Jim Mora Should Update His Resume
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by user Leslie Monteiro
The Moras provide great soundbites for the media. Anyone remember Jim E. Mora having meltdowns after tough losses by his Saints and his Colts, when he was the coach of those teams? His son, Atlanta Falcons coach Jim L. Mora, is following in the same footsteps.
Last year, he got into an incident with Falcons radio analyst David Archer. He slammed the microphone and his headphones in the ground and walked off an interview after answering a question that he hadn't liked.
Two weeks ago, he talked to his college teammate and former NFL quarterback, Hugh Millen on Dave Mahler’s midday show on KJR-AM 950 in Seattle. He commented to Millen about his desire to take the head coaching job at the University of Washington, which is not even available. This cannot be a great sign for his job security, considering his team has fallen apart down the stretch for the second straight year.
The Falcons head coach has to wonder what he was thinking of, making those comments on a Seattle sports radio station. Sports radio stations have web sites nowadays. Eventually, someone would find out about his conversation through a radio archive on the site. He had to ask permission from higher up to do that interview, and he had to know that his boss would listen to it. From that perspective, his comments were rather foolish.
Why in the world would he even talk about coaching elsewhere when he is currently employed by the Falcons? His focus should be about his current team. A head coach, player, or a general manager should be fixated about the organization that they worked for. They should be thinking about what they can do to get that organization better, not thinking about their next job. It is a bad attitude to have.
It is very classless on his part to even respond to a query about his interest for the Washington job when it is not even available. That showed up the current coach, Ty Willingham, by advocating that he is not doing that great of a job at Washington.
Sports radio hosts will ask those types of leading questions questions just to get ratings on the show. It is their job. It is the player’s, the head coach’s, the general manager’s, or the owner’s job to not to respond to these questions if it is inappropriate. Mora Jr. has been in his profession for several years now so he should know this. It is common sense.
More is already coming off a controversy in which his dad called out Falcons quarterback Michael Vick as a “coach-killer” because Vick can frustrated his coaches with his lack of a passing game. One has to think that the head coach was venting to his father about how he is not getting through to Vick so his father decided to speak out. It may be an assumption, but it has to be out there considering his father would not speak out like that on a radio show for Fox Sports Radio.
It is Mora’s job to take these matters to his quarterback, not to his dad. He is the one that should be teaching Vick and finding a way to make it work. There is no question that he might have lost his important player after this incident. When a head coach starts losing that player, it means that he is going to lose his job. His job is to go win his player back, not talk to a talk show host about wanting to go to Washington.
Mora has not really done a great job of coaching since last year. He had a good rookie campaign in which his team went to the NFC Championship Game at Philadelphia. Although his team lost to the Philadelphia Eagles again, things were looking bright at the time. Vick was establishing himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the game. The Falcons defense was very special. Mr. Blank was doing everything possible to make his franchise an elite franchise. Falcons GM Rich McKay was building his team to excellence, just like he did with the Tampa Bay Buccaners.
Unfortunately, the Falcons have shown that they are no different with Mora than they were under Jerry Glanville, June Jones, and Dan Reeves. They are still mediocre and they find ways to lose. This is the second consecutive year in which this team has fallen apart down the stretch. They are losing to bad teams like the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions. That can get any coach fired right there.
A great coach finds a way to win these types of games in December. Mora Jr. has failed to do that. He still has a shot, but it is not looking good. The defense has been giving up big plays and Vick is not making plays because his wide receivers are just inept. It does not help that Vick is not playing with any confidence thanks to the poor job of the Falcons offensive coordinator, Greg Knapp.
Vick has gotten worse under this current coaching staff.
When he first entered the scene, he led the Falcons to the playoffs. He was playing very well. He did the things that made him successful. Reeves let him play his game. When Reeves left, Mora and Knapp decided that for them to win games, they needed Vick to throw more often and learn the over-rated West Coast Offense.
The rule of coaching should be, never ever force players to learn their system, especially quarterback. They need to get the most of their players by using their strengths, not forcing them to learn the coach's system. They can lose players right away and that is what is going on with Vick. Vick can pass, but if he is successful by running the ball, let him do so. Why fix something when it is not broken?
The stupidity, the losses, and the fact that he lost his quarterback means that Mora probably now is looking over his shoulder. There is no question that his job is on the line. If his team does not go deep in the weak NFC playoffs, there is no way that he will be back. The Falcons have too much talent to be failing like this. Blank is not going to put up with failure, and he shouldn't.
The feeling here is that it may be a lost cause because this team has showed no signs of getting better.
Mora has to believe that he is in his last days as head coach.
I think Vick does a great job of passing the ball at times, but his strength is to run and get the yards. He has been very successful when he does that. Jim Mora and his inept staff has been forcing Vick to do things that may not be for him. One rule of coaching is never ever force your players to follow the script. Let the players make decision on their own. I am a Vikings fan and I hate Brad Childress because Childress micromanages too much and force his quarterback to do things that he may not be good at it. I always believe you can win games when you run the ball as long as you are successful. Vick has done that and he has done well. That's his bread and butter. Vick can also make some passes when he has to.
You very last sentence is true. I don't think Mora and his staff got the best out of Vick which is why the Falcons are horrible and why Mora has to be fired. I think Vick can play football. He proved that under Dan Reeves.