stating that Tomlin is ready to dump Arians. This is interesting since Ben Roethlisberger threw for a team record 4238 yards and 26 touchdowns, Rashard Mendenhall ran for 1108 yards and 7 scores, and two wide outs (Santonio Holmes and Hines Ward) each went over 1,000 yards receiving.

As far as Ligashesky, there’s a lot more evidence that he should be dumped. The special teams was awful, allowing four kickoff returns for touchdowns this season. They also were last in the NFL in opponents’ starting field position (31.3) following a kickoff.

A former Steeler name is out there, Bobby April, and he would be a great fit to take over the special teams. He was let go in the Bills coaching dismissal on Monday. The team also tried a bunch of moves roster wise to try and get the special teams better, but that failed as well.

So what will Tomlin do? He should for sure go out and get someone to replace Ligashesky. This unit was simply terrible, and it was almost a joke to see guys running through the Steelers special teams. As for Arians, I know a ton of the fan base wants him gone, but the teams numbers speak for themselves, and to me, it was more the defense’s fault for 7 losses than the offenses. They averaged 23 points per game, and he and Roethlisberger have a good relationship.

In the end though, it’s up to Tomlin, and it will be interesting to see what he decides to do.

The first offseason coaching vacancy will be filled about 48 hours after it became open, as the Redskins have landed former Broncos Super Bowl winning coach Mike Shanahan. Reports say that he agreed Tuesday to become the coach of the team, and will have the final authority on football decisions, according to ESPN.com.

Shanahan's decision to join the team was confirmed to The Associated Press by an official within the NFL. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the team was not commenting on its coaching search.
The Redskins announced they would hold a news conference Wednesday, although they did not say why.

The deal with Shanahan is for five years, the Denver Post reported on its Web site. The hire comes just a day after the team canned former coach Jim Zorn, who left after an awful 4-12 season.

It will be interesting to see where Shanahan, who was out of football for just one season, starts with the team. They need to figure out what to do at quarterback, and also figure out where they will go in free agency, a thing the team has used to try and build over the years, but with little success.

All 16 games have been played and the six teams for the NFC Playoffs are set. Here are the seeds:

*1. New Orleans Saints- 13-3
*2. Minnesota Vikings- 12-4
*3. Dallas Cowboys- 11-5
*4. Arizona Cardinals- 10-6
5. Green Bay Packers- 11-5
6. Philadelphia Eagles- 11-5
* show division winners

This weekends games are all rematches from week seventeen as the Eagles go back to Dallas and the Packers go back to Arizona. The Packers played a great game against the Cardinals who didn’t play starters, and the Eagles got shut out on game that could have clinched the number two seed. The winner of the Cowboys-Eagles game goes to Minnesota and the winners of the Cardinals – Packers game goes to New Orleans.

Today marks the first day of the new sheriff in town for the Browns, as Mike Holmgren is in town, as he’ll meet with the media at 4pm today. All the talk over the past few days has been about the quick impact that Holmgren will make, and if Eric Mangini has done enough to stick around another season.

Holmgren said the following coming in about a decision about his current head coach. "Any decisions I make regarding the coaching staff, or anybody there, will not be based on three games or two games or one game," Holmgren said. "I think it's the total body of work. I've got to see progress."

There’s no doubt that the team did make progress in the final month of the season, going from a complete laughingstock at 1-11 to ending the year with wins over the Steelers, Chiefs, Raiders and Jaguars. Now of course those teams stumbled to the end as well (Pittsburgh had lost four in a row entering the game vs Cleveland), so there’s talk that the Browns beat teams ready for vacation.

Gut instincts still tell me that Mangini is gone. Yes, it’s a feel good story that the club keeps Mangini, and next season they go 12-4 and make it to the Super Bowl, and we all laugh about the very thought of getting rid of him. I can’t see that happening.

The team still has too many holes, and in case you didn’t notice, they don’t exactly have a top notch QB right now. I think Holmgren cans Mangini, gets his guys in there, and like it or not, it’s a brand new show all over again.

A poor season for the Bears on offense has cost a coordinator his job. The team on Tuesday canned offensive coordinator Ron Turner day after reports came out that coach Lovie Smith will retain his job.

The team went 7-9 this season, and the offense with new QB Jay Cutler had its moments of struggle, and in the end, it was Turner that will have to take the fall for the issues on that side of the ball. Turner, who was in his fifth straight year as the team's offensive coordinator, was one of the first assistants the team met with Tuesday morning.

Also, the Bears are expected to name assistant Rod Marinelli the defensive coordinator, according to a Tribune source. He will relieve head coach Lovie Smith of those duties.

As we trickle into the New Year, there are still people asking me about this Buddy Nix hire and who he is and where he came from. Friends have once again chuckled at the notion of the hire, proclaiming the Bills continue to succeed at failing to grasp what it takes to win. The naysayers are at it again, telling us this is the same old company line the Bills always walk. How can a 70-something guy with no prior general manager experience turn around this mess of an organization?

It's easy to understand the initial discouragement among the fans. We've been burned before, too many times to count. This hire is reminiscent of Marv Levy a few years back, as far as age is concerned. Levy was 80, Nix just turned 70. Levy knew football when he was on the sidelines as the Bills head coach during their glory days in the early 90's. He was given a hero's welcome back to Buffalo, taking over for Tom Donahoe. The Bills believed his football personnel instincts would transition easily into the front office. He was the cowboy wearing the white hat, riding the white horse into town to right the many wrongs made by Donahoe. It never materialized.

Under Levy, the Bills went 7-9 in consecutive seasons and missed the playoffs in both years. He was responsible for questionable personnel choices, notably drafting Donte Whitner and signing defensive end Chris Kelsay to a lucrative deal. But Levy's legacy, albeit short lived as a GM, will be hiring Dick Jauron as head coach to take over for Mike Mularkey who resigned shortly after Donahoe was fired. And we know how Jauron's story ended in Buffalo.

Forgetting the age argument, I think what really burns Bills fans is that the hire of Nix seems internal and within owner Ralph Wilson's comfort zone. Wilson proclaimed he was ready and willing to clean house, yet Nix came from within house. Nix was hired by the Bills last January after spending five seasons with the San Diego Chargers as the Assistant GM and Director of Player Personnel under current Chargers GM A.J. Smith. It also doesn't give us much comfort to know that those other two guys on that huge billboard, Tom Modrak and John Guy, were considered for the position as well. Very few interviews conducted coupled with an in-house hire and it's very easy to envision another 7-9 season.

But before we all go sprinting into the familiar arms of doom and gloom, convincing ourselves this too is destined to fail, step back and take a wait and see approach. Nix is a football guy, something the Bills haven't had at the front office helm since Bill Polian and John Butler. Nix has no affiliation with Donahoe leftovers Modrak and Guy. He didn't draft John McCargo or J.P. Losman. He didn't sign Derrick Dockery and Langston Walker. He wasn't responsible for trading Jason Peters. It would be unfair to make him pay for sins cast by his previous predecessors.

Do I believe this is the route Wilson planned on taking for quite some time? Absolutely. Now it's clear that when Nix was brought back almost a year ago, he was going to be doing a thorough evaluation, leaving no stone unturned before taking over as GM. Now that the Bills have their GM in place, they can put on the full court press and go after their top candidates on their head coaching list.

But where I believe Nix can succeed is where so many others have failed: evaluating talent. The last time I checked the San Diego Chargers were one of the best teams at evaluating players, particularly when it comes to the draft. At the right hand of Butler and Smith, Nix has been there to see the Chargers hit many home runs. The names speak for themselves: Philip Rivers, LaDainian Tomlinson, Nate Kaeding, Vincent Jackson, Shawn Merriman, Shaun Phillips, Antonio Cromartie, Quentin Jammer, Marcus McNeil and Jamal Williams. Bottom line is, the Chargers know how to draft and Nix has been involved in laying the foundation for the outstanding pipeline of draft choices.

Now for the first time Nix will have the final say over any and all personnel decisions. He has a golden opportunity to establish his own football culture and firmly put his fingerprints on the Bills.